Metro Transit

The state House speaker finally goes public with a dramatic idea for replacing the Alaskan Way Viaduct on Seattle's waterfront. It involves a long, block-wide structure with a highway within, commercial development below, and an intriguing park on top.

The freaky economics of a ride to Sea-Tac Airport

Posted Thu, Sep 11, 3 a.m.

By Peter Lewis

Because of fuel prices and out-of-sync regulatory bodies, it's actually cheaper right now to take a taxicab to or from Sea-Tac Airport than a shared van, which until recently was always the cheaper choice. But cab fares, too, will be going up, on Oct. 1. Here's how airport transportation pricing works.

The campaign for Sound Transit will be 'going Facebook'

Posted Mon, Aug 11, 10 a.m.

By Clark Fredricksen

Big and corporate didn't do it for last year's roads and transit measure, so the hurry-up, cash-starved campaign for Sound Transit 2 will be Internet-based and volunteer-driven.

Time for a bus-fare reality check

Posted Wed, Aug 6, 5 a.m.

By Matt Rosenberg

King County's Metro Transit service is under pressure from a surge in ridership and higher fuel costs. There are solutions to these problems, but they aren't painless, says this transportation analyst. Among other things, riders should be paying more — a lot more — and Metro should consider privatizing some routes.

A dramatic vote in favor of a rail transit plan

Posted Fri, Jul 25, 10 a.m.

The weight of 40 years of paralysis about transit planning played a role in the Sound Transit decision to try one more time to convince the voters of the need for more light rail.

The case for more rail transit

Posted Mon, Jul 14, 10 p.m.

By Ben Schiendelman

The region has tried a largely bus solution for 40 years, and by now the capacity flaws are apparent. If we are really serious about building density, we need to lay more rails.

Transit train wreck: Here's how to do buses right

Posted Wed, Jun 25, midnight

By Douglas MacDonald

They aren't the only solution, but they are the most flexible and potentially most attractive solution if they are used well. Bus lines are flexible, scalable, and can touch more people than rail, and they don't have to be a pain to use. Part 3 of 3

Transit train wreck: Revealing bus-route ridership

Posted Mon, Jun 23, 8 p.m.

By Douglas MacDonald

We've got buses going everywhere, and guess which routes are logging the biggest increases in ridership? Not the route that would become light rail to the Eastside suburbs. Part 2 of 3

Transit train wreck: The case against more light rail

Posted Sun, Jun 22, 10 p.m.

By Douglas MacDonald

The recent former state secretary of transportation has been riding buses a lot lately and crunching numbers, and he's convinced light rail to the Eastside and more Sounder service has no place in a big new transit plan. He thinks an advanced bus rapid transit system is the best way to serve millions of people and smartly manage urban growth. Part 1 of 3

Hurray for mass transit, but it's no silver bullet

Posted Mon, Jun 16, midnight

By Matt Rosenberg

For one thing, bus and rail ridership represents only a fraction of trips now, and that's not likely to radically change soon. A Seattle think tank believes a balanced approach is called for, accepting the fact single-occupancy vehicles will play a huge role in years to come.

Does Seattle work any more?

Posted Mon, Apr 28, 1 a.m.

By Charles Royer

A former mayor takes a critical look at Seattle's political culture, its past triumphs, and why it's so much harder today to make good decisions. One problem: We chew but do not swallow.

Traffic's so bad, we might actually be willing to pay a toll

Posted Tue, Mar 4, 5 a.m.

By Knute Berger

Puget Sound policy-makers have been taking the public pulse. Their surveys reveal that people are generally pessimistic about the future, frustrated with traffic, and willing to pay to cross Lake Washington in a car – as long as it's really cheap.

The last train to Hooterville

Posted Fri, Jan 18, 5 a.m.

By Knute Berger

If you're trying to get from the Cheesecake Factory to South Lake Union, this SLUT's for you.

Beyond Proposition 1: A new consensus is emerging

Posted Tue, Dec 18, 5 a.m.

By Ted Van Dyk

A group headed by Norm Rice and John Stanton is gathering allies for a more rational and practical approach to the region's transit needs. Both supporters and opponents of the failed Proposition 1 are part of the effort.

Has Seattle's dream for rail transit run its course?

Posted Thu, Dec 13, 5 a.m.

All the factors that made such a strong case for rail in 1968 are much weaker now. Jim Ellis, the architect of the dream, recalls how the crusade began and why Seattle seemed the perfect city for an extensive rail system.

Sizing up the Proposition 1 vote, precinct by precinct

Posted Wed, Dec 12, 5 a.m.

By Richard Morrill

Voters were resisting a plan that was Seattle-centric and premised on the expectation that most people would become affluent professionals working in dense urban settings. This skeptic of rail transit also suggests how to recraft the proposal.

That regional government we so desperately need is called a county council

Posted Tue, Nov 6, 5 a.m.

By Chris Vance

A brief history of King County government, and a question: Instead of creating a new regional transportation authority, as proposed in the Legislature, why not just empower our existing county councils to jointly convene?

A classic Seattle start-up story: Flexcar

Posted Wed, Oct 31, 7 p.m.

SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER

Neil Peterson, the man who built the downtown Metro bus tunnel, recounts how he got the disruptive idea for urban car-sharing and built a little company, which is now part of a nationwide firm.

Other media

Metro says communications were poor with City during snow days Testimony comes out in City Council hearings that once the buses were snarled there was little ability to adjust or inform the public.

SEATTLE TIMES

City Council starts grilling officials on snow clearance Director of Seattle's Department of Transportation admits coordination with Metro needs improving, and says city efforts on snow removal were adequate.

SEATTLE TIMES

City aggressively attacks latest snowstorm, even as it melts away Salt deployed for first time in a decade, as some parts of town get more than 4 inches of overnight snow.

Transit in Portland digests lessons from the big snow As in Seattle, bus service was slashed dramatically during the storm, leaving riders and drivers baffled.

OREGONIAN (PORTLAND)

Metro buses still on somewhat reduced schedule Crews need time to repair buses and clean up from all the snowstorm incidents.

SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER

Blog posts

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer and the crusade against I-985

Posted Thu, Oct 30, 11:40 a.m. 2008

The editorial board at the P-I has penned eight op-eds on why voters should reject Initiative 985, Tim Eyman's traffic congestion relief measure. Overkill? Apparently not — there's a new op-ed against I-985 on the way.

Microsoft: Loving its buses more and Sound Transit less

Posted Wed, Sep 24, 3 a.m. 2008

Now, we all know Microsoft was a big – like $200,000 big – supporter of Sound Transit's 2007 measure to expand light rail around Puget Sound. But as Mike Lindblom at The Seattle Times reported on Monday, the Redmond tech giant only plans to give $10,000 to the supporters of Proposition 1, this year's Sound Transit measure.

Sorry, Sound Transit. You are out of luck.

Sausage Links, budget deficit edition

Posted Mon, Sep 22, 1:38 p.m. 2008

David Goldstein at Horse's Ass wrote over the weekend – post gubernatorial debate – that "there is no state budget deficit," prompting me to wonder what the hell he was talking about. I thought, "Did I miss something?" As Democratic Gov. Chris Gregoire said in Saturday's gubernatorial debate, the state is currently generating a surplus. But it has been widely reported – even by Horse's Ass blogger Josh Feit – that the state faces a projected $3.2 billion deficit in the coming years. Gregoire even told The Seattle Times on Friday that she expects a deficit next year. So what gives? The folks at Washington Policy Center Blog put it another way:

Could a convention center work at Seattle Center?

Posted Tue, Sep 16, 11:09 p.m. 2008

Efforts to build a large expansion of Seattle's Convention Center are picking up steam, just as the economy loses power. At the coming session of the Legislature, lawmakers will look for projects that have immediate economic benefits. Doubling the state's Convention and Trade Center, as reported here earlier, can provide immediate construction jobs and pretty assured (and unionized) hotel and restaurant business. Moreover, the money to fund an expansion would come from visitor taxes (mostly on hotel rooms) and so wouldn't feel like a hit to taxpayers. What's proposed is a stand-alone meeting palace, about the size of the current Convention Center — thus moving Seattle into the serious mid-sized league for this business. Ah, but where?

Sausage Links, e-mails from Eyman edition

Posted Thu, Sep 11, 2:04 p.m. 2008

The past week must have been exciting for local balloteer Tim Eyman. First, the state Supreme Court appeared to side with Eyman when it heard arguments from Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown about the consitutionality of Initiative 960, last year's successful Eyman-sponsored measure requiring a two-thirds vote in both houses of the Legislature to raise taxes. Brown had hoped to get the court to directly address the issue, but observers said the justices weren't receptive to her arguments. Eyman sent out a press release later that day claiming victory. ...

Our Convention Center has growing pains

Posted Fri, Sep 5, 4:01 a.m. 2008

Seattle's Convention Center is taking a close look at expanding, perhaps at a different location. It might complicate the coming legislative session if it puts its hand in the state trough of money for tourism-related taxes. Also crowding around the trough are the Huskies, King County arts, Seattle Center, KeyArena, low-income housing, Puget Sound cleanup, and more. And the Convention Center might topple some other interesting transportation dominoes.

A cure for congestion that's simple and cheap (and doomed)

Posted Tue, Aug 19, 11 a.m. 2008

Most cures for congestion come in billion-dollar packages, since it's easier for politicians to evade hard choices by instead throwing lots of money at the problem. An example of a simple, cheap (but politically radioactive) cure for congestion is to start replacing curbside parking with lanes for buses, bikes, and pedestrians. A pithy case for doing just that, as New York is trying to do, is "No Parking, Ever'" by Hope Cohen, deputy director of Manahattan Institute's Center for Rethinking Development. It's full of common sense.

Seattle has a streetcar named Desired

Posted Fri, Aug 15, 3 p.m. 2008

Minneapolis is the latest city to develop Portland-envy and, thanks to the Portland-imitating Seattle Streetcar, a little Seattle-envy as well. Minneapolis is now considering a starter-streetcar line, with maybe six more to follow. Minnpost.com writer Steve Berg recently visited the Northwest cities, rode and praised the streetcars, and was "reminded again how far behind downtown Minneapolis has fallen."

Seattle, you ignorant SLUT

Posted Mon, Aug 11, 5 p.m. 2008

Oregonian columnist Steve Duin has fun feeling superior to Seattle, calling the Big Bad City to the North "a mass transit basket case." But he does find something to praise, even if he drips with condescension, and that's the Seattle Streetcar, fondly known as the SLUT. Duin likes the idea, a steal from Portland, of course, not because it's a serious transit solution but because the name is so funny.

Sausage Links, 'you'll shoot your Eyman out' edition

Posted Wed, Aug 6, 12:41 p.m. 2008