Tag Archives: public transit

RapidRide G arrives with ambitious public transit goals — and plenty of hiccups over Madison’s new buses, stops, signs, and signals — UPDATE

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With reporting by Hannah Saunders

The new RapidRide G stretching 2.5 miles along Madison Street from the waterfront to Madison Valley via First Hill and Capitol Hill is unprecedented in the city’s rollout of a growing alphabet of “bus rapid transit” lines. The first days of service across the line’s special coaches, dedicated lanes, center loading passenger islands, and coordinated signaling has been an illustration in the challenges of doing new things in the big city.

Starting with Saturday’s launch, the promise of 6-minute service and smooth rides through the corridor has mostly been out of reach due to early hiccups around signal and signage coordination, collisions, and delays due to mechanical failures and operator challenges with the new coaches.

King County Metro says it is responding to early issues though it also referred some questions about signalling to the Seattle Department of Transportation.

UPDATE: “This is the first RapidRide line with six-minute headways and, as we expected, our operators continue to gain experience with our scheduled operations and maneuvering with the varying traffic conditions along the route,” a Metro spokesperson said in a statement

Metro calls the line’s start a success despite the issues and says it is working with SDOT to address the signal priority issues.

Metro says the new or upgraded signals along the route along with a special signal at the terminal to ensure buses start their routes smoothly will continue to be adjusted.

“Metro and SDOT staff are working to resolve any issues as they come up,” the spokesperson said. “SDOT is currently updating signal timings along Madison Street and at the intersection with Martin Luther King Jr Way. SDOT will keep monitoring and adjusting these signals to improve traffic flow for both buses and general traffic in the coming weeks.”

The full statement from Metro appears at the end of this post.

Other issues also have added up in the growing pains around the newly launched $144 million line that includes bus service 10 new stations between 1st Ave and MLK Jr Way operating from 5:00 AM to 4:00 AM daily with a bus every six minutes between 6 AM and 7 PM Monday through Saturday.

The growing RapidRide system’s arrival on Madison is hoped to optimize an area that was already served by a tangle of Metro routes in neighborhoods unlikely to be connected to Sound Transit’s light rail network anytime soon.

Some issues are small in comparison to the ambitions of the new line. One Rapid G Line bus driver with a year of experience under their belt, for example, told CHS the protocol on the new route requires they switch drivers every time at the end of the route — just one of the many new steps and procedures slowing performance on the new line during the launch.

“It could be worse,” the driver said. Continue reading →

Study: The air on Seattle’s trains and buses is safe — and likely to contain meth and fentanyl

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(Image: Sound Transit)

A University of Washington study of Seattle public transit in response to concerns about potential health risks to operators and riders found methamphetamine and fentanyl use is rampant on the city’s trains and buses but transit agencies say the results show it is safe to ride with “drug levels detected on public transportation extremely low.”

“Researchers detected methamphetamine in 98% of surface samples and 100% of air samples, while fentanyl was detected in 46% of surface and 25% of air samples,” the UW researchers report. “One air sample exceeded federal recommendations for airborne fentanyl exposure at work established by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.”

“No similar guidelines exist for airborne methamphetamine,” the summary notes. Continue reading →

This time, the goodbye to Capitol Hill’s Metro Route 47 looks permanent

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By Cormac Wolf — CHS Reporting Intern

Route 47, the storied ride along Summit and Bellevue Ave on Capitol Hill’s western slope, was shuttered during the pandemic. Now it seems likely King County Metro will restore service to the dense neighborhood, but without the 47. It’s hard to find anyone upset by the probable change.

As CHS reported earlier this month, Metro is shifting buses around in anticipation of the coming RapidRide G line on E Madison. They’re currently soliciting public opinion on whether to lend more buses to routes 10, 11, 12, and 49 (option A), or extend route 3 to include route 47’s old territory (option B). Option B would essentially revive route 47, serving Summit Slope residents every half hour.

We reached out to several community groups aiding riders to see what their consensus on the choice is and asked around about the line. We didn’t find much enthusiasm about saving the 47.

Central Seattle Greenways, the contingent of Seattle Neighborhood Greenways which works in Capitol Hill, was split on the potential options. Continue reading →

Seattle Commute Survey reveals new habits for workers on Mondays and Fridays and why we still have so much traffic even with everyone ‘working from home’

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(Image: King County Metro)

An annual survey of commuting habits in Seattle updated to capture new information about how the city’s residents have changed their commuting habits since the pandemic reveals insights about major changes in the work week, working remotely, and why we still have so much motor vehicle on the streets and highways even with so much work taking place in online meetings and by email.

First run in 2010, this year’s survey from the Mobility Innovation Center at the University of Washington and Commute Seattle provides new insights into the travel choices and patterns of workers and reveals simple takeaways like Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday commutes now differing significantly from Monday and Friday. Midweek, more workers physically commute to their workplaces, while on Mondays and Fridays, teleworking is more common. 39% of people in the Center City telework on Tuesday and Wednesday, while 57% telework on Friday.

There are more complicated — and more frustrating — takeaways. The survey shows that driving alone to work during peak hours in the Center City has declined since 2019. In that year, the rate was 26%, which fell to 25% in 2021 and 21% in 2022. However, transit use has slightly rebounded, with respondents reporting 22% public transit use in 2022, up from 18% in 2021. Nevertheless, transit use remains far below pre-pandemic levels, with 46% using public transit in 2019. Continue reading →

Pike Pine Renaissance pulls back on transformation of Capitol Hill corridors to downtown

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The Pike Pine Renaissance plans wider sidewalks and concrete bike lane barriers on Pine Street over I-5

The Pike Street bridge over I-5 won’t be able to handle expanded sidewalks or concrete bike lane barriers

By Ryan Packer

Seattle’s waterfront remains a heavy construction zone as work progresses on the long-planned multi-lane boulevard and adjoining park, but a piece of the overall Waterfront Seattle project that gets much closer to Capitol Hill hasn’t broken ground yet.

The Pike Pine Renaissance project envisions streetscape changes to Pike and Pine Streets between 1st Avenue and Bellevue Ave, with the one-way street configuration in downtown extended all the way up the hill to Bellevue. Sidewalks in several areas will be expanded. The gaps between the existing protected bike lanes will be filled in, with the bike lane barriers beefed up with more solid and durable materials. That’s the original vision, at least, and the one that was reviewed by the city’s design commission last year when the project reached 30% design on its way to planned construction in fall of 2022.

But in the latest plans obtained from the city at the 60% level of design, a key segment of the project has been scaled back. While the wider sidewalks and concrete barriers for the bike lane are still planned for the I-5 overpass on Pine Street, the overpass on Pike Street is no longer planned as much of a makeover. Instead of concrete, the barricades look to be something like plastic posts only.

Ethan Bergerson of the Seattle Department of Transportation explained the reason for the change. Continue reading →

New and improved trains now, new connections soon as Capitol Hill Station readies for riders to return

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Sound Transit is showing off the first of its $642.5 million fleet of new and improved light rail vehicles as it gears up for the opening of its latest expansion connecting to Northgate via the University District this fall.

Friday’s first service run of the “spanking new” Series 2 vehicle, Sound Transit CEO Peter Rogoff said, was “a glorious day for advancing, safe, clean, and efficient mass transportation throughout the Puget Sound Region.”

While still seating around 70 passengers, the new vehicles are designed to be more accessible, with larger windows, more bag and storage space, and have more room for bikes with hooks doubled from two to four.

Sound Transit has announced October 2nd for the start of service on its Northgate Link light rail expansion that will open up the great northlands of Seattle including the University District, Roosevelt, and Northgate to riders from Capitol Hill Station and beyond. The opening will mean Capitol Hill rider visiting Brooklyn in only a-few-minutes ride.

With the Northgate link’s completion, Sound Transit says it is entering “an exciting period of opening major light rail extensions every year through 2024, nearly tripling the region’s light rail system from 22 miles to 62 miles.” The COVID-19 crisis, however, has slowed some progress and put some of Sound Transit’s future light rail plans in jeopardy. Continue reading →

Seattle making plans to set a minimum rate for services like Uber, Lyft

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Ride sharing has faced a few bumps in its approach to the rider-rich streets of Seattle

Having already led the way on the $15 minimum wage, Seattle is poised to set a minimum rate for car services like Uber and Lyft. The Seattle City Council approved Monday a resolution that will put City Hall on a crash course studying the so-called “transportation network companies” industry in an effort to better understand the possible impacts of forcing a minimum pay rate for drivers.

Monday’s resolution sets a proposed price point of $2.40 for a minimum base fare for TNC rides in Seattle — the companies currently charge a $1.35 minimum. Before Monday’s vote, Uber and Lyft drivers and customers spoke against regulation and what they said was union-driven interference in the industry. Council president Bruce Harrell went off script to forcefully deny that the Teamsters Union is driving Seattle’s effort. Continue reading →

‘The Impatient Mayor’ — Durkan talks jobs, education, and housing in first State of the City address

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Mixed in with strong statements on massive social issues and a look ahead at possible economic issues on the horizon, Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan focused on three pillars for new initiatives in her first State of the City address Tuesday: jobs, education, and housing affordability.

“We believe we are all better off when prosperity is shared and is not just for the few,” Durkan said.

In her speech delivered at Rainier Beach High School, Durkan got the biggest round of applause for her new proposal to give free, year-round Orca transportation passes to all 15,000 high school students in the Seattle Public School system. Passes are currently provided by SPS to high school students who live farther than 2 miles from school and to about 3,000 income-eligible middle school and high school students. By fall, Durkan’s plan calls for King County Metro and the Seattle Department of Transportation to fund the new program. UPDATE: To clarify, the new initiative would fund cards for about 7,000 students not currently covered by the other programs.

Durkan also touted her Seattle Promise proposal to provide graduating Seattle public high school graduate free tuition to state community and technical colleges. Continue reading →

Public comment opens for Madison RapidRide G environmental review

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An important period of public comment has begun in the process to shape King County Metro’s Madison RapidRide G line for a planned start of service in 2021.

The State Environmental Policy Act comment period for the planned transformation of the bus lines on Madison across First Hill, the Central District, and Capitol Hill into “Bus Rapid Transit” runs through March 1st after Seattle Department of Transportation planners have completed their environmental review of the proposals and issued a Determination of Non-Significance (PDF) for the project.

Here’s the announcement from Metro: Continue reading →

Metro wants feedback on simplifying fares

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If you have an ORCA card supplied by your employer, sorting out what you’re going to pay to ride a Metro bus is pretty simple. But, for the rest of us, King County’s fare system is, as the Seattle Transit Blog says, unfair and complex.

Metro is rolling out a survey to help shape a proposal planned to get in front of the county council by June. You can add your thoughts in the first planned survey here by April 7th. You can read what the experts at STB have to say about the plan and what is behind the effort to change the system here:

The background materials presented to the Advisory Committee convened for this project show that Metro is primarily focused on two goals: in the short term, potential elimination of zone and peak surcharges, and in the longer term, moving gingerly toward cashlessness and/or universal off-board payment. Please take the survey, and we’ll keep you updated with additional feedback opportunities as the project progresses. You may also email comments to Metro’s DeAnna Martin.

Given the tight turnaround time to get the proposal in front of the King County Council, a second survey on options for how to best shape a new fare structure will follow in April.

Metro is also holding public meetings on the fare review. The next is April 4th at King Street Station from 3:30 to 5:30 PM.

You can learn more at kingcounty.gov.