Results tagged “soundtransit”

The folks at Sound Transit must be in good spirits this week--the lowest construction bid for the University Link tunnel was $20 million lower than Sound Transit's original estimate.

Link light rail is again visiting the Westlake station in the bus tunnel. Sound Transit got the "signal system" problem under control at about 11 p.m. last night. For riders complaining about the lack of information, set yourself up with a subscription to ST alerts. And then be nice and tell everyone else without a smart phone what's going on.

    

We departed Seattlest world headquarters at 12th and John Street at 11:49 and landed at SeaTac at 12:45. Our trip included a ride on the #10 bus to Westlake, a light rail ride from Westlake Center to Tukwila, and a shuttle bus from the Tukwila station to the airport. For speedphiles, the actual train trip ride from Westlake to Tukwila was 34 minutes. It was also 34 minutes last Friday. It will probably be 34 minutes next week.

Over the weekend and again this morning, a bug has been affecting Link light rail's ticketing system, telling aggrieved would-be riders no soup for you "transaction canceled." Bummer.

    

None of Seattle's typical "too cool for school" stand-offishness. Tens of thousands of cheerful riders, oohing and cooing, tweeting and twittering along SoundTransit's light rail line. Dozens of staffers in dayglo green shirts directed (human) traffic, and the trains (speedy, quiet) ran every ten minutes or so, tunneling under Beacon Hill and emerging high above MLK in Mt. Baker. (Big crowds expected at the Stadium station, where the MLS Sounders played Chelsea.)

KOMO reports this week on the heart-wrenching tale of Nick and Marilyn Papini, long time Beacon Hill residents who are suffering the "big scar" of Sound Transit's new power lines now crossing their view of downtown Seattle. "My heart sank when I saw this," said Marilyn Papini. "It's like a big scar." For more than 50 years, the couple has enjoyed a picturesque view from their home. In one afternoon it was taken away.

             

The trains will open with service from Westlake to Tukwila on July 18. It will be free to ride on the 18th and 19th with paid service starting on Monday, July 20. The base ticket price will be $1.75 with a .05-cent increase with every mile. When the Tukwila to SeaTac section opens in December, it will cost $2.25 from Westlake to the airport. Trains come about every 7.5 minutes during peak times, and every 15 minutes otherwise.

                  

Employees of Sound Transit were understandably filled with a certain pride yesterday morning as they showed off the new light rail operations and maintenance center for the collected media.

Last night we dropped in at the Seattle Transit Blog meet-up, and ran into Sound Transiteers Andrew and Rebecca, who were filling us in on their crowd control preparations for the July 18 opening of the Westlake-Tukwila light rail line.

Yesterday Sound Transit invited "news media" to take a preview of the 14-mile light rail trip to Tukwila and back--the last segment to the airport won't open until next January. We weren't invited, so we're poaching the Seattle Times video of the big moment.

Pulling into Westlake Station in the bus tunnel this morning, our driver announces over the speakers, "Gonna be a train in here on Monday morning. Should be interesting." We look around at one another and laugh a little. Driver then says, "I give it no more than thirty days before we have a bus-train incident."

We got a postcard on Saturday that there's a "Restaurant, Retailing & Business Seminar" today at 3 p.m. at Seattle Central Community College for businesses around the Capitol Hill light rail station. "Come learn proven techniques to increase sales and profits," it says, and is co-sponsored by the Capitol Hill Chamber of Commerce. Two restaurant consultants, a retail consultant, and an HR executive will be there to talk about taking orders over the noise from the backhoe...uh...branding and reducing employee theft.

Asphalt 'n' Anarchy Edition: What would you do, CHS asks, with three acres of asphalt that will be exposed temporarily as Sound Transit makes way for a light rail station on Broadway? Being an an anarchist, you probably want to turn it into a free store like this one. What's that? You only look like an anarchist? Then PhinneyWood suggests you head to tonight's audition for The Anarchists Songbook, an opera about Seattle's WTO protests. If you live in Wallingford, odds are you're a fauxhemian Marxist, and you already know about tonight's art reception at Hiroki in Tangletown. Green tea tiramisu for the people!

[ED. NOTE: Seattle Transit Blog strongly disagrees with Brad's characterization of their conclusions. They did some back-of-the-envelope figuring based on Brad's premise, with the intent of downsizing his initial estimate of the possible tax error. They are not interested, apparently, in the looking into the situation further: "But a figure in the low tens of millions of dollars is serious money, enough to do a freeway ramp or other practical project. I’d rather use that money to build a project they participated in the vote for than attempt to reconstruct 12 years of purchase records."]

We love the bus. We ride it whenever we can. We try to convince our friends, family, and neighbors to ride the bus. We even offered favors to our girlfriend if she would start riding the 41 from her Northgate crib to her downtown office. (She declined; we broke up. Draw your own conclusions.)

• Burien is busy branding--and the city is using très fancy technology to do so. B-Town Blog posted the latest video and offered a bullet-point summary of the very nice branding elements you will see, should you choose to spend minutes of your life watching a YouTube about all the wonders Burien has to offer.
• PhinneyWood would like you to donate your watches to charity via Jody Laine of the Tiempo Watch and Clock Shop. Why not? You probably use your cell phone for time-keeping already, anyway.
• Care for some Irish Knockers? Why, yes, thank you for asking! Magnolia Voice had the skinny on the new menu at Mulleady's, including photos of the restaurant's interior (they have a very inviting fireplace!).

Thank you all for participating in our Seattlest Vote 2008 Polls over the last week! Though the polls were informal, they still give us a fairly good reading on how the Seattlest community will be voting today.

The Seattle Times says Sound Transit Proposition 1 "retards our economy" and "hurts the poor" by boosting Washington's sales tax to 9.5%, an unconscionable hike when "most people don't want to get out of their cars." The Stranger says Prop. 1 is a great idea, and "If you think $69 is a lot to spend on transit in tough economic times, think about what you've been paying for gas lately." King County Exec Ron Sims is opposed and would prefer that we wait until 2010. But what do you think? Yea or nay to Sound Transit Proposition 1? (More info about Prop. 1 here.) This poll closes at noon tomorrow, and as always, comments are more than welcome.

Still undecided about transit measure Proposition 1 on the ballot this year? Not sure about the light rail? Here's some food for thought: A Denver real estate study has revealed property values of homes closer to a new light rail line have actually increased while the remainder of the market has declined markedly: "Homes near light rail stations along the southeast line, which opened in November 2006, have increased by an average of nearly 4 percent over the past two years, according to an analysis by Your Castle Real Estate. But the rest of the Denver market declined an average of 7.5 percent."

Yesterday, we looked up at the clock tower and noticed we had just enough time to duck in for coffee before heading off to...Wait a minute! We what!?!

In a SurveyUSA poll conducted for KING-TV, 49 percent of likely voters in the Sound Transit district say they are voting yes on Proposition 1--and if the undecideds are asked to decide, the number voting for Prop. 1 grows to a landslide-y 65 percent. People really want those extra 100,000 express bus hours, the expansion of Sounder Commuter Rail, and 36 miles of new light rail.

We know how bad this whole crashing economy is. Really, we do. But every cloud has a silver lining, and we're pretty sure the sparkle you can see just past today's bankrupt financial giants and tanked WAMU stock is increased transit ridership translating into more routes and added runs on existing routes so you don't have to drive (or pay for gas) anymore.

Sound Transit completed its first test runs of the long-awaited Light Rail system on MLK Way in the Rainier Valley yesterday. Sound Transit's first run-through was done at "walking speed," which we assume is considerably slower than the max of 35mph the trains will go, to ease area drivers and pedestrians into sharing the road. Originally, Sound Transit had hoped their first run would be at full speed and with traffic, but they wisely decided to take the first trip slowly.

The Seahawks today announced that the popular park-and-ride shuttle buses to Qwest Field for home all home games have been eliminated, due to the Bush Administration's efforts to privatize public transportation. In April, the Federal Transportation Administration forced teams to seek private bids for all previously negotiated contracts with local transit agencies. What is not clear is why the Hawks aren't able to continue the Metro service since the only private bid was deemed incomplete. This was the case with this year's similar Mariners shuttle service, which was also threatened by the ruling. According to the News-Tribune report, the Seahawks are recommending fans should consider taking regular ST and Metro bus service, as well as Sounder. But a news release from Sound Transit yesterday announced that Sounder will not serve the preseason games. Left hand, meet right hand. Please. *****Update: According to an email sent to all Seahawk season ticket-holders this afternoon, ALL park-and-ride shuttles have been eliminated this season. Sigh.

Just in time for the hot weather, the Everett AquaSox announce the return of "Buhner Buzz Night". Fans arriving before Friday night's game vs. the Tri-City Dust Devils can have their head shaved by the former Mariner rightfielder. The AquaSox are perennially one of the summer's best deals, with the best seats in the house costing only $15 each. Add in reasonable concession prices and a really bus-friendly location, and we are sold. Game time Friday is 7:05 p.m.

Not only will you be voting for a new president in November (finally!), but a few new measures have been added to the local ballot.

Transit in Seattle has its challenges. (Yes, operator of the 554 who thought it would be a good idea on Friday to pull your half-full rig next to another bus at the Eastgate Park-and-Ride and then complain back and forth with the other driver for five minutes about your shifts getting changed due to school being out while Seattlest sweltered a few rows back in the ad-wrapped, ventilation-free, four-wheeled saucepan, yes, we are most certainly talking to YOU. You ran two stops signs later, but we digress.)

The great folks at Seattle Transit Blog tipped us to this month's yet another audit conducted on Sound Transit. Independent auditor KPMG LLP gave the agency high marks. Since the corrupt private sector is naturally suspect, we're glad that this week's audit comes on the heels of a previous one released in January by State Auditor Brian Sonntag.

Yesterday afternoon we were trying to jaywalk across 15th when a #10 bus pulled up. We walked past it, hoping to use it for blocking. Another #10 bus pulled up.

The first thing that struck us about the 3.15-mile, $1.6 billion project that is the University Link light rail line is that it will have half of the projected ridership of the 16-mile Central Link line. Kinda makes us think they should have started with the U District - Capitol Hill part first. As it is, the Central Link goes online in 2009, University Link in 2016.