Reminders: To ensure there is enough space on trains, bikes and scooters are not allowed on trains on World Cup match days.

Local:

• What to expect during RapidRide I construction (Metro Matters)
• Everett Transit Annexation Would Level Up City’s Transit System, Mayor Says (The Urbanist)
• A Seattle Times reader wishes buses were quieter (The Seattle Times, $; free via SPL)
• 50 years later, one of Community Transit’s original buses hits the road again (CT News)
• Olympic College in Bremerton is piloting free transit passes for students (KT Headways)
• Data Backs Up Supportive ‘Housing First’ Model in Spite of Federal Attacks (The Urbanist).
• DESC’s Susan Byrnes opines Homelessness is a complex problem. Stop looking for a simple solution (The Seattle Times, $; free via SPL)
• Tacoma Sees 62% More Homes Enter Pipeline Following 2025 Zoning Overhaul (The Urbanist)
• Op-Ed: ‘Seattle Atlas’ Can Demystify Zoning, Build Case for More Housing (The Urbanist)
• A review of the impacts of the World Cup on Seattle and the region (CascadePBS)

Continue reading “Midweek Roundup: Level Up” | 6 comments

What are Barcelona superblocks (superilles) really like? What do they look like, how many people use them, and what do they do in them? Here’s an overview:

By CityFixer. Seattle is briefly mentioned at 9:30-9:41.

Some shorts on the superblocks: (1) Streetfilms overview, (2) a zen garden like effect with flat rock seats, (3) the Sant Antoni superblock.

Are there other general topics you’d like to see movies on? What has the Sunday Movie column not covered yet?

This is an open thread.

64 comments

Borrowing a phrase from Kirk Hovenkotter (Executive Director of Transportation Choices Coalition), today’s Roundtable is about tourist use of Seattle’s mass transit system.

On Monday, Seattle held its first FIFA Men’s World Cup match at “Seattle Stadium” (Lumen Field). Sound Transit, King County Metro, Community Transit, and Pierce Transit each boosted transit service to get tourists and match attendees in, out, and around Seattle as smoothly as possible with the massive influx of international football fans. Sound Transit was the first to announce almost record-setting ridership, estimating that June 15, 2026, was the third-highest ridership day in Link light rail history with 210,000 combined boardings on the Link 1 and 2 Lines, representing an over 37% boost from Link’s quickly-growing rider count.

Continue reading “Friday Roundtable: the world is riding Seattle transit” | 92 comments

Reminders: Seattle is hosting 5 more FIFA World Cup games over coming weeks. Keep an eye on your transit agency’s service alerts and be aware there may be crowds at unusual times. Bikes and scooters are banned from Link trains on game days.

This Friday, June 19, is Juneteenth, and Seattle hosting a match between the USA and Australia at noon. Despite the federal holiday, most transit services will operate on normal weekday schedules. Sound Transit offers ways to celebrate freedom, resilience, and the beautiful game.

Transit & Streets:

• Seattle World Cup’s biggest win: Pioneer Square pedestrian zone (KUOW).
• Meet the artist behind the limited-edition World Cup ORCA transit card (The Seattle Times, $)
• Sound Transit launches several upgrades as ‘Summer of Soccer’ begins (The Platform)
• Zahilay Rolls Out Updated Transit Plan, as Budget Woes Cloud Metro’s Future (The Urbanist). Also on Metro Matters.
• Op-Ed: Help Seattle Get the Frequent Transit Network We Deserve (The Urbanist; MASS Coalition op-ed cosigned by STB).
• Amtrak Cascades Speeds Up Trips from Vancouver, BC with Preclearance (The Urbanist).
• Sound Transit Says Reports of Ballard Link’s Demise Have Been Greatly Exaggerated (The Urbanist).
• King County Transportation District approves new sales tax in close vote (The Kent Reporter, soft $).
• Sound Transit is setting up a pop-up merch shop at International District Station Plaza during World Cup game days (The Platform).
• Tell SDOT what you think about the Pike Place Market vehicle barriers (SDOT Blog). Survey open until June 30.

Continue reading “Midweek Roundup: ‘Summer of Soccer’” | 47 comments

Reece Martin (RMTransit) resurfaces with a discussion with Dr Jonathan English on how process issues affect the quality of transit projects. They call it “engineering issues” vs “phone call issues”. Engineering issues are straightforward technical problems, like building Link on a floating bridge or a tunnel in dubious soil. Phone call issues are those where a phone call could fix the problem or reduce costs: a call between politicans or agencies or with environmental-impact stakeholders. It might be more than one call or another communication method or a series of meetings meetings, but a phone call is a nice symbolic image.

They look at the goods and bads of Toronto’s transit: the recent east-west subway/light rail lines — Eglington Crosstown (#5), Finch West (#6), Sheppard East (#4) — platform screen doors or short fences, streetcars, too-close stop spacing, or insufficient street priority or signal priority. They look at why these happen, and how a “phone call” could have made these better. They also posit that social media played a key role in getting politicians to commit to fixing the notorious Finch West line slowness. And also that proposing to fix a problem throughout the city can overcome opposition more than proposing one of the same fixes at a time in a few individual locations.

Continue reading “Bonus Movie: Process” | 19 comments

Three videos by J-Man Explores.

Riding all the Community Transit Swift lines in one day, with the history of each transit corridor. Swift is the limited-stop BRT in Snohomish County, 13-30 miles north of Seattle, serving Lynnwood and Everett and surrounding cities. Transfers from Link light rail are at Shoreline North/185th station and Lynnwood City Center station.

Seattle to Olympia and back with no backtracking. Southbound is via the Bainbridge ferry and rural bus routes in the west sound. Northbound is the usual way via I-5 express routes. (Olympia is 60 miles south of Seattle, the state capital and a small city. Tacoma is in between.)

Circumnavigating the Admirality Inlet. Where is Admirality Inlet? It’s on the west side of Whidbey Island between roughly Freeland and the Port Townsend-Coupeville ferry, and the corresponding east side of the Olympic Penninsula. In a 5-hour layover in Port Townsend he explores the town, an extra Jefferson Transit route and wooded trails, and meets deer.

The J-Man Explores channel also has many shorts ranking various transit routes.

We have a Transit to World Cup Events guide, and a Seattle for Visitors transit guide.

This is an open thread.

116 comments