From The News Tribune: http://www.thenewstribune.com/2010/09/14/1340490/transit-board-hikes-fares.html Fares are rising $.25 to $2 for all classes of riders except for the elderly, disabled and youths. It is unfortunate fares had to rise, but in the current economic climate and with most state funding driven by sales taxes there was really no other options. Ben
From Tri-Met:http://www.pugetsoundtransportation.com/blog/wp-admin/post-new.php http://trimet.org/news/greenline-anniv.htm Tri-Met’s Green Line in Portland, Oregon turned one year old on the 12th. Having ridden this line earlier this summer I was impressed with the fact that every station South of Gateway had its own parking lot/garage. This is the way light rail should be designed: allow users from outside the city [...]
From The News Tribune: http://www.thenewstribune.com/2010/09/10/1335079/bridge-work-for-tacoma.html Over half of the pontoons needed to replace the SR 520 floating bridge could be manufactured on the Tacoma Tideflats. This would of course bring jobs to the region. As I have said before, this has already been done when the pontoons for the new I-90 floating bridge were cast [...]
http://www.americastransportationaward.org/voting.aspx Notice that Washington is on there… Ben
From The Seattle PI: http://blog.seattlepi.com/transportation/archives/220823.asp Seattle’s mayor wants to raise parking meter rates to help fill budget gaps and to free up more spaces downtown. While there is a budget crisis, there are some issues with this idea. Yes, there is a need to free up more short term parking downtown, but on the other [...]
From The Seattle Times: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2012845258_fastrail09m.html Secretary Ray LaHood says that any federally funded transit projects should use trains made in the US. I completely agree, except that much of the cutting-edge technology comes from Europe or Asia. With that said, we could license the technology or this may spur us to develop our own innovations [...]
From the Southwest Washington Regional Transportation Council: http://www.rtc.wa.gov/hct/ Site has proposals for high capacity transit in Vancouver/Clark County Washington, one of the fastest growing areas in the state. Current proposals involve primairly the use of Bus Rapid Transit, despite a world class rail system just across the Columbia River. Ben
WSDOT has several high speed rail projects in planning: Corridor Reliability South Repairs to the train line between Nisqually and the Columbia River. Advanced Signal System Upgrades to the signalling system to accept Positive Train Control in the future, necessary for high speed rail. All of these will benefit the planned Pacific Northwest Corridor. Having [...]
From KOMO TV: http://downtownseattle.komonews.com/content/city-program-direct-drivers-parking-garages-e-signs This system includes electronic signs to direct users to private garages in downtown Seattle. The signs will also show available spaces in such garages. This is very similar to systems in place in Europe. Ben
From The Seattle PI: http://www.seattlepi.com/local/425904_lawsuit31.html This lawsuit claims the Port of Seattle overstepped its authority in purchasing the Eastside Rail Corridor primarily to use as a bike trail. It will be interesting to see where this lawsuit goes, especially with more emphasis on using the corridor for commuter rail in the future. Ben