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Seattle is a city of relatively dense neighborhood nodes sprawled across a fairly large area with numerous dead zones in-between.
In other words, it is a city that is ripe and desparate for a good public transit system, which it doesn not have.
Yes, it has one of the better bus systems in the country, but bus can only do so much.
Its light rail system is one of the nicest in the country in terms of ROW with several tunnels and sections that elevate above traffic. Really, it feels viscerally more like lower-capacity BART than a light rail system a la Portland or Salt Lake City...
BUT Seattle light rail doesnt really go anywhere yet besides the airport. Central Link goes through low density neighborhoods in the city's generally forgotten southeastern section. Once you leave the Pioneer Square/Stadium/ID stations, there isnt much one would want to stop at except for Columbia City, which is one of the coolest, more walkable and urban parts of the city. Beacon Hill and Othello interesting, but really, not too much there.
The real vibrant neighborhoods Seattle needs to connect: Capitol Hill, U-District, Queen Anne, Ballard, West Seattle, Fremont, Central District, Phinney/Greenwood, etc. (these neighborhoods make up the life-blood of the city) will only be partially connected once Central Link is expanded to Capitol Hill, U-District, and Roosevelt.
This leaves out the numerous vibrant and vital neighborhoods on the Western side of the city. Even with the ambitious plans Sound Transit has for light rail to Lynnwood via Northgate by 2020-something, completely leaves out neighborhoods like Belltown, Queen Anne, Fremont, Ballard, Phnney/Greenwood, West Seattle, etc. This is why Seattle has poor public transportation and why, even with current plans, it is far away from being a truly connected city.
Its nowhere close to going to most of the neighborhoods where people live. Capitol Hill and U-District is a start, but to be honest, I feel like the Belltown/Queen Anne/Ballard/Fremont/Greenlake/Wallingford/U-District connection is of far more importance. Once these areas are connected via rail transit, Seattle will feel like a real city. Yet, there are currently no plans for that to happen.
I couldn't agree more. North of the ship canal, Seattle has some of its most walkable, exciting, and interesting neighborhoods, yet most of them feel like islands if you're not in a car.
That day that I can hop on the light rail in Ballard and get to Fremont, Greenlake, Phinney/Greenwood, Wallingford, and the U-District, Seattle will have transformed into a truly world-class city.
In all honesty, Ive never seen a city with such developed, pedestrian frienly neighborhoods that completely lack good public transit.
The TOD is right there in numerous nodes across the city--they need to be connected!
After losing over half of its population, Detroit still has over 6,000 per square mile. There also intact, dense neighborhoods just outside (Ferndale, Royal Oak, Grosse Pointes) and within (hamtramck) the city.
That being said, Seattle is currently more urban.
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