If this city had a decent public transit system... (Seattle: home, tax)

[argo69]

If this city had a decent public transit system this whole driving in bad weather question would be a moot point for many. While there are a number of major cities in the U.S without comprehensive non-bus public transit systems (Los Angeles, San Diego, Atlanta, Dallas, Austin, etc.) they are all in warm, sunny, sun belt areas that never get dangerously icy, snowy weather. I think of all the northern cities (San Francisco, New York, Chicago, Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver, Boston...heck even our southern neighbor Portland) and they all have extensive public transit of the non-bus variety EXCEPT Seattle! Tonight I got to walk home because there was a line of buses all stranded trying to make it up Pine to 15th Ave. E on Capitol Hill...other buses, packed like sardines simply whizzed by downtown with no more room to accept passengers.

As for the weather itself, I'm actually enjoying it...

[Under The Clouds]

I agree with argo69--transit in this region is second-rate compared to other cities.

Case in point is what happened today with all of the sudden, chaotic cancelations. Route No. 10 up to 15th from 1st Avenue was canceled today, but you wouldn't have learned that if you had checked first with the website. Metro's website listed the No. 10 as being on Snow Route, but still running. The problem is there is no snow route listed for the 10, either on the website or the pre-printed schedules. The only reason I confirmed that this was an error was because I called Metro to ask for directions to catch the bus along the Snow Route. Bottom line is that anyone needing the catch the 10 was out of luck, and the website only compounded that by providing bad information.

As for tomorrow, I was told to call back just before I leave for work to check whether the bus is running. Imagine being told to do this for a subway or other rail-based system.

[argo69]

Ah, so THAT'S why there were no 10's running East from downtown this afternoon. I waited and waited and finally grabbed a 43 which ended up being re-routed as a 49.

[Galounger]

f this city had a decent public transit system this whole driving in bad weather question would be a moot point for many. While there are a number of major cities in the U.S without comprehensive non-bus public transit systems (Los Angeles, San Diego,Atlanta, Dallas, Austin, etc.) they are all in warm, sunny, sun belt areas that never get dangerously icy, snowy weather. I think of all the northern cities (San Francisco, New York, Chicago, Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver, Boston...heck even our southern neighbor Portland) and they all have extensive public transit of the non-bus variety EXCEPT Seattle! Tonight I got to walk home because there was a line of buses all stranded trying to make it up Pine to 15th Ave. E on Capitol Hill...other buses, packed like sardines simply whizzed by downtown with no more room to accept passengers.



Ok. there's no way Atlanta's MARTA rail system can compete with Chicago, D.C., BART, or even Boston's system. But, for a city it's size Atlanta is actually way ahead of most of it's rivals and even L.A.s rail system when it comes to size and ridership. The problem is it's not allowed by different opposing forces to grow.

Many people don't know all this and a lot more even exist in Atlanta.

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[tada]

This city can't commit to anything fully. That's its problem. It does just enough to offset the "oh, xxxx city has worse yyyy than Seattle" but not enough to be great.

[Jennibc]

Do you think the city cannot commit to anything fully or that it is so beholden to process and "consensus" that nothing ever gets done because it is impossible to please everyone. That is my chief complaint about this area's local government, it spends so much money and time on meetings and studies that it burns through our tax dollars while delivering little.

These past eight years living here have really changed my mind about what kind of role government is capable of taking on. If you can believe it, living in Seattle has actually turned me into a small government conservative (although I refuse to align myself with the republican party because of its stance on social issues and foreign policy, so I am now a libertarian leading independent whereas I used to identify as a liberal leaning independent) My first 10 years here, my job didn't put me into any kind of contact with local government so I could be blissfully ignorant of how screwy things were and could consider myself a liberal.

[509]

Originally Posted by Jennibc

Do you think the city cannot commit to anything fully or that it is so beholden to process and "consensus" that nothing ever gets done because it is impossible to please everyone. That is my chief complaint about this area's local government, it spends so much money and time on meetings and studies that it burns through our tax dollars while delivering little.

Maybe we can get the Legislature to commission a study on why nothing gets done in Seattle.

Actually, a lot gets done in Seattle. Particularly if the entire state of Washington pays for it and it is NOT important. Look at those fine stadiums.

[Ira500]

So true, 509...They will act quickly and with almost no process at all if it serves the very wealthy. The stadiums are one example, the South Lake Union streetcar ( Paul Allen town) is another, the Art Museum's sculpture park ( Bill Gates' stepmom is the executive director) is another, but otherwise, they find it very important to have a public process which goes on forever, has subcommittees and task forces and blue ribbon panels, and years later make sure to make the dumbest but most expensive decision imaginable.

[blondandfun]

The only viable option for rail in Seattle would be a North/South Line. The elevation difference between East and West Seattle is far to great for a train to be viable. They'd have to build a very tall escalator down into rock in Capitol Hill to reach an elevation equal or slightly above a downtown station.

Seems like the population spread is more North/South anyways. I think they should put in rail that goes around Queene Anne hill definitely, the elevation is fairly flat on the east side of the hill.

Atlanta is a different story. We're one of the most important inland ports in the country, and our location was established because its the first stretch of flat land south of the Appalacian mountains. We've always been big on transportation. Every city has its ups and downs. I would rather walk/ride a bike If I lived in seattle anyways... just imagine it here, it's impossible to bike anywhere in Atlanta.

[MaikeerinWA]

It's not just a city of Seattle issue. Mass transit solutions require cooperation with other governments, just like with the aforementioned BART, which is much more than just San Francisco (SF does have its own "muni rail" that connects to BART and buses). At least two-thirds of King County residents live in the 'burbs, after all.

It's far from the final answer, but I'll be interested to see how the rail elements of the passed "Proposition 1" bill work out.