IMO if Seattle plans its urban development well

[mhays25]

Originally Posted by MondoTime

“Seattle” has had exactly zero to do with “adding transit ridership”.


“Seattle” doesn’t even HAVE a transit system.


You seem wholly unaware that your “statement” is etched in stone here.


Furthermore there is zero comparison between anything done by any other municipality nation-wide and the central factors creating the effective mirage you report.

Shove LOTS of new people, nearly all with good jobs, into a long-steady infrastructure where the bus stop weather is almost never inhospitable, and of course idiots can pretend that the quest to eliminate one-person vehicle commutes is being won.

You’re a great example of why so many people were so eager to drink the Kool Aid in Guyana.

You're still not making sense.

First of all, Seattle voters did pass a Seattle-specific measure to fund more Metro transit.

Second, "Seattle" can mean the region, while also meaning the core municipality. I assumed that everyone here would get that.

[CrazyDonkey]

We've gone from the 40/40/20 allocation formula, imposed by a conservative suburban majority on the County Council, that for every new service hour added in Seattle, four service hours had to be added in the suburbs outside Seattle:

For the last decade, new bus service in King County was divided among three subareas according to the "40/40/20 rule". That meant 40 percent of new service would go to suburbs in east King County; 40 percent would go to south King County; and 20 percent would go to Seattle. Seattle received the lowest share of new service, despite having the highest ridership demand.

Cuts, however, were based on the current hours of service in each subarea. So, Seattle, which has the most bus routes and riders, took 60 percent of the reductions. The result is Seattle would lose the most bus service and when money was again available, the city would get the least back.

That would result in permanent cuts in high-demand urban neighborhoods, meaning crowded buses in the city, but more empty buses running with fewer passengers from outlying areas.

The rule was borne of a political compromise to get suburban cities to support taxes and funding for transit. At the time, Metro service was based on a "hub and spoke" system that didn't meet job and residential growth in the suburbs, County Councilmember Julia Patterson said. (6/15/2011)

https://www.seattlepi.com/local/tran...xx-1426253.php

What changed was that population growth in Seattle and increased urbanization in Bellevue and other county cities flipped the County Council from conservative to liberal, leading to replacing of the old rigid service guidelines with a new more dynamic and socially responsive service model, which focused on more efficiently responding to service demands and social needs.

When county voters as a whole voted to cut bus service to meet a projected revenue shortfall, Seattle voters turned around and voted by 59% to reverse the cuts and add service inside Seattle.

Service additions and changes on routes 7, 17, 18, 40, 50, 56, 57, 70, 106, RapidRide C Line, RapidRide D Line, and RapidRide E Line are being funded by the City of Seattle through the Seattle Transportation Benefit District, and Amazon. (9/22/2018)

https://kingcounty.gov/depts/transpo...ce-change.aspx

While Metro's switch from a "coverage" to a "frequency" model has caused some route cuts in Seattle (the #16 and #17, for instance), the bigger effects have been in the suburbs.

Conversely, "gentrification" and housing inflation is now driving many low- to middle-income workers and families not only out of Seattle, but, in many cases, entirely outside the county, from transit-rich to transit-poor areas, replacing in-city commutes with far-flung commutes from the boonies (in Pierce, Snohomish, and Kitsap Counties). The primary response to this has been the low-income fares (ORCA LIFT) on Metro Transit, Kitsap Transit, and Sound Transit, but not on Pierce, Community (Snohomish), or Everett Transit, as well as Metro's elimination of "zone" fare surcharges. They can look forward to Link light rail reaching Tacoma and Everett in 2030 and 2036. For those who've been forced to Bremerton or Port Orchard, they've got the WSF "prison barges".