August 2020 Newsletter

It’s no surprise that this year TCC is taking our annual fundraising dinner virtual! Join us Friday, October 2nd at 6:00 PM PST for the Transit for All, Answer the Call! It will be a creative, fun virtual gathering together to raise funds and most importantly bring the transportation community together when we need it the most!

Transportation Hall of Fame nominations!

Do you know a transportation champion in your community who is committed to making transportation choices accessible to all? Is there a transit agency, organization, or program you know that has influenced transportation in Washington State or connected you to more opportunities?

Take a moment to nominate the people, projects, and agencies that inspire you to walk, bike, and take transit! We will announce Transportation Hall of Fame inductees at our Transit For All: Answer the Call event!

Nominate Today

What’s new

Seattle bus service measure headed to the ballot in November. The proposal would support additional transit service, route improvements, and programs that offer transit passes to students, people with low incomes and essential workers. (Seattle Times)

Cantwell announces $5 million for Washington Ferries. Ferries will receive $5 million in federal funding to make critical upgrades on two passenger ferries. (Cantwell)

SDOT seeks cheap ways to protect neighborhoods from traffic detoured by West Seattle Bridge closure. City staff and advocacy groups wonder how to make the overflow less miserable, not only for drivers from the peninsula who detour 6 miles heading downtown, but for people in South Park, Georgetown, Roxhill and Highland Park. (Seattle Times)

Group to push new passenger rail from Spokane even as study finds significant obstacles. You head downtown in the morning, hop on a train, pass through Pasco, Toppenish, Yakima, Cle Elum and Auburn, and arrive in Seattle by the early afternoon. (Spokesman Review)

New Pierce Transit runner will service Tacoma waterfront in August. The Runner will provide people who live, work and play on the Tacoma waterfront a link to fixed route transit and a quick and car-free way to access many waterfront businesses. (Suburban Times)

WSDOT to give lanes back to people on state roads. The prevalence of state-owned roads in city centers has long been a stumbling block to network-wide transportation changes — and COVID-19 has been no exception. (Streetsblog)

Sound Transit officially breaks ground on Federal Way Link. The $3.1 billion project includes three new stations near Kent/Des Moines, South 272nd Street and the Federal Way Transit Center. Watch the video. (Bellevue Reporter)

Bellingham transportation measure heads to the ballot. Bellingham voters will be asked to renew a tax for citywide transportation projects. (Bellingham Herald) 

Next stop

Virtual event: Reclaiming spaces and places. Join urbanists and community leaders for a 2-day event of virtual learning and exchange. (NextCity)

Event: Debunking the density myth. When New York emerged as the site of the initial COVID-19 outbreak in the US, pundits and politicians quickly pointed to the city’s density – tall apartment buildings and packed subway cars – as the primary source of the spread. Yet there is little evidence to support this connection (TransitCenter)

Online open house: Sound Transit SR 522/NE 145th Stride Bus Rapid Transit project. Learn about design updates to project. (Sound Transit)

Survey: West Seattle to Ballard light rail guiding principles. Sound Transit is building 14 new light rail stations with service to West Seattle in 2030 and Ballard in 2035. To help guide City decisions, weigh in on these guiding principles and objectives. (SDOT)

Webinar: Walking towards justice in Indian Country: Missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls. Webinar participants will learn how the dark history of colonialization, complex jurisdictional issues, and racialized indifference have created the circumstances in which these crimes are regularly perpetrated and rarely prosecuted. (AmericaWalks)

Watch: Tribal Transportation. Did you miss TCC’s last transit chat? Watch the recording here.

Watch: A conversation with Dr. Destiny Thomas. Thomas discusses dignity-infused community engagement, thrivance (helping people heal from environmental trauma), and the importance of removing “enforcement” and “punishment” from our public institutions. (AmericaWalks)

What we’re reading

Is the subway risky? It may be safer than you think. New studies in Europe and Asia suggest that riding public transportation is not a major source of transmission for the coronavirus. (New York Times)

How to stay safer on mass transit. Timing your trip strategically, using contactless payments and not eating onboard are some of the things to keep in mind. (New York Times)

COVID-19 has been ‘apocalyptic’ for public transit. Will Congress offer more help? Public transit is the backbone of the local economy, and serves a wide swath of residents across socio-economic groups. If cities are to recover post-COVID, a thriving public transit system will surely have to be part of the mix. (TIME Magazine)

Berkeley moves toward removing police from traffic stops. Berkeley is moving ahead with a proposal to replace police with unarmed civilians to conduct traffic stops. (ABC)

The role of transportation in improving America’s health. Transportation access is one of the fundamental objectives of the public sector as a means to provide access to jobs, services, recreation, and all other elements of the movement of people and goods. It is also one of the most important ways government can enable residents to live healthy, productive lives. (Eno)

COVID-19 gave the planet a break. Now’s the time to keep up the momentum. The coronavirus pandemic helped reset the planet, giving the environment a chance to recover from the wear and tear of human activity. But that can soon change. (CNET)

 What did cities sound like during the lockdown? During the COVID-19 pandemic, human activity slowed in cities around the world. (MIT)

 I’ve seen a future without cars, and it’s amazing. Why do American cities waste so much space on cars? (New York Times)

Congestion pricing may not go anywhere unless Biden wins, Mayor De Blasio says. New York’s congestion pricing program reduce congestion and raise $1 billion a year for the cash-strapped regional transit agency. (Streetsblog)

In Boston, real-time crowding info helps bus riders plan safer trips. On June 19th, Boston’s MBTA began providing real-time crowding information to bus riders, making it the largest transit agency in the US to do so. (TransitCenter)

‘We heard birds.’ Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo on how lockdown offered a glimpse at a greener city. “We are getting there,” Mayor Hidalgo said, “but we have long way to go.” (TIME Magazine)

There is little evidence that mass transit poses a risk of coronavirus outbreaks. A major drop in public transit use coincides with concerns about reducing air pollution that can exacerbate lung conditions. (Scientific American)

Five things Congress can do to save transit. Public transportation is in crisis. Here’s what Congress must do to truly save transit from collapsing. (Transportation for America)

Mission in motion

The Seattle Transportation Benefit District is up for renewal! This is the measure that increased bus service across Seattle, creating a transit network where 70% of Seattle households are just a 10-minute walk to 10-minute service.

Now with the passage of I-976, and the COVID-19 pandemic, we need to support transit service and keep this connection to critical destinations. Transit is a lifeline.

In July, TCC and partners worked hard to shape the policy that will head to Seattle ballots in November. The proposal that passed out of City Council last week will:

• Generate over 150,000 transit service hours a year for six years 
• Support improvements on transit corridors to maximize trip efficiency and reliability
• Support low-income transit programs, including free transit passes for public high school students and access programs for seniors and public housing residents
• Support the West Seattle bridge closure with more transit options.

Stay up to date to learn how you can support the campaign by following our work on our website and twitter! Email us to get involved. #YesforTransit!

Staff pick