June News: Show Up for Transit in Seattle and Spokane

Community members pack the Ruth Fisher Board Room before a Sound Transit Board meeting on May 28th. Photo from Sound Transit.

Dear friends,

We hope you’re having a wonderful Ride Transit Month! As we celebrate the incredibly important role of public transit in our communities, we also want to take a moment to recognize transit advocates. Without people organizing in their communities, day after day, and year after year, our transportation options in Washington State would look a lot different than they do. And there’s more we can win, together.

In recent months, we’ve been proud to organize with the Build the Damn Trains coalition. Made up of transit, environmental, labor, and housing advocates across three counties, this coalition helped push the Sound Transit Board to adopt a stronger System Update Plan last month. The work to ensure completion of Sound Transit 3 isn’t close to finished, but we are grateful to be doing it alongside so many passionate advocates.

We’ve also been helping to lay the groundwork for three upcoming ballot measures that will shape bus service for hundreds of thousands of Washingtonians. We’ve been organizing in support of a robust Seattle Transit Measure, and we’re supporting two upcoming campaigns for transit ballot measures in Spokane and Pierce County. Read more about the Seattle Transit Measure and how you can get involved in Seattle and Spokane below.

Ride on,

– Transportation Choices Coalition

Before you dive in...

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WHAT WE’VE BEEN UP TO

Organizing to Keep Light Rail Projects Moving

Photo from Sound Transit.

We launched the Build the Damn Trains coalition to help bring the voices of transit riders and transit advocates to the table as Sound Transit navigated a $35 billion budget gap.

The coalition’s core message was simple: keep all light rail projects moving and pursue every available tool to avoid cutting and delaying projects.

To make that message heard, the coalition sent two letters to the Sound Transit Board laying out our priorities, organized press conferences and rallies, collected over 900 signatures on a petition to the Board, and showed up to testify at board meetings.

We also held a series of Transit Town Halls in each Sound Transit subarea, where the public could hear directly from Sound Transit Staff and Board members about the future of ST3 projects. Hundreds of people turned out at each of the events to show their support for getting light rail built in their communities.

On May 28th, the Board adopted the ST3 System Update Plan. This new plan keeps major light rail corridors alive and advances some long-promised projects, but it also leaves many significant questions about funding, timelines, and accountability unresolved.

Read a full analysis of Sound Transit’s new System Update Plan in our recent blog post.

Supporting a New Seattle Transit Measure

TCC’s Policy Director Katy Ricchiuto speaks at a press conference with advocates and Mayor Katie Wilson. Photo by Janet Lee.

Mayor Katie Wilson has released her proposal to renew the Seattle Transit Measure, and Transportation Choice Coalition is strongly supporting it.

Seattle is one of the few big cities in the country that buys additional bus service from its transit agency. That makes buses more frequent, ensuring people have quicker trips to healthcare, grocery stores, and childcare. Mayor Wilson’s proposal doubles down on that investment. The Seattle City Council now has to develop legislation to renew the measure, and if approved, Seattle voters will decide in November.

Holding a Megaproject for Safety Walk & Talk

Walk & Talk participants walk down a section of Aurora Ave with no sidewalk. Photo by Danny Ngan.

TCC partnered with the Aurora Reimagined Coalition to host a Walk and Talk on Aurora Avenue. Our audience of elected officials, decision makers, and advocates saw road safety challenges on the corridor first-hand. We heard from community members about they experience navigating this road and how they would benefit from more investments, including students at Ingraham High School and the representatives of Downtown Emergency Service Center.

This event was part of our statewide Megaproject for Safety campaign, an effort to secure transformative investments for Washington’s most dangerous state-owned roadways.

A special thank you to Maul Foster Alongi and The Vida Agency for supporting this work!

Hosting a Rural Transportation Advocacy 101 Workshop in Snoqualmie Valley

Community members participate in an interactive workshop.

On May 21st at North Bend City Hall, more than 40 community members joined Transportation Choices Coalition, Hopelink, and the Snoqualmie Valley Mobility Coalition for the Snoqualmie Valley Rural Transportation Advocacy 101 Workshop. The evening featured a panel discussion with Mayor Mary Miller of North Bend, King County Metro’s Amanda Pleasant-Brown, and Move Redmond Executive Director Kelli Refer. Participants heard how lived experience and public comment help shape transit planning, and how community engagement informs transportation decisions.

Following the panel, participants took part in an interactive advocacy training that introduced tools like power mapping and messaging triangles to identify decision-makers across city, county, and state levels, and craft clear, targeted messages. Small groups then applied these skills to local transportation challenges, including limited evening and weekend transit service, gaps in walking and biking infrastructure, and improving connections within and beyond the Snoqualmie Valley, with one participant sharing that, “transit ends before my workday ends.”

The workshop concluded with a hands-on public testimony exercise, where volunteers practiced writing and delivering public comments to the group. The exercise put into practice one of the evening’s central lessons: advocacy rooted in community voices is essential to transportation decision-making.

The newly published King County Mobility Coalition StoryMap offers additional community perspectives on transportation barriers across the region.

WHAT’S COMING UP

Join Us for Ride Transit Month Events!

It’s Ride Transit Month! Throughout the month, transit agencies, community organizations, and riders across Washington are coming together to celebrate our public transportation system. Join the celebration: pledge to take more trips by transit, play Transit Bingo, or grab a friend and attend one of our community events.

Transit Fan Soccer Watch Party

Join us for a family-friendly Transit Fan Soccer Watch Party at The Royal Room in Columbia City on Friday, June 19th from 11am-3pm as we cheer on the U.S. Men’s National Team vs. Australia. REGISTER HERE.

Transit Trivia Night

Spots are filling up quickly for our popular Transit Trivia Night at Stoup Brewing in Capitol Hill on Tuesday, June 23rd, from 6-8pm. Be sure to register soon if you want in on the fun! REGISTER HERE.

Ride Transit Night at the Ballpark

Let’s go Mariners! Join us for Ride Transit Night at the Ballpark on Tuesday, June 30th, as the Mariners take on the Angels at T-Mobile Park. GET YOUR TICKETS.

GET INVOLVED

Tell Seattle City Council to Support an Ambitious Transit Measure Renewal

The Seattle Transit Measure is up for renewal, and Mayor Katie Wilson just proposed adding 100,000 more bus trips a year and doubling free ORCA cards for low-income riders. High-quality transit keeps Seattle affordable.

The City Council is reviewing the proposal now and we need to make sure they don’t scale back this investment in a more connected and affordable bus system. Send the City Council a letter asking them to send Mayor Wilson’s proposal to voters in full.

Send a Letter

Join Spokane’s Yes for Buses Campaign for a Canvassing Kickoff on June 20th

A sales tax that helps fund Spokane Transit Authority is up for renewal this August, and the Yes for Buses campaign is helping to get the word out. Join transit riders, elected officials, and grassroots activists as they work together to ensure that STA is able to continue growing Spokane County’s excellent public transit network.

The most effective way to increase voter turnout is by having direct conversations with voters at their doors, and this race is going to be decided by turnout.

When: Saturday June 20th, 10 AM and/or 1 PM

Where: Liberty Park, near the playground, 1624 E 4th Ave, Spokane, WA 99202

What: A brief training, followed by knocking on doors and talking to voters in two shifts, one at 10 AM and one at 1 PM. Sign up for one or both!

What to bring: Comfortable walking shoes, weather appropriate clothing, a water bottle and a charged smartphone if you have one.

Please reach out to us at yesforbuses@outlook.com with any questions.

STAFF PICK

What Washington Has in Common with Québec

TCC staff with the Deputy Mayor of Quebéc City.

Last month, we were invited by the Province of Québec to join Sound Transit and Metro staff on a study trip of transportation in Montreal and Québec City. It was inspiring and eye opening. Washington State and Québec have a lot in common. Both have about 9 million residents. Both have leading aerospace manufacturing. Both value the environment with cap and invest systems. And both are expanding transit.

We were able to tour the REM. It’s Montreal’s new train line that runs every 5 minutes and was built along underutilized commuter rail right of way, making it affordable to build.

Intriguing to me was how it was built and developed by the Province’s pension fund. Besides just growing their pension, the fund has a mission to make life more affordable in Québec, so the fund goes farther. Building affordable transit with housing alongside of it is key to that.

It’s always good to get perspective. There’s a lot Washington State can take inspiration from. I want to thank the Province for giving us the opportunity to see transportation in Québec firsthand.

Kirk Hovenkotter

Executive Director

WHAT WE’RE READING

Bus Network Boost from Wilson’s Seattle Transit Measure Comes Into Focus — The Urbanist

“With another $15 dollars per year from the average taxpayer, the city’s transit network gets to see [an] additional 100,000 trips. That’s on top of additional investments that include more roadway improvements to benefit transit, continued streetcar operations, and a massive increase to the city’s subsidized ORCA program.”

Bus ridership follows gas prices as more people use Spokane’s public transit — The Spokesman Review

“The high gas prices and subsequent increase in bus ridership comes right before STA runs a measure on the August ballot to renew a 0.2% sales tax to fund the organization for another 20 years. If the measure is approved, the sales tax will remain until the end of 2048.”

A delegation from Seattle is coming to Québec to draw inspiration for its mobility projects. — Le Journal de Québec

“The visit aimed to exchange best practices. The delegates received a presentation on the TramCité project, the road safety strategy, the city’s vision for cycling, and the active mobility strategy.”

Sound Transit’s star project executive returning to Southern California — The Seattle Times

“In her work leading megaproject delivery, Mestas recruited a new executive team and launched reforms. Among the efforts: preapproving several trusted contractors to shorten a time-consuming bidding process, and providing small and minority-owned business opportunities.”

Car-Free Adventures Around the Olympic Peninsula — Olympic Peninsula

“You can celebrate Ride Transit Month by exploring the Olympic Peninsula car-free. Instead of focusing on driving, directions, or parking, you can sit back and enjoy the ride with public transit.”