This has been a month of ups and downs. Despite a noble effort by our coalition, our Free to Walk WA bill to end jaywalking died in the legislature. While we’re disappointed, we’re proud of how far our priorities made it this session and continue to be hopeful for next year.
Nevertheless, this legislative session continues, and our team has been working hard across the state to advance our mission.
Read more below about the work we’ve been doing and ways you can get involved.
Keep moving,
Transportation Choices Coalition
WHAT WE’VE BEEN UP TO
Washington’s 2023 legislative session
While 2022 was an incredibly exciting year for Transportation Choices’ policy and advocacy work, with huge wins for transit, walking, and biking funding at the state level. We also kicked off new youth programming, increased our statewide reach and engagement, and expanded our mobility justice work. It was also a transformational year for our organization internally — we gained new staff, the lifeblood of our advocacy work, and new board members, bringing their strategic guidance and support.
There’s a lot to tell about this remarkable year, but we’d rather show you, in our beautifully crafted, just-released Annual Report 2022. Please give it a read.
TCC Presents at the Community Transportation Association of the Northwest (CTANW) Summit
TCC’s Advocacy Director Matthew Sutherland joined other leaders at the CTANW Summit in Leavenworth, WA. In a presentation, he highlighted TCC’s work in transportation safety to repeal jaywalking laws as well as efforts to reduce barriers to delivering transit service.
The Summit brought people from all over the industry including nonprofit, for-profit and public transportation providers, as well as Medicaid brokers, planning organizations, service agencies, and other industry professionals. It was a great opportunity for TCC to connect with the amazing people who are part of the critical network that sustains community transportation programs.
Celebrating Operator Appreciation Week
Transit Operator Appreciation Day was Saturday, March 18, 2023, but TCC and transit agencies were celebrating all week.
We know that good operators make good transit possible. Yet there is a massive transit worker shortage right now and we need solutions at every level to address it. We hope the legislature will fund a modest study on how to address the transit worker shortage—a meaningful step towards real solutions that will help recruit and retain operators and maintainers of our transit system.
This Operator Appreciation Day and every day, we say a huge THANK YOU to every transit operator out there. We see you, we appreciate you, and we support you!
Washington’s 2023 Legislative Session continues!
While we’re disappointed to see TCC’s own priorities to increase safety in transportation, including our jaywalking repeal, not make it past the House of Origin cutoff, there are plenty of great bills still going that we’re helping push over the finish line.
Additionally, it’s budget season. Each Chamber will propose an operating, capital, and a transportation budget, in the form of bills put forth by the Senate Chairs of Ways and Means, House Appropriations, and both Transportation Committees. Budgets are important vehicles for moving forward policy ideas.
TCC hopes to see items in the Transportation budgets that will solve critical barriers to providing good transit, and advance the safety and connectivity of our state’s transportation system. There is less than a month left. Stay tuned.
GET INVOLVED
Join the King County Metro Transit Advisory Commission!
WSTA King County Metro has launched a recruitment effort for the King County Transit Advisory Commission (TAC). The role of the King County TAC is to advise Metro’s staff and General Manager, the King County Executive and Council, local jurisdictions, and related transportation boards concerning transit policy issues, projects, and programs. The TAC is a volunteer commission made of community members representing each of the nine King County Council districts.
Those interested in applying can learn more and apply today. Applications due by April 8.
Growth Management Act: Planning Cost Study
In 2022, the Washington State Legislature directed the Department of Commerce to conduct an evaluation of the costs for cities and counties to review and revise their comprehensive plans and ensure compliance within the Growth Management Act. With the help of consultants, Commerce has completed the planning cost study (PDF) and submitted it to the Legislature.
Part of recent efforts by the Legislature to improve our statewide planning framework provided Commerce up to $500,000 per biennium toward growth management policy research and development. The Department of Commerce is currently soliciting input from local governments and other affected stakeholders for priority topic areas for this research. A summary will be submitted to the Legislature by the end of this fiscal year, June 30, 2023. If you or someone at your agency is interested in submitting a research topic for consideration, please complete the Topic Survey form no later than April 14.
Initiative Aimed at Ending Traffic-Related Fatalities
Seattle’s Department of Transportation has recently published a draft review of their Vision Zero initiative to better understand a recent rise in serious injuries and deaths on Seattle streets. Public feedback is wanted on the initiative.
Take action: Take a short survey to help identify opportunities to reduce traffic-related harm.
Improving Equitable Transit Funding and Public Participation
For the past six months, TCC has served on a Puget Sound Regional Council (PSRC) working group of Transportation Policy Board members and transit agency leadership, identifying the best way to distribute federal transit funding throughout our region. The recommendation includes a direct equity formula distribution in lieu of a regional competition. View video and presentation.
Additionally, PSRC staff worked with the Equity Advisory Committee to ensure people have reasonable, consistent opportunities to get involved in regional planning. The draft PSRC Public Participation Plan is available and you can see the presentation.
Take action! Folks can give comments on the Public Participation Plan until May 8.
WHAT WE’RE READING
Report: US pedestrian death rate increased 9x faster than population during COVID — Streetsblog USA
“Pedestrian deaths are continuing to skyrocket even as the pandemic wanes — and since 2019, the death rate for walkers has eclipsed the rate of population growth by a factor of at least nine, analysts say.”
How many bicyclists wear helmets after King County law was dropped — The Seattle Times
“A year after the King County Board of Health repealed its mandatory helmet law for bicyclists, citing uneven and inequitable enforcement, helmet use in the county remains high…”
Study: Pedestrian Death Rate More Than 2x Higher in Historically Red-Lined Neighborhoods — Streetsblog USA
“Communities that were red-lined in the 1930s are still experiencing more than twice the rate of pedestrian deaths today than more privileged neighborhoods…”
What-if study of merging city, regional bus agencies nears finish — Snohomish County Tribune
“A study on whether to consolidate Everett’s city bus system into the larger Community Transit system is nearing the light of day.”
2022 Seattle Commute Survey — Commute Seattle
“About 60% of the city center’s 320,000 workers were commuting to jobsites on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, and a majority on Thursdays, but most employees continued to work from home Mondays and Fridays as of late 2022.”
Transit fare inspections are upheld by WA Supreme Court — The Seattle Times
“The Washington state Supreme Court upheld fare enforcement checks on public transit as legal Thursday, but ruled that deputies wrongfully detained a Snohomish County man when he didn’t show proof of payment on a bus.
The decision does not tell transit agencies how to carry out fare enforcement, and it appears unlikely to change the daily experience of most riders. “The government has a general need for fare enforcement on barrier-free transit,” justices agreed.”
Twin Transit begins weekday service between Centralia and Morton — The Daily Chronicle
“Twin Transit is now providing weekday service between Centralia and Morton. The service began on Monday, March 6, according to a release by Twin Transit.”
OUR PRIORITIES IN THE PRESS
PubliCola
“There is data showing that Black people are getting stopped at a rate of four times their share of the population, and unhoused individuals make up half of jaywalking stops. [The law against ‘jaywalking’] isn’t being enforced to promote safety.” — Matthew Sutherland, Transportation Choices Coalition
STAFF PICK
Kelsey Mesher (she/her)
Deputy Director
I got into transportation policy work because I fell in love with using my bike as a way to get around. As we are well aware, though, years of car-oriented infrastructure prevents most people from even considering biking as an option: It’s not safe, comfortable or convenient. But other cities are proving that we can transition away from car dependency.
We can transform how we get around our cities.
The number of people biking in London recently outpaced the number of people driving. This is thanks to smart (and sometimes difficult!) policy decisions like congestion pricing and infrastructure investments like the city’s famous “cycle superhighways.” Though Seattle still has a long way to go, with the rising availability of electric bikes, and incentives such a $1500 tax credit being considered by the federal government, I still believe biking is a very real part of building a more mobile, sustainable, and healthy Washington.
