January 30

Update: Public transportation – and a new City Council

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Update on Mardi Gras:

The Seattle Times has an opinion piece here. It’s not supportive of Pronto.

Update Feb. 4:

The Stranger has a Pronto story here.

The Seattle Bike Blog has one here.

Update Feb. 3: Josh Feit over at PublicCola has an update on Tuesday’s hearing on Pronto rental bikes.

Bottom line: Not much happened. Any vote was postponed as apparently only two transportation committee members were present – including the chair, Councilman Mike O’Brien.

To O’Brien’s frustration, SDOT’s presentation didn’t come with a specific business plan other than the immediate pitch to stabilize the program—there are currently 50-plus stations with 500 bikes and 3,000 members—and then have the city put it out to bid again in 2017….

O’Brien’s committee didn’t take any action yesterday (Pronto will go under in March if the city doesn’t bail it out); O’Brien reasoned that his other council colleagues are likely to have questions. Indeed, letters have been coming in to city hall suggesting that the $5 million could go to homelessness programs.

Feit tweeted about the meeting here.

———————–

A month into Seattle’s new City Council – in which council members are elected neighborhood by neighborhood – we’ll get a look at what this might mean for local public transportation.

Specifically, what will the council members – representing their districts – say about:

* Rescuing Pronto bike sharing rental.

* The apparent disappearance of much of our direct bus service to downtown.

On Tuesday, the City Council will discuss whether to spend $1.4 million to bail out the failing Pronto public bike rental  system.

Fifteen months after launch, Pronto is insolvent. Also, no one is riding the bikes.

As the map shows, there are no Pronto bikes available in Maple Leaf nor, for that matter, in all of Council District 5 (north Seattle), now represented by Debora Juarez.

There was a proposal to put a Pronto station at North Seattle College, but only if the feds paid for it. The feds declined.

Our earlier post is here. The Seattle Times has an updated story here: Seattle’s Pronto bike-share nonprofit teetering, seeks $1.4M rescue by city. (Note to “terriance”, in the +300-plus comments on that story: We don’t know what an “enterprise producer” is, either.)

Councilmember Mike O’Brien, who chairs the Transportation and Sustainability Committee, said he was disappointed to see Pronto “go financially sideways so quick” and said he’ll have to carefully consider whether to fund it.

“Just barely a year into it we’re going to throw a million and half into it to keep it alive and see what the next phase is.”

He said he believed bike sharing could work in Seattle, but O’Brien said, “If we’re not going to make it work, let’s figure that out as soon as possible and not spend money on it.”

The Seattle Bike Blog has posted here: With Pronto in the red, city outlines takeover and expansion plan.

The Times’ Danny Westneat has a column here.

In its first year, people took 142,832 rides on Pronto bikes. That’s only 391 rides per day. It’s about seven rides taken at each station per day. Each station brought in only an average $30 a day in revenue.  These are terrible figures considering the bike stations are dotted around places like the Amazon jungle, which we imagine should be meccas of alternative transportation.

Also, helmets.

Also, buses.

With the coming of light rail to the University District, there are proposed changes in Metro routes – but we’ll be damned if we understand them.

We weren’t at the Community Council meeting Wednesday evening, but reports on “Metro’s” presentation were not illuminating.

Anecdotally, the word is that changes will eliminate direct bus service to downtown outside of major commute hours – you’ll have to go to a light rail station instead. This seems to contradict what we reported in October.

We’ve glared at Metro’s planning web pages, but haven’t figured it out. It does look like Route 72 is being scrapped.  Metro claims (in chart below) that no changes are coming to Route 73,  but that’s not true. Route 73 will no longer go downtown during the day, nor will Route 66 (down Roosevelt Way Northeast).

Come Monday we’ll see if Metro staff can help.

Here’s a part of what we found:

Summary of Changes

• Route 71 maintained between Wedgwood, University District, and University of Washington Station Monday through Saturday

• Improved frequency on routes 48, 49, 62, 65, 67, 70, 73, 75, and 372X

• Frequent connections to Link light rail at the University of Washington Station, replacing complicated/unreliable all-day bus service between northeast Seattle and downtown Seattle

• Service every 8 minutes or better between the heart of the University District and the University of Washington Station on seven all-day routes (44, 45, 48, 67, 71, 73, and 271)

About the author 

Sara W

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  1. It is only tax dollars. The buffoonery at the city, county, and state level is guffaw worthy. Those supposed to be making intelligent decisions seem to be trying to destroy Seattle and the surrounding areas. Nothing makes sense. Nothing seems to have any plan other than throwing money at something and begging (demanding through taxation) for more more more.

    This city will never be anything great because it is doomed from the lack of talent that gets voted in somehow. It seems one day we will awake from some collective bad dream, but this is bad reality.

  2. I didn’t read up on all the details until the past couple of days, but the changes to the 73 are oddly advertised.

    The 73 never goes downtown, only to the UW station.

    73 frequency is not improved (still 30 minutes) and the hours have been reduced. During the morning peak it runs only northbound and during the evening peak it runs only southbound. Read that last sentence again!

    Details: http://metro.kingcounty.gov/programs-projects/link-connections/pdf/073-info.pdf

    During peak hours the 77 still runs downtown (via 15th / 522). Overall, there’s more frequent access to downtown via 67 and light rail.

  3. With that right lane in place it Doesn’t allow enough cars to syphon thru. This ultimately has an affect on those trying to make a left onto Nortghate, as is now only 3 cars make it. If it is a heavy day they back into the thru lane that continues up Roosevelt. That cheater lane was actually pretty helpful

  4. I’m sad to report that Councilperson Juarez did not respond to my email sent to the address in her newsletter. We need district representation, not a detached partisan.

  5. The back up NB Roosevelt at NG Way has extended to south of NE 105th at evening rush. I don’t know what a cheater lane is? I think the right turn only lane isn’t a bad idea at Northgate Way from Roosevelt, but you can’t reach it with pylons and empty bike lane in the way if more than four cars are stopped for the signal. The sharrow would best start at NE 107th, those four pylons by the apartments add nothing but cause a lot of the backup. I biked tens of thousand of miles in Seattle prior to any “share the road” and never failed to arrive at my destination. I am not against bikes or for cars, but some of the bike stuff doesn’t make sense. I guess they want to toss another $1.5 million at Pronto, even the Feds refused to help due to it’s utter failure. When and on whom will the Big Bertha cost overrun$ fall? I guess I’ll end up feeding pigeons from a street side parklet in my dotage when that particularly large chicken comes home to roost.

  6. Oh how I hated that cheater lane on Roosevelt just south of Northgate Way. Long before this reconfiguration I used to drop off packages at the post office every evening and quite often there was someone in the other lane that would gun it to try to get ahead of everyone else. Their selfeshness would often cause a backup since nobody could take the free right on red because they all had to wait for the cheater to get their green. They cheater would invariability get stuck behind another car a few blocks uphill on Roosevelt.

    I think more what the problem may have more to do with the fact that the cars turning right on to Northgate Way have less room to queue up. The left turn from SB Roosevelt on to Northgate Way only holds like 3 cars, and if I remember correctly the new right turn lane doesn’t extend much further than that, so you have too many cars competing with too little space.

  7. Tim: “How far was the backup before the reconfiguration?”

    In my experience it was often just past the exit from the TJ Maxx parking lot when I was trying to turn right.

    Now, with the right lane being exclusively right turn, the backup is much farther and it is much more difficult turning right from the same place to either turn left at Ngate Way or go straight on Roosevelt.

    That right turn only onto Ngate Way is the cause of this IMO. Had they left the merge lane on Roosevelt on the South side of Ngate Way the delays would have been less.

    The way it is now seems like making a mess for little reason.

    I don’t begrudge the bicyclists their lanes, but that is quite a hill on Roosevelt Southbound and I see very, very few people riding it. Are there user counts there?

  8. I own three bikes, I am in $35 all told. Garage sale finds, I tuned them up and don’t use them enough.
    Too bad the Pronto bike thing isn’t working out, much like the pylon constricted intersection of Northgate Way and Roosevelt now backing up seven blocks at rush hour. “Share the road” appears to be a one way street.

  9. The Pronto service is a waste of money. It is crony capitalism under the guise of pseudo-environmentalism. Unfortunately, we are on the hook for $1M regardless of what we do moving forward.

    We voted for and are paying for excellent bus service but aren’t getting it because the old clowncil sold us on tunnels instead of super frequent bus service. Maple Leaf has as much right to fast public transit as the rest of the city. Complain constantly to your City Council District Representative.

    Mine is Debra Juarez:
    206-684-8807
    debora.juarez@seattle.gov

  10. Why not just keep route 66? When I asked an SDOT employee this question the response was “that is King County Metro’s decision”. When I pointed out the Rapid Ride is a King County Metro bus line I pretty much got a “don’t confuse me with the facts” response.

    For whatever reasons, Metro decided not to keep the 66 around. Yes, this RapidRide+ line will have the same routing as the current 66, but that’s not really a coincidence–there are only a few permutations you can choose from to connect those two endpoints.
    The reason it’s changing names is because SDOT is willing to throw money at it to upgrade it. Sure they’ll contract with Metro to drive it but only because that’s a lot cheaper than setting up their own shops and maintaining a fleet when there’s already one in town.
    It’s a little odd that they’re building upon the RapidRide brand, since RapidRide isn’t even close to true BRT. Then again, with the goals they have for this line, this isn’t either.

    Will there be any buses from here going up onto the campus (e.g., the HUB) during the day once 68 is eliminated?

    67 and 372.

  11. I haven’t figured out the map and changes yet. Will there be any buses from here going up onto the campus (e.g., the HUB) during the day once 68 is eliminated?

  12. SDOT presented their Rapid Ride plans which will start running in 2021? (I went to a different presentation where SDOT said the route would start in 2019). It is pretty much identical to the Metro route 66 which is being entirely eliminated in March. Why not just keep route 66? When I asked an SDOT employee this question the response was “that is King County Metro’s decision”. When I pointed out the Rapid Ride is a King County Metro bus line I pretty much got a “don’t confuse me with the facts” response.

    People west of 5th Ave NE are being poorly served by the Metro bus changes. We’ll have to go to Roosevelt to catch a bus, and there’s no good/direct way to get to the Northgate Transit Center. It’s still going to be faster to take the 41 downtown instead of taking the new 67 through the U-District to the Husky Stadium, slog over to the UW Stadium station and ride the light rail downtown.

    Personally I think funneling the majority of NE Seattle bus routes to Husky Stadium so people can change to the light rail to get downtown is a really bad idea. That area is already a traffic bottleneck without adding more bus traffic and is not suited to be a transit hub. I’m also curious to know how the buses to Husky Stadium are going to work on football game days?

  13. If Metro is going to cut the 70 series from downtown, then they have still have to provide a way for people along those routes (like our 73) to get downtown.

  14. The changes probably are for the good, but they are all being done way to early. Really. These changes should have been implemented in to phases. Some changes implemented when the Stadium Station was completed and opened (this year), and the rest not until the Northgate Station is opened (several years from now). Really. Many of the changes being made don’t make sense without the Northgate Station being opened.

  15. Bikeshare just isn’t a good fit for Seattle. between terrain and weather, most of the year it’s not going to get heavy use. The 72 is being replaced by the 372. We really are getting better service, though it may not seem so because it’s not direct, but this is the future that Sound Transit, SDOT and Metro are all leading us to…leading us from our outlying neighborhoods to light rail.

  16. As a pronto pass holder and someone who rides 250+ days a year, don’t bother putting stations north of the u district unless gearing is changed on the bikes. The granny gears on the bikes are set up for hill climbing, not traveling horizontally. You won’t be able to travel from ML to downtown without paying additional fees because it will take longer than the 30 min limit. Also, bike are too small for anyone 6′ tall or over. Two frame sizes should be offered. Just make them a different color so it is easy to distinguish from the existing short person fleet. Finally, pricing needs to compete with single use bus trips. Prior to having a year long pass, I ignored using pronto because the minimum rental is for 24 hours and costs $8.

  17. Other countries that have widespread bike use do NOT generally require helmets. It’s a good idea to wear one obviously, but requiring it depresses biker numbers in toto, not just Pronto users.

  18. If you look closer at both of these plans I think you’ll see that Maple Leaf is benefiting pretty well from both of them. For every “direct” bus route to downtown (I used to live right at a 72 bus stop and found it useless for all its meandering) many more Maple Leaf (and other NE Seattle residents will gain many more buses actually coming often and on time in a much more sensible network. I’ve had my calendar marked for going on two years now waiting for the redeployment of all of those buses to our area.

    Also if you look at the Pronto expansion plan, you’ll see the draft expansion map is heading directly for the heart of Maple Leaf. By the early 2020’s (5-6 years down the road) you could be able to walk a few blocks, pick up a bike and take a 5 minute ride in street clothes to your choice of a Link station, a RapidRide bus or local buses to many more neighborhoods than you can reach currently. I was priced out of Wedgwood, so I do live in District 5. Without these changes, my commute is 70 minute. Using Pronto downtown saves me maybe 15 minutes vs walking or a local bus. Pronto at both ends would save a half hour each way on my commute because I can take a true express bus. Pronto will eventually expand to my neighborhood (note how the Bay Area, Chicago and other cities are adding many hundreds of bikes in the same time-frame that we are adding a measly 100). At that point I’ll be able to ride to and from an express bus and my commute will be 40 minutes. I already do this commute using my personal bike, but I never would have taken the time to figure out this commute without Pronto and I still need Pronto for one-way trips and backup many days. Pronto lets me put my daughter to sleep each night instead of sitting in a bus in traffic. I was also able to sell my car and go to a one-car household.

    To run hundreds of mostly empty buses through growing congestion and cancel a very time and money-efficient transit system, I think that’s the waste of money and the truly bad deal for Maple Leaf. Ballard would gladly have first crack at the bikes.

    P.S. I understand the city’s basically on the hook for most of the money whether they bail out the program or not. They’d have to repay a grant. With the exception of the already-existing one-time debt repayment, Pronto’s already essentially self-sustaining – it has about as many riders as any other small system (actually two really small systems, a 15-station network at UW and the rest of it with about 35 stations). We might as well have the bikes.
    MLL: Thanks, Tims

  19. If you’re looking to go downtown when the 77 isn’t running, take 73 (15th) or 67 (Roosevelt) to Husky Stadium.
    Or walk over to the transit center and hop on a 41.

  20. We weren’t at the Community Council meeting Wednesday evening, but reports on “Metro’s” presentation were not illuminating.

    Metro wasn’t there.
    MLL: No, apparently SDOT filled that spot.

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