Can Trains Save Seattle?

[@ex0stasis72]

As an independent contractor who has to drive around the Seattle area, I personally have noticed a significant traffic improvement after the light rail became operational at the Moutlake Terrace station and then later at the Lynnwood station. And I can somewhat tell it's because of the light rail because Everett and Mill Creek traffic is getting worse at the same time.

[@atm1947]

You are living proof that transit makes drivers’ lives more enjoyable and less stressful. Contractors will never be able to take transit to work, but stripping away the legions of service-industry workers that don’t need to drive would make traffic far less problematic.

[@wyldhowl2821]

@@atm1947 This is what I tell people from the trades who sulk at the prospect of things like public transit & work from home jobs. If it can take those rush hour commuters off the road, the people who are not hauling cargo, or lugging plumbing & welding tools between work sites, and so on, that's a good thing. Reduces the non-essential uses, freeing up capacity so those who actually drive for a living can do so more quickly and efficiently. Some people do not like the distinction between essential and non-essential, but it you tell them "commuting is unpaid work", then suddenly they understand just how much they are losing on what's basically unproductive time which actually costs them money instead of earning it.

[@dwightseufert6491]

@@atm1947 precisely. It makes room for those who NEED to drive. Everyone wins, including drivers.

[@electrostatic1]

I have driven here since 2001 and I believe the improvement has more to do with better lane metrics and traffic management than with light rail. Light rail still suffers from the issues that it is not centered around neighborhood connectivity and is very slow across long north to south commutes.

[@ex0stasis72]

@@electrostatic1 Huh, you may be right, but it may be my experience, as I described above, because I still try to avoid rush hour traffic, both before and after the light rail made its way to Lynnwood. And 2001? You've been driving for longer than I have. I've been driving in the area since 2006.

[@PASH3227]

This is so refreshing! It's VITAL cities maintain industrial space for middle class jobs! Trains that serve warehouses aren't a mistake, it makes sense!

[@wyldhowl2821]

Absolutely. The working class is bolstered when cities think about preserving job space (industrial and agricultural, not just housing and retail/entertainment), along with public green space. I wish my own city (Vancouver BC) was more mindful of this instead of letting industrial space near the city core slip away for speculative housing in areas where it is actually the wrong choice. This is why I hate when the governments decide to "throw out" things like official community plans with public or proper geotechnical & environmental assessments - when real estate speculation sets the agenda, life gets worse instead of better.

[@slkuo1996]

Thanks for dropping by Dave! It was good to meet you at the Eastside Urbanism meet up in Redmond. - Shaun, from The Urbanist

[@highway2heaven91]

I think that being near Vancouver (Canada) has influenced Seattle’s transport decisions in a positive way since many of the plans discussed are simply revised versions of what exists there. It’s proof that there are great examples of making transit work in North America and that American developers don’t have to keep building freeways or looking to Europe or Asia.

[@seanthe100]

Is Vancouver affordable though?

[@rossbleakney3575]

Ha! It is the opposite. We have completely ignored our nearest neighbor. Vancouver has built the best transit system on the West Coast (and they haven't even built the Broadway Line yet). They are a model for North American cities: automated trains with normal (international standard) stop spacing and very good integration with the buses. Seattle has basically copied BART, but with light rail (because Americans love them some light rail). It is a flawed system that has a few good pieces, but isn't nearly as good as typical system in Canada, let alone Vancouver, let alone a system designed in Europe or Asia.

[@goomyman23]

Vancouver has unbelievable terrible traffic

[@MrTimster80]

Vancouver is more expensive than Seattle even with USD. Hotel prices are crazy

[@nelloismello]

I'd argue Burnaby did a better job than Vancouver/

[@kibaanazuka332]

Some things to note Federal Way Station will actually terminate on the North side of the street sandwiched between the current transit center and McDonald's. Federal Way is also looking to do a massive downtown redevelopment, in paticular redevelopment of the mall where the Target is and North of the current ST garage where the Performing Arts Center is. From what I also understand, there is also the possibility of looking towards building much taller buildings albiet not too tall as it sits under the flight path for SeaTac Airport.

[@JoshuaFagan]

I live in Seattle, and it's fascinating seeing new apartments pop up around transit nodes (including where I'm currently living), directly surrounded by a lot of (very pricey) single-family homes from the 1900s.

[@darkwoodmovies]

I'm so sorry that you have to live there :(

[@hia5235]

The Apartments ruin their neighborhood btw

[@chrisjackson1215]

@@hia5235 Which is exactly the kind of nonsense that led to a housing crisis in the first place. They lobbied and made it illegal to put up anything more than a ranch-style home and then wonder why it's causing problems. Screw the property value; be practical.

[@priestesslucy]

​@@chrisjackson1215 does it even really hurt property values? Developers are going to want your property to put up more apartments that can be sold for a heck of a lot more than a sfh. Yeah, it sort of pushes people who want a SFH out of the area, but they get a lot of money to go buy something else with and pocket the difference.

[@chrisjackson1215]

@@priestesslucy It does. Residential property that isn't surrounded by other buildings (especially unsightly ones like skyscapers and complexes) are worth more. It's been an issue in States like CA also. People are chasing a home they can enjoy to the fullest and they view it as an investment. It's not about the developers - it's about entitled people and their petty grievances.

[@Jebbis]

I really wish the US would adopt something like Japanese zoning laws. I'd be fine with a small light factory that makes something like silverware or bike frames just down the road from me. What I don't want is something like Texas where they put a prone to explosion fertilizer factory right next to a school and old folks home. I also wish Seattle would enforce some design minimums. I really don't like the modernist architecture. I would love to see it embrace it's Art Deco roots.

[@M.2000-v2g]

US cities are notorious for voting against re zone laws. It makes it super hard to develop a city when the land effected will always vote no

[@b_uppy]

Their architecture spans a much longer period. A lot of buildings are there from the 1800s Alaska gold rush and Seattle was a "jumping off" point...

[@b_uppy]

I think it's better to have Japanese-type zoning. It's anything but "Texan anything goes" but makes it easier to find work and goods in your own neighborhood. They should probably feature more stories about how the Japanese do it. It would reduce objections when outsiders see how nice these neighborhoods are. I would emphasize a little more standing greenery than the Japanese currently have. I love looking at how the Japanese problem-solve design issues.

[@KingFinnch]

@@b_uppy it actually doesn't, japan rebuilds most of their housing every 50 years because houses are so abundant that an old house is substantially harder to sell than a new build

[@JoeHamelin]

@@b_uppy A lot of those were lost in the Great Fire of 1889.

[@LimitedWard]

I absolutely love The Urbanist. I've never felt more informed about the city I live in than when I moved to Seattle and discovered their website. Other great urbanist news sites around seattle include Seattle Bike Blog and Seattle Transit Blog.

[@uncouver]

You like real estate propaganda?

[@Norfirio]

Seattle Transit Blog is sometimes useful but often a joke. It's a bunch of amateurs speaking into the wind about topics they have only a surface level knowledge on, and is mostly frequented by the same 10 or 20 people.

[@RM-xf9gi]

China has amazing e-bike lanes. I wish we could have them here.

[@cmdrls212]

@@LimitedWard Some articles are ok but most are just nonsense. They are hard on defund the police and let crime run rampant. They are also insanely pro tax and wealth redistribution. Honestly they are pretty crazy

[@cmdrls212]

@@Norfirio yup. STB is just nonsense

[@chemicalhalf]

I was born in Seattle in the 80s. When I was born and in my childhood, there were zero trains in the actual city. This was also true when I went to university in the city. I left as a very young adult and moved to London and stayed there for most of my adult life until I moved back in 2023. Of course I visited often over the years I was gone, because my family lives here. There are a lot of improvements in that the city *has* trains now, but it is moving way too slowly for the amount of people who now live here and rely on trains to commute or get around without a car. Traffic is even worse than it was 15 years ago, and it was already very bad then. Most people I know (myself included) do not live anywhere near a train station. In order for these trains to really work, you have to be able to walk to the stations. If you are 2+ miles from a station, commuting on the trains becomes an impossibility. When you compare this to cities *like* London, there really is no comparison. I lived for over 17 years there without a car, and in fact I almost never even rode as a passenger in a car there. Actually it got to the point that when I came back, if I rode in a car, I felt car sick very severely, because I was so not used to riding in cars for almost 20 years. Now, I rely on having a car, because there is no reliable train here for my personal needs, and no accessible train service either (with good enough disabled access). It is highly disappointing for a city as rich as Seattle, and with a lot of space available in and out of the city (much more space than you get in almost any European city).

[@a.z.p.]

One major obstacle to housing is the design review process. New apartment buildings or grocery stores stymied for months or years as just a few people go "It needs three different colors of brick, and a jazzier facade. Try again." It's transparently in order to hamstring getting stuff actually built. We don't care how many brick styles new apartments have, we just want them built in time for us to not be forced out of our neighborhoods because we can't afford them!

[@golf1052]

The downtown adjacent neighborhoods (Uptown, South Lake Union, Pioneer Square, CID, and First Hill) just got exempted (Oct 2024) from design review for 3 years for most projects. It's a great first step! The city will also need to pass reforms for design review city wide ensuring that residential projects only go through 1 design review meeting as passed by the state legislature last year. Living in Seattle it's frustrating how slow these changes to improve housing density come about but every step forward leads to hundreds more new units for people to live in. We just got to keep pushing for change.

[@ab8817]

@@golf1052 cool, plain glass it is

[@LucificNight]

It's interesting to see some comments in this video placing a heavy emphasis on better-looking buildings, and others caring a lot less, so long as housing gets built. I am really curious to know what proportion of the actual residents are of the idea that "new buildings blending in with their surroundings is non-negotiable", and how many lean more towards "bruh, I don't care if the architect's theme for the apartment was broccoli and there's paintings of it everywhere; We need housing, stat".

[@jasongentry5511]

Have the city looking like Russian Soviet apartments

[@josephfisher426]

@@golf1052 The substance of aesthetic design review varies greatly from place to place. It exists for good reason: when the property is no longer new, the planners want it to attract consistently paying customers. I would think it usually takes a backseat to substantial things though (like code).

[@blubaughmr]

Mayor Harrell is doing his best to wall-off most of Seattle for low density development (currently single family detached but the new version will allow townhomes and fourplexes). This is forcing a lot of the development into the "Urban Centers", so now those are transitioning to highrise construction. Highrise construction costs $500 a square foot and up, so it's not an affordable housing solution. We need a lot more land zoned for midrise wood frame construction, but the NIMBY's are in control, so this major update is going to be pretty anemic. Basically it's a good plan for the Seattle we had 20 years ago, and seriously inadequate for producing enough workforce housing. Sound transit accelerated the development of the northern most station in Seattle, based on Seattle upzoning that area from single family detached to midrise apartments, and with the station nearly complete, Seattle still hasn't updated the zoning to allow apartments. Mayor Harrell also blocked what would have been a intermodal transit center by Seattle's Chinatown that would have allowed easy transfers between the different light rail lines and also between light rail and commuter rail and Amtrak. The Urbanist has done a great job covering these various missteps.

[@walawala-fo7ds]

You're giving the major too much credit. CID station faced huge community pushback and ultimately the sound transit board decides, not the major of Seattle

[@Norfirio]

​​​The mayor is on the board and has sway there, especially for the local decisions. The members from Pierce and Snohomish will often just go with what King and Seattle members want in their area. There was as much, if not more, support from the same community you are referring to for the 4th Ave alignment in CID. Of course, now that's been stated as too difficult due to BNSF, but the other option now is a deeper diagonal station on 5th, which would still be better than the North-South CID option.

[@walawala-fo7ds]

@Norfirio sway but not veto power. The board is diverse for a reason and Seattle doesn't call the shots for the entire system let alone the major. Unlike the trams, Seattle doesn't finance link using direct city Hall funds

[@cmdrls212]

​@@Norfirio CID pushed back against their station due to displacement and construction concerns. You imply like they were united for it when in fact they pushed back hard against it even if some factions wanted it. King 5 ran several stories that scared the sound transit board out of CID. The major of Seattle holds no real power in the board decisions and he also knows better than to wade into a politically charged fight that pits CID preservation against raging urbanists. So he did what he does best and let the board decide. The only alternatives moving forward to engineering studies skip CID which means it is all but guaranteed the final choices will be the most studied ones. CID has itself to blame for not having kept its advocates under control and scaring sound transit away from CID for the foreseeable future.

[@EnlistedBombin]

@@walawala-fo7ds Diverse political wise in Seattle thats a joke right? If blue could get any darker the shade would be called "King Seattle Blue".

[@seattlesharksfan]

Pretty incredible to see City Beautiful not only visit my neighborhood of Seattle but literally film on my street 😱

[@krakken-]

I live in Seattle and can get away with only driving once every other month or so. Its great! Bring on more transit. Seattle is back to the fastest growth metro in the US, and the more transit we get, the better we can manage the growth. With mountains and water constraining the buildable area, transit oriented development is the only way to build enough housing and manage the transportation needs of all the new arrivals.

[@fredabear]

I was involved with the structural engineering on the Kent Des Moines housing project before I moved across the country. The people involved on that project have such a great vision and love their emphasis on creating larger units so family units can stay together.

[@hefeibao]

Living in Seattle for 30+ years, light rail can't come soon enough. BTW, this channel is great - new sub (I majored in Econ/Urban Planning back in the day, so this is of keen interest to me).

[@Jarekthegamingdragon]

As someone in Portland, I visit Seattle often. I used to laugh at Seattle's public transit because it was the one city out in the pacific northwest. Portland and Vancouver BC has good public transit, but Seattle was so far behind. The progress they've already made has been great to see. I love visiting Seattle and what they have already installed has been a massive improvement on that experience. They're still a long ways away from where Portland and Vancouver are, but they'll get there.

[@christianjamesrolfson1710]

I frequent both cities and would argue that Seattle definitely has better public transit than Portland now. Sure, Portland has a much more extensive light rail system by lines and mileage than Seattle. Still, even with a single line running within the city (currently), Link has roughly 25,000 more daily riders than MAX. Even though it's been around much longer, MAX is significantly hindered by the ridiculously slow speeds trains have to run due to all the at-grade crossings and within traffic tracks. The Link is mainly grade-separated through tunnels and elevated rail. Link stations also allow for 4-car trains as opposed to the 2-car trains with MAX, and Link has, at worst, 15-minute frequencies as opposed to 30 minutes on MAX. King County Metro operates nearly three times the bus routes than Tri-Met, with most having 15-minute frequencies at worst. They also operate 8 BRT-lite lines with 5-10 minute frequencies during work hours; to my knowledge, TriMet doesn't have any type of limited-stop service. The Portland Streetcar system is pretty cool and much better than Seattle's 2 unconnected lines. And Portland is 100x better to bike around than Seattle. Vancouver is in a different league comapred to either of the two

[@ethospathos571]

@@christianjamesrolfson1710Seattle will inch towards Vancouvers level eventually

[@walawala-fo7ds]

The choice of going full grade separated after finding out how poorly it went when they didn't will easily put it over Portland.

[@MegaChallanger]

I have to think.. God damn, why does it take so damn long to build. 2039???? . China built an entire high speed rail network in a fraction of that time. They even took many years to complete the tacoma link extension🤦‍♂️

[@walawala-fo7ds]

@MegaChallanger well China bulldozers everything with no regard for people, environment, or safety. Google tofu dreg projects and see how China builds faster. Not to say that the US is fast but often the issue is red tape and not labor speed

[@DanMC4270]

I live near Northgate in Seattle. I can tell you that their TOD strategy isn’t perfect, but I like living by a train stop w/ amenities, so it’s okay. Seattle feels like a 1 step forward- half a step back- kinda place. The city gov and King county as a whole kind of limps in the right direction. Thankful for organizations like The Urbanist and Seattle YIMBY.

[@TheMrPits]

The sounder is so underated and could have so much potential to grow. The one that screams for some attention is sounder extension down to Olympia and Tumwater. The sounder uses the same tracks and infrastructure as Amtrak, and Amtrak runs from DuPont to Lacey already. There is a rail line owned by the city of Olympia that while its main goal is to head to the port of Olympia, it doesn't boast that many trains per day, so, adding sounder service to Olympia is already an easy upgrade if people got onto it. Best part is there is a perfect spot for a train station in the old Brewery that sits near Tumwater Falls. Olympia and Tumwater share lots of bus service, bike routes, and it's not even more than two miles to the State Capital from there. The brewery is empty, a husk, and sitting right in a spot that development could stick. 4-5 story residences with ground floor as retail or commercial, park and ride, bus hub for the Intercity Transit. We can connect Olympia to Seattle with the sounder for much much less than the light rail extensions. And the sounder is honestly more useful for people in Pierce and Thurston County to get into King county. Not to mention there is significant commuting between Thurston and Pierce County, JBLM and dupont sit at a choke point for I5. There are so few bridges over the Nisqually river, this is a constant choke point for traffic, then the area through JBLM backs up.... We could eliminate thousands of travelers per day just between these two counties with a sounder extension, and even better get those 4AM maniacs off the road who commute from Olympia to Seattle every day. They do it... lord knows why (ego and money likely) but damn they are the most aggressive on the road. The rail lines already exist, the main station and park and ride complex fits perfectly into the old brewery area..... WE CAN CONNECT THE CAPITAL TO SEATTLE! We need this to be heard more, come take a look, Thurston county has significant attachment to the Seattle Tacoma MSA... if fact there are likely tons of these peripheral MSA's that are so close to others that the scream for regional transit. I'm sick and tired of I5... gods I would take the sounder whenever possible.

[@critiqueofthegothgf]

it's ridiculously refreshing to see a city take action & actually act towards accomplishing their development goals & projects. if Seattle wasn't so cloudy, it'd be in the top 5 best cities in the US

[@randalllewis4485]

Great video. Sound Transit Link light rail is a good service which I have used even though I live in Tacoma. Sounder Commuter Rail was very popular before the pandemic but has struggled to get back to previous service levels because of people working from home. And it is needlessly crippled because it has to rely on BNSF rails which prevents midday service. Adding a third rail between Seattle and Tacoma would allow midday service and make money for ST as it could allow BNSF use of the track at night. The lack of midday service was the reason I couldn't use Sounder to travel to Seattle for meetings but had to drive to the nearest stop to catch Link. Most people don't mode switch once they start driving any distance, but it was an opportunity to check out Link.

[@dantem4119]

Seattle really needs a similar regional rail plan to Denver’s RTD, where we have rapid electric commuter rail serving the outer burbs rather than the slow circuitous light rail we are building now.

[@stickynorth]

@@dantem4119 Bingo! BEMU trains might be the best option since they are quicker and nimbler than conventional locomotive hauled trains and they can quick charge at the end of the line in the time it takes the driver to have a potty break... 75 miles and 100 mph are possible with batteries alone now after the last round of train makers showed their goods at Berlin last year. Stadler, Hitachi, Siemens, Alstom all have BEMU commuter/regional rail options now and don't use crazy weird proprietary equipment either. Just standardized overhead wire/catenary, third rail OR induction charging...

[@Smootier]

As someone who lives in the northern region of the puget sound region, Community Transit expanding it's Swift bus Lines along major traffic corridors has been big for a lot of people I know who don't drive. They're very excited for Sound Transit, Community Transit and other groups working together to create this massive network.

[@flmang]

This is wild. I’ve been watching this channel for years and I can see my house several times throughout the video, just on the other side of the train tracks from Interbay. Wish I’d have known you were in my neighborhood - I’d have shaken your hand or something and thanked you for so many interesting videos! Congrats on 8 years.

[@nopunts9947]

Most of Seattle especially the most desirable parts are strictly zoned for single family housing, there are also strict parking minimums in the city. Most development is conspicuous along arterials so visitors think a lot of housing is getting built but that’s not really the case.

[@stickynorth]

I thought as much. The veneer of progressive urbanism but literally doing the bare minimum while appeasing NIMBY suburbanites... My solution? Stack as much non-market mixed and social housing as you can at station sites... All unlimited bonuses for all non-market housing and eliminate all parking mandates within 1/4 mile aka 400m of a station... Every city in the region should emulate the Vancouver Skytrain TOD pattern as much as possible since these plans were based on earlier Hong Kong TOD's that are so successful at driving ridership onto trains there it actually turns a profit...

[@Norfirio]

This is going to change with the comprehensive plan per state law.

[@realquadmoo]

That’s false

[@rossbleakney3575]

Agreed. That is why so much of this video -- while well meaning -- misses the point. When people talk about "TOD" they often think of areas where development is spurred. In the case of Seattle, it is more about where it is allowed. It really has nothing to do with transit. Various neighborhoods have seen huge growth and no change in transit (not even more bus service). When it comes to development in Seattle the transit is largely irrelevant -- it is the zoning (and other regulations) that matters.

[@surreallane9730]

​@@stickynorththen vote yes for prop-1a for social housing.

[@vvvintagedarling]

My prayers have been answered haha. I found your channel because of Not Just Bike's newest video and love your style of videos and all the topics you cover! I was searching for a video on Washington State or Seattle from your channel JUST yesterday with no luck so you can imagine my excitement when I see you posted this!! Thanks for explaining things so well, your passion really shines through the camera.

[@BK_718]

Absolutely. Trains always saved NYC. 🗽 we need to ease up on the car culture as a nation. It’s just ridiculous we don’t even have high speed rail yet.

[@hia5235]

Your city is bankrupt because of your Trains

[@linsen8890]

🤣😂🤣😂 NYC is "saved."

[@robertmcevoy24]

I’ll keep my car you can live around the homeless camps and all the trash a big city has to offer

[@Fingolfin_the_Warden]

@@hia5235 Trains enable high density development which keeps city budgets in the black. Strip mall parking lots don't generate tax revenue but require lots of road maintenance to keep accessible. Car-oriented development is bankrupting cities across the country while trains provide huge economic returns.

[@lalakerspro]

we do have high speed rail (acela), canada still doesnt have any yet

[@CyanideCarrot]

The Ballard Link option that would build a station at the government campus is extremely unpopular since it would skip the International District / King Street Station hub, which is also a high equity priority neighborhood, and it would once again snub First Hill by removing the Midtown station

[@cheef825]

I've definitely fallen off on a lot of national/international youtubers because of their sanitizing of some pretty bad changes in land use and RoW plans. I think Seattle is making excellent strides in areas like bike infrastructure, but ST and the new zoning codes leave A LOT to be desired.

[@dantem4119]

@@cheef825it’s mostly due to Dow Constantine prioritizing unnecessary TOD as opposed to legit service for existing businesses and residents.

[@Norfirio]

To add more context for others, King Street is already going to be the junction of the 2 line which goes to the east and the existing 1 line. Having the new tunnel skip that station would split existing travel options in half with poor transfers once the new tunnel is open.

[@walawala-fo7ds]

well the CID community did not want the construction headaches and the board decided to bypass them. They got what they wanted

[@CyanideCarrot]

@@walawala-fo7ds the CID community hates this option even more since they dont get a station

[@stiffjalopy4189]

Super excited to see my hometown here! We’ve got our problems, but the ppl are willing to tax themselves to make it better. My bike commute has gotten notably better in the last few years, and our bus service is demonstrably better. Keep going, Seattle metro region!!!

[@NekoBoyOfficial]

I love your videos. Some urbanists are too idealistic, but you're very practical and understanding the complicated nature of infrastructure.

[@FrankLy-oy2bi]

Thanks for the coverage. And for plugging the Urbanist. Contributors like Packer, Sundburg, and Trumm provide the best, most consistent urban policy news for seattle. Also, it's time for Harrell to go I think. Or to get very significant campaign concessions from him (and the city attorney and city council members) around urban planning, vision zero, and police accountability (not defunding but full civilian oversight).

[@markstocker5121]

Did you check out the newer stations on the north end of the Link? There is a fair amount of new high-density development with more on the way/

[@realquadmoo]

Clearly he has not. Absolutely misleading. Boils my blood the things he’s saying.

[@cmdrls212]

The narrative was set before his trip and he went to where the narrative fit. Anything that didn't fit the narrative was excluded.

[@jefffinkbonner9551]

What I don’t get is why a huge apartment building was allowed to be built right where the link light rail line ends. It wasn’t built that long ago; surely, sound transit had already mapped out the future route? Now whenever it’s extended past Lynwood, the rails will have to awkwardly s-bend out over the road and meander around those apartments.

[@realquadmoo]

@ I’m actually so glad that I wasn’t the only one who noticed that LOL

[@cmdrls212]

@jefffinkbonner9551 Unfortunately that's the problem with sound transit asking people what they want for decades before anything gets build. They should have simply plotted the route and then cities would not have granted permits.

[@daveweiss5647]

Seattle NIMBYISM is kneecapping real urban development... and causing destruction of heritage architecture... they add speedbumps to taller buildings (like in the yesler terrace redevelopment and some sodo stuff) where it makes sense then causing higher prices and more urban sprawl which them claim to be against.

[@ozzy_ruiz]

The higher price is coming from the development and building owner. They can’t stop being greedy with the money.

[@daveweiss5647]

​@@ozzy_ruiz wrong... supply and demand... build more and it will drive prices down, they charge what they can get, every floor arbitrary height limits in the core keeps from being built puts downward pressure on the market, which pushes more higher income buyers into older and peripheral building stock raising the prices on mid and lower income buyers and renters... forcing more of them into the suburbs and further causing urban sprawl and raising prices there....they couldn't charge those prices if no one was willing to pay them.

[@szurketaltos2693]

@ozzy_ruiz if the developer charges below market rate, either someone will flip the property or people will simply bid up the price to reflect demand. Your point would only be true if the first purchasers were forced to live in that property or else pay a penalty equal to or greater than the potential profit.

[@Bioniking]

I grew up in Seattle and there’s this weird desire to keep it this quaint tucked away small city among some people. Those days are over. TODs are overall great, but relegating these developments to dangerous stroads, and using the apartments as a buffer between these corridors and single family homes raises a lot of questions about the values the city holds.

[@evenodd3339]

4:08 I think urban golf courses built on a landfill might make a decent city park

[@HistoryVideoGamesMiscStuff]

Montreal built a park on one of its former landfills, Frederick Bach Park.

[@kunialki8824]

To clarify, this is NOT a full 18 hole course. It's a small 9-hole par 3, course, a mini-golf, Driving Range, & has 2 ballfields. It's city run with focused on community & families.

[@kunialki8824]

There is Gas Works Park, just north of downtown that, I think, fits your suggestion. Lots of open area & fantastic views

[@evenodd3339]

@ oh I guess that could count as a park if you stretch the definition enough

[@ecurewitz]

That’s a good plan

[@Slydog621]

I have always loved you covering my cities plans. I'm really hopeful for the future of this county and the growth in pedestrian oriented development ❤

[@jenbanim]

Some important context: the 2023 state law HB1110 has mandates for cities to upzone areas around transit corridors. It's not just that Seattle wants to build more housing near transit, they're legally obligated to. Unfortunately, there are some loopholes with non-zoning regulations like floor-area ratio limits, but expanding transit is going to force cities to remove at least some of the red tape preventing new construction

[@geeekaaay5425]

We got lucky that the state shifted a bit just in time for Nelson/Harrell foot dragging.

[@gabrielmeyer-yen6381]

Just an amazing video, as someone who lives in seattle and is young i hope this city will flourish in my lifetime.

[@Hession0Drasha]

Love Seattle, it's the climate most similar to the UK in the US 😊

[@Kaeloz93]

Went on vacation to Seattle recently, stayed in the down town and some friends stayed on a ABnB outside the city, we were both close to the station and let me tell you, for someone who mostly lived in car centric places, this felt so refreshing to use the train and being able to walk around, make no mistake my feets hurt after walking for hours when I'm use to sitting on a car, but after a while it was nice to look up at all the places we could go and just ask "so are we walking or taking the train" and never think about needing a car for anything

[@DivineDart]

Just came from Seattle for a work trip, cool place. Definitely needs more transit, it has potential.

[@ecurewitz]

And affordable housing

[@colormedubious4747]

Two thoughts: 1) The railyard absolutely CAN accommodate new development! Simply deck over parts of it and build a compact mixed-use neighborhood atop the deck. 2) Those park-and-ride garages can be beneficial to their neighborhoods. Design street level retail and office spaces. The parking structure then becomes both a barrier to freeway noise AND a profitable transitional element between the freeway and the mixed-use development at the station, in addition to becoming a mixed-use structure itself. You're welcome.

[@cheef825]

I wish this video was a bit more critical of both Sound Transit 3 and also the centrist Harrell administration and city council. ST3's light rail plans are often overly expensive, destinationless boondoggles designed more with the goal of "subarea equity" than for actual opportunities for denser housing construction. ST is also facing a massive budget crisis that has already delayed some projects upwards of a decade, but there is little to no political will for considering options such as using the single tunnel or a switch to automated driverless light metro on the new lines that could provide more modern service for a lower cost. The mayor and county executive were more than happy to ram through the CID north and south plan that would remove any chance at creating a central hub for transfers, instead putting a station at the King County campus, which is mentioned in the video as ripe for redevelopment. Not a coincidence that the mayor and exec are pretty close with some big developers who might see some lucrative contracts, eh? The reason the city is unwilling to upzone past arterials is that the single-family homeowners are the most intrenched voting base within city limits. They naturally lean more conservative on land use and parking requirements, which is why Seattle has maintained parking minimums when many other cities in the state are reconsidering them. Seattle thus is going to do the absolute bare minimum in regards to meeting the state's new density requirements, as doing more could substantially change voting demographics that could make it more difficult for the centrists to maintain power in the future.

[@blubaughmr]

I find it amazing that we have packed light rail trains in central Seattle while there are nearly empty trains out at the ends of the system because Sound Transit won't implement something as basic as running double the frequency from SeaTac to Northgate by turning trains back at those stops. All because we want to give the suburban folks, who don't use the system much, equal service to the Seattle folks, who do.

[@Norfirio]

Yeah, the ST board structure is a huge problem that needs to be highlighted more.

[@walawala-fo7ds]

​​@@blubaughmr they don't have enough trains or maintenance facilities yet. OMF North and South don't yet exist. Lynnwood is already the second most popular station blasting past Northgate which has fallen off due to losing its status as a terminus.

[@blubaughmr]

@@walawala-fo7ds The beauty of the turnback service is that it makes the limited rolling stock more productive. Lynnwood gets good commute traffic. 11:00 PM trains past Northgate are pretty empty, despite being standing room only Westlake to Capitol Hill.

[@blubaughmr]

@@Norfirio I think Claudia Balducci is the only board member who actually rides transit. She's definitely the primary voice questioning moves to reduce construction impacts at the expense of long term ridership. I hope she wins the Executive race.

[@Mike-Palmer]

I moved to Seattle from Alabama where I never knew what public transit was. I really love the light rail system we do have, and when the FedWay leg opens up, it will be really nice. As far as the Sounder, if that thing ran past 5pm more people would use it. The bigger parking garages will be great also, cause when we go to game days or concerts downtown, the parking we have now is such a hassle to find a place to park.

[@Norfirio]

Seattle city law requires all removed park space to be replaced in kind somewhere (i.e. park space square footage can only go up). The golf courses adjacent to Link thus should more likely be converted to other more widely usable types of parks.

[@ecurewitz]

Yup. Get rid of the golf courses

[@williewillus]

A few things from a local: 1. The video kind of glosses over the entire debate around the location of the Chinatown stations for Ballard Link. The preferred alternative is currently the N/S alternative, which skips over the Chinatown core and instead puts stations around the area (with the north one being very close to the County campus). This would force any transfers between the future 1 and 2/3 lines to incur a walking penalty of 5-10 minutes outdoors. There've been many alternatives that have been discussed and discarded (5th Ave due to construction impact, 4th Ave due to cost and impact of BNSF lines), but the "5th Ave Diagonal" alternative retains a station in the Chinatown core, avoids the worst of the construction impacts (only taking a parking lot and part of one building), and preserves a transfer point for all 3 lines in one station. 2. I enjoy the Urbanist, but having a diversity of viewpoints is good too. I also like the Seattle Transit Blog, a smaller, more tight-knit blog that sometimes takes a different stance on things than the Urbanist. The overall vibe of the posts and comments tend to be more practical and on-the-ground as opposed to the Urbanist's more theoretical bent. Both have their place though so I'd check them both out. 3. NIMBYs turned out *full force* to comment against the upzones in the Comprehensive Plan. The comment period closed last Friday but hopefully the city appropriately weights whether the comments are truly representative of the populace, or just chronically online NIMBYs with nothing better to do.

[@Jack-fw4mw]

An unfortunate trend in Seattle is that, while cities legally are supposed to allow for density to comply with a state mandate, many cities (including Seattle) reach that mandate by allowing high density housing right on highways, where we can maximize the negative health impacts of emissions. The trains provide an excellent place to put additional housing, especially the stations that are not right next to a highway. Unfortunately, around half of the stations are very close to a highway.

[@dantem4119]

Not having link on sr99 and choosing the i5 alignment was such a travesty. The forward thrust and metrorail projects from 1967 and 1990 respectively used the Great Northern/interurban rows rather than I5. :/

[@stickynorth]

@@dantem4119 The I-5 should have a huge cap put over top of it for parks space and in some cases high rise developments if its at all viable as it is in some other cities...

[@b_uppy]

​@@stickynorth Golf courses are well used, though could be managed to use better inputs, as well as manage rainwater thru harvesting. That said additional greenspace is important.

[@qjtvaddict]

@@dantem4119add a new line

[@elizabethdavis1696]

Please consider doing a video explaining economy’s of density in cities

[@creativemindplay]

*economies ❤

[@ClaytonCarte]

0:52 the station won’t open until 2039? There has to be a better way. The timelines for infrastructure projects in America are part of the problem.

[@smalltime0]

Do something similar to what Madrid did starting about 25 years ago, where public transit systems (ground level light/heavy rail) were basically default approved from an environmental and noise pollution regulation standpoint where they went along existing highways and major roads. They also had a team of boring machines to do their metro lines on the basis that 2 years of major disruptions/noise is better than spending 5 years having medium disruption. Not only was it far cheaper, they were able to complete major expansions very quickly.

[@isocarboxazid]

You kidding? The country just got sold off to the highest bidder. Federal funding will be DECIMATED. Cities like Seattle will particularly be targeted. All so the ultra-wealthy and corporations can get tax cuts.

[@ethanxyan]

Was living in China, the speed of China’s construction comes with few big con: construction noise, road blockage everywhere, and heavy trucks speeding on the road. And many more. Think about small businesses, road blockage means the death of the business.

[@Mondballer_00]

It’s too early to really openly consider it but I’d love a video on the opportunities the L.A. fire might be giving to new construction and development of healthier and more accessible neighborhoods

[@dwfidler]

One great thing about European civic planning that the US should emulate is inverting the locations of businesses and residential areas. In most European cities, the city centre is residential while the outer edge is where the offices are located. This makes it easy to place sprawling industrial areas in less land constrained areas while keeping residential, commercial, and service locations close to each other and near transit stops. This also has the added beenfit of making city centres resilient to changes in office capacity needs and changes in industries, while many US city centres are ghost towns after 6pm at the best of times. I think it's great that Seattle is working to rezone some of if its industrial areas between residential communities towards transit oriented development. It doesn't make sense to keep valuable land just 10km from the city centre industrial, especially when it's dividing residential areas. New industrial and office areas should be built out further along the transit corridor so all the residential feeders in the city core can reach it by transit.

[@O.G.LIL-MAN]

what you dont get, that is if you never been to Seattle, is that this actually happens. Many corporations here are not in the major downtown core AT ALL. I know this because I worked for a major, in town, global corporation that is not in the downtown core of Seattle. And besides, all the major corporations you know about on a global scale (Amazon , Microsoft, T-mobile USA, Costco, Starbucks HQ's) are not in the downtown core for the most part and are in other districts of town or in the suburbs.

[@dwfidler]

​@@O.G.LIL-MAN admittedly I haven't spent much time in Seattle, visited for a couple weeks a few years ago. I found the downtown (around Union and 2nd ave) to be quiet and devoid of street life, especially in the evenings. Block long glass fronts of office buildings without the street activity of any European downtown area. This is the complete opposite of most European cities where the area around the downtown transit hub is usually bustling well into the evenings. This isn't specifically a Seattle thing. I lived in LA and SF for 15 years and they're just as guilty for having their downtown transit oriented neighbourhoods be office ghettos without any social activity except for a handful of large cultural buildings.

[@mentonerodominicano]

That Des Moines/Kent station should been opened yesterday. That area is growing a lot. Thankfully the rapid transit buses are sufficiently frequent, for the time being.

[@RobErickson-speak]

Please check your facts--both Kent and Des Moines WA populations have decreased since 2020. Kent's is down 2.4 % from 2020-2023. The city that is growing fast is Seattle and a handful of far out ex-burbs. Even Bellevue's population declined last year (2022-2023).

[@thevikingwarrior11]

As a long-time Seattle resident, I like ALL OF THIS.... except for the spacing of buildings. Seattle is a seismically charged area, with a potential earthquake around the corner (we have big 6.0+ quakes here every 20-40 years and it's been 23 years since the last quake we had, which was a 6.8 on the Richter scale). In a big earthquake, buildings are built to sway, and if we have something on par with the Alaska earthquake of 1964 or the Chile earthquake of 1960 (both a 9.0+ size quake and the largest quakes of the 20th century), the buildings would sway so much that they'd smack each other at the top and cause even more extensive damage. While the chances of having a 9.0 quake in the Seattle area is basically impossible, it's not improbable, which means we are susceptible to it just as much as any other part of the west coast which lays on a large fault-line like the Cascadia Subduction Zone (300 miles off the coast of Oregon, Washington and Northern California) or the San Andreas Fault in Southern California. Both areas have produced decently large earthquakes, and recently northern California reported a 7.0 scale quake just off the coast of Humboldt County just two and a half weeks ago. So that's my two cents...

[@FrankLy-oy2bi]

not to question your engineering chops...but japan? if you want to start somewhere for buildings and seismicity in seattle, make it mandatory that the 1000 or so remaining URM buildings. Like now. It's one thing california did way better than the pnw a long time ago. in the next big one, besides potential tsunami devastation, it will be loss of life and property from these URMs which will be greatest in the puget sound region. also you may be interested in the ingenious design of japanese (and not other) buddhist temples from as old as 1600 years ago - they've survived many many large earthquakes over the centuries whereas not many (any?) other buildings would. it's in the ability of each successive level of the pagoda to act as a counterbalance to the levels above and below it when the ground moves. during an earthquake the pagoda looks like a slinky in motion dissipating the shaking energy of the earth below without toppling over. the design principles of these pagodas are used in modern skyscrapers.

[@thevikingwarrior11]

@FrankLy-oy2bi Seattle has *some* seismically sound buildings, but a lot of them were built without it and not all of them are up to that standard... and especially with how loose the ground is, it usually sways harder and faster because of it. I guess the thing I probably left out is that the buildings would be newer, thus seismically sound, so *maybe* you're right.

[@FrankLy-oy2bi]

@@thevikingwarrior11 22000 people live or work in an unreinforced masonry building in seattle as of 2021 according to the city's own website. to this day, there is no policy for mandatory retrofitting for these. there will be tremendous loss of life and property just from this in the next big one in seattle. it will have nothing to do with "sway" regardless of their height. so, the "sway" issue you bring up is a non issue. no buildings built within the last 30 years are of concern for this in seattle or anywhere else on the us west coast.

[@stephen7938]

Chesapeake, VA built a neighborhood over an old landfill. The neighborhood has had sinking, drainage, and smell issues since it was built 20+ years ago

[@sdrx902]

pretty good video!! i have to say though, im a little disappointed that kent des moines was the example you used.. overlake village, shoreline south, lynnwood city centre are a more representative bunch in my opinion

[@realquadmoo]

He’s trying to be misleading, saying false things and sugarcoating Seattle to make us look like every other city.

[@JosephMill]

Agreed, no hate to Dave but I feel like Interbay and Kent/Des Moines are the two most boring station areas he could've picked

[@realquadmoo]

@ It was intentional. He clearly set out to make the worst video possible about Seattle.

[@oldbrokenhands]

Thanks for deftly explaining the nuanced and complicated nature of urban design. Explains why it's not one-size-fits-all when it comes to implementation.

[@yacetube]

London had undergeound metro in 1863... And then all residential house suburbs had access to trains. Maybe in the 21th century, with a limited urban area seattle can expand a bit its train and make underground lines too, and make more dense neighbourhoods around stations. It is about time hudge US metropolises built some suburban train or metro. Glasgow has a metro. Budapest hungary has the 2nd oldest one, in 1896. Rennes, 400k people, has 2 lines , etc.

[@qjtvaddict]

Budapest is even more pathetic

[@french1956]

All of the Link system is underground from downtown Seattle to Northgate, about eight miles.

[@wrs10]

London's light Rail comparison is appropriate for Seattle; kzbin.info/www/bejne/lYjSpIyIi76Ae68 The speed is cranked up 3-fold when the train starts to move so not all that boring. My only complaint is at 4:30 at Greenwich he fails to mention that the cross-over platform was opened for public use in 1840.

[@sherozesheriffdeen7389]

@14:44, is that building actually 'derelict'? It has an iconic look!

[@valleyofiron125]

Interbay is fill land inbetween two bays, elliot bay and salmon bay.

[@french1956]

All former inter-tidal wetlands. Magnolia was basically an island before colonialism.

[@Sam-rx4wr]

thank you for mentioning the urbanist. It is a wonderful source for information. Beyond seattle itself we need better transit to the suburbs, which are rapidly building high density developments. My worry is all these new developments, at least in the suburbs where I am from, will serve rich transplants and not people from here who wish to benefit from our rapid development. Our area has booms and busts as many cities do. But the boom of tech we have here makes the walkable and urban environments here innaccesible for locals who arent rich techies. I have many young friends who struggle to find housing and often it is far from these new light rail projects, and when they are close rent goes up so much that they must leave. We NEED more. Not just seattle, the whole area. We all want an accessible metro area, and achieving that shouldn't be to the detriment of the people here. If only in the 1970s we approved our metro plan, imagine where it would be today.

[@jmlinden7]

No. The reason that Seattle doesn't build more housing has nothing to do with trains. They do have a transportation shortage (which building trains will help with) but their housing shortage is 100% due to NIMBYs blocking development. Trains won't do anything to help with that.

[@I275westflorida]

NIMBYs are a part of it but housing is also super regulated in Washington state. It's very difficult and expensive to build housing when you have regulators telling you where and what you can build, long timelines to start construction, and a ton of fees on top. There is a reason a new build zero lot townhouse costs $900k here.

[@plantenby]

Something you didn't mention about Kent-Des Moines Station is that it's located directly across the street from one of the region's biggest community colleges (Highline College) and that location is a huge benefit to providing educational access to folks throughout the area.

[@alecbillroth4439]

Seattle will also see ranked choice voting in 2027. What was never mentioned was displacing existing stroad lanes, or onstreet parking, exclusively for transit or bicycle paths. Or trams. When a political structure changes, behavior can change too. There's also the Sightline Institute. Part of what makes WA the way it is: prohibiting proportional income taxes and local rent controls.

[@FrankLy-oy2bi]

cant wait for rcv.

[@stickynorth]

@@FrankLy-oy2bi If it works to elect party leaders in most places it should be good enough to use for every other elections state and nationwide too!

[@wyhesggifrid]

>What was never mentioned was displacing existing stroad lanes, or onstreet parking, exclusively for transit or bicycle paths. Or trams never mentioned in the video or in Seattle's plans?

[@hia5235]

Yay Ranked choice voting! Where people will have a choice of 1 party! Great stuff.

[@oliviastratton2169]

I'm all for ranked choice voting, but rent control has an abysmal track record. Public housing is a far better program for improving housing affordability.

[@90.5fmRadio]

Super interesting, dude! Thanks for the video!

[@seattlegrrlie]

As someone who has lived in Seattle since 1999, I'm looking forward to my neighborhood getting transit in... 2040... ... Maybe ... Sigh

[@downix]

Something I was surprised you did not mention is that Washington State legalized Accessory Dwelling Units earlier this year, so the single family home zoning behind the denser developments will themselves be growing slightly as well.

[@vwwhiteknight]

Yay! Shoutout to The Urbanist! One of Seattle's great assets. ❤

[@henrylant7049]

Great video. In the first part of the video, I can see where you came to the conclusion that the interbay area has some work to do in order to make the 3 line viable. I think that the biggest reason the 3 line needs to happen is because north Seattle, west of I-5 is entirely dependent on a handful of avenues and sr99 to for traffic flow in and out of the area. Being able to go into the city without a car would alleviate so much pressure on those arterial roads. People in magnolia and queen anne would use the interbay station religiously to avoid driving into work downtown. Commuting from Ballard to downtown would be an extremely easy commute with rail, so all the stops along the way would encourage growth all along the line.

[@zachariahhowell4342]

I went to some Seattle zoning plan open houses this year and the number of NIMBY's at these is crazy. The online review board is much more progressive but i can definitely get why the mayor and council members lean NIMBY when that's who shows up.

[@templar1694]

They should do infrastructure projects in phases. So at least a phase/section can be use sooner.

[@garysimonson1135]

How did he not go to the northern portion of Link in Seattle? Capitol Hill, U District, Roosevelt, Northgate - these are urban subway stations that are in relatively dense areas with great TOD potential. Why not show that as well?

[@NickFrey1]

for sure, Lynnwood included!

[@nathanalidina3223]

They did build a bridge over I-5 at the Northgate station so both sides have access to the light rail. It is call the “John Lewis Memorial Bridge”.

[@heyaswinp]

LA and Seattle are the only cities in the US building new transit. Hope things align for them well.

[@Tony-so1zl]

Good signs for them indeed

[@MelGibsonFan]

Was just talking about the Seattle Light rail with a mechanic today... Nice!

[@VanillaMacaron551]

As a visitor who spends about a month a year in Seattle's beautiful eastside highlands, I say: - it will be great when they fix that problem with the new rail line over Lake Washington and across Mercer Island. (Stupid delay, but very cool that within a couple of years there will be a floating rail line and a rail connection from Bellevue and the east into the city.) - Ballard seems like a fab destination for light rail. You could really build a tourist route around this. Ballard is so cool with its boutiques, eateries, cafes, pubs, classy accommodation, Sunday Farmer's Markets, historic areas, working boat locks with museum, parkland and fish ladder, the Nordic Museum and Sunset Beach, all within an easy walk around the village. Also there's a rail bridge over water and vantage points to see the freight trains heading to and from Canada, (I presume?). - When you talked about Magnolia I was hoping you weren't going to say anything about putting housing on that beautiful big waterfront reserve near there - Discovery Park. It's an historic old defense base and lovely to walk around. Such an asset left undeveloped, or maybe it could have just a children's park or some small cafes built. I think you could easily walk there from Ballard with a few pathways upgraded - maybe you already can. Seattle has much more challenging geography than many cities when it comes to retrofitting modern transport systems and housing around older infrastructure, so maybe this partly explains why they have been slow off the mark. Thank goodness Alaskan Way is gone from the waterfront and I cannot wait to see the newly opened park that stretches from there right up to Pike Place, including elevators, because man that's such an uphill climb!

[@JoeJoe-lq6bd]

The end of the branch going through Interbay and Ballard is a puzzle to me. Interbay will only have light usage and during business hours. There's very little call for stations there. And where they're putting the Ballard station is along 15th, which is east of the most of the densest housing. Putting it somewhere near Market and Leary would maximize usage for residents and for visitors.

[@davidbarts6144]

Deference to single-family housing and forcing apartments to be next to arterials, freeways, and other noisy, polluting, undesirable areas is a big part of why I left Seattle. I can't afford a detached single-family home and I want to live on a quiet street. In Seattle, it has for decades been city policy that the latter is a privilege to be reserved almost exclusively for the most affluent. It is disgusting that one of the supposedly most progressive cities in the USA is so much in favor of such naked class privilege.

[@josephfisher426]

Any kind of apartments at scale need to be on a fairly large street in order to create the capacity to get that concentrated number of residents to and from their destinations (since only a few will be routinely using only their feet to move around). Maybe a train line can substitute, but those also tend to be near major roads anyway... Garden apartments, those are a different story...

[@davidbarts6144]

@@josephfisher426 Not a valid excuse. I have lived in four major West Coast cities (Oakland, Portland, Seattle, Vancouver) and only in Seattle is it virtually impossible to find an apartment on a quiet street.

[@compdude100]

@@josephfisher426 Most people don't like living next to loud, busy arterials, myself included. I purposely chose an apartment located away from a busy street to live in so I don't here the road noise when I open the window in the summer.

[@josephfisher426]

@@compdude100 Oh, I agree... but in fully urban areas especially, a large apartment needs a bus line to be attractive. And that means some degree of major road.

[@compdude100]

@@josephfisher426 This is true, but even just living a block or two away from the road means you're still pretty close to a bus stop and you don't hear as much road noise.

[@ChrisLauretano]

Haven't lived there in a handful of years, but I have this thought on the interbay station: I know historically some of the least on-time bus routes in the city included the line(s) serving Magnolia. Once a quiet neighborhood but easy to get to downtown by car, of course with explosive growth especially in neighborhoods immediately north of interbay, that's no longer true. New residents in the area being increasingly low or no car help justify a station here (even if for lots it would mean a bike to link or bus to link). Also, though they're not immediately rezoning for housing in the area they've done this progressively around the original link stations with some success.

[@vlorpflash112]

im telling you all, densifying and serving industrial lands with transit is very important, especially as someone who has made a living on industrial work, and relied on transit to get there (in canada). urbanists/transit advocates (especially here on youtube) often completely ignore, or worse, malign this very crucial part of urban economics.

[@ColinAdventures]

I completely agree! I work in an industrial area in Seattle and there is no transit here. A lot of people take the bus and hike in or ride e-bikes. A huge shipyard is just down the street with tons of employees but all the transit goes to the tech campuses and bypasses this area. Seems crazy to me.

[@eazydee5757]

Singapore has industrial areas that are well-served by public transit, specifically their MRT. I honestly think other transit systems should follow Singapore’s model and expand transit into industrial areas to encourage more transit use by those who work in these areas.

[@dennisc6716]

San Diego's Copper line trolley (formerly the east end of the Green line) ends in Santee also in a Target parking lot.

[@realquadmoo]

Federal Way Downtown Station isn’t in a Target parking lot, just the tail tracks are. The station is in a lot he didn’t even bother showing, right next to a massive transit center and a big lot to be developed into an urban village, which he specifically said no station on the extension would have an urban village.

[@starkparker16]

Why not sling a few stories of apartments on top of the park and rides?

[@TitanReign]

Thank you for another great video! I know you're very focused on Seattle/King County, I'd love to hear your thoughts on the big city to the South, Tacoma! They recently passed Home In Tacoma 2 which completely rewrote zoning laws which allows for more density across the board and Tacoma is also a part of the larger sound transit expansion as you've touched on here.

[@hobog]

Seattle's light rail needs relief north-south service, or else it will stay hamstrung by the cramped capacity of its light rail rolling stock

[@1224chrisng]

between the streetcar rolling stock and nonstop level crossings in Rainier Valley, Seattle makes Ottawa's train look almost acceptable

[@walawala-fo7ds]

​@@1224chrisng The north line doesn't have any at grade crossings. The reason it is overcrowded is because the second line isn't operational across lake Washington yet so they cannot meet the 4 minute headways they planned. Should not be an issue once line two opens next year.

[@realquadmoo]

@@1224chrisng We don’t use streetcar vehicles, we use light rail vehicles. They are built by the same company, they look very similar, but they are NOT the same. And Rainier Valley really isn’t that bad, calm down.

[@Norfirio]

​@@walawala-fo7dsthe 1 line has many at grade crossings. What do you mean?

[@walawala-fo7ds]

@@Norfirio There are no at grade crossings whatsoever after Stadium going north and line two merges at CID. That makes the north extension the only fully grade separated arm in the system which is why it is the only one that will run two simultaneous lines for 3 minute headways. Grade separation is maintained in all future north extensions including Everett.

[@zeemon9623]

A grocery store being close to where people live just should not be noteworthy. I think I have 7 of them within a 10 minute walk. I never knew it was this bad in the US.

[@philipsherman412]

The biggest problem I have with the housing in downtown Seattle is that it is just not a very livable area. They have like one or two grocery stores on the fringes of the downtown and almost no pharmacies. It can be a frustrating place to live because you end up having to leave your neighborhood for loads of different goods and services. Livable neighborhoods must meet most if not all of a households needs without individuals having to leave and go elsewhere for basic necessities.

[@ulysseslee9541]

when your city have land area issue u will need to increase the density, many USA cities are not have this issue unless you guys limit your city boundary. For me from Hong Kong, although we live in a extremely high-density land-use city, cover the train depot is a great solution for TOD housing devleopment or a new suburb settlement, also this can use the income of saling apartments/rental properties to subsidize the rail development/normal service.

[@stickynorth]

Seattle needs to Vancouverize itself. And Vancouver needs to Vienna-ize itself by building more mass market public housing at its vast network of Skytrain stations... Preferably on surface parking lots and kiss and ride areas...

[@1224chrisng]

yes absolutely! I'm very glad that TransLink is finally building the TOD themselves.

[@uncouver]

Lol. Skytrain was the worst thing vancouver ever did instigiated by an evangelical red baiter.

[@steveallwine1443]

There’s a soon-to-be giant indoor pickleball facility going into the walk shed of the Interbay station location. I suspect between that and Fisherman’s Terminal, there will be a lot traffic in and out of that area. You could do a whole episode on the Comprehensive Plan trying to come aligned with the 2023 House Bill 1110, which requires a major increase of density in single family housing, especially along transit routes.

[@johnnytownsend4204]

Public transit is still a nightmare in Seattle. I'm on the bus three or more hours a day. Light rail is great...when it runs, but it often has problems, single tracking, accidents, power outages, and lots of unhoused and drugged folks riding. I'm a big public transit advocate, but we really need a lot more help here.

[@realquadmoo]

No you aren’t.

[@I275westflorida]

@@realquadmoo you can easily spend 3 hours a day on the bus (1.5 hours each way) so his points are valid. The local politicians are acting like the light rail is going to save all but its a far from perfect system.

[@realquadmoo]

@@I275westflorida It usually doesn’t take that long for a typical commute but if you’re going further definitely.

[@I275westflorida]

@@realquadmoo for me to use transit on the north end of Lake Washington to the center of downtown Seattle, its close to an hour and half during weekday commutes by bus and light rail one way. Its not really that far distance wise.

[@Lelffy]

I had thought that you would go to the NE 145th area, just across the Seattle city limits in Shoreline. The housing they are doing in this area is impressive. My son studies at Stanford and they highlighted the work done around this transit stop as an example of good housing policy. It is worth taking a look at if you haven’t already done so.

[@geski00]

"A historic jail" bruh

[@maus0liam]

I mean that's what it is?

[@geski00]

@ literally falling for the historic parking lot meme I’m dying

[@shealupkes]

would be nice for the current park and rides to start going away, the old one in northgate was replaced by a garage that wastes less space and the former p&r is being redeveloped as an apartment complex

[@realquadmoo]

Board members have expressed desire to eventually tear down parking garages in the far future and replace it with more urban development. We have a very good urban, walkable, and transit-oriented vision

[@Rollermonkey1]

Just one observation: You say that Sound Transit "likes" to run their tracks in the middle of freeways, but that's not really true. None of the currently operating alignments run in the middle of a freeway. Yes, much of it runs ALONG freeways, but not in the middle. Middle of MLK Boulevard? Yes. Middle of the airport approach road? Yes. But not in the middle of any numbered freeways. Now, the soon (hopefully) to open segment between ID/Chinatown and South Bellevue will indeed run in the middle of the I-90 freeway, but that is solely to take advantage of the existing, floating bridges across Lake Washington. The cost to build separate bridges would have been ENORMOUS. Evergreen Point was ~$4.65 Billion and opened in 2016. I think it's wrong to call this a bad choice of alignment, in this instance.

[@xtylerlegacyx]

I work in Interbay. If it was an option it would be great for work. The new council and mayor aren’t as great for working class people. They have to continue what was promised but will for sure skin as much off as possible. The downside to new housing being built is what is being built. 80% of new apartments are luxury. It has increased the vacancy to 7%ish by some numbers. It has also raised rates for other affordable buildings around them. I was personally affected by this. My building hasn’t raised my rent in years, new lux building completes and they raise my rent the max they can. They will do it again next year. That lux building isn’t even close to half occupied(40 units total?). I toured it and was able to check out half a dozen units.

[@m31dp_official]

IMHO, Link light rail is super inadequate. I went to a concert at the stadium over the summer, and it was a PITA to board the train afterwards because every train arriving was full. And that's with the one and only 1 Line. Imagine how it'll be when all the other interlining lines start running. I know America loves to build light rail, but Seattle really should have revived the heavy rail subway or pursued a driverless light metro.

[@walawala-fo7ds]

Light Metro is a waste of money if you're trying to meet the capacity of an entire stadium. It is only marginally better at a massive cost due to grade separation requirements. Only heavy Metro can handle that and even that is pushing it. Seattle could barely afford light rail in both budget and voter support so a heavy Metro is totally a nonstarter without massive federal grants. And check who is president to tell me when that will happen

[@realquadmoo]

We’re building a metro and using LRVs. I don’t understand how you think more frequent trains will somehow make this worse.

[@KrishnaAdettiwar]

Seattle is expected to nearly double frequency through the middle of the city within the next decade on Link. Granted, heavy metro would’ve always been the better choice. Unfortunately, the city did try to do that but the voters struck it down decades ago and the federal grant money to build heavy metro went to create MARTA in Atlanta…that money would’ve been so much better spent and used in Seattle had voters back then not struck down the bill…

[@realquadmoo]

@ The end of next year it will double!

[@m31dp_official]

@@realquadmoo The 1 Line is a single line, which means Sound Transit could operate the highest frequency possible on it yesterday. When the 2 Line opens and interlines with it, half of that available frequency will be dedicated to going to Bellevue. That's what interlining does.

[@QuizzicalSoup]

When I moved to the Seattle area from Melbourne a while ago, I was so disappointed there was no trains compared to all the trams and trains in other cities I've been to. The bus system is pretty good, but I would still prefer trains / trams.

[@realquadmoo]

8:18 Federal Way Downtown is literally supposed to have an urban village around the station. The station is not in the target parking lot, that is the tail tracks. You neglect to mention the massive transit hub. You point to lots that are under construction at Kent Des Moines Station and claim they are all for parking but you’re wrong. There is TOD planned for Kent Des Moines and a whole village planned for Federal Way Downtown. Star Lake is the only station on the extension that will only have a parking garage. Interbay Station exists to connect people to industrial jobs, but you really put a cloth over it all and try to spin it as terrible. It’s not like every station is in an industrial area? Plus it’s simply better to have a station in Interbay than to not have a station in Interbay on the way to Ballard, which, by the way, will have huge amounts of TOD, as with Lynnwood, which just opened, and EVERY SINGLE station on the Lynnwood Link Extension has TOD either already open or currently under construction, with more empty lots near 2 stations reserved for even more. Honestly, how dare you portray Seattle this way? We are absolutely pioneering Transit Oriented Development and upzoning. The generally conservative city of Shoreline (Just north of Seattle) even just abolished parking mandates. You can walk through any suburban neighborhood in Seattle and see lots of small 2-3 story apartment buildings similar to that of Japan. What is it that you actually want? Next time you want to call out a city for lack of TOD and bad zoning, go ANYWHERE else. Alright here we go it’s time for even more: 8:39 No we don’t. There is one segment in the middle of an interstate and that’s crossing the floating bridge, everything else is not in the middle. For the most part, we have lines follow populated areas, and sometimes go NEXT to an interstate because of the cheaper ROW.

[@highscores8593]

Crazy to see my Federal Way Target in a video.

[@ainsleyhogan6015]

Also, about that golf course built on a landfill, not all land is suitable for putting big housing on top of it. I can't imagine that literal trash is seismically stable, or good to pour a foundation on. Another roadblock to development >~

[@VanillaMacaron551]

Brisbane, Australia, embraced the TOD concept maybe 20 years ago. You can judge it by many metrics but to my eye, I see a bunch of apartments lining our north-south arterial highways, making the apartments east-west facing (hot). This might count as added housing supply but who would choose to live there? Surely we can do better, design-wise.

[@a.z.p.]

East/West hotness is such an important factor, esp since so few of us have a/c

[@RobErickson-speak]

Who would live there? Are these east-west apt. empty? I doubt it. You may have $$ to get all the amenities you want. But I bet these are fine homes for thousands of people. We will never build enough housing for our cities if it has to be all nice, new, fancy and in the "right" neighborhoods or oriented the "right" way. People get the housing they can afford. And yes the crummy housing is important for those that that is what they can afford. This is true "affordable housing"--not the government subsidized stuff. There will never be enough of that.

[@letsgoOs1002]

Why can't they build a subway underground that connects to light rail stations above? Seems like a lot of wasted space on light rail with out gang ways and lower speeds. Idk enough if that could be done. But it seems like for all that time and money subway would be a good use.

[@Cyrus992]

Costs?

[@CyanideCarrot]

Sound Transit did not have the political power or budget to build a subway, so we got the street running segment. And now its too late and there's no point trying to switch

[@cheef825]

with what money bruh 😂 ST already has massive budget shortfalls

[@letsgoOs1002]

@@CyanideCarrot I wouldn't say switch. But more of instead of taking the lightrail under ground, make a subway system. Political power definitely sounds like a huge reason. It just makes more sense to have a subway for longer but higher speeds to get around and light rail/tram, for smaller but more frequent stop areas.

[@realquadmoo]

Because we already have a metro?

[@patarkovax]

As a local, the big issue with the Sounder is that its hours are awful and don't serve the average person who wants to visit Seattle, only commuters, because it's too expensive to run. It also shares rail lines with cargo rail so there are often delays. It also doesn't run on the weekends so if you want to visit the city or work on the weekend, tuff luck.