Stephen Fesler
Stephen is a professional urban planner in Puget Sound with a passion for sustainable, livable, and diverse cities. He is especially interested in how policies, regulations, and programs can promote positive outcomes for communities. With stints in great cities like Bellingham and Cork, Stephen currently lives in Seattle. He primarily covers land use and transportation issues and has been with The Urbanist since 2014.
The Washington House of Representatives has passed legislation setting goals that could more than double service and significantly shrink travel times on Amtrak Cascades. The Washington State Senate still needs to sign off on the legislation.
King County Metro has added ORCA transit card readers at all doors on nearly 75% of its bus fleet and has a goal of finishing work by the end of the year. Until it does, Metro said all-door boarding is officially not permitted outside of RapidRide lines and Third Avenue. However, some riders have started anyway.
Not only are the Netherlands' brick streets more aesthetically pleasing than typical American streets, the modern klinkers (bricks) that make up most Dutch streets are just more practical. Jason Slaughter of Not Just Bikes dives into how brick streets are designed and installed, and what makes them better.
After a nearly three-month hiatus, bus stops near the intersection of 12th Avenue S and S Jackson Street in Little Saigon reopened today. King County Metro closed the stops due to public safety issues, which authorities say have improved.
Dave Amos of City Beautiful dives into the thorny issue of punishing bad drivers and the many challenges that stem from lawlessness and impunity on roadways.
Sound Transit alongside Community Transit and the wider ORCA card pod will make some limited fare changes on Saturday, March 1, including lowering regular adult day passes from $8.00 to $6.00 and for reduced fare day passes from $4.00 to $2.00.
Sound Transit continues to restore Sounder rail cars to service with some improvements for riders, but maintenance work by contractor Amtrak could take a while longer. That means reduce Sounder service could linger.
Weekend service disruptions continue Sunday, February 23 on the Link 1 Line. Sound Transit will suspend light rail service between Capitol Hill and SoDo stations to facilitate maintenance and construction work, and offer replacement bus bridge service.