Transit

Two bathrooms at King County Metro transit centers will keep operating into 2025 thanks to a new budget allocation. But whether the County can sustain and grow its public restroom program in the long-term is another question.

A budget amendment put forward by Council President Nelson asks for information on how and when the city creates priority space for buses, citing opposition to Route 40. At a meeting last week, Nelson suggested that if she had wanted to kill a controversial project she already could have done it.

The Seattle City Council again voted against completing the Center City Streetcar. But it remains a prudent investment, vastly improving the Seattle Streetcar network and First Avenue walkability.

By a 5-3 vote last week, the Seattle City Council said it wasn't ready to plan for the decommissioning of the South Lake Union Streetcar. But unifying the city's two streetcar lines into one system seems less likely than ever before.

In North America, modern rail transit usually avoids conventional elevated lines in dense cities and even suburbs. Reece Martin of RMTransit discusses what makes elevated rail so good.

A third-party consultant told the Sound Transit board this week that the Fourth Avenue station option in Chinatown is "not reasonably constructible," due to lengthy construction timelines and a laundry list of risks that come with construction next to a BNSF rail line.

A proposal to be considered this week at the Seattle City Council's budget committee asks for a plan to wind down service on the South Lake Union Streetcar, which has operated since 2007.

More than 4,000 riders jumped on a RapidRide G bus on an average weekday in October, strong performance for a brand new bus route. Trending up, the G Line has room to grow.