Cascadia Report

Category: Cascadia not cities

  • More streetcars may be on the way

    Tacoma may follow the example of Portland and Seattle by starting to rebuild a city streetcar network. Hopefully the momentum will continue to grow.

    portland streetcar; from aiany.orgRelatively inexpensive streetcars could help knit neighborhoods together, reduce pollution and stimulate economic growth, according to a recent feasibility study. It’s hardly a done deal:

    All of the details still need to be determined, including precise routes, the order in which they would be built, the style of streetcar, and funding.

    Streetcars demonstrably meet the goals reportedly outlined in the Tacoma study. The trick is getting enough critical mass to convince naysayers. Portland’s system — which is now a true network of more than 7 miles interlocking with the metropolitan light rail and bus system — is frequent, reliable and a far more dependable economic-development engine than city bus routes would be. Seattle is building a starter streetcar line that should be a boon to its neighborhood but may be not ambitious enough. To serve a serious role in city transportation it needs to stretch a few miles north (over bridges that need refitting).

    The big question is how to finance such systems. Seattle is using a mix of city transportation funds and neighborhood taxes. Portland uses a tax increment system that Washington doesn’t widely allow. Taxing sectors of the city that would benefit, with the rates declining according to distance from the route, may find less opposition.

  • Vancouver (but not Seattle) a world commerce center

    Don’t let clogged traffic, overpriced real estate and a lack of major businesses fool you. Vancouver is a top center of global commerce.

    So says a new study by MasterCard ranking the top 50 cities as “world centers of commerce” based on their contribution to economic activity. Vancouver ranked 28th (between Montreal and Brussels), according to the index of six characteristics. It got high ratings for legal framework, ease of doing business and economic vitality. Those outweighed poor scores for being a financial center, knowledge/info economy and being a business center.

    Seattle didn’t even make the list, which included eight other U.S. cities. Vancouver’s result comes despite the city’s steady loss of headquarters and relatively weak corporate environment. Of course, the presence of two University of British Columbia professors on the nine-member panel that set the rankings could have something to do with it.

  • Another port under fire for bad finances

    Leaders of Olympia’s port are the latest in the region to take fire for sagging financial performance despite a boom in trade.

    A new shipping facility at the port has been repeatedly delayed by an environmental review and has had ripple effects throughout Puget Sound. The port commissioners reportedly declined to comment on the costs at their latest meeting.

  • Testing Seattle’s buses for a cross-lake commute

    I’d like personally to be part of the solution to Seattle’s transportation problems, by building demand for transit and curbing related pollution. So last night I tried commuting by bus from Redmond to Seattle.

    520 bridge traffic; by lightrailnow.orgWas it even close to competitive with driving? Consider the results:

    — Walking from office to bus stop. 9 mins.

    — Waiting for bus. Sound Transit buses supposedly come every 10 mins, but I missed one by about 30 seconds. 9 mins.

    — Riding the bus from Redmond to Seattle’s Montlake stop. The bus took a circuitous route through the Overlake Transit Center instead of using a freeway-ramp stop. Then the HOV lane was blocked for six of the seven miles leading to the 520 bridge because of cars trying to cross to merge or exit. 64 mins.

    — Walking from Montlake stop to home. The neighborhood bus isn’t designed to meet commuters, takes a roundabout route and stops running at 6 p.m. The other option is riding past Montlake to downtown and then backtracking by local bus to my neighborhood. I just walked, wending my way through several pedestrian-unfriendly 1960s-era intersections designed purely to move cars. 29 mins.

    — Total travel time: One hour and 41 minutes to go 12 miles.

    I’ve had blood-boiling commutes before and this one wasn’t especially bad. But it was slower than driving myself. Plus, sitting on the bus isn’t much less stressful than being alone in a car (especially if you’re in one of those comfy BMWs, Lexuses or Audis clogging the highway). There was a bit of financial benefit since my bus pass is free and I saved roughly half a gallon of gas, maybe $2 — or less than the cost of a coffee. I also feel more green, of course.

    But clearly we need more than warm feelings to move people better. Reports today that variable tolls may be introduced in 2009 is a step in the right direction but is still too distant. The replacement of the 520 bridge (if voters approve funding in November) would eventually provide HOV lanes and and eliminate the merger jams. The need for road improvements that make transit work better is a huge reason to vote for transit-and-roads plan this fall.

    Since those fixes are still years away, here are some interim ideas:

    1) Immediately move the HOV lane to center to avoid merger congestion east of the 520 bridge. The main consequence would be cutting off a single freeway bus stop just east of the bridge.

    2) Add buses in the corridor from Redmond to the densest neighborhoods in Seattle, such as Capitol Hill, the University District, Ballard and Green Lake.

    3) Begin charging a toll to cross the bridge as buses are added — not in 2009. Ideally this would be congestion priced, to incentivize taking transit.

    Without immediate changes to speed transit, it’s simply not practical to expect commuting patterns to change.

  • Vancouver shows how not to handle buses

    Vancouver is struggling with new bus lanes because of interference from cars. It’s a good lesson for Seattle, which is about to implement bus rapid transit along five corridors.

    The congestion means that bus lanes haven’t cut travel times. But the city’s report notes an improvement: “bus lanes can raise the profile of transit on a corridor and can be a symbol of transit priority.”

    The question remains why we can’t mimic the successful Rapid Ride program in Los Angeles. If you simplify the system and provide frequent service, people will ride.

  • Americans don’t know Canada or want to visit

    Americans don’t know much about Canada and aren’t interested in visiting.

    That shocking trend is contributing to a 34 percent drop in visits to the country by Americans since 2000 and threatening a chunk of a major industry in Canada, according to a recent study. Factors the study didn’t mention include the strict border rules and the rising Canadian dollar.

    Apparently prospects aren’t likely improve either:

    Boomers and their elders, tend to have a more favorable impression of Canada than Generations X and Y, who view Canada as an average, even boring, travel prospect.

  • Portland has land and plans to expand

    It must be nice to have abundant land. Consider Portland’s plans to expand its airport in anticipation of future traffic.

    The expansion would extend a runway on existing port property, in step with its master plan. It’s a contrast to Sea-Tac, which needs to become more efficient within its current footprint.

    Portland’s isn’t the only airport facing a bonanza. Oregon is considering a package of tax benefits for rural airports around the state.

  • Lesson from Japan: Boosting airport capacity

    Most visitors to Japan are funneled through Tokyo’s Narita Airport, which is a good example of how an airport can accommodate more people without growing larger. The lesson should put to rest the idea that Seattle needs a new airport.

    train station inside Narita airport terminalFor at least its first 30 years Narita was a joke. Located about 50 miles outside Tokyo, with a single runway and too-small terminals, it was the worst major airport in Japan and fell far short of those of rival cities like Seoul, Hong Kong, and recently Bangkok, Shanghai and Kuala Lumpur. Business began going elsewhere partly because of Tokyo’s travel hassles.

    Something similar could happen in Seattle, where Sea-Tac is plagued by delays and crowding even as rival Vancouver continues to stretch. A supposed solution? Site and build a new larger airport somewhere in the Puget Sound area.

    Tokyo offers a better model. On my recent trip, I noticed again how two train lines ferry travelers directly into the terminal buildings, a second long-planned runway has been added on existing airport property and — the biggest change in the last few years — the terminals have been completely overhauled to handle more people.

    Narita is also helped by the recent major improvements at Tokyo’s huge in-city domestic airport and at airports in Osaka and Nagoya. Coordinating select flights from Paine Field and other satellite airports could complement Sea-Tac too.

    Sea-Tac’s third runway will provide extra landing slots and improvements to terminals and ground transport could boost overall capacity. Faster rail between B.C. and Oregon would relieve some stress for local travel. Combined with ground improvements at Sea-Tac, such changes could meet the region’s demand and help knit it more closely together without the distraction of a new airport.

  • Vancouver wants fewer homeless than athletes

    Vancouver is considering measures to make sure there are fewer homeless people than athletes in the city during the 2010 Olympics.

    Plans call for rent support and new housing, though the idea has been derided as too little too late since market trends could swamp any progress. An analysis can be found at TheTyee.ca.

    At first glance the idea sounds similar to Seattle’s comprehensive plan, which seeks to curb the causes of homelessness in advance and then integrate the remaining homeless people into permanent housing.

  • Finally, restoring relations with Alaska

    Amid a series of trips to build international trade relationships, Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire found time this week to visit Alaska, reportedly the first visit there by a Washington governor in more than 25 years.

    Relations have been frayed between politicians in natural resource-using Alaska and more urban Washington. But there’s this fact from the AP story: “Ninety-seven percent of Alaska’s goods pass through Washington, 70 percent through the Port of Tacoma and the rest through Seattle and private docks.”

    Regardless of politics, treating Alaska as a trading partner recognizes reality. Gregoire’s other trade trips have been to Japan, Korea, China, France, Germany, the U.K., Australia and New Zealand. Mexico comes next month.