It always amazes me how much all these cities (and the region at large) drag their feet on these transit projects. Despite how sub-optimal they are, they still see huge ridership, clearly showing a desire for such projects. Hurry up and give the people what they want!
Being in an overcrowded ST-550 bus which is stuck in traffic in the I-90 bridge during game-night is not the most fun experience. The bridge portion cannot open soon enough.
I remember after Ed Sheeran literally pulling my wife onto a bus as the doors squeezed us in, after waiting 40 minutes for it to show up. Bus transit to events is hardly possible. Link is still absolutely packed, but even at Taylor Swift we were all able to get on
@@himbourbanist ... 20 years and they do not have a SINGLE line built. It goes nowhere in Seattle other than the airport far to the SOUTH of the city. It does not even tie into Kings Station or Downtown Seattle. And no, Seattle is NOT a multimillion person city dear ignorant, its ~+500,000. Bellevue is ~+150,000
@@w8stral the region has upwards of 4 million people and Seattle has been opening expansions pretty regularly, they just opened an extension a few years ago
@@noscopedjfk920 Uh hem, $50Billion spent and they want to spend ANOTHER $70 Billion for a SINGLE damned line... Does not include maintenance and personnel ongoing costs. I live here, yes, I know exactly how many people live here. Unless the zoning laws are removed within ~1 mile of all rail lines, rail is utterly pointless. NO ONE rides it other than maybe downtown Seattle people going to airport.
The South Bellevue station is also pretty close to the Bellevue blueberry farms. I’m sure it will make the list at @citynerd one day as one of top 10 railway stops where you can pick your own fruits. I can’t wait to ride the train, get a few baskets full of Blueberries and then ride home.
You really should take a trip north to see Vancouver's Millennium Line, which offers a great glimpse of what TOD could be like for Seattle around this new line, especially since it was original dubbed a "SkyTrain to nowhere" before the building boom occurred. In fact, the Seattle Times published a very good article on this subject six years ago titled "Is this the future of Seattle transit? A look at Vancouver, B.C. - a city that figured it out years ago".
Sadly, we will have nothing, NOTHING comparable to the success of Vancouver's lines. Too many NIMBYs in the damn way causing problems. However, there is a LOT in the works that will get ridership to skyrocket in the coming years.
Honestly, from a development perspective building a train to nowhere is *better* than building a train to an area full of single family homes. Because if it's much easier to do development when there's nothing there. Sure in theory if you could convince all those single family home owners to sell you could tear them down and do some development, but actually doing that in practice is much more difficult. I wish more planners understood this...
@@kevadu It's not that planners don't understand that, it's politics won't allow them. A century ago, the United States could build a train through farmland (notably the IRT Flushing Line in New York City) and build a city around it. Unfortunately, that was before the automotive industry was lobbying to have a freeway built to every nook and cranny of the country.
Big difference, vancouver is flat and can place the lines anywhere. Seattle Bellevue is not and zoning laws make it impossible. Until the zoning laws are changed nothing will change. Remove the zoning laws and all these problems will take care of themselves.
@@w8stral Lol did you really just say Vancouver is flat? Bud have you ever been to the streets of Vancouver or studied a bit of regional geography?? Vancouver is just as hilly and mountainous as Seattle and Bellevue if not more. To name a few hilly places in Vancouver; there's Hastings Hill, Queen Elizabeth Park, Cambie, Joyce Collingwood, the list goes on... After all Vancouver is located on the foothills of the Coast Mountains and the Fraser River delta. Not to mention its Skytrakin system has maximum hill gradients of 9% and the trains go up it no problem.
It was great seeing so many new people excited about it and talking about it. My issue was the lack of signage guiding bikes and pedestrians to stations, which is even more important in a place hostile to them. They've had tons of time to update signs already.
@@yourfriendlara Train-to-bus transfers are also very overwhelming at some stations. UW station is particularly terrible with stops sprinked apparently randomly.
I actually think the access to dealerships is smart, because people who are buying or picking up cars, or have one in for maintenance, dont need to go with someone else with another car to do so
@@TheSemiArtisticPuma Thats actually a good under-looked point. A family member had to take their car into the dealer for recall maintenance and as predictable for my family I was the one who got asked to help... I drove them there and back, waited around for work to be done, and then again there and back. 1.5 hour+ trip each time with traffic. Took up the majority of my day. I hate driving people to dealerships even more than being asked to help someone move!
I agree with most of what you've said. Some points, having lived through the whole ordeal of getting this service. - East main, the neighborhood threw a fit, and specifically didn't want a direct connection to the station. - Bellevue City Basically didn't help with funding past the bare minimums - Bike Bellevue was a wonderful idea but was scrapped and isn't ever coming back - The city council was allotted it's growth target by King County and has already said that it will most likely miss the target unless they get county, state, or federal funding - City of Bellevue is debt averse. Meaning they will cut services to meet their budgets. This also means that they don't redevelop with debt. They only redevelop when developers pay for it. - The reason that Bellevue downtown is a car gutter is because significant business interests (KDC mainly) insist that people need to drive to the Square Mall Something you didn't mention is that the Overlake village station has a 520 pedestrian crossing. Not that there is anything really on the far side besides more microsoft campus Also the 'redmond technology station' got merged with the overlake transit center which was a rather large transit hub in the region. The 2 extensions in redmond are going to breathe further life into this line since you'll be able to take a single seat ride from Redmond Town Center to Seattle. Alot of the short comings on this segment overall are shortfalls in City of Bellevues ability to support the project properly. I'll give you the example that the spring district is the council's current crowning achievment. and it's bike network connectivity is laughably horrible. I wouldn't be expecting any big changes from the side of bellevue anytime soon
In terms of noise, I found the Redmond Technology Station pedestrian bridge to not be that bad compared to other bridges that cross freeways. I think the planter boxes on either side of the bridge pathway help lessen the sound.
I live in the north sound, and I rarely visit Seattle now without parking at Northgate and hopping on the 1 line. I’m so eager for the extension to Lynnwood, and I’m really excited for Line 2 and Line 1 to meet. Everybody I know despises the 405 with every fiber of their being, so it’s an area that I seldom explore. I’ve yet to visit Mercer Island either. I love hopping on and off the rail, and checking out neighborhoods I’ve never been to! I hope the Line 2 stops become more friendly to residents and visitors as time passes because I’d love to explore Bellevue!
There really isn't very much going on around the stations in terms of housing and jobs. People can't just materialize out of nowhere. They need to live or at least work somewhere near a station to use the system at all.
@@TohaBgood2True, but bus lines that feed into the stations can help, too until you get better TOD near the stations. And, better yet, BRT lines that connect to the stations.
@@mrxman581the area around the station is too small to matter. The connection to bus lines and the i90 bridge will make Seattle more accessible and do what TOD never does: provide access to the non privileged that live far of the line. That's a far greater number of people
@@mrxman581 Why would you take a bus to transfer to a light rail with only a handful of stations instead of just taking a bus to where you want to do? Line 2 might be worthwhile once it actually connects to Seattle but in its current form it's kind of a joke.
It always takes some time to grow into the system, people change travel patterns, they move closer to use the system, more development opens, etc. This is precisely what happened with the 1 line in 2009, people joked about how no one used it, then it went to the airport, then it went to Capitol Hill and UW, meanwhile more and more found it useful especially with these new stations.
6:44 that’s a little bit dramatic. The bridge is really high up and because of that and the atmosphere, the freeway noise is not quite as noticeable, especially when you compare it to the HORRENDOUS bridge at Northgate. Ear protection is not necessary for this bridge, but it certainly is at Northgate
Yeah, it doesn't seem nearly as bad as the C line on LA Metro that runs in the middle of the 105 fwy. Only two of the stations have partial plexiglass sound barriers on the platforms.
They were able to open this starterline because in a very anti-Seattle-process moment, they had the foresight to build a redundant maintenance facility East of the lake *just in case* anything went wrong with the Bridge. I don’t think they thought that *just in case* part was actually before the line opened though. In fact the whole ST2 expansion has been as un-Seattle process as it can. ST3 on the other hand...
6:03 This is Overlake *Village* Station. And you CAN access the other side with a very nice pedestrian and cyclist bridge that I’m going to assume you didn’t try since you neglected to mention it and instead claimed you wouldn’t be able to use the station from across the freeway meanwhile the next clip shows the bridge. It also connected with a 4 way bike path interchange. So, yeah.
When I came up to BelRed, I commented on how impressed I was that from South Bellevue up until then, it had been completely grade separated. I agree that a lot of stations are close to freeways and stroads but in terms of efficiency and scenery I was pretty pleased. Wilburton is far and away the most scenic station since you have a fantastic view of Downtown Bellevue on the other side of the platform where you shot the video. And the tunnel is great for avoiding the street traffic
Even if I'm critical of such a large network relying on LRT when Seattle's size warrants a proper heavy rail metro system, I love the enthusiastic pace of investments Sound Transit is putting into their network. I hope Translink can start expanding Skytrain at the same rate, as currently we have 6km being constructed and another 24km in the planning and procurement stage, with another 60km of necessary extensions sitting in the "maybe when we get around to it" stage of planning. Of course, Seattle has historically dragged its heals on necessary transit expansion even more than Vancouver, but they've well and truly come around to embrace transit in such a way that we'll be playing catchup in a decade or so.
What is the point of light rail train when in cases lot octranspo on its early otrain like trand had to upgrade to heavy axel amd wheels on the 2000 bombardia talon trains. Tjen otter went build canada otrain line on light rail with a lot of problem since opening when ottawa had really needed heavy rail
Thinking about the last mile. For now, will connections with Metro/Sound Transit buses be adequate? I see there is a free transit service in downtown Bellevue, "Bellhop." But it only runs 9a-9p or 10p so must just be a shopper's shuttle. Know anything about it?
There is fairly extensive bus service in Bellevue but more is needed to connect with more of these stations and improved transfers. Now it is all focused around the Downtown Bellevue transit center. Bellhop is a worthless joke, it has no capacity. With free on-demand rides over a large geographic area of greater downtown, it gets overwhelmed at 10 customers.
@@Ponchoed That's unfortunate to hear. Metro Flex, at least in Rainier Beach, is pretty fantastic (I've heard mixed things about it in other locations, though).
I would have loved to have gone to the grand (partial) opening, but was still sick. Looking forward to this - there's a station near my house, and my work. Driving is still faster, but I miss the exercise and quiet time I'd get walking to and from the bus. REALLY looking forward to it connecting to downtown Seattle. Can head the after work, meet up with friends, have some drinks, and no worries about traffic, parking, or a designated driver! Heck, even the occasional downtown doctor appt would be much faster and more convenient.
We went it was so fun! I’m dumbfounded that the neighborhood literally across the street opted to block themselves off rather than build pedestrian access.
Good video overall but I wish transit connections and potential transit connections were highlighted more. Even if it's near a freeway, good transit connections can make highway stations a lot better.
The bus stop across the highway from the Redmond Tech Center is a decent way to catch a bus to Seattle until the light rail connects. Buses continuing up to Redmond are right next to the station (if they're not already considered a part of it). Plus with the new park n ride, it's now a much more useful entry point for anyone who doesn't work at Microsoft.
@Yahriel agreed its good, I commute to Bellevue from Seattle via 520. I can now use the 542 to Link as another option. Unfortunately the westbound 542 stop is a good distance away from Redmond Technology Station on the other side of 520 then a distance, although the eastbound stop is right at the light rail station.
Congrats Seattle, from your regional neighbours in Alberta! I see you are the #3 most used LRT system in America per ridership mile @ 3820... Cute! Signed Calgary and Edmonton @ 8395 and 7335 respectively per mile... ;-) Seriously though, I am a fan of Link Light Rail even though it's no Skytrain or even C-Train in terms of uniform design language, ridership, reach... But it's decent for America... Not perfect and certainly only half as good as what it could have been under previous heavy rail and monorail schemes... But still... A podium finish in the USA? Still good!!!
@@momentogabe I understand that it's hard to change directions after 40 years of undermining their bus service to make the massive light rail investment not look like a waster. But they do need normal functional bus service at some point. If Calgary can do good light rail there's no reason why their busses should be worse than the busses in Phoenix and Orlando. They need to do better.
@@TohaBgood2 your take on Calgary’s buses was hilarious because you’re right! 😆 why should transit only be good if you live around a light rail station? #givecalgarybetterbuses
yeah they only had to build the track over the bridge twice at billions over budget. quite an accomplishment for seattle too only have one catastrophic waste of money.
You can thank the owner of Bellevue Square Mall for the placement of Bellevue's train station so close to the freeway. That rich MF-er fought light-rail coming to Bellevue as hard as he could for as long as he could. Then the voters turned against him. Having a train station under Bell-Square Mall would have made that guy even richer but he did not see that potential, to put it kindly.
Glad to see packed stations with people. Maybe that is a poor management sign as they should increase the frequency ideally as first option to solve the problem, or increase the length of the train as 2nd option. I good train frequency would be preferred to longer but rare trains.
I don’t get why you neglected the Overlake Village station’s pedestrian bridge when you were gonna talk about Redmond Technology station’s bridge as well? Either you forgot or didn’t care.
I just forgot. By the time I got to Overlake Village/Redmond Technology, it was after hours of walking and dealing with crowds, so I was pretty exhausted with the last few stations (it's also why I was harsh on the noise along the Redmond Technology bridge). If I do report on an expansion of this scale in the future, I'll probably approach the video differently.
@@YetAnotherUrbanist FWIW, I cycled over the RTS pedestrian bridge yesterday and it was a very pleasant experience. I didn't even really notice the freeway noise!
For all the people complaining, do you really want even more freeways? Are you going to stack them on top of each other? Taking that many people out of cars is really important even for the car drivers on the freeways. Could it be better? I don't know anything that couldn't be better but building more freeways is ridiculous.
Future idea you should make a video showing how far the stops are from the malls. I'm also considering making that video Just so people know how practical the current system is.
Just think: according to ST's ridership estimates, this line will have paid for itself as early as the year 2961 AD. Oh, that's not counting maintenance, of course...
Get ready for any little delays on the new line to cause an uproar in every media and art forms (because there are apparently never unplanned slowdown on roads!) From someone around Montreal who still hears daily how bad the new system is when stats say the opposite…
Its really good that Seattle is developing its rail network, but imo light rail is THE WRONG solution for Seattle. Expanding sounder would have been a better choice. And sounder trains don't necessarily have to use bilevels and locos on every line (though i think that's ideal); instead FLIRTs or other low floor EMU's could have been used on lines with harder to build infra, like the I-95 bridge. Regional trains are faster and have higher capacity. Light rail is good as an urban or local mode of transit, but it is not a catch-all transit mode. It is doing the job that regional commuter trains should do.
I seriously hope West Seattle and Ballard Link gets isolated from the rest of Link so it can be built as a grade seperated Skytrain like Vancouver. These low floor trams won't hold too many people. Sure, the trains here are longer but frequency is kneecapped by grade crossings. And you could technically run more frequently if you time your trains with stoplights but that's just removing Link's signal priority.
The most annoying part of all the link stations is the lack of urban planning around the station. I feel like if we're going to have park and rides, they should be further away with terminals that connect them together similar to airports where it's just a long bridge or hallway with those belts driven walkways to speed commuters up just a little bit. Not having urban centers based around the link stations I think has a very negative impact on the ability for small communities growing around them and having their own unique micro-culture. I love seeing Link expand, but I just also hate the feeling of lost opportunity to build human sized spaces around the stations. Serving only commuters is frustrating.
I had a buddy that lived near Wilberton. I was literally shouting over the facts a light rail station leads to CAR DEALERSHIPS. In Seattle I realize we are a lot better off than a lot of America, but goddamn it. Lol
I think the East Main represents the street itself. Main has neither a south or a north designation, as it is the boundary between them. Go North, and it's NE. South, it's SE.
Portland: 94 stations across 4/5 lines, opened in 1986 and serving many cities across the region gets a little less than 75,000 daily riders. Seattle: less than half the number of stations, opened in 2009, mainly serving 1 city and gets almost 80,000 daily riders (not including the 2 Line, obviously). Seattle also has higher average speeds, more frequency, and longer trains. Seattle will more than double the number of stations from 2021 to 2026, while in that same timeframe only a new Red Line platform has opened at Gateway Transit Center in Portland. This is also not including ST3, which will add 2 more lines, and bring ridership up to around an estimated 600,000 people a day.
If you want to compare Portland to anywhere look to Vancouver BC. Same city and metro populations (650K/2.6M), same opening year for the metro system (1986), similar station count and line length, and similar investments. The only difference is LRT vs ALRT (and fully grade separated) and a loooooot of TOD.
@momentogabe Let's not pretend Portland was running 4 lines in 1986.. Also, higher ridership is great, but from my perspective, Portland getting away with more lines and lower ridership is a testament to the fact that Seattle could have more lines. And yeah, I wish Portland was better on TOD for sure :(
So this is VTA Light Rail all over again. Terrible land use at the stations because it's mostly built where they could rather than where the density is already there. It took VTA Light Rail a good 30 years to get serious about TOD at their stations and they're only starting to make inroads towards density now. Let's see if if Link can do any better.
Link already has pretty good examples of TOD, unlike almost all of VTA after almost 40 years. Housing supply in the Roosevelt neighborhood doubled because of the light rail station, areas like Othello, Rainier Beach, Beacon Hill, and Columbia City have seen quite large numbers of new units going up. Not even mentioning areas like Capitol Hill, where the amount of new housing going up and ridership is pretty crazy. The U District is also seeing a pretty good number of towers finally starting to rise. And Northgate is also getting densified pretty quickly, even closing one of the park and ride lots and turning them into a new dense development. While the 2 Line does have, on average, has more disappointing land use its definitely not VTA levels of terrible. Just look at the BelRed and Spring Districts, both were pretty desolate industrial areas with no development, and actual serious density is going up (just look at it on google Streetview). in my opinion, there's only one really bad station on East Link, Wilburton. But even that has a major hospital complex and botanical garden in walking distance so it's not nothing. Being there on opening day, it was very exciting to see how packed the trains were and hearing people talk about how much of a game changer of a line this is.
@@momentogabe VTA has also accumulated a ton of TOD at their stations, especially in the last decade. That's not the point of contention here. The problem with Line 2 is that they built the line in the middle of nowhere again because that's where it was cheaper to build. They've made the same mistake that the VTA made and will now have to do the same things that the VTA has done to create brand new TOD around their park-and-ride stations along Line 2.
@@TohaBgood2 I would strongly disagree with that. The east side is definitely not the middle of nowhere, Bellevue has 151,000 people and hundreds of thousands jobs, Redmond has about half that population but probably around 100,000 jobs because of the massive Microsoft campus that the 2 Line is built to serve. The 2 line does serve most of the densest parts of the east side, and the parts that it doesn’t are either being expanded to currently or approved for a future line 4. If you really think the 2 line runs through nowhere, check out Downtown Bellevue, the Spring District, or the Microsoft campus. Not to mention Downtown Redmond. This isn’t some Almaden shuttle that doesn’t do anything, it connects important neighborhoods with hundreds of thousands of people and jobs efficiently and fairly quickly. If it didn’t do that, why would thousands upon thousands of people pack on to every single train from the first train to the last? Because it’s exciting, especially when the I-90 segment opens people on the Eastside won’t need to bother with the bridges, they can rely on rail.
There are huge upzones underway at several of these stations... BelRed, Wilburton. East Main has several large 1M sf mixed use developments planned on large old hotel sites and an old shopping center, there is a brand new senior living high rise across the street. Downtown Bellevue has seen tremendous development over the last 25 years and planned going forward, with new office buildings and residential buildings... its like 15 M sf of office and 30,000 units in that time.
It seems you aren't familiar with the Eastside suburbs - all post-war suburbia. There aren't different places with higher density the 2 Line could have gone. It directly serves 2 of the hotspots - downtown Bellevue and Microsoft campus, and the cities have agressively upzoned several others stations areas.
unfortunately that community of single family homes by East main are very much against the idea of the light rail being anywhere near them. most recent complaint among many being noise of the train.
American transit is so empty, its so weird. 6000 riders per day? Canada's transit lines for LRT or subway get in the tens of thousands per day. The Waterloo LRT system had 12,000 daily riders in 2023 for example.
US'ers have a deep-seated cultural antipathy to transit (even compared to our “peer” countries like Canada and Australia). Going to take a while to break that down.
@@darthmaul216 bruv, the Seattle metro area has 4 million people, there should be more than a couple tens of thousands. Line 1 in Toronto has 670,000 daily weekday riders 😂 it's not even CLOSE. Seattle's entire Link Light rail boasts a measly 80,000 daily weekday riders.
From what I am seeing I don't see this being very practical for people unless they work in these areas or live within walking distance of the light rail. Once it connects to line 2 I could see this actually being very practical. Hopefully RedmondHas a bus that can take you to either Mary Moore or Redmond town center. As far as downtown Bellevue typically the bus drops you off at the transit center so for people wondering you're probably gonna have to make to the mall.
There's good bus connections from Redmond Technology to Redmond proper, and in about a year the rest of the line to Marymoor and Downtown Redmond should be finished.
You should cover the absolute disaster that the expansion of line 1 will be. Sound transit already said that due to the concrete ties issue on the I90 bridge which prevent access to train storage, and other poor planning, there will not be enough trains to seattle during peak hours. That means the "wonderful public transit" promises will turn into people literally not being able to ride it because the trains will be so crowded you just can't get in. And best of all, no solution exists for another 2 years until more trains get made! The problem is so bad, sound trasit had to reactivate bus lines the light rail was supposed to kill. It is going to be a sight to behold that the good old trust express bus having no problems heading to the city while everybody is hoping for a seat on a crowded train!
@@CyanideCarrot That's not accurate. Their recent press releases clearly state the train will run out of room at peak hours and that's why the express lines from Everett will need to continue for two years. The urbanist has covered the disaster in great detail. It is an embarrassment.
@@oregonsenior4204 from eastside to airport or downtown seattle? I feel the park and ride mode make more sense other than this short distance light rail.
@jackeyoo Line 2 is just a segment right now. from Sound Transit website: "In August 2023 the Sound Transit Board authorized the opening of the initial segment of the 2 Line on the Eastside while construction to correct quality issues on the I-90 segment continues.... The full 2 Line is expected to open in 2025.... When completed, the I-90 segment will add the Mercer Island and Judkins Park stations to the 2 Line and connect to the 1 Line at the International District/Chinatown Station in downtown Seattle." The option of Bellevue travelers taking the LINK to the airport BUT having to change at the International Station in downtown Seattle won't get car-lovers out of their aluminum boxes, I admit. I'd have liked to see Bellevue-to-airport. Maybe they will someday, but not in my lifetime. It's a chicken-&-egg thing. Why should they build TOD and better transit in Bellevue if everyone in the East side stays in their cars, which they do BECAUSE the current East side transit connections are kinda crappy? And will remain so BC Bellevue is post-WW2 development, spread-out suburbs.
“Wilburton: it’s a comical & not an appealing station with all these car dealerships everywhere. There’s no substance here & simply not a destination station” - ignores the Overlake Medical Center (hospital that employs 3400 people), Lake Bellevue, & Whole Foods that’s within walking distance…smh 🤦♂️. Where do they find these transit critics?!?! 😭
When the full 2 line opens between Lynwood and Downtown Redmond, I'll probably end up redoing this video, so I can be sure mention that kind of stuff. It's just a first impression and I gave myself one day to visit each station.
@@YetAnotherUrbanist looking forward to the re-do. Not trying to be that “well actually guy” just making sure the people know there’s a reason why each station was chosen since the 2 Line didn’t spring up overnight lol.
Unfortunately it is the wrong type of train for the region. Too slow and not grade separated to the airport. The light rail is not actually faster than the buses as it stops way too much and tops out at a measly 45mph. Express buses on the hov lane don't stop and hit 55-65mph. Which means we could have had the same service for a fraction of the cost with just more frequent buses on bus lanes. Leave it to Seattle to totally waste billions.
Top speed on the light rail is 55 mph. Express buses may be faster for certain trips, but are also more limited in the areas they serve and can't carry nearly as many people. The light rail is much faster than buses running on the same corridor as the trains (if you've ever had to take the Link shuttle buses when the light rail goes down you would see how much faster the trains are)
@@CyanideCarrot well considering the cost of the project is into the billions, buses would be cheaper for as long as anyone alive cares 🤣. Not to mention maintaining those tracks will be hugely expensive beyond buses
@@TakingTransit it only hits that on the straights for short times, and the rest is dealing with stops and curves, which is why its average speed is more like 35mph at best if not 25mph. That's why it takes nearly 90 minutes to go from Northgate to SeaTac. Totally useless
I used to ride line 1 north but the express bus was faster because the train is so slow and it stops so much. My money is the express bus will still smoke this slow train. They should have built heavy commuter rail and 100% grade separated. Also underground so it doesn't need to destroy as many homes as businesses as this monstrous project has. In particular the west Seattle expansion is like a chainsaw chopping neighborhoods like I5 did decades ago.
The 550 is super slow from South Bellevue into Downtown Bellevue. It's also slow getting in and out of Mercer Island and again entering Downtown from I-90. Link is very fast thru Downtown Seattle, it's 7 minutes from International District to Capitol Hill, add 3 minutes onto that and you are at UW.
You mentioned single family homes converting to multi family.. except that’s never going to happen. Always best to build rail between high density areas OR in empty areas that you plan to develop better land use. Let the SFH owners live the life they paid for and just build places designed for transit riders and those who prefer walkable spaces. That’s my opinion anyhow.
@@darthmaul216 It’s very rare though and I think as a planner you have to weigh the possibilities vs the realities. I think this system is designed for commuters mostly anyway, modern light rail that flexes to support varied neighborhood densities. It’s a smooth system and the extension over the new bridge to Seattle will be a great addition. Will definitely give tourists and Seattle locals more reasons to visit the east side.
That was more the contractor's fault than Sound Transit. Did Sound Transit mess up in some way on the I-90 bridge segment? Probably, but they didn't build the actual bridge. They didn't hire them to mess up on a project, so if you want to blame anyone you should probably start by blaming the people who built it, not the people who contracted them.
@@momentogabe The engineering of that bridge segment is kind of impressive though (even though the screwed up the construction of it). This will be the first rail over a floating bridge. It doesn’t really feel like Seattle if we are first in the world with something but don’t screw it up somehow.
No. It was a contractor that messed up the plinths on the bridge, not at all Sound Transit’s fault and they’ve negotiated to get it fixed without paying for it all over again.
welcome to seattle. We dug a tunnel to burry a viaduct you could walk under, only to build a stroad on top you have to dash across. oh but we put cute plants and rainbow flags on the curbs so we feel good about the billions that cost. :)
Ride the 2 Line. Bellevue has terrible road and traffic infrastructure, so even though the trains are very local, it’s actually faster than driving and ESPECIALLY faster than taking a bus because usually you’d have to transfer at BTC
@@cmdrls212 city of carbrains pretending to be urbanists. But the ranks show we rank the same as Ottawa on so many measures. Ottawa is like the Phoinex AZ of Canada, while Seattle is like maybe Vancouver level if we compare it relative to our cities within our own countries.
Bellevue has seen incredible growth over the last 25 years and also has projected growth with upzones that will blow any US suburb out of the water and goes head to head with much bigger cities. Downtown Bellevue was strip malls and a couple 10 story 1980s office towers surrounded by parking in the 90s. It now has 10s of millions of sq ft of office towers including several 600 ft towers. It's also built 10-20,000 units of housing downtown with probably another 10k in the pipeline.
Enough of your bitching about parking garages and stations being close to freeways. Bottom line is, the areas surrounding stations like South Bellevue are mostly suburban homes. So people have to drive from home to park and take the light rail. Which is better than not using transit at all. We aren’t going to magically transition to transit oriented development overnight, so in the meantime we have to make some accommodations for that transition.
It always amazes me how much all these cities (and the region at large) drag their feet on these transit projects. Despite how sub-optimal they are, they still see huge ridership, clearly showing a desire for such projects. Hurry up and give the people what they want!
Car-brain'ed-ness is a really hard habit to shake.
The voters approved it over a decade ago. The government just can't build anything in America.
@@neonspark707 They build highways pretty well though.
They done studies on this. People don't realize they want it until they have it, then they're like duh! this is great!
@@danielkelly2210not really, transportation projects, regardless of modality, tend to have big delays in this region.
Being in an overcrowded ST-550 bus which is stuck in traffic in the I-90 bridge during game-night is not the most fun experience. The bridge portion cannot open soon enough.
I remember after Ed Sheeran literally pulling my wife onto a bus as the doors squeezed us in, after waiting 40 minutes for it to show up. Bus transit to events is hardly possible. Link is still absolutely packed, but even at Taylor Swift we were all able to get on
huzzah!
rode it today, I dig it. can't wait for the full line to be open
Rode it? Yea, and you will never ride it again. Nowhere to nowhere
@@w8stral it's going to go from Bellevue to Seattle, a multi-million person city. Hardly "nowhere"
@@himbourbanist ... 20 years and they do not have a SINGLE line built. It goes nowhere in Seattle other than the airport far to the SOUTH of the city. It does not even tie into Kings Station or Downtown Seattle. And no, Seattle is NOT a multimillion person city dear ignorant, its ~+500,000. Bellevue is ~+150,000
@@w8stral the region has upwards of 4 million people and Seattle has been opening expansions pretty regularly, they just opened an extension a few years ago
@@noscopedjfk920 Uh hem, $50Billion spent and they want to spend ANOTHER $70 Billion for a SINGLE damned line... Does not include maintenance and personnel ongoing costs. I live here, yes, I know exactly how many people live here. Unless the zoning laws are removed within ~1 mile of all rail lines, rail is utterly pointless. NO ONE rides it other than maybe downtown Seattle people going to airport.
The South Bellevue station is also pretty close to the Bellevue blueberry farms. I’m sure it will make the list at @citynerd one day as one of top 10 railway stops where you can pick your own fruits. I can’t wait to ride the train, get a few baskets full of Blueberries and then ride home.
The blueberry farms are amazing; last time we went it was completely free!
You really should take a trip north to see Vancouver's Millennium Line, which offers a great glimpse of what TOD could be like for Seattle around this new line, especially since it was original dubbed a "SkyTrain to nowhere" before the building boom occurred. In fact, the Seattle Times published a very good article on this subject six years ago titled "Is this the future of Seattle transit? A look at Vancouver, B.C. - a city that figured it out years ago".
Sadly, we will have nothing, NOTHING comparable to the success of Vancouver's lines. Too many NIMBYs in the damn way causing problems. However, there is a LOT in the works that will get ridership to skyrocket in the coming years.
Honestly, from a development perspective building a train to nowhere is *better* than building a train to an area full of single family homes. Because if it's much easier to do development when there's nothing there. Sure in theory if you could convince all those single family home owners to sell you could tear them down and do some development, but actually doing that in practice is much more difficult.
I wish more planners understood this...
@@kevadu It's not that planners don't understand that, it's politics won't allow them.
A century ago, the United States could build a train through farmland (notably the IRT Flushing Line in New York City) and build a city around it. Unfortunately, that was before the automotive industry was lobbying to have a freeway built to every nook and cranny of the country.
Big difference, vancouver is flat and can place the lines anywhere. Seattle Bellevue is not and zoning laws make it impossible. Until the zoning laws are changed nothing will change. Remove the zoning laws and all these problems will take care of themselves.
@@w8stral Lol did you really just say Vancouver is flat? Bud have you ever been to the streets of Vancouver or studied a bit of regional geography?? Vancouver is just as hilly and mountainous as Seattle and Bellevue if not more. To name a few hilly places in Vancouver; there's Hastings Hill, Queen Elizabeth Park, Cambie, Joyce Collingwood, the list goes on... After all Vancouver is located on the foothills of the Coast Mountains and the Fraser River delta. Not to mention its Skytrakin system has maximum hill gradients of 9% and the trains go up it no problem.
It was great seeing so many new people excited about it and talking about it. My issue was the lack of signage guiding bikes and pedestrians to stations, which is even more important in a place hostile to them. They've had tons of time to update signs already.
I have been so disappointed in ST's wayfinding at every single station I've been to. They need to prioritize this imo.
@@yourfriendlara Train-to-bus transfers are also very overwhelming at some stations. UW station is particularly terrible with stops sprinked apparently randomly.
Wilburton, with all the car dealers, is being upzoned for 450 ft towers. Belred is being upzoned for 250 ft towers.
I actually think the access to dealerships is smart, because people who are buying or picking up cars, or have one in for maintenance, dont need to go with someone else with another car to do so
@@TheSemiArtisticPuma Thats actually a good under-looked point. A family member had to take their car into the dealer for recall maintenance and as predictable for my family I was the one who got asked to help... I drove them there and back, waited around for work to be done, and then again there and back. 1.5 hour+ trip each time with traffic. Took up the majority of my day. I hate driving people to dealerships even more than being asked to help someone move!
I agree with most of what you've said. Some points, having lived through the whole ordeal of getting this service.
- East main, the neighborhood threw a fit, and specifically didn't want a direct connection to the station.
- Bellevue City Basically didn't help with funding past the bare minimums
- Bike Bellevue was a wonderful idea but was scrapped and isn't ever coming back
- The city council was allotted it's growth target by King County and has already said that it will most likely miss the target unless they get county, state, or federal funding
- City of Bellevue is debt averse. Meaning they will cut services to meet their budgets. This also means that they don't redevelop with debt. They only redevelop when developers pay for it.
- The reason that Bellevue downtown is a car gutter is because significant business interests (KDC mainly) insist that people need to drive to the Square Mall
Something you didn't mention is that the Overlake village station has a 520 pedestrian crossing. Not that there is anything really on the far side besides more microsoft campus
Also the 'redmond technology station' got merged with the overlake transit center which was a rather large transit hub in the region.
The 2 extensions in redmond are going to breathe further life into this line since you'll be able to take a single seat ride from Redmond Town Center to Seattle.
Alot of the short comings on this segment overall are shortfalls in City of Bellevues ability to support the project properly. I'll give you the example that the spring district is the council's current crowning achievment. and it's bike network connectivity is laughably horrible. I wouldn't be expecting any big changes from the side of bellevue anytime soon
In terms of noise, I found the Redmond Technology Station pedestrian bridge to not be that bad compared to other bridges that cross freeways. I think the planter boxes on either side of the bridge pathway help lessen the sound.
besides, all the highly compensated Microsoft royalty are all wearing their overpride airpods and will not notice.
I live in the north sound, and I rarely visit Seattle now without parking at Northgate and hopping on the 1 line. I’m so eager for the extension to Lynnwood, and I’m really excited for Line 2 and Line 1 to meet. Everybody I know despises the 405 with every fiber of their being, so it’s an area that I seldom explore. I’ve yet to visit Mercer Island either. I love hopping on and off the rail, and checking out neighborhoods I’ve never been to! I hope the Line 2 stops become more friendly to residents and visitors as time passes because I’d love to explore Bellevue!
Having been at the 2 Line launch, it's really weird seeing videos of it almost empty!
There really isn't very much going on around the stations in terms of housing and jobs. People can't just materialize out of nowhere. They need to live or at least work somewhere near a station to use the system at all.
@@TohaBgood2True, but bus lines that feed into the stations can help, too until you get better TOD near the stations. And, better yet, BRT lines that connect to the stations.
@@mrxman581the area around the station is too small to matter. The connection to bus lines and the i90 bridge will make Seattle more accessible and do what TOD never does: provide access to the non privileged that live far of the line. That's a far greater number of people
@@mrxman581 Why would you take a bus to transfer to a light rail with only a handful of stations instead of just taking a bus to where you want to do?
Line 2 might be worthwhile once it actually connects to Seattle but in its current form it's kind of a joke.
It always takes some time to grow into the system, people change travel patterns, they move closer to use the system, more development opens, etc. This is precisely what happened with the 1 line in 2009, people joked about how no one used it, then it went to the airport, then it went to Capitol Hill and UW, meanwhile more and more found it useful especially with these new stations.
6:44 that’s a little bit dramatic. The bridge is really high up and because of that and the atmosphere, the freeway noise is not quite as noticeable, especially when you compare it to the HORRENDOUS bridge at Northgate. Ear protection is not necessary for this bridge, but it certainly is at Northgate
Yeah, it doesn't seem nearly as bad as the C line on LA Metro that runs in the middle of the 105 fwy. Only two of the stations have partial plexiglass sound barriers on the platforms.
It's a design feature to keep homeless from taking it over. 😂
@@neonspark707 hey this is eastside they kicked the poor people out omg they solved poverty no way omg
Lmao @@realquadmoo
@@neonspark707 I love making life miserable for everyone just for the sake of making life especially miserable for the less fortunate
Live, laugh, Link Light Rail 💙
They were able to open this starterline because in a very anti-Seattle-process moment, they had the foresight to build a redundant maintenance facility East of the lake *just in case* anything went wrong with the Bridge. I don’t think they thought that *just in case* part was actually before the line opened though. In fact the whole ST2 expansion has been as un-Seattle process as it can. ST3 on the other hand...
They put in the wrong concrete ties over i90, delayed the project for two years, and is over budget. Oh, no. Seattle signature right there 😂
@@neonspark707no, that’s the contractor.
6:03
This is Overlake *Village* Station. And you CAN access the other side with a very nice pedestrian and cyclist bridge that I’m going to assume you didn’t try since you neglected to mention it and instead claimed you wouldn’t be able to use the station from across the freeway meanwhile the next clip shows the bridge.
It also connected with a 4 way bike path interchange. So, yeah.
Do they have smart traffic lights that prioritize the train over cars?
it does, and 3 of the 4 crossings have full crossing gates as well.
Thank you for a comprehensive and informative overview of a new line which I am excited to use. Now I know how and where I can make the most of it :^)
I was at south Bellevue for the first train, but I'll proapbly never use it again until connected to Seattle
That weather, damn I wish I could live in the Seattle area.
I had a feeling you would be at the East Link opening! A fun day it was! 🙂
Progress!🎉
Slough is pronounced slew not sloff.
Good old -ough: the worst suffix in the English language
the difference between where belred station was 8 years ago and now is crazy
even just from where it was a month ago, the construction crews for those apartments have made a ton of progress
The plan is to also be an arts district...we shall see but sounds good
When I came up to BelRed, I commented on how impressed I was that from South Bellevue up until then, it had been completely grade separated.
I agree that a lot of stations are close to freeways and stroads but in terms of efficiency and scenery I was pretty pleased. Wilburton is far and away the most scenic station since you have a fantastic view of Downtown Bellevue on the other side of the platform where you shot the video. And the tunnel is great for avoiding the street traffic
Even if I'm critical of such a large network relying on LRT when Seattle's size warrants a proper heavy rail metro system, I love the enthusiastic pace of investments Sound Transit is putting into their network. I hope Translink can start expanding Skytrain at the same rate, as currently we have 6km being constructed and another 24km in the planning and procurement stage, with another 60km of necessary extensions sitting in the "maybe when we get around to it" stage of planning. Of course, Seattle has historically dragged its heals on necessary transit expansion even more than Vancouver, but they've well and truly come around to embrace transit in such a way that we'll be playing catchup in a decade or so.
Heavy rail is hard we, we have seen it lots of times with the sounder and its issue with landslides
What is the point of light rail train when in cases lot octranspo on its early otrain like trand had to upgrade to heavy axel amd wheels on the 2000 bombardia talon trains. Tjen otter went build canada otrain line on light rail with a lot of problem since opening when ottawa had really needed heavy rail
great video! thanks for the overview, will be sure to check this out
Thinking about the last mile. For now, will connections with Metro/Sound Transit buses be adequate?
I see there is a free transit service in downtown Bellevue, "Bellhop." But it only runs 9a-9p or 10p so must just be a shopper's shuttle. Know anything about it?
There is fairly extensive bus service in Bellevue but more is needed to connect with more of these stations and improved transfers. Now it is all focused around the Downtown Bellevue transit center. Bellhop is a worthless joke, it has no capacity. With free on-demand rides over a large geographic area of greater downtown, it gets overwhelmed at 10 customers.
@@Ponchoed That's unfortunate to hear. Metro Flex, at least in Rainier Beach, is pretty fantastic (I've heard mixed things about it in other locations, though).
I would have loved to have gone to the grand (partial) opening, but was still sick. Looking forward to this - there's a station near my house, and my work. Driving is still faster, but I miss the exercise and quiet time I'd get walking to and from the bus. REALLY looking forward to it connecting to downtown Seattle. Can head the after work, meet up with friends, have some drinks, and no worries about traffic, parking, or a designated driver! Heck, even the occasional downtown doctor appt would be much faster and more convenient.
That is nice. Good on them.
It would be nice to actually get one in the first place.
We went it was so fun! I’m dumbfounded that the neighborhood literally across the street opted to block themselves off rather than build pedestrian access.
Good video overall but I wish transit connections and potential transit connections were highlighted more. Even if it's near a freeway, good transit connections can make highway stations a lot better.
The bus stop across the highway from the Redmond Tech Center is a decent way to catch a bus to Seattle until the light rail connects. Buses continuing up to Redmond are right next to the station (if they're not already considered a part of it). Plus with the new park n ride, it's now a much more useful entry point for anyone who doesn't work at Microsoft.
@Yahriel agreed its good, I commute to Bellevue from Seattle via 520. I can now use the 542 to Link as another option. Unfortunately the westbound 542 stop is a good distance away from Redmond Technology Station on the other side of 520 then a distance, although the eastbound stop is right at the light rail station.
"sloo" not "sloff" for slough in this region, comrade.
Congrats Seattle, from your regional neighbours in Alberta! I see you are the #3 most used LRT system in America per ridership mile @ 3820... Cute! Signed Calgary and Edmonton @ 8395 and 7335 respectively per mile... ;-)
Seriously though, I am a fan of Link Light Rail even though it's no Skytrain or even C-Train in terms of uniform design language, ridership, reach... But it's decent for America... Not perfect and certainly only half as good as what it could have been under previous heavy rail and monorail schemes... But still... A podium finish in the USA? Still good!!!
Are you guys ever going to build any normal bus lines so that you have overall good transit mode share rather than just high light rail numbers?
@@TohaBgood2 🤣🤣
@@momentogabe I understand that it's hard to change directions after 40 years of undermining their bus service to make the massive light rail investment not look like a waster. But they do need normal functional bus service at some point.
If Calgary can do good light rail there's no reason why their busses should be worse than the busses in Phoenix and Orlando. They need to do better.
@@TohaBgood2 your take on Calgary’s buses was hilarious because you’re right! 😆 why should transit only be good if you live around a light rail station? #givecalgarybetterbuses
yeah they only had to build the track over the bridge twice at billions over budget. quite an accomplishment for seattle too only have one catastrophic waste of money.
Perhaps once more grade seperated rail lines open in the city, full grade separation can occur on older lines.
Goddamn yeah that land use is rough af
You can thank the owner of Bellevue Square Mall for the placement of Bellevue's train station so close to the freeway. That rich MF-er fought light-rail coming to Bellevue as hard as he could for as long as he could. Then the voters turned against him. Having a train station under Bell-Square Mall would have made that guy even richer but he did not see that potential, to put it kindly.
Glad to see packed stations with people. Maybe that is a poor management sign as they should increase the frequency ideally as first option to solve the problem, or increase the length of the train as 2nd option. I good train frequency would be preferred to longer but rare trains.
Great video.
No restrooms! Is it really that challenging to maintain a vital structure?
How did you enjoy the launch parties at the new stations? We wanted to go, but had other commitments yesterday.
same
I found myself in this video :D
I don’t get why you neglected the Overlake Village station’s pedestrian bridge when you were gonna talk about Redmond Technology station’s bridge as well? Either you forgot or didn’t care.
I just forgot. By the time I got to Overlake Village/Redmond Technology, it was after hours of walking and dealing with crowds, so I was pretty exhausted with the last few stations (it's also why I was harsh on the noise along the Redmond Technology bridge).
If I do report on an expansion of this scale in the future, I'll probably approach the video differently.
@@YetAnotherUrbanistOkay understandable have a nice day
@@YetAnotherUrbanist FWIW, I cycled over the RTS pedestrian bridge yesterday and it was a very pleasant experience. I didn't even really notice the freeway noise!
For all the people complaining, do you really want even more freeways? Are you going to stack them on top of each other? Taking that many people out of cars is really important even for the car drivers on the freeways. Could it be better? I don't know anything that couldn't be better but building more freeways is ridiculous.
Literally not one comment here said that lmao 😂
@@neonspark707 Yeah, they just complained without thinking about any alternative.
I believe Eastside light rail was approved in 1996 as far as Overlake (now Redmond Technology)
You should do a transit video of Vancouver, BC and compare and contrast to Seattle
Future idea you should make a video showing how far the stops are from the malls. I'm also considering making that video Just so people know how practical the current system is.
Just think: according to ST's ridership estimates, this line will have paid for itself as early as the year 2961 AD. Oh, that's not counting maintenance, of course...
Get ready for any little delays on the new line to cause an uproar in every media and art forms (because there are apparently never unplanned slowdown on roads!) From someone around Montreal who still hears daily how bad the new system is when stats say the opposite…
are you from the seattle area
Its really good that Seattle is developing its rail network, but imo light rail is THE WRONG solution for Seattle. Expanding sounder would have been a better choice. And sounder trains don't necessarily have to use bilevels and locos on every line (though i think that's ideal); instead FLIRTs or other low floor EMU's could have been used on lines with harder to build infra, like the I-95 bridge. Regional trains are faster and have higher capacity. Light rail is good as an urban or local mode of transit, but it is not a catch-all transit mode. It is doing the job that regional commuter trains should do.
Mercer Slough is pronounced Mercer Slew
I seriously hope West Seattle and Ballard Link gets isolated from the rest of Link so it can be built as a grade seperated Skytrain like Vancouver. These low floor trams won't hold too many people. Sure, the trains here are longer but frequency is kneecapped by grade crossings. And you could technically run more frequently if you time your trains with stoplights but that's just removing Link's signal priority.
this will be the "fabled third line"
Underground is where that will go. Best choice over some annoying nosiy sky train
The most annoying part of all the link stations is the lack of urban planning around the station. I feel like if we're going to have park and rides, they should be further away with terminals that connect them together similar to airports where it's just a long bridge or hallway with those belts driven walkways to speed commuters up just a little bit.
Not having urban centers based around the link stations I think has a very negative impact on the ability for small communities growing around them and having their own unique micro-culture.
I love seeing Link expand, but I just also hate the feeling of lost opportunity to build human sized spaces around the stations. Serving only commuters is frustrating.
I had a buddy that lived near Wilberton. I was literally shouting over the facts a light rail station leads to CAR DEALERSHIPS. In Seattle I realize we are a lot better off than a lot of America, but goddamn it. Lol
I think the East Main represents the street itself. Main has neither a south or a north designation, as it is the boundary between them. Go North, and it's NE. South, it's SE.
I moved from the area just before this rail line started running literally through my old backyard. Dodged a bullet there
would have been better crossing over 520 for those commuting from Redmond
Spring district would be the best example of transit redevelopment of the area, if the apartments there weren't 5 grand for a studio per month.
2 lines! Wow, good job! Now Seattle is only 2 decades behind the poorer, less populous city of Portland.
Portland: 94 stations across 4/5 lines, opened in 1986 and serving many cities across the region gets a little less than 75,000 daily riders. Seattle: less than half the number of stations, opened in 2009, mainly serving 1 city and gets almost 80,000 daily riders (not including the 2 Line, obviously). Seattle also has higher average speeds, more frequency, and longer trains. Seattle will more than double the number of stations from 2021 to 2026, while in that same timeframe only a new Red Line platform has opened at Gateway Transit Center in Portland. This is also not including ST3, which will add 2 more lines, and bring ridership up to around an estimated 600,000 people a day.
Portland is slow, infrequent, street-running light rail with low ridership. Seattle is a mostly grade separated system with better TOD and ridership.
If you want to compare Portland to anywhere look to Vancouver BC. Same city and metro populations (650K/2.6M), same opening year for the metro system (1986), similar station count and line length, and similar investments.
The only difference is LRT vs ALRT (and fully grade separated) and a loooooot of TOD.
@@TomPVideo Vancouver skytrain is definitely not automated light rail lol. It’s light metro, like in Honolulu or Copenhagen.
@momentogabe Let's not pretend Portland was running 4 lines in 1986.. Also, higher ridership is great, but from my perspective, Portland getting away with more lines and lower ridership is a testament to the fact that Seattle could have more lines. And yeah, I wish Portland was better on TOD for sure :(
So this is VTA Light Rail all over again. Terrible land use at the stations because it's mostly built where they could rather than where the density is already there. It took VTA Light Rail a good 30 years to get serious about TOD at their stations and they're only starting to make inroads towards density now. Let's see if if Link can do any better.
Link already has pretty good examples of TOD, unlike almost all of VTA after almost 40 years. Housing supply in the Roosevelt neighborhood doubled because of the light rail station, areas like Othello, Rainier Beach, Beacon Hill, and Columbia City have seen quite large numbers of new units going up. Not even mentioning areas like Capitol Hill, where the amount of new housing going up and ridership is pretty crazy. The U District is also seeing a pretty good number of towers finally starting to rise. And Northgate is also getting densified pretty quickly, even closing one of the park and ride lots and turning them into a new dense development. While the 2 Line does have, on average, has more disappointing land use its definitely not VTA levels of terrible. Just look at the BelRed and Spring Districts, both were pretty desolate industrial areas with no development, and actual serious density is going up (just look at it on google Streetview). in my opinion, there's only one really bad station on East Link, Wilburton. But even that has a major hospital complex and botanical garden in walking distance so it's not nothing. Being there on opening day, it was very exciting to see how packed the trains were and hearing people talk about how much of a game changer of a line this is.
@@momentogabe VTA has also accumulated a ton of TOD at their stations, especially in the last decade. That's not the point of contention here.
The problem with Line 2 is that they built the line in the middle of nowhere again because that's where it was cheaper to build. They've made the same mistake that the VTA made and will now have to do the same things that the VTA has done to create brand new TOD around their park-and-ride stations along Line 2.
@@TohaBgood2 I would strongly disagree with that. The east side is definitely not the middle of nowhere, Bellevue has 151,000 people and hundreds of thousands jobs, Redmond has about half that population but probably around 100,000 jobs because of the massive Microsoft campus that the 2 Line is built to serve. The 2 line does serve most of the densest parts of the east side, and the parts that it doesn’t are either being expanded to currently or approved for a future line 4. If you really think the 2 line runs through nowhere, check out Downtown Bellevue, the Spring District, or the Microsoft campus. Not to mention Downtown Redmond. This isn’t some Almaden shuttle that doesn’t do anything, it connects important neighborhoods with hundreds of thousands of people and jobs efficiently and fairly quickly. If it didn’t do that, why would thousands upon thousands of people pack on to every single train from the first train to the last? Because it’s exciting, especially when the I-90 segment opens people on the Eastside won’t need to bother with the bridges, they can rely on rail.
There are huge upzones underway at several of these stations... BelRed, Wilburton. East Main has several large 1M sf mixed use developments planned on large old hotel sites and an old shopping center, there is a brand new senior living high rise across the street. Downtown Bellevue has seen tremendous development over the last 25 years and planned going forward, with new office buildings and residential buildings... its like 15 M sf of office and 30,000 units in that time.
It seems you aren't familiar with the Eastside suburbs - all post-war suburbia. There aren't different places with higher density the 2 Line could have gone. It directly serves 2 of the hotspots - downtown Bellevue and Microsoft campus, and the cities have agressively upzoned several others stations areas.
unfortunately that community of single family homes by East main are very much against the idea of the light rail being anywhere near them. most recent complaint among many being noise of the train.
American transit is so empty, its so weird. 6000 riders per day? Canada's transit lines for LRT or subway get in the tens of thousands per day. The Waterloo LRT system had 12,000 daily riders in 2023 for example.
US'ers have a deep-seated cultural antipathy to transit (even compared to our “peer” countries like Canada and Australia). Going to take a while to break that down.
Once it connects to Seattle the daily ridership will be tens of thousands
@@darthmaul216 bruv, the Seattle metro area has 4 million people, there should be more than a couple tens of thousands. Line 1 in Toronto has 670,000 daily weekday riders 😂 it's not even CLOSE. Seattle's entire Link Light rail boasts a measly 80,000 daily weekday riders.
You can thank Kemper freeman for this useless routing thru downtown Bellevue.
From what I am seeing I don't see this being very practical for people unless they work in these areas or live within walking distance of the light rail. Once it connects to line 2 I could see this actually being very practical. Hopefully RedmondHas a bus that can take you to either Mary Moore or Redmond town center. As far as downtown Bellevue typically the bus drops you off at the transit center so for people wondering you're probably gonna have to make to the mall.
There's good bus connections from Redmond Technology to Redmond proper, and in about a year the rest of the line to Marymoor and Downtown Redmond should be finished.
You should cover the absolute disaster that the expansion of line 1 will be. Sound transit already said that due to the concrete ties issue on the I90 bridge which prevent access to train storage, and other poor planning, there will not be enough trains to seattle during peak hours. That means the "wonderful public transit" promises will turn into people literally not being able to ride it because the trains will be so crowded you just can't get in. And best of all, no solution exists for another 2 years until more trains get made! The problem is so bad, sound trasit had to reactivate bus lines the light rail was supposed to kill. It is going to be a sight to behold that the good old trust express bus having no problems heading to the city while everybody is hoping for a seat on a crowded train!
they did find more places to store trains so they will be able to run every 8 minutes with all 4-car trains, which isnt as bad as previously thought
@@CyanideCarrot That's not accurate. Their recent press releases clearly state the train will run out of room at peak hours and that's why the express lines from Everett will need to continue for two years. The urbanist has covered the disaster in great detail. It is an embarrassment.
from S bel to overlake, it only takes about 15 mins to drive. Who want to take this train if you have a car and you have free parking
Well then, where did *you* want the 2 line to go?
@@oregonsenior4204 from eastside to airport or downtown seattle? I feel the park and ride mode make more sense other than this short distance light rail.
I meant park and ride the train to cross the lake
@jackeyoo Line 2 is just a segment right now.
from Sound Transit website: "In August 2023 the Sound Transit Board authorized the opening of the initial segment of the 2 Line on the Eastside while construction to correct quality issues on the I-90 segment continues.... The full 2 Line is expected to open in 2025.... When completed, the I-90 segment will add the Mercer Island and Judkins Park stations to the 2 Line and connect to the 1 Line at the International District/Chinatown Station in downtown Seattle."
The option of Bellevue travelers taking the LINK to the airport BUT having to change at the International Station in downtown Seattle won't get car-lovers out of their aluminum boxes, I admit. I'd have liked to see Bellevue-to-airport. Maybe they will someday, but not in my lifetime. It's a chicken-&-egg thing. Why should they build TOD and better transit in Bellevue if everyone in the East side stays in their cars, which they do BECAUSE the current East side transit connections are kinda crappy? And will remain so BC Bellevue is post-WW2 development, spread-out suburbs.
"mercer sloff"
btws "slough" is pronounced "slew"
Aroura Borealis
2 Line*
Sell restroom keys and provide security.
Then the restrooms would be more like a hotel (they did this in Canada, it did not end well)
You mispronounced Mercer Slough
“Wilburton: it’s a comical & not an appealing station with all these car dealerships everywhere. There’s no substance here & simply not a destination station” - ignores the Overlake Medical Center (hospital that employs 3400 people), Lake Bellevue, & Whole Foods that’s within walking distance…smh 🤦♂️. Where do they find these transit critics?!?! 😭
When the full 2 line opens between Lynwood and Downtown Redmond, I'll probably end up redoing this video, so I can be sure mention that kind of stuff. It's just a first impression and I gave myself one day to visit each station.
@@YetAnotherUrbanist looking forward to the re-do. Not trying to be that “well actually guy” just making sure the people know there’s a reason why each station was chosen since the 2 Line didn’t spring up overnight lol.
Sell restroom passes. That should discourage the undesirable element.
They tried that in Canada. It did not end well
D 2 line is open
Unfortunately it is the wrong type of train for the region. Too slow and not grade separated to the airport. The light rail is not actually faster than the buses as it stops way too much and tops out at a measly 45mph. Express buses on the hov lane don't stop and hit 55-65mph. Which means we could have had the same service for a fraction of the cost with just more frequent buses on bus lanes. Leave it to Seattle to totally waste billions.
Top speed on the light rail is 55 mph. Express buses may be faster for certain trips, but are also more limited in the areas they serve and can't carry nearly as many people. The light rail is much faster than buses running on the same corridor as the trains (if you've ever had to take the Link shuttle buses when the light rail goes down you would see how much faster the trains are)
I find that the light rail is more consistant. Busses get stuch in traffic a lot.
the operational cost per passenger for a bus is way higher, offsetting the up-front savings
@@CyanideCarrot well considering the cost of the project is into the billions, buses would be cheaper for as long as anyone alive cares 🤣. Not to mention maintaining those tracks will be hugely expensive beyond buses
@@TakingTransit it only hits that on the straights for short times, and the rest is dealing with stops and curves, which is why its average speed is more like 35mph at best if not 25mph. That's why it takes nearly 90 minutes to go from Northgate to SeaTac. Totally useless
I used to ride line 1 north but the express bus was faster because the train is so slow and it stops so much. My money is the express bus will still smoke this slow train. They should have built heavy commuter rail and 100% grade separated. Also underground so it doesn't need to destroy as many homes as businesses as this monstrous project has. In particular the west Seattle expansion is like a chainsaw chopping neighborhoods like I5 did decades ago.
The 550 is super slow from South Bellevue into Downtown Bellevue. It's also slow getting in and out of Mercer Island and again entering Downtown from I-90. Link is very fast thru Downtown Seattle, it's 7 minutes from International District to Capitol Hill, add 3 minutes onto that and you are at UW.
You mentioned single family homes converting to multi family.. except that’s never going to happen. Always best to build rail between high density areas OR in empty areas that you plan to develop better land use. Let the SFH owners live the life they paid for and just build places designed for transit riders and those who prefer walkable spaces. That’s my opinion anyhow.
It’s happened before. And if those people want to keep their house then they can choose to not sell
@@darthmaul216 It’s very rare though and I think as a planner you have to weigh the possibilities vs the realities. I think this system is designed for commuters mostly anyway, modern light rail that flexes to support varied neighborhood densities. It’s a smooth system and the extension over the new bridge to Seattle will be a great addition. Will definitely give tourists and Seattle locals more reasons to visit the east side.
Urbanists and communists are cut from the same cloth!
Because of course Sound Transit messed up the rails on the bridge...because they're inept as hell
That was more the contractor's fault than Sound Transit. Did Sound Transit mess up in some way on the I-90 bridge segment? Probably, but they didn't build the actual bridge. They didn't hire them to mess up on a project, so if you want to blame anyone you should probably start by blaming the people who built it, not the people who contracted them.
@@momentogabe The engineering of that bridge segment is kind of impressive though (even though the screwed up the construction of it). This will be the first rail over a floating bridge. It doesn’t really feel like Seattle if we are first in the world with something but don’t screw it up somehow.
No. It was a contractor that messed up the plinths on the bridge, not at all Sound Transit’s fault and they’ve negotiated to get it fixed without paying for it all over again.
@rokksula4082 Nailed it. I think I'd call what Seattle is doing as innovation. Sometimes, innovation isn't done right the first time.
I don't blame them, the rails are literally on pontoons. There were engineering challenges from the start.
Or in other words, what a waste.
welcome to seattle. We dug a tunnel to burry a viaduct you could walk under, only to build a stroad on top you have to dash across. oh but we put cute plants and rainbow flags on the curbs so we feel good about the billions that cost. :)
Ride the 2 Line. Bellevue has terrible road and traffic infrastructure, so even though the trains are very local, it’s actually faster than driving and ESPECIALLY faster than taking a bus because usually you’d have to transfer at BTC
@@cmdrls212 city of carbrains pretending to be urbanists. But the ranks show we rank the same as Ottawa on so many measures. Ottawa is like the Phoinex AZ of Canada, while Seattle is like maybe Vancouver level if we compare it relative to our cities within our own countries.
Bellevue has seen incredible growth over the last 25 years and also has projected growth with upzones that will blow any US suburb out of the water and goes head to head with much bigger cities. Downtown Bellevue was strip malls and a couple 10 story 1980s office towers surrounded by parking in the 90s. It now has 10s of millions of sq ft of office towers including several 600 ft towers. It's also built 10-20,000 units of housing downtown with probably another 10k in the pipeline.
You ever think someone will actually be right about waving off an urban light rail project as a waste
Enough of your bitching about parking garages and stations being close to freeways. Bottom line is, the areas surrounding stations like South Bellevue are mostly suburban homes. So people have to drive from home to park and take the light rail. Which is better than not using transit at all. We aren’t going to magically transition to transit oriented development overnight, so in the meantime we have to make some accommodations for that transition.
Agree. The locations could be more pedestrian friendly but parking garages are an absolute necessity.
The street running sections are disappointing. Kneecapping capacity to save a few dollars is insane!