Harper

22 Apr

I'm so incredibly happy we are finally getting bus lanes on Denny. The 8 is one of the most important routes in the system, it is time to treat it that way. Now lets continue making it better @nicksattele.bsky.social @mayorofseattle.bsky.social @alexis4seattle.bsky.social

Putting my bets in for sales tax levied on store-brand food and a $1 increase of transit fares

Amy Sundberg@amysundberg.bsky.social

Predictably CM Kettle is upset that the SPD budget isn't bigger and doesn't fund more police officers, especially in 2028 (2028's budget will be adjusted during next year's budget season). I'll report here if CM Kettle gives any suggestions as to how to pay for more officers.

Removing stops to the extent they are planning is unlikely to save an appreciable amount of time. We know that in urban environments stops every 1-1.3k ft works best. .5 mi stop spacing just treats the R as a way to quickly carry people downtown, not a way to move within the corridor

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Rapids in San Francisco like the 38R are not much faster than their local variant

And this is in spite of the fact that MUNI's locals stop every 500' as if it is 1920

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actively bad for corridors with dense housing and businesses all along them

It harms the elderly, people with disabilities, kids, etc but the harm is not just limited to these people. The only people it helps live by one of the stations and commute downtown and that help is marginal at best (Look at how the 9X is not that much faster than the 7, look at how the...

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the .5 mi stop spacing on a BRT with no local+express setup (and that is a setup which would NOT work on a corridor as short as Rainier, especially since you sacrifice frequency) is something Minneapolis does and it works,,, kinda meh for routes for people going between major destination and it is..

wut

Push The Needle@pushtheneedle.bsky.social

I’m actually pro gondola for west seattle if it saves enough money to build the ballard line

Also people gotta stop treating WSLE like a useless project and stop pretending the last three stations of the BLE will net 170k daily riders. The WSLE will allow the truncation of the C, H, 21, 125 and the deletion of 56/57 allowing a massive expansion of local service in west seattle

Stop pitting Seattle projects against Seattle projects, the real problem is the ST Board's refusal to delay EVLE because in America cities are forced to bend over backwards for the convenience of the suburbs

wut

Push The Needle@pushtheneedle.bsky.social

I’m actually pro gondola for west seattle if it saves enough money to build the ballard line

The gondola is so laughably unserious, building nothing would be better

16 July

Im so INCREDIBLY done with progressive campaigns being like "we are going to have a nice campaign" and by "nice" they mean never criticizing the opponent for things like BEING RECOMMEND BY THE KING COUNTY REPUBLICANS and DELETING A BUS LANE BECAUSE A BUISNESS WANTS IT GONE

16 July

Being nice doesnt mean being spineless. Mamdani ran a nice campaign and called cuomo a pedo. Your opponent being recommended by the king county republicans is an important thing for voters to know.

16 July

Also, can we stop holding up progressive candidates saying "I didnt want to run but I had to" as a virtue? Its okay for a progressive to want to have power and hold political office

@mesmith35673.bsky.social

13 July

Blastin dracula flow in my ears on this bus Swimmin in those bars like its friday night Gonna turn my ears to hellen keller I dont give a shit If I had a dollar for every shit I gave Id be broke cos I dont give a shit This shit aint nothin to me man To anyone above the age of 30 welcome to culture

Harper reposted

Michael Smith

11 July

Replying to @harlander.bsky.social

I’m working with every transit agency in the region to put together a total ridership count for Monday and the 4th of July weekend. I don’t have the data from every agency yet, but it looks like Monday’s total will be between 800k-1M boardings.

11 July

By my estimate the day of match 6 saw north of 800k transit boardings in the four county metro area

Ryan Packer@typewriteralley.bsky.social

Sound Transit confirms that it shattered its one-day ridership record on July 6 with the U.S. vs Belgium match. 309,000 riders pressed onto Link trains that day. 5.4 MILLION riders used Link during the entirety of June, easily clearing the previous monthly ridership record.

Harper reposted

28 June

Having parades on 4th Ave is genuinely unacceptable, especially now that we have a nice open waterfront

28 June

Having parades on 4th Ave is genuinely unacceptable, especially now that we have a nice open waterfront

28 June

We cannot be telling people to take the bus to the parade while destroying our bus service

Harper reposted

AvgZing

@avgzing.com

Only 400 units estimated current zoning vs ~2,500 under midrise zoning shows: 1. NR zone updates won't solve our housing crisis 2. We underbuild in sensitive areas, resulting in *increased* gentrification rather than offsetting w/ supply 3. People don't see a problem with #1 or #2 even in our dreams

AvgZing@avgzing.com

The official number is only 400 housing units, under current zoning. More than anything, this reminds me that our zoning allowances are dramatically too low in neighborhoods worried about gentrification, to the point that our too-marginal new housing induces gentrification rather than offsets it.

25 June

It also says this would allow for the creation of only 400 new homes. This is NOTHING and demonstrates a deep lack of ambition and the weakness of NR zoning. If this area were zoned to MR it could house thousands

Ryan Packer@typewriteralley.bsky.social

Rerouting and reclaiming SR 99 through South Park would result in an 86% reduction in Pollution Generating Impervious Surfaces, per this report. It really seems like that would help Southern Resident Killer Whales more than keeping housing banned.

25 June

This gets at my biggest frustration with American reclamation projects. Every single time we are given what is essentially free land, we try to create a diversity of housing at the expense of capacity or simply underzone the entire thing. What are we doing looking at free land and going...

25 June

"yeah, lets put a few 3 and 4 story apartment buildings, maybe a couple small towers, and a bunch of townhomes. That's really the vibe of the neighborhood we want in the middle of a MASSIVE HOUSING CRISIS"

Okay, I'm breaking my silence WHO AT METRO MADE THE METRO CONNECTS 2050 MAP WHO WAS IT I just want to talk

Look, I know east-west service in south seattle is hard but please give this like, 5 more minutes, I promise you'll find a better way

Look, in reality, no hate to whomever made this, I agree with many of the decisions here and I would genuinely like to talk.

Okay, I'm breaking my silence WHO AT METRO MADE THE METRO CONNECTS 2050 MAP WHO WAS IT I just want to talk

Idk what to even do with this God forbid you ever want to go northwest of Lake City Why are you wasting service hours on a frequent 73 that goes all the way down to UWS When it duplicates... whatever you have going on with the 348 AND the 45 AND the 48 (ik why, ur just wrong) Imagine the reliability

We REALLY need to have a conversation about yalls upgrading full routes to RapidRide instead of restructuring. Instead of doing this, RapidRide the north-south part of the 62 and splitting the east west-part into a new route that runs along 65th from Ballard to Sand Point????

Okay, I'm breaking my silence WHO AT METRO MADE THE METRO CONNECTS 2050 MAP WHO WAS IT I just want to talk

WHYYYYYYYYYYYY

I understand what you were trying to do here but you HAVE to realize there is a less dumb way (the dumb part isnt it getting lost in Magnolia, that I'm broadly fine with)

Okay, I'm breaking my silence WHO AT METRO MADE THE METRO CONNECTS 2050 MAP WHO WAS IT I just want to talk

It's so bad, why is it so bad, who got paid to make this Why,,, what is happening here??? Btw, Blue and orange are RAPIDRIDES

23 June

As far as I can tell, this is a record for any american light rail system Also may numbers dropped and here are the headline weekday average boardings: System: 164k DSTT: 40k North of DSTT: 60k South of DSTT: 44k East of DSTT: 22k Peak day: 185k Stations over 10k: 4 (almost 5)

Ryan Packer@typewriteralley.bsky.social

Just in: we have a new Sound Transit light rail ridership record. The system carried 280,000 riders on Friday June 19, the day of the U.S. vs Australia match and an evening Mariners game.

19 June

I love the waterfront so much and the people who say "its not for locals,only tourists" are so unserious. before as a local you couldnt go to the waterfront because the sidewalks were too narrow and filled with tourists. Now I can walk along waterfront and eat home cooked dinner watching the sunset

Ryan Packer@typewriteralley.bsky.social

This used to be a fucking double decker highway.

Harper reposted

Robert Cruickshank

@robertcruickshank.com

19 June

We live in an amazing city, in a fantastic state. We need to fight for it. Protect the millionaires tax, fund transit, welcome LGBTQ folks.

Ryan Packer@typewriteralley.bsky.social

This used to be a fucking double decker highway.

16 June

Two things in this universe are constant: 1) Israel breaking the terms of the definitely totally real ceasefire 2) Burak Ravid writing a definitely totally real article for axios about how trump is angry at netanyahu

14 June

RapidRide G hit a huge milestone last month seeing 7,325 weekday average boardings Its high water mark is now at over 3,250 riders per mile. A single digit number of cities have a bus line with a ridership per mile half that high and only a few with ridership per mile higher

14 June

RapidRide G continues to be an incredible transformation for our transit system

14 June

They really do just put a mic in front of America's dumbest people at Kiro

Harper reposted

beans, rice, and the dream of a free cascadia will get me through the american century of humiliation

And connected by a bus system that runs more often, serves more people, and operates more quickly It's time for Seattle to go bold on the Seattle Transit Measure

Councilmember Eddie Lin@cmeddielin.seattle.gov

Taller Denser Greener. 😁

publicola.comSeattle Nice: Mayor Wilson Doubles Down on Transit Sales Tax - PubliColaBy Erica C. Barnett On this week’s third (!) edition of Seattle Nice, we have a short but (I think)…

I have been really disappointed by a lot of the discourse on this, some of you progressives should know better Car tabs make this levy less likely to pass and while a more progressive source of revenue would be better, risking the livelihoods of transit riders...

Erica C. Barnett@ericacbarnett.bsky.social

Seattle Nice: Mayor Wilson Doubles Down on Transit Sales Tax Listen to the latest episode, and read my rant about transit advocates explaining what buses are and the noble types of people who need them! publicola.com/2026/06/06/s...

At the alter of progressive revenue is absolutely absurd. I also find it FASCINATING that we hear no pushback against the county implementing a .1% sales tax for rural roads but the moment transit (one of the most progressive uses of tax) looks for a levy, we get a groundswell of opposition...