> I wonder why the don't consider electric buses with big batteries. Ask and ye shall receive: http://www.kingcounty.gov/elected/executive/constantine/News/rel

> I wonder why the don't consider electric buses with big batteries. Ask and ye shall receive: http://www.kingcounty.gov/elected/executive/constantine/News/release/2016/February/17-battery-bus-launch.aspx http://www.kingcounty.gov/elected/executive/constantine/News... http://seattletransitblog.com/2016/02/22/metros-battery-powered-proterra-buses-now-running-revenue-service/ http://seattletransitblog.com/2016/02/22/metros-battery-powe... Metro is running Proterra EV buses (like a Nissan Leaf writ very large) on routes 226 and 241 on the Eastside. So far the only charger is at Eastgate P&R so the routes served by the Proterras have to go through there. They are entirely run on batteries, no overhead wire or diesel engine, but their range is limited to about a ~20 mile route and they don't hold a charge well with steep hills. They take around 20 minutes to go from discharged to full and about 10 minutes to recharge from normal route usage. The new trolleys, separate from the Proterras, operating in Seattle now have batteries and can run off-wire for a few miles, including going up the 18% grade found at James St & 7th Ave. They're a lot better on hills and come in bendy-bus (articulated) styles that the Proterras currently don't have. We're trying to build more streetcars but there is astounding pushback against devoting street capacity to exclusive lanes for them. The First Hill Streetcar, that runs from the ID to Capitol Hill Link Station, goes up two-lane-with-bike-path Broadway...and is slower than walking during parts of the day. On the other hand, it will get monumentally more useful if the Central City Connector--a streetcar route from the ID to Westlake along 1st Ave in its own lanes--is built because the CCC will connect both streetcar routes. Personally, I'd love to see a dedicated-lane streetcar running between Mt Baker Station (Rainier Ave near Franklin HS) to University Link Station (just north of the ship canal along Montlake) on 23rd Ave. Cheaper than tunneling, in its own right-of-way, and running from, say, 5am to 1am every day of the week. That would be incredible and could easily replace route 48 with more capacity and better reliability. Sadly, I suspect I will be dead and gone before the Central District gets any kind of high-capacity transit.