3 ms·

I don’t even think it’s just that. Seattle is dense enough and we have an ok public transit system. But it’s just not used that much. There is benefit in privac

I don’t even think it’s just that. Seattle is dense enough and we have an ok public transit system. But it’s just not used that much. There is benefit in privacy and comfort, the ability to move groceries and goods, the ability to get to parts outside your direct transit corridor in a reasonable amount of time, and the fact people enjoy leaving the city for nature regularly. I spent a decade commuting by public transit without a car in Nyc and left to seattle both for work and location but also because I loathed public transit. I know I’m the equivalent of a baby killer, but I hated every moment I spent on public transit with a passion. I just don’t like being in crowds and I hated how long it took to go anywhere not on my subway line, and I barely left the city in my 10 years because there wasn’t public transit (more or less) to the parks.

loeg 4y ago
Seattle had pretty high public transit use prior to the 2020 pandemic, which made it much more unpleasant (both in direct Covid risk/fear and in state response to the virus). See e.g., https://seattletransitblog.com/2022/06/13/transit-ridership-is-slowly-recovering/ https://seattletransitblog.com/2022/06/13/transit-ridership-... or https://www.seattle.gov/images/Departments/SDOT/Streetcar/2021-3-16%20Ridership%20Update%20for%20Website.JPG https://www.seattle.gov/images/Departments/SDOT/Streetcar/20... to see the crater 2020 made in Seattle transit use. Here is a nice graph from back in 2018: https://images.seattletimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/downtown-commutes-W-1.jpg?d=640x640 https://images.seattletimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/d... (from https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/transportation/transit-ridership-continues-to-grow-in-central-seattle-while-solo-car-commutes-decline/ https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/transportation/tra... ). Transit was the plurality of downtown commuters (and growing).
- fnordpiglet 4y ago
  Yeah the downtown commute part of transit was high use. But the intra/intercity movement was car based for everything else. Obviously with the downtown being a tumbleweed wasteland of hammer crazed people that’s not as much used. My impression of seattle public transit is a lot of double length buses with zero people inside, over provisioned because progressive transit folks thought the issue is not enough seating on the bus and it would go from empty to transit utopia with a doubling of seating capacity. Instead it’s just a bunch of absurdly large vehicles crowding small roads

loeg 4y ago

Seattle had pretty high public transit use prior to the 2020 pandemic, which made it much more unpleasant (both in direct Covid risk/fear and in state response to the virus). See e.g., https://seattletransitblog.com/2022/06/13/transit-ridership-is-slowly-recovering/ https://seattletransitblog.com/2022/06/13/transit-ridership-... or https://www.seattle.gov/images/Departments/SDOT/Streetcar/2021-3-16%20Ridership%20Update%20for%20Website.JPG https://www.seattle.gov/images/Departments/SDOT/Streetcar/20... to see the crater 2020 made in Seattle transit use. Here is a nice graph from back in 2018: https://images.seattletimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/downtown-commutes-W-1.jpg?d=640x640 https://images.seattletimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/d... (from https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/transportation/transit-ridership-continues-to-grow-in-central-seattle-while-solo-car-commutes-decline/ https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/transportation/tra... ). Transit was the plurality of downtown commuters (and growing).

fnordpiglet 4y ago
Yeah the downtown commute part of transit was high use. But the intra/intercity movement was car based for everything else. Obviously with the downtown being a tumbleweed wasteland of hammer crazed people that’s not as much used. My impression of seattle public transit is a lot of double length buses with zero people inside, over provisioned because progressive transit folks thought the issue is not enough seating on the bus and it would go from empty to transit utopia with a doubling of seating capacity. Instead it’s just a bunch of absurdly large vehicles crowding small roads