For Issaquah residents whose transit time to Seattle is projected to go up when the 2 Line opens over I-90 and we'll have to transfer in Bellevue, it's not great to feel like we're paying for a 3x cost increase for light rail in Seattle when our own transit service is being degraded 🤷🏻‍♀️

Also based on ST's latest cost estimates, West Seattle and Ballard (+ downtown tunnel) are now expected to make up 58% of the remaining capital costs for ST3 (54% of total ST3 costs if you include Redmond and Federal Way).

Where are you getting the numbers for projected ridership? The only numbers I found were from the original 2016 ST3 projections here but it has annual ridership estimates instead of daily: www.soundtransit.org/sites/defaul...

Yeah, I guess I'm just salty because, with the opening of the 2 line over I-90, taking transit from Issaquah to Seattle is projected to take *longer than it does currently* according to Sound Transit's own projections. Not cool.

I feel like Seattle could pass a local bond / levy to help pay for West Seattle-Ballard Link. All the jurisdictions outside of Seattle are worried about "their tax dollars going to a project that only helps Seattle people," and Seattle people are happy to tax themselves to pay for transit 🤷🏻‍♀️

Would love to see actual numbers (and pro forma spreadsheet!) if you're willing to share :)

Would you be able to share actual numbers for these? Is the land cost the cost of the original SFH + demo cost?

I know right, Atlas actually looks better than most 5-over-1's these days! Curious if you have any particularly ghastly single-family homes you're thinking of, though...

Ha, "inadequate structured parking" was also one of the reasons for the development moratorium. Luckily, the WA state legislature passed parking reform this past session and Issaquah will have to comply with that. But I do think we can do it sooner than the legislatively-mandated deadline of 2028.

Just ordered your book, looking forward to reading! Will DM about codes.

Thanks Ryan! We're now close to an Urbanist-endorsed majority on Issaquah City Council, with myself, Lindsey Walsh, and Kevin Nichols. We have a city council vacancy appointment coming up that could help cement that - would you be willing to spread the word once the application is live?

Awesome! Steve Teles recommended your book to me a while back. I haven't had that much time to read for the last few months while I was busy campaigning, but I'll add it to my list 🫡 (And also, would love to chat more about building codes!)

Microtransit is inherently not scalable (the more people ride it, the worse the service gets). Whereas fixed-route transit becomes more cost-effective the more people ride it. Here's an interesting report on microtransit from the transit drivers union: www.atu.org/pdfs/ATU_Fal...

I agree that we need to look into shuttle options, including potentially pulling in private funding partners (e.g. a shuttle with a segment going from Issaquah Transit Center -> Costco HQ could get $$ from Costco). This could make the cost to the city less, while also actually increasing ridership.