Seattle Is Winning the War on the Car Commute

Dynamics of mass transit infrastructure in the Seattle region is dominated by a multi-decade absence of adequate funding and building. Seattle spent several decades through the mid-20th century in decline, but even as jobs and residents started flowing back (beginning in the '80s) Seattle nevertheless squandered additional decades failing to build out infrastructure. Only recently has that changed, and the process has to overcome a reluctance towards taxation and government spending in the area (Seattle specifically has very low taxation levels compared to a city of its size) and the deep hole of those lost decades. The only way to counteract not building up transit for decades is either spending decades building up transit or taking a hard short-term financial hit to accelerate the process.

1. Geographical limitations (we literally cannot build more freeways) -- we're on an isthmus.

2. A newfound willingness of the public to vote for transit (ST2, ST3 etc). Some of this is generational, some is new yuppie residents (i.e., AMZN employees) (this is not intended as an insult, just a demographic observation).

3. As a result of (2), light rail. Light rail is a commuting density godsend and we're building more of it as fast as we can.

4. Benefits for HOV carpoolers in the city — access to expressways and HOV lanes.

5. Parking lots downtown are too expensive not to sell to developers, and even if there is a mandatory minimum parking on new construction, it doesn't seem replace existing supply. So, to put it another way, parking pressure / increased expense makes driving less appealing.

6. Rapid ride / BRT ("Bus Rapid Transit")? Some buses are at least supposed to be very frequent and have fast load/unload. Supposedly they have dedicated lanes and access, too, although this doesn't always work out in practice. Still a lot better than the historical Seattle standard of buses every 15-20 minutes that would arrive within +/- 20 minutes of their scheduled stop time.

Things are not just "a little less convenient" for people who use a car. That's minimizing what has been a much more real impact to me and many others I know. There was a time even only a few years ago when I could zip around the city and do many different things in one day, making the most of the limited time me, my family, and friends have. Now a lot of that way of life is simply not possible due to the amount of planning/time it takes to get around - we can't casually expect to be some place at some time, and in the end we just plain do less and live a less-enriched life as a result. That's a lot more than a slight inconvenience to us.

And along the same lines, certain neighborhoods in the city (e.g. Capitol Hill, Ballard, etc.) are downright inaccessible to anyone who doesn't live there, whereas previously it was possible to drive there and find parking (even if it took a little bit :D). I'm sure someone is going to mention there is now light rail to Capitol Hill, which I'll head off by saying that the nearest light rail station for me has no parking, and taking a bus to get there and then waiting for the light rail basically adds 40m+ to the trip and just makes it not worth it. ST3 is also not a panacea. It will take years for it to reach its intended coverage (whereas the population is growing _now_), and there's also a good chance that it will not be enough by the time it is ready.

Lastly, I think saying we have to "create the most value for the most people" is also more of an opinion than a fact of life IMO. From my perspective, the city government exists firstly to protect the quality of life of its existing constituents. It is plainly failing at that.