| Just anecdotal experience, but I think our increased transit use and decreased SOV come from a variety of factors: 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. |