transportation

2010 Poll on Resources for Walking, Biking, Riding Transit

A poll was taken on July 20, 2010 of Seattle voters who are likely to vote in the Seattle City Council elections in 2011. The poll, conducted by the firm Win Power Stragies, asked eleven questions. Three of them related to resources for walking, biking, and riding transit.

Complete results, including cross-tabs, are available here (PDF).

Poll demographics and weighting information are available here (PDF).

Contrary to recent polling data that found that Seattlites don't favor the sacrifice of traffic lanes and dollars for alternative transportation infrastructure, the poll found that voters actually favor these investments over resources allocated to n car traffic. We think the difference is that this poll presented voters with questions about priorities and values.

    Question 1: Support for transportation funding for transit, walking, and biking

Do you support spending more transportation funds on investments in transit, bicycling and walking?

Responses:

The results show a solid majority of voters support an increase in funding for walking, biking, and transit. Supporters outnumbered opponents by a ratio of over two to one.

Question 2: Support relative to funding for car-oriented projects

Given limited funds in the city’s current transportation budget, would you support greater investment in transit, bicycling and walking if it meant fewer dollars were available for auto-oriented projects?

Responses:

According to the poll, voters are very solid supporters of an increase in funding for walking, biking, and transit, even if car-focused infrastructure becomes a lower priority. Supporters outnumbered opponents by 15 percentage points, which is more than 40% greater than the opposition.

Question 3: Support for walking and biking infrastructure at the expense of parking or car lanes

City projects that improve transit efficiency, or make it safer and easier to walk or bicycle, like bus-lanes, pedestrian refuge islands, and bicycle lanes, sometimes require changes in travel lanes or parking on Seattle streets. In general, do you support changes in the configuration of Seattle’s streets that make mass transit, walking and bicycling safer and easier?

Responses:

The City of Seattle is re-configuring some of its streets to create bus-priority lanes and make more space for walkers and bikers. The poll results show that voters strongly support these changes.

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Pedestrian Advisory Group Urges the City to Spend More on & Track Pedestrian Infrastructure Improvements

Today, Seattle's Pedestrian Master Plan Advisory Group sent the below letter to the City Council and Mayor Nickels. Commenting on the draft Pedestrian Master Plan, the letter requests a modest increase in spending pedestrian infrastructure and asks that implementation of the Pedestrian Master Plan be tracked.

August 13th, 2009

Dear Councilmembers and Mayor Nickels:

While the city has many honorable goals, we think it can be said that there are not many goals that are as far-reaching and affecting as making Seattle the "most walkable city in the nation".

administrator's picture

Pedestrian Plan Advisors Oppose "Head Tax" Repeal (PubliCola)

Friends of Seattle is in the news.

Erica C. Barnett, Pedestrian Plan Advisors Oppose “Head Tax” Repeal, Publicola (1 July 2009)

The members of the city-appointed Pedestrian Master Plan Advisory Group, along with the advocacy director of the Cascade Bicycle Club, the head of Great City, and the president of Friends of Seattle, just sent a letter to Mayor Greg Nickels and all nine members of the city council opposing a proposed (and probably inevitable) repeal of the employee hours tax, AKA the “head tax.” The tax is a $25-per-employee charge paid by employers, which includes an exemption for any employees who don’t drive to work alone.

Read the whole thing.

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Debating Our Transit Future (Worldchanging Seattle)

Friends of Seattle is in the news.

Julia Levitt, "Debating Our Transit Future," Worldchanging Seattle (10 Sept 2008)

Sound Transit will face voters once again in November with ST2, its new and improved regional transit package. While the promise of improved bus service, the allure of light rail and the like are undeniably enticing, I'm still not sure where I stand on the issue. Will the new high-speed commuter rails bring about the kind of sustainable, dense, happy and prosperous region that I'd like to see in our future ... or will the new transit plan just fuel an outdated model of many miles separating our workplaces from our doorsteps?

To get a better grip on the facts, I went to a refreshingly social kind of town hall meeting last night: policy wonks mingled with hipsters when Friends of Seattle hosted a Sound Transit Q&A at the ultra-cool McLeod Residence in Belltown. After greeting our neighbors (about 25 residents attended, running the gamut from sustainability professionals to grad students and concerned neighborhood activists) and redeeming our drink tickets, we settled into folding chairs in McLeod's narrow gallery space and welcomed our featured guest. Ric Ilgenfritz, Sound Transit's executive director of policy, planning and public administration, did an admirable job keeping his cool while presenting an overview of public transit beneath a flashing disco lamp.

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