[BATS] Letter to council about transit stuff in budget?

[Wes Mills]

A bunch of new budget provisos just dropped today, largely reported on by Ryan Packer.  The big ones:

- Councilmember Saka proposes to “thoughtfully retire” the South Lake Union Streetcar: https://bsky.app/profile/typewriteralley.bsky.social/post/3lapi7aojyk2c

- Also Councilmember Saka, proposing that the 1st Ave Streetcar (Center/Culture City Connector), be officially canceled: https://bsky.app/profile/typewriteralley.bsky.social/post/3laplvfgr4c2b

- Councilmember Nelson proposing to require SDOT to generate a report on “specific criteria” used when considering adding bus-only lanes (and SDOT’s “mobility priorities for bus-only lanes given current commuting patterns in a post-pandemic environment”): https://bsky.app/profile/typewriteralley.bsky.social/post/3lapm2tdke22b

I think this is worth a letter from TRU, or TRU BATS if we need to have a member vote to send a letter as the entire org.  (We won’t make it to the next member meeting before the budget is finalized; they’re on the same day.)

I can write the draft and send it out for comments tomorrow or Wednesday?

Rough proposal for what I think we should say: The South Lake Union Streetcar and Culture City Connector are a pair and both should be retained, and the CCC should be built.  1st Ave has gone without transit service for long enough, and while we know Metro may be considering a bus again for 1st, that’s only because the CCC has been stalled for so long.  The First Hill Streetcar was billed as eventually being connected to SLU and the mobility improvements would be immense because reserved corridors for transit are the best way to deliver transit.  Alternatively, if both of these streetcars must be removed, the Council should add that the First Hill Streetcar be planned for extension to, at a minimum, the ferry terminal.

And speaking of reserved corridors for transit, bus-only lanes improve throughput, reliability, and consistent behavior.  Instead of pushing SDOT to use valuable staff time on a report, we’d like to see the council ask SDOT to *expand* the use of bus-only lanes, particularly in dense neighborhoods like Ballard, Fremont, Capitol Hill, the Central District, and more.
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