Cautionary tales form failing to fonish transit. The Cincinnati subway - yup Google it The Geary BART line. 50 years later the best transit corridor in the Bay Area still has no rail This is the future @girmayzahilay.bsky.social and @mayorofseattle.bsky.social are going to deliver.

They cut the shortfall by deleting scope. That is not problem solving. That is deleting scope.

This is completely divorced from 2 realities. 1. Trump isn’t signing FFGA 2. WS performs incredibly poorly against New Starts criteria FTA has process for post FFGA scope / technology - see central link as an example of former I am not claiming it is easy but it is possible Should ST be trusted?

The News About Sound Transit Is Grim. Why Are Most Seattle Politicians Pretending It Isn't? Only Dan Strauss, whose Seattle council district stands to lose an entire voter-approved light rail line, seems appropriately pissed.

Get the Issaquah Mayor on the Sound Transit Board now. How is he not on there?

We need Mark Mullet on the board of ST. seattletransitblog.com/2026/05/08/h...

The funny thing about build rail for less money. You get to build more rail.

“Number 1: I am committed to completing the spine” Hey @girmayzahilay.bsky.social, which county are you in charge of??

Working for Rahm @gabeklein.bsky.social and I got a TIFIA loan started and executed for the Chicago riverwalk in 9 months NEPA was a categorical exclusion. In the middle of downtown Chicago. On a river. @sound-transit.bsky.social don’t hide behind NEPA www.fhwa.dot.gov/ipd/project_...

@sound-transit.bsky.social a strategy relying on federal funds seems optimistic

Reposting. Seems like we didn’t even get to smith cove.

Designing a system today to get built in the 2050s is wasting money to buy silence from activists. NEPA needs to refresh if a project is idle for 3+ years and no planner/engineer is going to pick up 20 year old designs and say “cool, let’s go”

@sound-transit.bsky.social staff take on automated light rail. RISK of Process Delay. (Versus CERTAIN delay of not building) www.theurbanist.org/seattle-soun...

Remember the halcyon days of last week when the word coming from the Mayors office was that Getting to Smith Cove and building Graham St would be a victory for the city?

Do you think that anyone on the inside of ST, an elected officials office, or the transportation industrial complex has polled an ST4 with a proposed map and dollar amount needed to fund it? Before I counted on an ST4 I would want to do that.

It is clear to anyone at tonight’s @sound-transit.bsky.social that @girmayzahilay.bsky.social is running for statewide office and not advocating for KC metro and @mayorofseattle.bsky.social has no clue how to wield political power

This means raising taxes that they don’t have. As Rudy Giuliani once said “hope is not a strategy.” Even a stopped clock is right twice a day.

Curious to see if our “transit mayor” actually fights for transit at the ST board meeting on Thursday.

Only 1 Seattle and King County Board member has said that anything other than all of ST3 is unacceptable. Spoiler alert: its not @girmayzahilay.bsky.social or @mayorofseattle.bsky.social Both conspicuously silent and ineffective to date. Both pitch govt as able to do big things. What is ST3?

Lots of rumors flying around about what Sound Transit will propose next week regarding ST3. Worth noting that if they “defer” rail to Ballard…that means an indefinite delay. The ST board cannot be allowed to “defer” any project or station. They must put a date to every part of ST3, commit to build.

Interesting tidbit. Snohomish needs a 2/3 board vote to spend any money. Seattle and East King still have a ton of leverage. Provided our board members prioritize delivering the full system over conflict aversion.

It has been rather eye-opening to learn just how badly ST leadership has been handling things in Olympia, how they've bottled winnable legislation, how poorly the agency's reputation has slid in recent years. Why should taxpayers, voters, and Seattle residents suffer for ST's mistakes?

Still waiting to see this mindset from the Seattle and King County delegation.

Right now @mayorofseattle.bsky.social seems to be delegating ST3 strategy to staff. Homelessness and housing are the most urgent issue today BUT ST3 implementation will be her legacy for good or for ill.

Correct

Not how SCL will butcher trees where ever their are overhead wires. Unless there is someone politically connected that want to save a tree juxtaposition of fire department and houses on MLK is a great example of the “Good for thee, but not for me” rule

Translink figured out how to run longer trains without longer platforms. Super creative idea. Definitely works for automated trains @sound-transit.bsky.social should take a look. buzzer.translink.ca/2026/04/how-...

Is this a subtweet about getting rail to Ballard?

WMATA retrofitting to automated trains on the red line wjla.com/news/local/m...

Sound Move’s EIS took 3 years, Ballard is over 8, just because we’ve spent time doesn’t mean we’ve made progress 10 years since ST3 passed and we are still barely off the staring line.

It isn’t to late to course correct on Ballard and west Seattle. But we are running out of time. LA metro early intervention team is a great reform ST should emulate. Here is Ballard and West Seattle applied to their Project Influence Curve.

We are so close to 1000 signatures. Help us get there today before the Sound Transit board meeting!

General public is 4x more likely to read the our FULL white paper than @sound-transit.bsky.social staff and consultants. What conclusions should I draw from that? #saveballardrail #abundance #st3 #buildthedamntrains

I’ve heard some say getting to Smith Cove is a win for Katie Wilson. For transit users it is an L. Where I am from that is called getting rolled. @girmayzahilay.bsky.social appoints 10 of the 18 board seats. If he engages he can ensure the full system gets built. #saveballardrail #abundance

Most telling statement made when interviewing stakeholders. “Ballard doesn’t matter. Nobody cares about getting to Ballard. The priority is completing the spine.” I will not out the person. But they are an insiders insider.

5 years ago Eno published a report on Copenhagen and automated rail in 2021. This is not science fiction. projectdelivery.enotrans.org/case-studies...

Hopefully none of this distracts the Mayor from ensuring that Ballard LRT gets built. #saveballardrail

Huge turnout of 250+ people at a rally and march to demand Sound Transit build light rail to Ballard as promised in the voter-approved ST3 ballot measure.

Great turn out today to make sure @sound-transit.bsky.social builds all of ST3 without delay, deferrals or deleting stations.

1PM at Gemenskap Park!

Seattle’s Sound Transit “could save at least $15 billion by adopting international best practices and building automated light rail from Ballard to West Seattle. This reform would allow rail to get to Ballard by 2039, rather than decades later.” [showing Vancouver’s skytrain] AUTOMATED light rail.

All ST needs is to look anywhere else in the world to find a better - not even best - practice.

This is a roadmap to delivering all of ST3 without decades of delay. If not this, then Sound Transit and the board must come up with another approach that delivers the full system with out scope cuts or decade long deferrals. #noexcuses www.theurbanist.org/op-ed-reconn...

The board and the people who vote them in should not allow the agency to pit projects against each other. There is a path to deliver the entire ST3 decades faster. transportationreform.org

50+ people on a sunny Saturday to save ST3. We can’t let ST out cities against each other. They need to finish ALL of ST3. Thanks @robertcruickshank.com @cmdanstrauss.bsky.social

Great to see so much energy focused on getting rail to Ballard.

If we are planning on a big upzoning - which I support The mayor needs to make it clear that delaying light rail or cutting stations and scope is unacceptable

$1.5 to $1.7B saved by cutting aurora and Harrison station. In Copenhagen that busy you 2.5 miles of tunnel and 4 stations. Sound Transit should figure out how they do it.

At $2.3B to $2.5B per mile. ST is building at 2x higher than any project in the world (outside of NYC). We could be arguing about how to add to the ST3 map instead of debating which projects get cut.

If Ballard falls out of the 20 year pan. Meaning the earliest construction start would be 2048. Add in 10 years of construction and it opens in 2058.