That's not the plan. The plan (like other RapidRides) is to replace the 7 with a RapidRide route.

If you're a normal person listening to these two reminisce about how tough it was way back when they first topped $100K a year, I really hope you realize that they don't understand you exist

LOL two rich people looking back on the time, long ago, when they first started making six figures and realizing it wasn't enough They still. don't think ferry workers making five figures deserve more, obv

You and I both know this project is not going to upgrade sidewalks along the length of Rainier. I would be all for THAT project, but RapidRide improvements are only in the immediate vicinity of stops, not the trek TO the stops. There are bus lanes on part of Rainier, which happened without RapidRide

This is the thing! Not every bus route is the same, and making people walk along Rainier Avenue for several additional blocks adds time and danger (because, again, it's one of the most dangerous streets for pedestrians in the city, a problem that has never been treated with any urgency.)

Especially when Metro hasn't been able to tell us what actual time saving would result from the stop elimination. If you have to walk and extra five or ten minutes to a stop, your trip becomes longer and more physically difficult, and this is particularly true for disabled people, seniors & parents

What are the current issues that will be solved by RapidRide, other than speed, though? There are other issues with the route that could be solved by better sidewalks, bus lanes, and other improvements that would make it work better as a bus on a busy road.

When people who rely on a transit route to get from Point A to Point B are raising concerns (and Point B is often not "office job downtown"), dismissing those concerns with technical points like "trips from Rainier Beach to downtown will be 13 minutes faster at peak!" isn't going to get you far.

This correction is accurate (I didn't write the story). But the issues actual riders are raising are mostly about elimination of local stops. Eliminating stops means walking/rolling further down one of the most dangerous streets for pedestrians in Seattle, along sidewalks that are poorly repaired.

OK, but I wish there was more acknowledgement among pro-transit folks (of which I am obviously one) that not every bus route is the same and that some local routes need to exist. There's community pushback against eliminating stops on the 7 for real, practical reasons, not kneejerk reactiveness.

you know it's a good cartoon when everything is labeled, there are arrows pointing everywhere, and it includes the explanation, "this is not a joke" love that the lower 50% is represented by a schlubby white guy when low-paying jobs overwhelmingly are held by women of color

I lived off Rainier for a long time, and the only thing that made grocery shopping possible was the fact that there was a stop right by my apartment. Accessing stores, the food bank, schools, work, and more is going to become more challenging when people have to travel long distances between stops.

On a KUOW show today.

I was fact checking a Danny Westneat column that called a proposed youth shelter sales tax that would raise (up to) $10 million a "blank check" which now that I'm writing it isn't even literally a description of what a $10 million check is

shocking, I know

the exact quote: "That's all adorable and everything," to which I responded that I wasn't being adorable, I was being factual based on my reporting

been a minute since I've had someone dismiss my reporting on live radio by saying "that's adorable, but"

we can retire the cliché "the cruelty is the point" now, I think we've found its apotheosis