In this edition …

  • WTA’s Lynden Hop on-demand bus service to end June 16; WTA board approves agreement for automated passenger counting system. 
  • Bellingham councilmembers consider options for eliminating parking minimums.
  • Bellingham’s Old Town flexible parking pilot lays foundation for 84 new apartment units.  
  • A USDOT loan will help transit-oriented development under construction in Mount Vernon.
  • Street and sidewalk improvements at N. State Street & E. Pine Street in Bellingham. 

WHATCOM COUNTY

WTA Eliminating Lynden Hop on June 16; Board Approves Agreement for Automated Passenger Counting System

The Whatcom Transit Authority recently announced that service on the Lynden Hop on-demand transportation service in the City of Lynden, which had been funded through a two-year pilot grant to test its viability, will cease operations on June 16. "The decision to end the Lynden Hop was not taken lightly," WTA planning director Tim Wilder said in a statement. "While the service provided valuable insights and served the community for its duration, its current operational model is not financially sustainable. The cost per trip exceeds $60, making it economically impractical compared to equivalent fixed-route services." 

As a result, the WTA’s Route 26 (Lynden to Cordata/WCC), which provides hourly service to and from Lynden, will see some adjustments to stop at the Safeway Shopping Center at Guide Meridian Road & Birch Bay-Lynden Road. 

“The False Promise of Microtransit,” a report released May 9 by the Amalgamated Transit Union, points to shortcomings with on-demand transportation services, sometimes called “microtransit,” where people schedule a ride within a designated service area that’s otherwise harder to serve with fixed bus routes. “The reality of microtransit, like other technology fads, is that it’s less impressive and more expensive than proponents suggest,” ATU International President John Costa said in a statement. “It doesn’t reliably deliver cost savings, real environmental benefits, or equitable service. What microtransit does do is threaten good transit jobs — real, long-term careers — by shifting service to gig workers and setting off a race to the bottom. Nobody wants to talk about that.”

New Tech OK’d to Improve WTA Passenger Count Data Collection and Communications: During their May 16 meeting, members of the WTA’s Board of Directors green-lighted a two-year $754,000 agreement to install on-board automated passenger counters using a system from Clever Devices LTD. 

According to the WTA’s May 16 Board of Directors packet: 

WTA received a State Buses and Bus Facilities grant from [the Washington State Department of Transportation] for an 80% match up to $640,000. Due to the timing of the grant and the timing of this project, we expect to recover $550,000 from the grant. WTA is anticipating asking WSDOT to re-appropriate the remaining $90,000 in the next biennium.The anticipated total project cost includes consultant services, additional hardware needed, and shop time and is expected to be $930,000.

During the Board of Directors meeting, WTA staff noted how most other transit agencies of comparable size implemented automated counting technology a decade ago. Currently, the WTA estimates ridership via farebox data and periodic use of on-board personnel to provide ridership samples, which isn’t entirely reliable and can’t account for where people end their bus journeys. The automated passenger counters would enable the agency to better optimize the bus network by understanding where passengers are riding, make more informed service adjustments based on the collected data, and provide more accurate passenger counts for federal reporting requirements.   

At the May 16 meeting, the WTA Board of Directors also approved a one-year agreement to replace outdated and increasingly unreliable mobile data terminals that are reaching the end of their useful life. “They’re critical for our operations,” WTA information technology director Josh Nylander said during the meeting, noting that mobile data terminals provide important mapping, navigation, and communications information about bus arrival times and bus locations. Nylander said that the agency plans to install 30 mobile data terminals, also from Clever Devices, by the end of the year and the remaining 16 next year. $350,000 has been budgeted in 2024 for the technology.    

BELLINGHAM

Bellingham City Council Approves Bike and Pedestrian Master Plans; City to Explore 2 Options for Eliminating Parking Minimums

Although the Bellingham City Council approved bicycle and pedestrian master plans that had been two years in the making “with little discussion,” as the Cascadia Daily News reported May 20, councilmembers also spent time considering next steps for the future of minimum parking requirements in the city.   

When it comes to parking requirements in the City of Bellingham, the “status quo is failing us, or often fails us,” Councilmember Michael Lilliquist said, according to separate CDN reporting. During their meeting, councilmembers directed city staff to study two approaches for eliminating parking minimums: Eliminating them citywide or eliminating them within a ¼ mile of frequent transit. 

The CDN reported that Bellingham councilmembers “found consensus” on the city’s shift away from the current antiquated minimum parking requirements, with Councilmember Jace Cotton noting research that shows “there is not a rational basis to our existing regulations.” Councilmember Lisa Anderson expressed some concerns “that if we go citywide, it’s going to take some time to catch up and resources for WTA to have really good infrastructure and transportation for the outskirts of the city.” Additional consideration and opportunities for public feedback on any proposals to eliminate parking minimums in Bellingham will be forthcoming. 

In a pilot project approved in 2023, city leaders loosened parking requirements in the Old Town Urban Village, giving developers flexibility around how much on-site parking to provide A City of Bellingham staff report commissioned by the City Council in February points out that “an oversupply of parking encourages and often induces greater dependence on vehicles. Not only does it spread land uses further apart, but it also results in a greater amount of impervious surfaces, which in turn increases the heat island effect.” Overproduction of parking can also lead to higher housing costs due to the high costs of building parking spaces.  

As Sightline Institute, a Pacific Northwest housing and land use policy think tank, highlighted on May 1, the City of Bellingham’s parking reform pilot project in the Old Town Urban Village has laid the foundation for a future six-story residential project, with 84 studio, one- and two-bedroom apartments, likely to break ground next year on a former metals recycling facility at Astor Street & D Street near Maritime Heritage Park. Under the city’s existing rules for parking minimums, developing the project wouldn’t have been financially feasible, but ”thanks to the rule change builders are free to provide the mix of home sizes they think people need, and the burgeoning neighborhood gains twice as many apartments,” according to Sightline Institute. 

Additionally: 

To make building in Old Town feasible, builders proposed changes to the zoning code with the local Planning Commission. One modification was reducing parking mandates to be consistent with the city’s other urban villages. Instead of mandating a parking spot for every studio apartment, for example, the city would only require one parking space for every two.

While the WTA’s Route 3, which runs through Bellingham’s Old Town via W. Holly Street, only has once-hourly service and no Sunday service, Route 232 on Dupont Street, which has frequent service as part of the Green GO Line, runs along the northern and eastern fringe of the urban village. Old Town is also a 10–15 minute walk from the WTA bus hub at Bellingham Station.   

SKAGIT COUNTY

USDOT Approves Its 1st TOD TIFA Loan for Mount Vernon Library Commons Project

On May 1, the U.S. Department of Transportation announced that its Build America Bureau approved its first Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (TIFIA) loan for up to $26.8 million for a mixed-use project adjacent to Skagit Station in the City of Mount Vernon that’s currently under construction.

According to the USDOT, the Mt. Vernon Library Commons Project includes a multi-use building “with a public library, community center, meeting rooms, commercial kitchen, parking garage, public restrooms, STEM center, computing space, and numerous electric vehicle (EV) chargers.” The project, slated to be completed this summer, encompasses half a city block, at W. Kincaid Street & S. 3rd Street, a short walk from Skagit County’s multi-modal transportation center. 

In addition to being Skagit Transit’s main bus hub, Skagit Station also serves Amtrak Cascades trains and buses, some Island County Transit bus routes, and intercounty bus service to Bellingham (via Route 80X) and Everett (via Route 90X). 

BELLINGHAM

New Street, Sidewalk Improvements at N. State St. & E. Pine St. 

In recent weeks, City of Bellingham work crews have been making street and sidewalk improvements at N. State Street & E. Pine Street, adjacent to the former Bellingham Armory building (currently Armory Pickleball). The work includes new concrete pavement for the half block leading downhill toward a public stairway that leads to Boulevard and the southbound Route 1 stop in the 200 block of Boulevard. The crossing at Boulevard, which connects to the South Bay Trail via a public staircase, has also seen recent welcome improvements with a pedestrian-activated crosswalk signal beacon.           

While the WTA’s northbound Route 1 bus stop at N. State Street & E. Pine Street itself isn’t seeing any direct improvements, the new curb cuts and sidewalk expansion at the intersection will hopefully improve accessibility for neighborhood residents, Armory Pickleball members, and WTA riders at the intersection. But the steep hill and stairway access above Boulevard and the South Bay Trail will always be a challenge for transit ridership in this part of the Sehome neighborhood.  

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