We are recording.
Good morning, the January 17, 2023 meeting of the Transportation and Seattle Public Utilities Committee will come to order.
The time is 9.30 a.m.
I'm Alex Peterson, chair of the committee.
Will the clerk please call the roll?
Council Member Herbold?
Council Member Morales.
Here.
Council Member Sawant.
Council Member Strauss.
Present.
Chair Peterson.
Present.
Three present.
Thank you.
And I will announce the arrival of other councilmembers as they arrive.
Good morning, everyone.
Welcome to the first Transportation Seattle Public Utilities Committee of 2023. Our agenda today has two items.
First on the agenda, briefing discussion and ideally a vote on Council Bill 120493, that's the shared transit stops program.
We first heard about the success of that pilot program back on our September 20th committee.
This bill would make permanent that employer transportation program that shares transit stops to encourage commuters to leave their single occupancy vehicles at home.
We have a technical amendment that corrects some language in attachment A, so that technical amendment is shown as amendment one on our agenda today.
A second on our agenda, we have an important update from the Seattle Department of Transportation, SDOT, on the work they are doing to upgrade the Spokane Street Swing Bridge, also known as the West Seattle Low Bridge.
As many are painfully aware, after that bridge experienced some technical, mechanical damage after the ice storms toward the end of December.
But SDOT crews heroically reopened the low bridge this past Friday, although there are still some challenges ahead, which we'll discuss.
So at this time, I'd like to open up the general public comment period for the Transportation and Seattle Public Utilities Committee.
For our hybrid meeting, we have people sign up to give public comment both online and in person.
Let's see, I'll moderate the public comment period in the following manner.
I will start with the speakers who have registered online and then call on any speakers who have signed up here in council chambers.
Currently, it looks like we have just a couple of speakers signed up online and nobody in chambers yet.
The public comment period for this meeting will be up to 20 minutes, but in this case, we won't need that much time.
Each speaker will be given two minutes to speak.
I'll call on two speakers at a time and in the order in which registered on the council's website and on a sign-up sheet in the council chambers here at City Hall.
If you've not yet registered to speak but would like to, you can sign up before the end of this public comment period by going to the council's website at seattle.gov.
or by using the sign-in sheet near the public comment microphone toward the front of this council chamber.
Remote speakers, once I call your name, staff will unmute the appropriate microphone and an automatic prompt of you have been unmuted will be the speaker's cue that is their turn to speak, and the speaker must press star six to begin speaking.
For all public commenters, please begin speaking by stating your name and the item you are addressing.
As a reminder, public comment should relate to an item on today's agenda or to our committee's oversight responsibilities.
Speakers will hear a chime when 10 seconds are left of the allotted time.
Once you hear the chime, we ask that you begin to wrap up your public comment.
If speakers do not end their comments at the end of the allotted time provided, the speaker's microphone will be muted to allow us to call on the next speaker.
If you are providing public comment remotely, once you have completed your comment, we ask that you please disconnect from the line, and if you plan to continue following the meeting, please do so via Seattle Channel or the listing options listed on the agenda.
So the regular public comment period for this committee meeting is now open.
We'll begin with the first speaker on the list.
The remote speakers.
First, we have Jamie Cheney and then Aaron Horde.
Go ahead, Jamie.
And I do want to announce that we have Council Member Lisa Herbold here.
And just a reminder, the first speaker is Jamie Chaney.
Press star six to begin speaking.
Good morning.
Just want to confirm you can hear me.
Yes.
Please speak up, though.
Good morning, Committee Chair Peterson and members of the committee.
My name is Jamie Cheney, Director of Transportation for Seattle Children's.
I appreciate the opportunity to provide public comment in support of the employer shared transit stops.
For a decade, Seattle Children's has been a regional and national leader in commute trip reduction.
Our 2010 major institution master plan with the city, which targets a 30% drive alone rate by 2030, compels Seattle Children's to optimize existing travel solutions and continuously innovate.
Seattle Children's eagerly participated with SDOT in the employer shared transit stop pilot to assess the operational efficacy and rider experience.
From Children's perspective the pilot has been a success for three reasons.
One is operationally synergistic.
The longstanding pilot has demonstrated that Metro and Children's transit operators have operated for several years with little or no friction.
Two it's smart design.
It allows for children to operate integrated service in the same corridor as Metro instead of separate service in the same corridor.
For example children's staff stand at Bus Base 5 on Mount Lake Boulevard outside UW Station Link Station and board whatever comes first Metro Transit or Seattle Children's Shuttle.
This results in greater combined frequency for children's transit riders thus strengthening their choice for transit relative to driving alone.
Thirdly it grows public transit.
Shared shuttle stops serve as a gateway experience to try public transit for a portion of Seattle Children's employees who may otherwise have only ridden private transit.
Turning private transit riders into public transit riders grows demand for transit in general.
The bottom line is that the employer shared transit stop program is smart, innovative, and optimizes resources.
Seattle Children's thanks SDOT for the opportunity.
Thank you very much for calling in from Seattle Children's and feel free to email your remarks to us at council.seattle.gov.
Next, we've got Aaron Hoard.
Go ahead, Aaron.
Good morning, Chair Peterson.
I just want to make sure you can hear me.
Yes.
Okay here we go.
My name's Aaron Horde.
I'm here today on behalf of the University of Washington.
I'm asking you to support Council Bill 120493 which would enable employers shared transit stops.
As you may know the university has shared transit stops in Metro for a number of years through agreements with both SDOT and Metro primarily for our shuttle fleet that serves the UW Medicine and Hospital system.
The system spreads from Mott Lake to the U District to South Lake Union to First Hill.
The ability to share these stops allows us to reduce our SOV trips between these locations, helps medical staff move around efficiently and quickly, and assists patients who may have appointments at multiple sites.
Based on our experiences with shared stops, we think expanding this to other employers makes a lot of sense.
We are very supportive of this proposal.
We hope that you'll move this forward.
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
Colleagues, that concludes our list of speakers from the general public.
So we can go ahead and move on to the first legislative item on our agenda.
Will the clerk please read the short title of the first agenda item into the record?
Agenda Item 1, Council Bill 120493, an ordinance relating to use of bus and shuttle vehicle zones by private employer shuttle vehicles, making permanent the Seattle Department of Transportation's Employer Shared Transit Stop Pilot Program, amending sections of the Seattle Municipal Code, and adopting a transit and mobility fee schedule for briefing, discussion, and possible vote.
Thank you.
And colleagues, as I mentioned earlier, we did see a presentation from our Seattle Department of Transportation on this successful pilot program back in September, and the legislation before us would make more permanent that program.
I do have a technical amendment to help SDOT to fix some language to the attachment A that's shown as amendment one on our agenda.
But first, let's get to our presentation from SDOT.
We do have our transportation expert from Seattle City Council central staff.
Thank you, chair Peterson.
I know we have a good presentation coming.
I just wanted to remind folks that this program was in effect as a pilot since 2017 under existing code authority.
So the legislation in front of you is really about making code amendments that clarify the terms of the code and establishes a fee structure to make that program permanent.
with a new fee.
The program would actually be implemented through a director's rule, under administrative rules, if you approve this legislation.
So the fundamental piece of legislation is to establish the new fee.
Thank you and thank you for the memo that you wrote for us and is published on the agenda as well.
Appreciate that.
Welcome to our Seattle Department of Transportation.
Go ahead and share your screen and take it away.
Great, thank you.
Good morning.
Appreciate that.
While that's coming up, let's introduce myself and the team.
Hi there.
My name is Ben Smith.
I use he, him pronouns, and I am program lead for the Employer Shared Transit Stops Program.
I'm in SDOT's Transit and Mobility Division, and I will kick it to Jen.
Hi, good morning.
My name is Jen Mallee Crawford.
I'm also with the Transit and Mobility Division.
I use she, her pronouns, and I'm the new Transit Service and Strategy Manager, and I'll pass it to Michelle.
Hi, everyone.
My name is Michelle Benaja.
I use she, her pronouns, and I support Ben and Jen in the Transit and Mobility Division and on the Employer Shared Transit Stops Program.
Great, thank you.
Next slide.
So good morning, council members.
Like I said, my name is Jen, and I'm excited to be here with my colleagues from the Transit Service and Strategy Team to review the Employer Shared Transit Stops Program with you.
My colleagues presented on this topic to the committee this past fall, and we're back today to answer any questions you might have, and we're ultimately looking for your approval of the ordinance.
Next slide, please.
First, as a reminder about the primary goals of the Employer Shared Transit Stops Program, this program is about maintaining public transit's priority in our transportation system, actively and consistently managing employer shuttles to maximize public benefit and encouraging climate-friendly modes of transportation.
This program can help Seattle reach its climate and congestion goals while supporting the post-COVID recovery of downtown Seattle.
Today, we're here to ask you to take action to approve Ordinance 120493, which permits SDOT to establish a permanent shuttle oversight program, amending the Seattle Municipal Code and adopting a new fee structure.
Next slide, please.
So what are employer shuttles?
These shuttles transport a business's employees between separate work sites or transport commuters from residential neighborhoods and transportation hubs to employment sites.
Employer shuttles have existed for decades in Seattle and are enabled by Washington state law.
Over the decades that employer shuttles have been operating in Seattle, we've been learning what types of programs and regulations we need to have in order to best use the city's curb space and maintain public transit's priority in our transportation system.
In 2005, SDOT created a shuttle vehicle load zone, a white curb zone with a shuttle vehicle permit fixed at a $300 annual permit fee in the Seattle Municipal Code in response to growing demand for reliable access at the curb.
Over time, we learned that load zones alone weren't enough, and so in 2017, we launched a successful shared stops pilot with King County Metro, Seattle Children's Hospital, and Microsoft.
Next slide, please.
Thank you.
And I do want to announce that Councilmember Sawant has joined us.
Thank you.
We're all here.
Thank you.
So the Employer Shared Transit Stops pilot program includes 12 transit stops across the city.
The evaluation report, which was published in fall 2018, showed that the pilot had resulted in no major impacts to transit or roadway operations.
It also indicated that the success of the pilot was due to the thoughtful consideration of which transit stops should be shared with employer shuttles and the good relationships with our employer partners was important to the program's success as well.
The pilot report also demonstrated the amount of ongoing analysis that would be needed in order to make a permanent program successful.
We built the lessons we learned from that pilot into the structure of this permanent program.
Next slide, and I'll pass it to my colleague, Ben Smith.
Great, thank you, Jen.
So yes, so as Jen mentioned, part of our proposal, and we'll talk about the details today, is to make the pilot permanent, building upon its success.
Knowing that a lot of analysis and work was done as part of the pilot that needs to be brought in-house within SDOT, we do have our fee structure and our fee schedule to pay for this work.
Also, we'll be formalizing all the application criteria in the process for both shared transit stop applications and new shuttle vehicle load zones.
And one thing that was needed, recognized in this program, was that we'd need to collect more data about shuttle operations and we would add that to the existing shuttle vehicle permit annual process.
Next slide, please.
So as Cal mentioned, the policy does work on many levels, both from your action and the code changes, as well as our director's rule, which will implement them.
I just wanted to kind of separate how each of these work together.
So today we're asking for your adoption of Council Bill 120-493.
It updates Title 11 of the Municipal Code, authorizing the program, updating some definitions relating to shuttles and transit within the code, And shifts that shuttle permit fee out to attachment A, which is the fee structure and the fee schedule.
That's where we'll have our annual shuttle vehicle permit fee.
talk about our annual hourly review fee and our annual shared transit stop use fee which Michelle will speak to more in a bit.
Accompanying that is our director's rule which we'll adopt administratively and this really has the details defining the criteria by which we'll evaluate application requests again both for new shared transit stops and for new shuttle load zones.
The director's rule Updates the shuttle vehicle permit conditions to include this data requirement and also sets those permit standards for all permits and how they operate annually.
It also describes the process by which we'll work with employer applicants and continue with our successful partnership with King County Metro.
Next slide please.
So, in the course of the pilot and developing this program, we've done a lot of stakeholder outreach.
Obviously, King County Metro is our partner in this, and we've worked with them closely to make sure we've worked with them on the pilot and in preparing this program.
We've also reached out to other cities.
There's nothing that's quite like this program around the country, but we have talked to San Francisco, including SFMTA and their regional body.
We've spoken to New York City's DOT and even talked to Bellevue, who has a shuttle vehicle curb space program.
We've also done some outreach to interested parties, including the Transit Advisory Board, the Transit Riders Union, TCC, and Teamsters 117. Also part of our stakeholder outreach has been talking to the employer community.
So we've been actively engaged with our pilot employer partners, which is Seattle Children's Hospital and Microsoft, and then also potential interested employers, including University of Washington, who you heard from earlier, as well as Amazon and others.
We've reached out to the operators, the company that often operates these shuttles on behalf of the employers.
We've also talked to Commute Seattle to reach the broader employer community within the city.
Next slide.
And I'll pass it to Michelle.
Thank you.
Thank you, Ben.
First, we're proposing an increase in the shuttle vehicle permit fee from $300 to $600 and tied to inflation from there on.
This change in fee brings the rate to where it would be today due to inflation.
Launching this program means employers pay for the labor and the program, not taxpayers.
And the new hourly staff fee of $332 for load zone and shared stop review will be using the same rate for similar review in the street use division.
We're also proposing that the annual shared transit stop use fee will be 5,000 per location with reduced rates for certain medical and educational institutions.
There was internal discussion on this figure with the department and city leadership And 5,000 was the best price for this new private use of the public right-of-way, where it's not so high as to deter future applicants from taking part in the program, but accurately pricing private use of public right-of-way.
The fees we are proposing align with other fee structures already approved by the council.
Next slide.
The purpose of this process proposal is to create a streamlined internal process.
The vehicle permit exists today, but the data requirements in this proposal are a new component of this program.
We're proposing revising the annual, the existing annual shuttle vehicle permit to include the new data requirement.
We have interest in collecting data that we otherwise wouldn't have access to to ensure visibility and shuttle operations and ensure complimentary service for a cohesive transit network.
We're also proposing a new shuttle zone application process for new zones to streamline staff intake and review.
Currently, there's no centralized intake or process.
And this is meant to reimburse, excuse me, we've scoped this time to reimburse staff for their shuttle vehicle work.
Additionally, our program works with employers who run shuttles, but do not plan to use shared stops.
Next slide.
So we're proposing a kind of red light, yellow light, green light system.
Red light areas are off limits, and that would include rapid ride stations, bus lanes, our busiest bus stops, and stops near unprotected bike lanes.
The rest of the city falls under this yellow light category.
Stops are available for applications, but approval is dependent on the stop and shuttle specifics.
This is detailed in the director's rule, but we're proposing an annual application cap per employer, limiting the number of stops employers can apply for to 20 stops per year.
And we're also proposing citywide caps for the total number of approved shared stops to 50 for any single employer and to 250 citywide for all employers.
We are going to be reviewing applications and and being solutions-oriented by suggesting alternative stops, zones, or other curb space nearby that might be a better fit for their use.
Lastly, the green light is after stops have been approved for sharing where conditions will be applied.
All permits will be reviewed annually.
They are non-vesting and revocable.
This is with the hopes of reducing impacts to transit, reducing shuttle dwelling, and will be included as part of the permit conditions.
Thank you, and I'm going to pass back to Ben.
Great, thanks, Michelle.
So, since we presented to Council last year, we have published our draft Director's Rule in November for public feedback.
We didn't receive many comments, but we did get some comments and clarifications about how we would coordinate with King County Metro and the definition of a rapid ride station.
We got a suggestion about data privacy guidelines as part of our data requirement.
And we did get a request to require information about shuttle operator unionization status.
So of these, we intend to include the first two of them when we issue our final rule later in this quarter.
Next slide, please.
And then just finally to kind of separate out what we're asking for today versus how you may see the program in the future.
So again, today we're asking for your approval of this ordinance to authorize the program, allow us to launch it later in Q1 of 2023, and also by adopting the fee schedule, we'll have that to launch the program as well.
So therefore, annually, we'll use that fee schedule and adopt it, rather, amend it annually, including indexing our shuttle vehicle permit to inflation going forward, and we'll also continue to update our hourly review fee to match street uses review fee and review rate.
So there's a lot of assumptions and unknowns we're including in the program as we launch.
So we are committed to returning in about 24 months and two years and do a program review.
And we would see you again in early 2025. With that, we would evaluate looking backward for the program.
Have our fee structure mix and amounts been correct?
Is our process flow working?
Are our proposed caps on both applications and stops working and serving the public?
We'd also, like I say, return to Council with a review and report, and if changes to any of these aspects of the programs are needed, we would propose those as well.
And then if that includes and needs changes to the Director's Rule, we would do that again two years from now.
And then going forward, just as the program matures, as the shuttle and transit landscape changes, we would also continue, like other programs in SDOT, update our Director's Rule administratively in the future as needed for program alignment.
With that, that's the end of our slide deck and we're ready to take any questions.
Thank you so much.
Thank you.
Thank you to this impressive SDOT team for coming back to our committee with that presentation on a successful pilot program and the council bill before us.
Really appreciate Calvin Chow's memo as well, just noting specifically what's in the council bill.
to make sure that we have a fair and equitable distribution of services.
Thank you Chair Peterson and thank you to the SDOT team for a great presentation.
This is something that I'm very interested in.
Great to see all of the information that was presented.
I think that we have a real opportunity in Seattle to continue using our public transit resources and infrastructure to assist these private carriers and moving people around our city to and from their jobs to and from their homes.
I really think that we have a lot of opportunities in our city.
Unfortunately, Chair Peterson, I did not receive a briefing on this topic ahead of committee, so I will be abstaining if we vote today.
I want to share my incredible support to the SDOT team.
The only reason is I just want to dig in deeper with you all.
So I look forward to meeting with you between now and a full council vote, and really, really great work.
Thanks, team.
Thank you.
And one of the options we have is we can set the date of the full council meeting.
So it could be instead of next Tuesday, it could be the Tuesday after that would give some additional time for you to get your special briefing.
Council Member Morales.
Yeah, we don't need to delay anything.
I'll find the time to squeeze it in.
Okay, great.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Council Member Morales.
Thank you.
I apologize if this was covered and I missed it, but I have several questions about the 250 proposed locations.
So I see on your presentation there is some proposal at least for where these might go.
I'm trying to understand several things, so let me just get all my questions out.
I'm trying to understand why we need so many, if we have a sense of how many people are using these shuttles, where they're going.
I'm assuming some, you know, many of them are going out to Redmond, but how many people are using these?
Why do they, why do we need so many?
Where are they going?
And I'm curious about all of this because what I would really like to understand better is how do we how do we create a more robust public transit system so that we don't have to have all of these private entities using public space to get people around?
So maybe you can sort of flesh some of that out for me.
I can start with that if that's okay, sure.
Yeah, so for the 250, it's part of some of our caps we're proposing citywide, and that's a cap, it's a maximum.
For the locations, we don't know where they are, we know where they won't be.
As Michelle mentioned, about 10% of the stops in the city will be red light off limits, the busiest ones will be not available for sharing, and then all the rest of the stops.
The 90% left around the city are open for sharing.
Those are the yellow light ones so we don't know where we know where the 90% are, but we don't know which necessarily which ones.
our employer partners may choose to share.
As also mentioned, as part of a data requirement in the shuttle vehicle permit, we'll actually get more information from the shuttle partners.
We get it in pieces right now, but by requiring that, we'll actually know more about where shuttles are running.
And that could also give us information about where they may apply.
But yeah, so it's one where we'll invite them to ask, hey, are the remaining locations, the 90% available for sharing, and our process will let them apply it.
And one of the reasons we wanted these caps is to give some really slow rollout of the program.
We wanted the cap of 20 applications per year, not approved SOPS applications.
We actually want good quality applications.
And even one employer, if they max out in one year, it would be a maximum of 20 applications.
And then it would be up to 250 total citywide, which would take many years to occur.
I found out in the course of this, we have about 3000 bus stops in the city of Seattle and about 2700 would be eligible for the program.
So, even that 250 hitting our max, which would take multiple years would still be fewer than 10% of the stops in the city.
Did I answer your question?
Is there anything else I can help you with?
Uh, the destination for these shuttles?
Yeah, it does vary.
As Jen mentioned, shuttles are used for kind of 2 different things.
Some are commuter shuttles, which are picking up, picking up employees near their residences, near their neighborhoods, and taking them to employment either outside the city.
Example from Microsoft, a lot of them are going to Redmond.
They could be destined for employers in the city of Seattle.
We just have a general sense of that.
We know more.
we're working with our pilot partners, but it's that shuttle data requirement that will really let us know about the system that exists right now, where folks are and where they're heading.
Thanks.
And Council Member Morales, it looks like Calvin Chow has his hand up if you'd like him to clarify anything as well.
Sure.
Thank you.
I just wanted to add into the The idea that the existing pilot program was roughly five stops per employer.
I mean, it's a small pilot program to start.
So 250 represents about 50 employers participating at that level.
Which I don't believe that we anticipate that in the first year.
Is that correct?
Or it's not even possible?
Correct.
Yeah, I mean, I see the shuttles everywhere I understand, I would much prefer people write a shuttle then drive their single occupancy vehicle.
And I would also prefer to see that our public transit system is serving these folks instead of having a private, private system so I guess I have one other question if I may chair.
So you mentioned that the load zones weren't enough.
I wonder if you could talk a little bit more about that.
And I'm wondering if we couldn't, for example, remove a couple parking spots near a transit stop.
You know, if the goal is to really reduce single occupancy vehicles, that could also help move towards that goal rather than expanding the number of places that are available.
I could start with this one, thanks.
Yeah, the pilot, you know, working with both Metro and Seattle Children's Hospital and Microsoft, in some cases before the pilot there were pieces of roadway where there was a bus stop and we create a shuttle load zone right next to it and the employer said, hey, why don't we, you know, be more efficient with curb and let us actually use that bus stop.
It is a trade-off and we are, we have to manage curb around the city.
Sometimes Removing paid parking and other uses is impactful to local businesses and so setting up a new shuttle load zone could remove parking for local areas, the sharing in the pilot let us be again more efficient with the curb space.
Part of the program that was mentioned is that we want to be solutions oriented.
The best solution may be a shuttle would like to serve this area.
The bus stop is not as frequent with service and that shuttle could add it and share that spot without friction or impacts of transit.
This program would allow us that option.
Yeah, thanks.
Can I ask one more question, Chair?
Of course.
I promise this is it.
So we're talking about moving beyond a pilot project and expanding it somewhat over some amount of time.
I appreciate that there is an attempt, will be an attempt to collect some data so that we can really see how this is impacting riders and what needs.
My hope is that we start to identify what needs we might be able to share with King County Metro.
Is there, if there is something in the legislation, proposed legislation, I missed it, but is there any sort of sunsetting of this or re-evaluation once we have the kind of data that we're looking for to reassess whether this is something that we still need to do?
I can jump in about what's in the legislation.
So largely, this is allowing SDOT to use its own administrative rules, director's rules, and they have said that they intend to come back in two years to revisit what the program looks like administratively.
There's nothing in the legislation that requires that.
That is just sort of their standard way that they operate new programs.
I think that's the best way to explain where they're at.
Okay, thank you.
Thank you, Councilmember Morales.
Councilmember Herbold.
Thank you.
I want to first just say I really appreciate Councilmember Morales' line of questioning.
It would be really great if there was a way to limit the granting of permits to employer shuttles that were serving a purpose not already served by Metro.
If there was a way to somehow include that in the application process?
Like, no, we need the shuttle because our workers are going to Y place and Y place isn't served well by Metro.
I do get concerned about this idea of having a sort of a tiered transit system, one that's private and one that's public.
I can't imagine if the city of Seattle were to have a a shuttle program for its employees, just taking it to its, you know, maybe illogical conclusion.
But my question is in a different different vein.
And that is, specifically as it relates to I appreciate that there will be there is this red, yellow, green, Tearing system and at the really the emphasis is to make sure that we are minimizing conflicts with with transit with our with our public transit system.
I'm just wondering if either drivers or passengers are observing problems.
How will a start collect that information.
And Ben, you're on mute.
Yeah, I can jump in and answer both of those.
Yeah, so I'll just note that for public testimony, Jamie Cheney from Seattle Children's Hospital, and they've been our pilot partner for all these years, described a location where they actually do have a shuttle route.
which duplicates and complements an existing metro routes, connecting Husky Stadium Link Station to their campus in Laurelhurst.
And for them, they saw it as a success that some employees use that shuttle to connect from Link, and other employees just use both.
They take the first thing that shows up, whether it's the bus to Children's or that shuttle to Children's, We do think there's places where transit can be duplicative in a good way and support extra capacity, and it's often a fine line about when is a shuttle competing versus complementing transit.
As part of our application process, we really will look at what's the need, ask the employer applicant what's being served by them, remind them of transit options that may do what they're trying to do.
We know these employers Sometimes they don't necessarily want to be in the transportation business, but they want to get their folks to work.
And so we can also remind them of things that are already out there and work so that their shuttle network serves new markets that Metro and our public transit system isn't serving.
And one thing for about reporting, we definitely were looking for multiple ways that folks can tell us about anything they see.
I will say the shuttles are very visible.
So even in the past when we've heard of shuttles, stopping of the curb where they shouldn't.
We've heard about it.
So there's definitely ways we could do that.
I might even kick it to Michelle who's talked about who's going to be our program coordinator and implementer about how we're looking at ways for the public to let us know about what they're seeing about shuttles around the city.
Michelle.
Yes, thank you for that question.
I think that's very important and we've talked about this a lot internally on how we might best collect that information and make it easy for folks to report.
We have two options, one, an easy form option on our website, and then we've explored working with the Find It Fix It team or any other existing reporting mechanism for people in the public seeing a certain behavior to reach out to us.
We might explore doing both just so folks have multiple ways of getting in contact with us.
We want to make it as easy as possible for them to report what they're seeing so we can take it into consideration when we're giving permits in the future or not.
Second to your, I think, first question where you talked about identifying areas where there might be duplicative service.
We, in our application right now, have employers submitting to us their entire transit line with stops and times of day and frequency.
So we'll be able to identify if there's another pre-existing line where they're proposing their line will go and create either suggestions for alternatives or encourage them to use the existing line that is on that route.
It's going to be very, it's a very, how do I put it, like specialized process for each application.
We'll need to really dive in to the application that we'll be getting and look at every single stop and every single time.
And I'll just further say council member will be completely share your goal about not approving applications where we're simply duplicating available transit service.
And, you know, we're always going to be prioritizing public transit.
And I think that, you know, today, these shuttles, as I mentioned, they've been around for decades, they're here.
And one of the really strong benefits of this program is that it does collect data that we don't have today.
It creates more visibility for us to understand what is going on and then maybe how we might need to make modifications or make changes.
But today, you know, they're there already.
And this, I think, helps create some oversight.
And that seems important to share that goal with you and make that goal happen.
Follow up.
Yes, thank you.
Thank you.
I really appreciate this level of detail so thank you so much.
So what I think I hear you saying which I am surprised.
But if what I'm hearing is, is. accurate, then I think that's probably good news, is you're going to be evaluating stops and making decisions about permitting, not just based on conflicts, avoiding conflicts, and not just based on this total number, but you you will be able to say no to applicants whose permit request involves a route that is duplicative.
Okay, that's, that's, I wasn't wasn't picking up on that.
So that's, that's good to hear that that's that that level of evaluation in the permit process.
The second question is, is appreciate that SDOT is going to be super involved and already has a mechanism for for collecting information about conflicts with transit.
I'm hoping also that, because I think a lot of people will think, oh, this is a Metro complaint and we'll contact King County.
I'm sure you've covered this already, you've already thought of it, but there's a way to collect that information from Metro when it's going there too.
Yeah, jumping.
Yeah, absolutely.
Yeah, we've been working with Metro staff in the pilots and through the program development.
Yeah, we have those lines of communication with Metro.
From on the stop side on their operation side as well, whether it's Michelle mentioned, we hear complaints directly through this desktop and through the city will also note another way 684 road folks can always call for anything related.
So if they see shuttles, it'll, it'll get back to us.
We'll definitely hear about it.
And yeah, I would, you know, our, as Michelle mentioned with our red, yellow, green light, we're not rubber stamping every application that comes in.
We're actually going to say, hey, what are you trying to achieve with this?
What is your shuttle doing?
Where are you trying to go?
And even to suggest to employers, hey, you know, transit does what you're proposing.
but we've heard these other needs that don't have better transit access.
One thing we're excited to work about with shuttles is that just these private sector transportation services can be more nimble, can try things out, can try things on a smaller scale than our public transit system, can fail and try new things.
And so we really do see the role that shuttles for employee transportation can complement and even Seek out new markets that in time, maybe it's a matured market that becomes a transit market that that's one of the roles we definitely see as part of the program.
Yeah.
Thank you.
Thank you.
I really appreciate colleagues jumping in with those questions.
I know this team knows the pilot program so well and its successes and the data they're going to collect and come back to us with, but it's great for the public to hear this from so many different angles.
So I would like to go ahead and get the legislation on the table here and then also the amendment, which is a technical amendment.
and I know sometimes people say it's technical and it might not be, but this, it's really technical.
So, if you look on the amendment one on the agenda, oh, thank you for showing that.
Yeah, it's the track changes will show you that they're simply adding the word annual.
that is the amendment.
I'll go ahead and and then we can still have one final discussion if you want.
Council members, I now move that the committee recommends passage of Council Bill 120493. Is there a second?
Second.
Thank you.
Okay, I'll go ahead and make the motion to introduce the technical amendment.
I now move to amend Council Bill 120493 as presented on Amendment 1 on today's agenda.
Is there a second?
Thank you.
It's been moved and seconded to adopt Amendment 1 to Council Bill 120493. So Amendment 1 is now before us for discussion.
Calvin Chow can also explain this amendment if you like, or we can just vote on it and incorporate it into the base.
I think you've already covered everything that's relevant in it.
Okay, great.
Colleagues, I'll go ahead and, let me just make sure, no questions.
Oh, and this amendment, okay.
So, colleagues, Amendment 1, again, technical in nature.
Any final comments on Amendment 1?
Okay, will the clerk please call the roll on adoption of Amendment 1 to Council Bill 120493.
Council Member Herbold?
Yes.
Council Member Morales?
Yes.
Council Member Sawant?
Yes.
Council Member Strauss?
Yes.
Chair Peterson?
Yes.
Five in favor, none opposed.
Thank you.
The motion carries and Amendment 1 is adopted.
And colleagues, are there any final comments from committee members before we vote on this amended Council 120493?
All right, thank you.
Really appreciate SDOT's team and their thoroughness today.
And also Calvin Chow and his memo, really appreciate it.
Will the clerk please call the roll on the committee recommendation to pass Council Bill 120493.
Council Member Herbold?
Yes.
Council Member Morales?
Yes.
Council Member Sawant?
Yes.
Council Member Strauss?
Abstain.
Chair Peterson?
Yes.
four in favor, one abstention, none opposed.
Thank you.
The motion carries and the committee recommendation to pass Council Bill 120493 as amended will be sent to the January 24th City Council meeting.
All right, thank you to the team.
Colleagues, one more item on our agenda today.
It's a briefing and discussion only.
So will the clerk please read the full title of the second agenda item?
Agenda item two, Spokane Street swing bridge update for briefing and discussion.
Thank you.
We have the Seattle Department of Transportation here to explain what the issue was, what work they've done to correct the issue, what work they've got in the future.
as the district representative as SDOT continues to address the deferred maintenance of that vital multimodal bridge, the low bridge.
Before we jump into SDOT's presentation, Councilor Hurdle, did you have anything you wanted, any opening remarks?
I just want to thank you, Chair Peterson for making some time for your interest in and support of my efforts to get briefed up on this and questions answered.
And I want to of course thank the SDOT Roads and Structures staff.
They have been doing a lot of work getting the bridge back up and running.
on January 13th, last Friday, after the closure on December 23rd.
And a lot of that work took place during the holiday season.
So again, the folks out there doing that work have their time disrupted with their family and loved ones and really appreciate their public service.
And also want to just uplift what we'll hear more in the presentation.
But I want to uplift the fact that these turn cylinders were scheduled for overhaul first quarter this year.
Preparations for that work began several months ago.
Part of a comprehensive repair and maintenance effort that again, included the structural rehabilitation work that was already included in fourth quarter of last year.
It was serendipitous that the storm resulted in the need to move that work up.
But I want to just note that SDOT had been planning to do this work.
Council had provided funds to do this work.
That just is, I think, an important part of this context whenever we're talking about emergency bridge work.
I want to also thank SDOT for their frequent updates on work on the bridge throughout the closure as well.
Thanks.
Thank you, Council Member Arbold.
Welcome, Team SDOT.
Go ahead and put your presentation up and have at it.
Great.
Thank you, and good morning.
And thank you, Councilmember Herbold, for those kind words.
We are incredibly grateful for all of the staff that worked over the holidays, that worked incredibly hard to develop new solutions, to come up with innovative ways to approach this problem with safety and urgency in mind at the same time.
And they gave of themselves, and we're incredibly grateful for that.
So thank you for noting that.
So I'm here.
My name is Francisca Stephan.
I'm the Deputy Director for Capital Projects at SDOT.
I have the lucky fortune to introduce two of the lead staff that were working during the outage who will cover some of the detail, but also thrilled to be able to say that the bridge is reopening, albeit functioning a little bit slower than normal, but is functional as of Friday.
There were 21 days of intensive and focused work that made that possible, and they will go into details about some of that.
So Megan Shepard, who is the West Seattle Bridge Safety Program lead for SDOT, and Matt Donohue, who is the Roadway Structures Division Director for SDOT, will be kicking off the presentation, but all three of us will be happy to answer questions as you have them.
And I'll pass it off to Megan.
Thank you.
Thank you, Francisca.
Good morning, council members.
Thank you for having us here and making the space for us to bring you an update.
If we could get the slides up, I just want to start with a quick little, what are the parts in this really, really unique structure?
The low bridge is really one of a kind, probably in the world.
And it was specifically designed for the very, very narrow conditions here crossing the Duwamish.
So there's three main parts that we'll just cover today that the team was working to address.
And one of them is the lift cylinder.
And then they sort of lift up the arms.
Then there are turn cylinders.
And these are the parts that are particular focus for us.
because it was a turn cylinder that was causing the problem.
And they're the ones that swing the arms of the bridge open and closed.
And then all of this is powered by a hydraulic system with many pumps and motors.
And that's of interest here as well.
You know, I'm joined today by Matt Donahue, who is the city's bridge engineer and is the division director for Robleson.
Well, Matt is like he's got the technical speak and then I sort of bring the I am not a bridge engineer speak, but he's going to weigh in and correct me as we go.
But these are the three main parts that needed attention over the last week.
Next slide.
Is like what happened.
So we had the ice storm on the 23rd.
We knew we've got a full slate of work, as Council Member Herbold mentioned, that is planned for the low bridge, has been planned that we've been working on.
These turn cylinders were something that we knew we needed to overhaul and that was planned for this year.
When the ice storms happened on the 23rd, we lost power to the bridge and the uninterrupted power supply turned out that it was interrupted.
So in the efforts to get the bridge restarted and fired back up we had to open it to a ship that needed to come through.
That is the law.
And in getting that opened, it was like there were several periods of having to restart the bridge and move it in increments.
And following that operation, once the bridge was open, we were able to see that there was hydraulic fluid in a concerning amount coming out of one of the turn cylinders.
You can see that here in the top photo, if you're able to see the slides here, the trail of liquid, not good.
We needed to come up with a remedy and a plan, because if we continue to use this cylinder, we ran the risk because the hydraulic system is under so much pressure of actually a catastrophic failure, causing damage to a lot of the sensitive equipment that is inside the pure house.
Then, when the King Tide came through, we also had an impact on the electrical conduit to the bridge's tail locks.
So we had to replace the wiring, and we know the King Tide caused significant damage down the Duwamish Waterway.
So I just want to acknowledge the impact that South Park has been experiencing, as well as the concern coming for the next King Tide.
But we were able to replace the wiring and restore power to the bridge.
Next slide.
So the remedy here is that, as I mentioned, there are these turn cylinders.
There's two of them on each side.
And this photo here shows you, you can see one in the foreground and then one behind it.
So one of them had to be removed.
And this entailed a 12-hour operation with some of the most creative and talented mechanics and electricians that I've had the honor to see working as a team along with our vendors and consultants to remove the cylinder from the pier house.
We'll show you a little bit more on that.
What we will do now while we get that fixed is that we will operate the bridge and we are operating the bridge now on one cylinder and we've been operating it on one cylinder on the east side since we reopened the bridge on Friday afternoon.
This means that it will open and close a little bit more slowly.
We are monitoring it very, very carefully to see how the bridge performs.
So that is the plan for the cylinder.
There also, I mentioned the hydraulic pump system.
We discovered while we were in there that we needed some new parts as well.
We were able to replace a series of valves on this side while we were in there.
So what we're going to do now is refurbish that cylinder, bring it back, put it in, Take out the next cylinder, go and refurbish that, and then repeat this cycle until all four cylinders have been refurbished, while we also continue all the other work that we had teed up for the low bridge this year.
Next slide.
I wanted to just take a moment on the cylinder removal.
As this is a process, we will be repeating several more times.
The photo here on the right shows you the cylinder actually suspended from the internal crane system, being taken out of the pier house.
You can see in the diagram on the left sort of the long journey that it had to make.
to be taken safely out the door.
And it's in a custom built cradle here.
And we learned a lot from this removal.
So we will continue to improve our efficiency as approach as we go through the other remaining cylinders.
Next slide.
I gotta say, it was a sight to behold and really cool to see the kind of teamwork that went into like removing this thing, lifting it, getting it out the door.
This photo here of all of the white equipment, these are the motors and the pumps that make up the hydraulic power unit.
This is what lifts and then opens the bridge.
So we found some failed valves in here on the 11th when we were ensuring everything was going to be in good working order for single cylinder operations.
And we were able to replace those.
And that will ensure that we don't get any hydraulic fluid into the motor.
Next slide.
So this turn cylinder refurbishment that is underway is just one of many items happening now on the Lowell Bridge.
It's a pretty vital connection, as we learned, to West Seattle, not only for trucks that are headed to Terminal 5, but it's also like we've got 450 people biking across the low bridge every single day.
So it's a really, really critical connection.
People walking, biking, driving, freight.
We've got a fire station on the West Seattle side, right on the other half.
So this is one of the reasons it's a vital connectivity that we have been really, really focused on taking care of this aging structure.
So we strengthened the bridge.
We finished that work last fall as a part of the West Seattle Hybrid Safety Program.
That was carbon fiber wrapping, epoxy crack injection.
These are terms that, and these are techniques that we applied to the high bridge to strengthen it as well.
That photo of the white motors and valves, there are three pumps in there, and we have been taking those pumps out, refurbishing them, bringing them back.
We did two of them in the fall, and we're going to do it again.
We have plans with the Coast Guard for the middle of February, the 11th through the 14th, to basically swamp in some newly refurbished pumps.
Then the east side lift cylinder, which is really what does the heavy lifting to lift up the bridge.
We have, we need two of them, and we have three.
So we have the same sort of cyclical refurbishment underway, and we have a newly refurbished one that we are going to put back into the bridge on the east side, and that is going to occur this spring.
And then the controls and communications system, where the bridge operator communicates with all the bridge parts, those are being replaced and upgraded for the first time since the bridge opened 30 years ago.
You can imagine that the technology has advanced in leaps and bounds.
And this will involve taking the controls and communications they have been on the high bridge.
They will now go underneath the Duwamish And there'll just be a whole new improved system to operate this bridge.
So that's just a snapshot of what has happened and what will occur.
Next slide.
So as I mentioned, a lot of people bike across the low bridge.
And so when we closed it on the 23rd, the available crossing opportunities for people biking at that time added several, several miles to their route, brought them down the Duwamish Trail where we're missing a portion of the trail on West Marginal Way and have been working with stakeholders there for the last couple of years on plans and testing to see about putting in a portion on West Marginal Way.
And then so people would come down there to the First Avenue South Bridge, and then once they cross that bridge, there really wasn't any sort of protected way to get back into downtown.
We are working on a Georgetown to downtown bike route through SOTO that we're expecting to construct before.
But there wasn't another way.
So in one of the fastest actions I've seen FDOT do, we decided to move ahead with putting out a temporary protected bike lane on West Marginal Way as well as all the way on First Avenue South up through Soto.
So it was like over 1,700 cones.
The facility went in on January 4th and 5th.
We were manufacturing, you know, like there was one day where we made 72 signs, I think, just in one day to put it out there.
We were communicating with stakeholders along these two temporary PBLs.
And then once it was out, our maintenance and operations crews were going out three times a day to check the cones, check the signs, make sure that they were in a safe location.
We were also meeting with businesses along First Avenue South.
You know, a lot of them get deliveries from freight trucks and talking about ways to make the facility as comfortable as possible for bikers, as well as for the businesses along it.
And we took counts on all these routes.
We don't like have them summarized yet for a report, but we're really excited by the speed at which we moved.
So willingness of people biking and businesses along there to like communicate with us, give us feedback, While we tried sort of like lightning fast approach to an emergency situation.
In the next slide wall also moved really, really quickly in partnership with King County Metro.
to make free transit rides available to people using the water taxi and riding buses across the Duwamish.
The funding for this came from the Seattle Transit Measure and King County made the free trips available through their Transit Go Rewards app.
This is an app that we promoted really, really heavily and widely in West Seattle and the Duwamish Valley.
while the high bridge was closed.
So a lot of people had the app already.
And those free rides were out there between January 6th and then they ended on the 13th when we opened up.
and we'll be excited to get the metrics on the use of the free trips on that as we continue to see what worked well during this unfortunate closure and what strategies we may wish to employ again in future should we find ourselves in a similar situation with this facility or any other movable bridge in the city.
With that, Matt and I are eager to hear your questions.
Thank you very much.
Council Member Morales.
Thank you.
Thank you, Megan.
I have to say I am so thankful to the team for getting that protected bike lane in so quickly.
And I really, really appreciate the department being nimble and being prepared to move on something you know, overnight to make sure that that folks are safe.
I would love to see us do more of that.
And I'm interested to know if there's any plan to, you know, kind of study what you've done there, do whatever surveys you need to maybe keep that particular bike lane longer.
you know, what would it take to make that more permanent?
That's one question.
And then I'm wondering if there are other places across the city where you are contemplating, you know, being able to respond this quickly to increase the number of bike lanes that we have, protected bike lanes.
Thank you.
Well, we have left the West Marginal Way one in place right now.
While we continue those conversations, we do have a plan facility in that location.
And so we want to understand now what the opportunities are about leaving it in place and moving towards that plan facility.
For the First Avenue South alignment, we chose that one specifically in this emergency situation.
Because it had fewer railroad tracks, the roadway itself was in better condition, we felt like we could be the fastest and most nimble there.
But for SOTA, we do have another route that we are hoping that people's enthusiasm right now can be brought to the Georgetown to Southbound alignment that we've already been working towards.
We're designing it right now.
We're working with stakeholders right now.
We'd love to see our stakeholders bring their input to that facility.
In terms of other places, you know, We just did it quickly and it went okay and we learned a lot.
So we are gonna be taking everything we learned and I think we're gonna be able to be a little bit more nimble next time when we need to.
That's great.
We also are excited about that, but thank you.
Yeah, I do think it's important just to acknowledge you know how like this generated so much.
It sparked joy for so many people, you know, to, to know for folks to know that there was a safe way for them to get to work to do whatever commuting I don't know how many people might use this particular route to get their kids to school, but it is an example of how we can react quickly when we need to and how important it is that folks who can't drive, who really do rely on a bicycle to get around the city, how important it is for them to feel safe being able to get around and do the things they need to do.
So thank you for all you did there.
Thank you.
And this is a real good reminder, too, about the low bridge and who it has traditionally served in terms of freight and cyclists providing that direct, more direct route.
We've got several of these multimodal bridges.
University Bridge serves all modes.
bridge.
We have a number of bridges in the area.
We have a number of bridges in the area.
We have a number of bridges in the area.
We have a number of bridges in the area.
We have a number of bridges in the area.
We have a number of bridges in the area.
We have a number of bridges in the area.
We have a number of bridges in the area.
We have a number of bridges in the area.
We have a number of bridges in the area.
We have a number of bridges in the area.
We have a number of bridges in the area.
We have a number of bridges in the area.
We have a number of bridges in the area.
We have a number of bridges in the area.
We have a number of bridges in the area.
We have a number of bridges in the area.
We have a number of bridges in the area.
We have a number of bridges in the area.
We have a number of bridges in the area.
We have a number of bridges in the area.
We have a number of bridges in the area.
We have we have to make sure that we have the right people in the right places and in some ways, they shouldn't always have to be called upon to be heroes.
You know, we want to, I know SDOT is trying to work on its asset management overall, including our bridge infrastructure, and we'll have SDOT return for a broader discussion on to be more proactive to get ahead of that deferred maintenance so we don't have unexpected breakdowns like this that affect multiple modes of transport.
But I really appreciate this thorough explanation today.
And Council Member Herbold, please.
Thanks.
Just a couple hopefully quick questions.
One, given that the fact that the bridge will be operating on only one cylinder and that is going to result in 10 to 15 minutes longer than usual for the opening and closing times, some constituents have reached out and are wondering how how SDOT might be communicating with the public about bridge opening times, given these additional delays, whether or not it's possible to put some sort of an electronic sign out there so that when people are coming up to the bridge, they're not just like in their minds tacking on 10 to 15 minutes from when they arrive, but they actually know, because maybe 10 minutes has already gone by and there's only three minutes before.
And so that, you know, impacts people's decision making about whether or not they're going to wait or go a detour route.
So that's one question.
The second question is just what's our schedule and our time frame for resuming to normal operations with full cylinder capacity?
Thank you.
Thanks Councilmember Herbold, I think I can take those questions.
There's two ways that we communicate out the difference in timing for a bridge opening.
One is with Mariners.
So we've already had discussions with the Coast Guard and have asked that BTS their vessel traffic system announcements go out to just notify commercial maritime or maritime in general, that it can take up to 10 to 15 minutes long longer for an opening.
It's also a question I know that our traffic operations division is addressing to see how we can message that out over the short term or midterm while we rehab three other cylinders and do the swap out that Megan described previously when it comes to the timing to get back to normal operations.
While we were getting the bridge back up and running, we were already cracking open the leaking cylinder with a supplier consultant that we use out of Auburn, System Hydraulics.
And we need a bit more time to determine the root causes for all the things that failed on that cylinder.
It wasn't just one seal, it was more than one seal.
And then Megan mentioned, you know, how technology's changed and how many of our upgrade programs for that bridge are bringing the newest technology.
we're going to do that with the cylinder as well.
You know, there's materials advancements over the last 30 years for the composites that are used to manufacture those seals.
So we're not just going to replace things in kind, we're going to use the newest materials that we can to get the longest life on our refurb cylinder.
And so we need a bit more time to determine what the best methods are for rehabilitation, and then the lead times and labor times associated with that.
Thank you.
Colleagues, any final comments or questions on this last item on our agenda?
Okay, I want to again thank the SDOT team, their crews for being out there in the field to restore the West Seattle Low Bridge.
and for their continued work on it, replacing those cylinders as originally scheduled for 2023. Look forward to working with SDOT to enable them to accelerate their asset management programs, and we'll be bringing them back to our committee to discuss that later this year.
All right, well, thank you, everybody.
That was the last item on our agenda.
So colleagues, the time is 1041 a.m., and this concludes the January 17, 2023 meeting of the Transportation Seattle Public Utilities Committee.
The next committee meeting of the Transportation Seattle Public Utilities Committee will be February 7. Thank you, and we are adjourned.
Thank you.