1. ULI Seattle’s Bus Rapid Transit and Land Use Initiative
Developing the Next Frontier
Denny Onslow
Chief Development Officer, Harbor Properties
Chair, ULI Seattle Sustainable Leadership Task Force
ULI Fall Meeting
October 26, 2011
Part of the ULI/Curtis Regional Infrastructure Project
For more information contact:
Kelly Mann, Executive Director, ULI Seattle, kelly.mann@uli.org
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2. Bus Rapid Transit: The Emerging Opportunity
 Light rail plans get the attention BUT metro areas big and
small are also planning and building BRT systems
 BRT can go from plan to reality in just a few years
 Age of austerity – BRT plans more likely to get built
 Opportunity to integrate workforce housing and sustainability
 Rail TOD – lots of work has been done already
 BRT and land use? Lots of questions still to be answered
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3. BRT in the Puget Sound Region
Part of an ambitious vision for a regionally
integrated transit system:
• Light Rail
• Commuter Rail
• Streetcars
• Traditional and express buses
• Arterial BRT
King County RapidRide:
• A line service began in October 2010
• B, C, D, E, and F lines will begin service by 2013
• 64 total miles of service
• High-use corridors: 10 million transit trips per year
• Projected 50% ridership increase with RR
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4. ULI Seattle’s BRT and Land Use Initiative
Developing the Next Frontier
Capitalizing on Bus Rapid
Transit to Build Community
2011
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5. BRT and Land Use Initiative: Project Goals
 Integrate land use into BRT planning and implementation
• Reduce vehicle miles traveled
• Achieve triple bottom line: environment, economy, equity
• Encourage communication and mutual learning between the land
use community and transit providers
 Build capacity and expertise
 Coordinate and integrate ULI Seattle’s priority areas and task forces
• Housing Affordability Task Force
• Sustainable Leadership Task Force
• Thriving Communities Task Force
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6. BRT and Land Use Initiative: Project Partners
 City of Seattle
 Department of Planning
and Development
 Office of Housing
 City of Shoreline
 King County Metro
Transit
 ULI Seattle
 ULI/Curtis Regional
Infrastructure Project
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7. BRT and Land Use Initiative: 2011 Schedule of Activities
January Partners meeting:
 Conduct site tours
 Determine scope of analysis
 Develop site analysis questions
March ULI Seattle Breakfast Program
Site analysis and recommendation development (2½ days)
Presentation of recommendations to partners
June ULI Seattle BRT Workshop: report release and next steps
July Walking tour of one BRT corridor neighborhood
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8. BRT and Land Use Initiative: Site Analysis Team
Mark Hinshaw, LMN Architects
Richard Kendall, The Frause Group
Craig Krueger, Community Land Planning
Ann Lin, Seneca Real Estate Group
Jim Mueller, JC Mueller LLC
Salima ―Sam‖ O’Connell, Dakota County -
Office of Transit
Danny O’Connor, Kansas City Area
Transportation Authority
Sarah Jo Peterson, ULI-the Urban Land
Institute
Dan Stroh, City of Bellevue Project partners and site analysis team on tour, March 22, 2011
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9. BRT and Land Use Initiative: Study Methods
Three national case studies:
 Cedar Avenue BRT in Dakota County, MN
 Kansas City’s MAX system
 Cleveland’s Health Line in the Euclid Corridor Cleveland Health Line Station
Analysis of three station areas on two RapidRide corridors:
 Ballard: RapidRide D Line–15th and Market in Ballard (City of Seattle)
 Bitter Lake: RapidRide E Line–130th and Aurora in Broadview/Bitter
Lake (City of Seattle)
 Echo Lake: RapidRide E Line–192nd and Aurora (City of Shoreline)
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10. BRT and Land Use Initiative: Analysis Questions
Scope: within a ½ mile of each station and the next five years:
 Neighborhood design
 Transitioning auto-oriented corridors
 Range of housing
 Development opportunities and jobs
 Marketing
 Stakeholder institutions
Art at a BRT station in Kansas City
New housing in Ballard, near the planned RapidRide D Line
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11. BRT and Land Use Initiative: Recommendations and Report
 Analysis of RapidRide as BRT
 Summaries of the three external
case studies
 BRT and land use: principles and
lessons learned
 Recommendations related to transit
service, corridors, marketing, and
stakeholder institutions
 Recommendations for the three
station areas
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12. Key Recommendations
 Focus on Corridors
 Develop Champions
 Promote Community Value
RapidRide is planned for Aurora Avenue North, already a highly used transit corridor in Seattle
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13. What kind of BRT is RapidRide?
RapidRide is a form of ―arterial BRT‖:
 Routes follow commercial arterials connecting major activity centers
 Running ways in ―business access transit‖ (BAT) lanes
 Target service level: up to 24 hours a day; peak service every 10
minutes
 Boarding areas about every half-mile
 Transit-signal priority
 Shelters and amenities
 Real-time arrival information
 Low-floor, three-door buses
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14. How arterial BRT “works” from the perspective of land use
Provides convenient and priority access to all that is available—
jobs, shopping, services, housing, and friends—in the corridor.
Convenient access:
 Frequent service, evenings and weekends included
 In corridors that are lined with diverse land uses
Priority access:
 Infrastructure and technology gives transit priority
 Stations and pedestrian infrastructure tell transit users they are a priority
Organizing catalyst
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15. After the Initiative
Continued outreach
 Presented report to full
Seattle city council and
elected officials in most of
the suburban RapidRide
service areas
The city of Shoreline is rebuilding its portion of Aurora Ave North to better
support pedestrians and RapidRide
Growing Transit Communities (HUD Sustainable Communities grant)
 Conduct similar initiative for light rail corridors
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16. Summary of Outcomes and Results
Recommendations
 Produced detailed recommendations for two RapidRide corridors and three
station areas.
―Ten Principles”
 Developed principles that can be applied to arterial BRT across the Puget
Sound region and elsewhere in the United States.
Break down silos
 Facilitated discussions of BRT and land use among elected officials and
between public sector and private sector decision-makers.
Leadership
 Emerged as a leading voice on transit and land use for BRT and rail.
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17. Lessons Learned - Opportunities
For BRT and land use:
 There is a ―there, there‖
For taking on emerging issues:
 District Council/Georgetown Partnership is an effective approach
• National resources
• On-the-ground and practical problem-solving
 ULI strength: be nimble and opportunity-driven; produce results quickly
 Engage existing task forces to lead effort
• Use emerging issue to foster collaboration among task forces
 Standard ULI toolbox is adaptable—programs and TAPs
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