Transportation: Accessibility, Connectivity, Safety, Affordability, Sustainability
We are in a moment where we can completely reimagine our transportation system to ensure everyone can safely and equitably get to where they need to go, regardless of how they choose to do so, while reducing pollution and improving community health.
At Chief Seattle Club, free bus tickets are the second-most requested item from our homeless members (after meals), because transit is a lifeline. Everyone deserves to have safe and reliable transportation options to get to work, school, the grocery store, and other essential services. We all deserve to live in neighborhoods free from pollution, traffic, and preventable traffic deaths. I will make sure that Seattleites have abundant transportation options to get where they need to go and continue advocating for progressive funding so we can keep our communities moving.
Leading with a mobility justice lens. Mobility justice means our transportation system supports resilient, accessible public transit. Starting with those who need it most, this lens creates good jobs, advances our climate and safety goals, and connects people with options that allow them to thrive. It means making transportation accessible for all and using a People-First perspective to center people and communities historically left out of transportation planning. Our transportation options should be as diverse as the populations it serves: the 25% of Washingtonians who do not have a driver’s license and the everyday commuter with essential needs. This includes people with disabilities who do not drive, Black, Indigenous and People of color (BIPOC), seniors, youth, and those who cannot afford the cost of owning and maintaining a vehicle.
I will build our transportation system back better by investing in a strong and connected multimodal system that is safe and accessible so no one will be stranded without a way to get around. My vision for multimodal means:
Building a robust public transit system that is safe, affordable, and accessible
Connecting sidewalks and bike networks
Quickly transitioning to clean fuels and electric vehicles
Maintaining our current roads and bridges
My transportation plan will ensure Seattleites have abundant transportation options and remove barriers to accessing them, by focusing on these major areas:
Access. I will prioritize equitable access to opportunities for all Seattleites by using a participatory process and equity assessment to determine where needs are greatest.
Prioritize investments where access needs are greatest. Transit service and stops, and bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure must be built where the need is greatest. This will be determined through our community engagement and equity assessment framework.
Expand bus, walking, and rolling connections. Build basic infrastructure to support the health and safety of communities, such as sidewalks, protected bike lanes, and curb ramps. There are 17 new light rail stations that will open in our region in the next three years. We must continue to expand bus, biking, and walking connections to these transit hubs and ensure increased equitable development of transit-oriented communities.
Participation in planning processes. Access is not just about the end product and expanded services. A truly equitable transportation system must start with deep community engagement. This requires early inclusion in development of priorities and regular engagement from early concept development through project construction. The City of Seattle needs to be a partner with the community in the development and implementation of projects. Community engagement through an equity framework and regular reporting on project progress, budgets, schedules and mitigation of impacts will be a central part of an Echohawk Administration.
Connectivity. I know firsthand the importance of a connected regional transit system from my work with the City and County to provide low-cost public transportation from Chief Seattle Club to local and regional services. Through development of multiple programs and housing, I understand the vital relationship between coordinated transportation networks between neighborhood hubs, downtown and work centers. We can achieve our goals, and more, when we connect and partner with one another. I will connect the siloed transit plans that are currently developed across transportation agencies and City of Seattle departments to build a regional transportation system, without the fight for funding. Currently, Seattle has made investments in transit that runs from the northern end of the City to the southern end, but needs to look at providing the same connections east to west. Connectivity means also partnering with Seattle employers and organizations to incentivize more transit options, so services are affordable and available to all neighborhoods. Different agencies have similar goals as well as obstacles that can be solved by working together. Most importantly, connectivity helps keep everyone accountable to deliver the promises we make to our customers.
Build a robust regional public transit network. Ensure our public transit services operate as a regional network, and are more frequent, reliable, and affordable, prioritizing investments where need is greatest. Work with King County and transit agencies to find regional solutions and funding for public transit. Reducing commute times through this initiative would incentivize transit to the point where it would be more inconvenient to drive a car.
Maintain bridge and road projects. We are currently underfunded for our infrastructure that has critical updates and maintenance needs. It does not benefit any individual, agency, or funding when we are delayed on delivery and allow the backlog to slow down work on basic and essential road projects. I will advocate for progressive funding sources while closely partnering with federal, state, and county governments to pool our resources to rebuild bridges and roads that encourage safe and long-term multimodal use, without the fight for funds or wasting resources on siloed work.
Safety. Safety means everyone feels a sense of belonging in our streets and on transit. We are protecting people from traffic fatalities and from discrimination and harassment within our transportation system.
Prioritize building basic safety infrastructure. Build sidewalks, protected bike lanes, curb ramps, green space buffers, dedicated bus lanes, and invest in safety programs like the Safe Streets to School program to support the health and safety of communities. Prioritize high density streets such as Aurora Ave and Rainier Ave, as well as connections to transit hubs.
Invest in safe streets and achieve our Vision Zero goals. Update dangerous infrastructure and street design that disproportionately affects BIPOC and low-income communities, contributing to more fatalities. Reduce speeds on streets with high pedestrian deaths by utilizing data that identifies Seattle’s high injury network. Find better ways than increased police enforcement to reduce traffic deaths.
Inclusive Streets. Our streets must work for everybody, and the gaps where they do not work need to be identified and fixed in a way that makes sense for different communities. This includes replacing outdated equipment, maintaining LED lights to establish well-lit areas in and around streets, addressing seating needs, and making streets safe and welcoming through public art, design, and other strategies that are not hostile architecture (which is when the built environment is designed to restrict access to public spaces for unhoused people).
Reform policing and enforcement in transportation. Traffic stops are the most common interaction with the police, and BIPOC and low-income people are disproportionately ticketed on our transit system. Let’s ensure that everyone, especially BIPOC Seattleites, feels safe on our streets and transit systems and are not discriminated against by police.
Affordability. Everyone should have access to transportation choices no matter their income level.
Free transit passes for public High School students. Continue to support a generation of transit riders and connect young people to opportunity.
Expand Orca Lift program. Ensure people have access to free or subsidized transit passes, including essential workers. Expand the very low-income fare program to ensure people experiencing homelessness and those with low incomes have the ability to get where they need to go.
Incentivize businesses to provide subsidized transit passes. Work with businesses to expand employee transit pass programs.
Sustainability. Transportation is Washington State’s number one source of climate pollution and disproportionately impacts low-income and BIPOC communities living near roadways, port facilities, and railways. We cannot mitigate the climate crisis without transforming our transportation system. We need to build a transportation system that improves Seattle’s air and water quality, reduces sprawl and displacement, and allows everyone to get where they need to go. Our transportation system has been designed for cars and has prioritized building roads for cars, not people, first. Most people who choose to drive do so because public transit is an unrealistic option for their circumstances. Living in Seattle and owning a car is expensive. The average cost to own and operate a vehicle in the US is nearly $10,000, . Prioritizing and investing in a multimodal transportation system that is safe and sustainable will also reduce congestion and pollution by giving people more options to get around.
Electrify our transportation system. Electrify 100% of the City of Seattle’s fleet. Expand and incentivize electrification of personal vehicles and bus fleets. Work with the Port and businesses to transition freight to zero emission technology. Pair electrification with increased transit service to reduce traffic and pollution.
Create green jobs. Leverage federal and state dollars to fund jobs that increase multimodal transportation infrastructure.
Reduce sprawl. Invest in affordable housing near transit and expand transit service.
Transportation Equity Assessment. I will conduct a thorough and transparent assessment of transportation needs, using an equity framework and People-First lens that is community led to identify their greatest transportation needs. Communities have been disproportionately impacted by burdens of environmental, economic, and racial injustice; yet their lived experiences, social and cultural awareness have not historically been heard. We need the communities who disproportionately experience these impacts of our transportation system to shape our transportation policies and project prioritizations. With this transportation assessment, I will prioritize transportation projects, ranked through our equity framework and continuous additional community input, to ensure funding is appropriately and efficiently being allocated to meet the needs of each neighborhood.