Seattle's golden opportunity to be a transportation model

Ever since the 1960s, when it's come to transit, Seattle has been blowing it.

Yes, there was that monorail from the 1962 World's Fair, but in 1968 voters nixed the chance to build a truly regional rapid-transit system. Today, that system would have been paid for and gone farther than Link light rail.

And in the meantime, the freeways have filled up or threatened to fall down, the region is split and the initiative system allows charlatans to threaten whatever progress is made.

I say all this as an outsider, but one with some perspective. As a Vancouver, B.C., city councillor, I sat on the first board of TransLink, the regional transportation authority in the Lower Mainland. True, there were moments that were a tad discouraging — particularly when the moments went on for months. But no matter how bleak things got, I could always console myself that things were probably worse in Seattle.

That's why I never expected I'd be saying the following: In a decade, Seattle may have a better integrated transportation system than Vancouver.

Seattle, like Vancouver, has a reasonably good bus-and-trolley network. It has a tunnel underneath the downtown. It is served by ferries and regional commuter rail. There are two grand railway stations near two sports stadiums. Both cities are considering Portland-style streetcar lines. And, if Vancouver proceeds with a new SkyTrain line, we could both be building versions of elevated transit at the same time.

What would enable Seattle to surpass Vancouver, however, is the way all these different modes will be integrated. The heart of Seattle's plans — well, three hearts, actually — are the hubs that will focus development and allow Seattleites for the first time to think about living in the city without a car.

At Colman Dock, an extended waterfront streetcar could serve the ferries on a revitalized waterfront. At King Street Station, commuter rail, the streetcar, Sound Transit, the monorail and Amtrak could all link together, serving the stadiums, Pioneer Square and possibly a new high-density neighborhood.

At Westlake, light rail in the tunnel, monorail above, with streetcar and buses at grade, could anchor the north end of downtown and development in South Lake Union.

Just as important, when a smart-card payment system comes into play, all these modes could be accessed with a single pass, perhaps a debit card that could also be used for parking, maybe even to rent a car or bike, possibly for similar services in other cities.

The opportunity to integrate almost every mode of transportation, from foot to ferry, using technology to make it all seamless, could make Seattle a model in North America.

We've spent so much of the 20th century segregating transportation and land use in our cities, making practically everyone and everything dependent on the car, that we've lost a sense of how truly exciting transportation hubs can be — and what significant development opportunities can accompany them.

When the Olympics came to Sydney, Australia, that city used the event to upgrade Circular Quay, their transit and ferry hub. Vancouver has its hub, too — Waterfront Station — where Seabus, SkyTrain and West Coast Express come together, along with buses and trolleys. But even with the promise of the 2010 Winter Olympics, there doesn't seem to be the same vision and determination that I feel in Seattle these days.

The opportunity in Vancouver to use transit to showcase sustainable development to the world is being dropped in the lap of this generation of politicians, but they seem somewhat indifferent to its potential. (Perhaps it's because integrating what already exists doesn't cost hundreds of millions of dollars for new ribbon-cutting projects.)

For the past few decades, Seattle's transportation politics have been a story of woe, an ongoing saga of missed opportunities, frustrated plans and blown budgets. But from what I am seeing, there's a new breed of bureaucrat working in Seattle's new City Hall, a newly named Planning and Development Department, and a new attitude to ideas and technology. Initiatives are flowing under a strong mayor who is leading the way to a denser downtown, with a web of transportation services.

After a long, bitter season of economic and social reverses, there's a sense in Seattle that maybe things are finally coming together for the Emerald City. It would be ironic indeed if in 2010, when the world's eyes are on Vancouver, it is in Seattle where the transportation opportunities of today are realized.

Gordon Price is a former city councillor in Vancouver, B.C. He served on the first board of the Greater Vancouver Transportation Authority (TransLink). He is a board member of Northwest Environment Watch, based in Seattle, and the International Centre for Sustainable Cities, based in Vancouver. He is an adjunct professor of urban planning at the University of British Columbia.