Stephen Fesler
Stephen is a professional urban planner in Puget Sound with a passion for sustainable, livable, and diverse cities. He is especially interested in how policies, regulations, and programs can promote positive outcomes for communities. With stints in great cities like Bellingham and Cork, Stephen currently lives in Seattle. He primarily covers land use and transportation issues and has been with The Urbanist since 2014.
Puget Sound transit agencies will begin implementing their spring service changes as soon as Saturday, March 29, with some routes getting a frequency boost. We dive into the changes.
King County Metro has improved its delivery of scheduled trips over the past several years, but the King County Council wants to better track unplanned trip cancellations or “ghost” buses and improve communications with riders.
Following an early planning process for the Graham Street infill station, Sound Transit has formally selected a particular location and design approach for the future Rainier Valley station.
For years, transit proponents have pitched ideas to improve reliability and speed of Link light rail south of Chinatown-International District. The circuitous, slow, and often dangerous at-grade section through the Rainier Valley has consistently been the Achilles heel of the network. That's led to groups like Seattle Subway to...
The Washington House of Representatives has passed legislation setting goals that could more than double service and significantly shrink travel times on Amtrak Cascades. The Washington State Senate still needs to sign off on the legislation.
King County Metro has added ORCA transit card readers at all doors on nearly 75% of its bus fleet and has a goal of finishing work by the end of the year. Until it does, Metro said all-door boarding is officially not permitted outside of RapidRide lines and Third Avenue. However, some riders have started anyway.
Not only are the Netherlands' brick streets more aesthetically pleasing than typical American streets, the modern klinkers (bricks) that make up most Dutch streets are just more practical. Jason Slaughter of Not Just Bikes dives into how brick streets are designed and installed, and what makes them better.
After a nearly three-month hiatus, bus stops near the intersection of 12th Avenue S and S Jackson Street in Little Saigon reopened today. King County Metro closed the stops due to public safety issues, which authorities say have improved.