Ride sharing service Lyft buys assets of Cherry, sets April 12 launch for Seattle

A Lyft vehicle. (Photo via the Lyft blog)

You shouldn’t have any trouble getting a ride these days, especially if you live in a tech hotbed like Seattle or San Francisco. Now, get ready for more options. Lyft is bringing its ride sharing service to Seattle, joining the ranks of SideCar, Uber and Car2Go. Rumors of Lyft’s arrival in Seattle were first reported… Read More…

Is the free ride over on I-90? State to consider tolls on second floating bridge

tollbridge

The free ride may be over for thousands of geeks who cross Lake Washington each day on Interstate 90, one of two Lake Washington floating bridges that connect Seattle to the tech-heavy suburbs of Redmond, Bellevue and Kirkland. For the past year, drivers have had a clear choice: Jump on the state route 520 bridge… Read More…

Seattle redesigns public transit map with focus on frequency

Screen Shot 2012-11-26 at 10.30.28 AM.jpg

Speaking last month at an Ignite Seattle talk, mayor Mike McGinn stressed that the city needed to find ways to better use and present data to help the everyday lives of its citizens. A recent redesign of Seattle’s King County Metro transit maps is a perfect example of that. Nearly two years ago, public transit planning… Read More…

Hop on board the BoltBus: An inside look at the West Coast’s super cheap bus route

boltbus-featured11

The bright orange BoltBus will start rolling between Seattle and Portland today, offering the three hour and 15 minute ride between the two cities for as little as $1. Yep, you read that right. One buck. And, did we mention there’s free Wi-Fi? The bus line, which started three years ago on the East Coast,… Read More…

OneBusAway app scrambled, but agencies promise fixes

onebusaway

The popular app OneBusAway, developed at the University of Washington, keeps track of bus schedules in real time for thousands of  transit riders in the Seattle region. But increasingly those users have come to accept a little bit of, shall we say, flexibility in arrival times. Ghost buses, routes with incorrect numbers, out-of-date stops. All these… Read More…

Roadify arrives in Seattle, treads on the turf of transit app One Bus Away

roadify-app2

The One Bus Away mobile application is used by thousands of Seattle area commuters each day to determine if their bus will arrive on time. But the award-winning app, developed as an open source project at the University of Washington by Brian Ferris and Kari Watkins, is now getting a little competition in its backyard. New York-based… Read More…

A big day on the 520 bridge: Why I’m happy about the tolls

tollcollections

Today the Seattle region begins a massive experiment in behavioral psychology and regional transportation. Following the holiday week, it’s the first real commute since the start of tolling on the State Route 520 bridge — a key artery connecting Seattle to the Eastside homes of many of the region’s biggest tech companies. The variable toll… Read More…

How the high price of tolls will force the Seattle region’s workers to get creative

tollcollections

Landscape architect Tom Early has always been economical about his daily commute over the 520 bridge between Seattle and Kirkland, sharing his car with two friends from traffic technology company INRIX who reimburse him for gas every month. But their carpool has been busted up. Faced with the prospect of more than $1,600 a year… Read More…

Poll: Are you Good to Go? Most drivers aren’t ready for new 520 bridge tolls

tollcollections

It is going to get a lot more costly to cross the 520 floating bridge next week — one of the main corridors that technology workers in the state travel each day. Electronic tolling will take effect on the bridge on December 29th, with rates varying depending upon the time of crossing and whether drivers… Read More…

Got the viaduct blues? Uber to offer 50 percent discounts to frustrated commuters

viaduct1

The Alaskan Way Viaduct is one of Seattle’s most important transportation arteries. So, when it closes for a 9-day period beginning this Friday night, it is likely to cause chaos for Seattle commuters (especially those stuck in West Seattle). But Uber — the private driving service that launched to much fanfare in Seattle two months… Read More…

Uber could take flight, CEO dreams of helicopter and jet rides

kalanick-33

Uber just arrived on the streets of Seattle. But could the private driving service soon take to the air? That’s the dream of Uber CEO Travis Kalanick who appeared on an episode of This Week in Startups, noting that the company could one day expand into private helicopter and jet service. He lays out an… Read More…

How smartphones, tablets are killing Wi-Fi on city transit

seattlemetro

It seemed like a scene from the future: Step onto a bus, find a good seat, crack open a laptop, log on to the Wi-Fi and stay connected for however long it takes to get to wherever you’re going. But a few years later, the actual reality is much different — with public transit riders… Read More…

Report: Traffic has declined on the 520 bridge despite Microsoft’s employment boom

520-bridge1

It is about that time of day when thousands of geeks hop in their cars and make the commute over the 520 floating bridge — the main artery connecting Seattle and Redmond. For those stuck in traffic — which can be particularly horrendous on days when the sun emerges after long spells of cloudy weather… Read More…

With gas prices rising, Zebigo.com rolls out new carpooling service in Seattle

Mark Russell

Seattle drivers are accustomed to clogged roadways. But a new startup called Zebigo.com is hoping to relieve some of that pressure. In development for the past year, the five-person company plans to tout the new carpooling service at the Fremont Transportation Fair tomorrow, with a formal launch slated for next week. Matching riders with drivers in… Read More…

A black Town Car at the ready: Uber to bring private driver service to Seattle

uber11

Now, you too will soon be able to travel like a high-ranking diplomat. Uber, the hot San Francisco startup that allows users to dial a private driver from an Android or iPhone app, is coming to Seattle. According to job posts on the company’s Web site, Uber is looking for a city manager and community… Read More…