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Chad Newton @chadnewt.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

I'm riding all of @sound-transit.bsky.social Link today, starting now at Downtown Redmond with my Qamaria coffee.

Chad Newton @chadnewt.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Got my (free) ticket to see Jar of Fat tonight at Kent's Battery Theater. World premiere of a new play directed by Sarah Porkalob.

Theatrical poster for the play Jar of Fat.

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Chad Newton @chadnewt.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Seen in West Seattle: a totally chromed Lime bike.

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Chad Newton @chadnewt.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

I'll be here tonight, 2 days into my mini-retirement from Sound Transit, back into outside advocate mode. Don't worry, I've got another job lined up starting late October.

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Chad Newton @chadnewt.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

So, today was my last day working at Sound Transit! Bittersweet, but there *will* be #Threads. Should I do an AMA?

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Chad Newton @chadnewt.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

New #APTA Public Transit ridership data out. First full quarter for #SoundTransit Link at #1 light rail in USA, only behind Toronto including Canada. www.apta.com/news-researc...

apta.com

Ridership Data - APTA

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Chad Newton @chadnewt.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

Finishing an epic shopping trek all by public transit: West Seattle Junction pharmacy, downtown library, Costco and Lowe's Hardware. I don't have to drive even when I think I do. 6 buses and 2 trains, thanks @kingcountymetro.bsky.social and @sound-transit.bsky.social !

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OneBusAway @onebusaway.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

This is an incredible project. Props to its creator. www.oneraccoonaway.org

oneraccoonaway.org

OneRaccoonAway

A pixel-art bus stop scene showing live arrivals and weather.

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Chad Newton @chadnewt.bsky.social · 02/08/2026

This article sums up my take on the Odyssey. The character of Nolan's Odysseus is very different from Homer's, yet faithful to our historical understanding and present moment.

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Chad Newton @chadnewt.bsky.social · 23/07/2026

@staterepjuliareed.bsky.social Please pass this one! Those of us living on arterials are suffering through summer due to ridiculous vehicle noise.

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Chad Newton @chadnewt.bsky.social · 21/06/2026

SeaTac Link Station is full of ads for a "World Table District" www.seattlesouthside.com/world-table It is a collection of restaurants along Highway 99 within a few miles of the airport. I wish SeaTac actually had a walkable World Table District directly across the skybridge from the station.

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Chad Newton @chadnewt.bsky.social · 08/05/2026

Now that I'm off the clock, I'll say that this #SoundTransit ST3 plan isn't bad, considering the facts the Board has at hand. The costs for Ballard are way out of line with intl standards, and should come down substantially on next revision. Then, it can be added back in.

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Spokane Rising @spokanerising.com · 03/05/2026

It’s time.

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Chad Newton @chadnewt.bsky.social · 24/04/2026

After two weeks in Asia, I wish we had more Asian #Urbanism posters in Seattle. If European has 10x urbanism compared to US, East Asia is 100x. So much to learn.

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Chad Newton @chadnewt.bsky.social · 31/03/2026

I am now Hong Konging. Ask me anything.

View of Hong Kong (Tsuen Wan) from hotel window.

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Chad Newton @chadnewt.bsky.social · 29/03/2026

Now that @sound-transit.bsky.social has proven it can run light rail over floating bridges, we can turn our attention to the next obvious cross-lake connection. I present the 5 Line: Fauntleroy to Cougar Mountain via South Mercer Island.

Map of the proposed Seattle Sound Transit 5 Light Rail route: Fauntleroy to South Mercer Island to Cougar Mountain.

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Chad Newton @chadnewt.bsky.social · 28/03/2026

I love how this area Bike Map at the Judkins Park light rail station doens't show I-5 and to a casual look I-90 is a bike trail. #MaptheWorldYouWant

Photo of the area Bike Map at the Judkins Park Link light rail station in Seattle.

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Chad Newton @chadnewt.bsky.social · 20/02/2026

This post about Los Angeles doesn't bode well for Sound Transit Stride BRT Line S3, which last I heard, planned to use BYD electric bendy-buses on SR 522 from Shoreline to Bothell.

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Chad Newton @chadnewt.bsky.social · 14/02/2026

I love to see it, 4 minute combined service! But this Siemens northbound 2 Line has all the onboard screens stuck at "ID/Chinatown" despite being at Capitol Hill.

Seattle Link light rail station arrival screen, showing a 2 Line in 1 minute and a 1 Line in 5 minutes.

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Chad Newton @chadnewt.bsky.social · 06/02/2026

FTA National Transit Database data for all of 2025 has been released. Here are the top ridership urban areas, including all agencies and modes: Some are strongly up year-to-year (NY, DC, Seattle), some are sadly down (LA, Baltimore, Minneapolis).

FTA National Transit Database average daily ridership for 2002, 2019, 2024 and 2025, plus the 2025 post-Covid recovery percentage, for the highest ridership urban areas ranked in descending order. Ridership includes all agencies and modes in each urban area. Top 5 are NY, LA, Chicago, DC and San Francisco.

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Chad Newton @chadnewt.bsky.social · 05/02/2026

Wow, my Bluesky post featured on a City Nerd video! 🎉 All this data is based on 2024 data, but the FTA will release full year 2025 data any week now. I will update my rankings - some cities have continued to recover post-Covid, while others have stagnated.

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Chad Newton @chadnewt.bsky.social · 05/02/2026

youtu.be

North America's Best Transit Cities: A Countdown

YouTube video by Ray Delahanty | CityNerd

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Gov. Bob Ferguson @governorferguson.bsky.social · 26/01/2026

Secretary Noem, your administration now openly authorizes ICE agents to forcibly enter people's homes without a judicial warrant. That is blatantly unconstitutional – ICE cannot authorize itself to break into people’s homes. If ICE attempts such unconstitutional measures in Washington...

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Chad Newton @chadnewt.bsky.social · 25/01/2026

In happier news today, I just voted online in a completely secure and official election for King County Conservation District. If you live in Seattle, you can too!

Image of a postcard for the King Conservation District Board of Supervisor Election, with QR code.

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Chad Newton @chadnewt.bsky.social · 22/01/2026

Wow, Democrats privileging the priorities of white racists over those of Blacks and white liberals, like its not even 1964 yet. No wonder this country is such a mess. No wonder 10,000,000s marching in the streets for the past decade have produced negligible policy change.

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FinTwitter @fintwitter.bsky.social · 12/01/2026

POWELL SAYS THREAT OF CRIMINAL CHARGES IS A CONSEQUENCE OF FED'S SETTING INTEREST RATES BASED ON ITS ASSESSMENT OF THE PUBLIC INTEREST RATHER THAN THE PRESIDENT'S PREFERENCES

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Chad Newton @chadnewt.bsky.social · 09/01/2026

Let's do this at SEA! Even out the playing field and make progress on your mode share goals. @portofseattle.bsky.social @ryancalkins.bsky.social @felleman.bsky.social

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Joshua Collins @murosinvisibles.bsky.social · 09/01/2026

Border Patrol agents shot two people in Portland today. FBI issued and then deleted a preliminary statement on the matter uncinditionally defending their racist cowboys

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Patrick De Klotz @patdeklotz.bsky.social · 09/01/2026

www.oregonlive.com/crime/2026/0...

A man who was at the medical building said he saw federal officers follow a Toyota truck into the parking lot of the office building and try to corner it.

One officer pounded on the window, he said. The driver then backed up and moved forward at least a couple of times, striking a car behind him, before turning and speeding off, said the man who gave only his first name. It’s not clear if the car the truck hit belonged to the federal officers.

Officers fired about five shots at the truck as it left, the witness said.

Portland police said they received two calls – one at the medical office and then one in Northeast Portland, where they found a man and woman with gunshot wounds at Northeast 146th Avenue and East Burnside.

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Chad Newton @chadnewt.bsky.social · 06/01/2026

@publicola.bsky.social buried the lede here that Councilmember Saka hired a Policy Director so bad he was forced out of SPD for harassment and lying. publicola.com/2026/01/06/s...

Although Kolding told reporters he quit SPD to run for council, the Seattle Times reported that he actually resigned in lieu of termination after an investigation concluded he had harassed a coworker and lied about it to the police chief.

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Noah 🚎 @noahsbwilliams.com · 03/01/2026

Words cannot describe how awful this regime is. A madman and bloodthirsty band of pirates using military might to topple neighbors with impunity. This government is rogue. It is a disgrace. It is the opposite of everything the constitution was supposed to stand for.

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Kat Abughazaleh @katmabu.bsky.social · 03/01/2026

Tonight, the President of the United States has launched an unconstitutional war of aggression, dooming another generation to spill their blood for oil, and lay waste to a sovereign nation. I demand that Congress exercise its power, halt this conflict, and impeach this war criminal president.

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Chad Newton @chadnewt.bsky.social · 03/01/2026

@murray.senate.gov @cantwell.senate.gov @jayapal.house.gov Emergency! Impeach now, shut down the government until Congress is in control of the military. Enough is enough!

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AZ Intel @azintel.bsky.social · 03/01/2026

BREAKING: Video shows aircrafts over the sky with explosions in the background amid suspected U.S. airstrikes on Caracas, Venezuela.

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Evergreen Intel @vcdgf555.bsky.social · 03/01/2026

With focus on the 9+ helicopters over Caracas as the impacts are happening around them, the timing of the overflight and presumed landing are within seconds of the helo passes. That is not likely by accident, but part of a coordinated part of whatever op is going on tonight. By Kim Høvik on Twitter

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Chad Newton @chadnewt.bsky.social · 02/01/2026

It takes time and effort to change fire codes, but if Team @wilsonkatieb.bsky.social pushes, Seattle could revert to the stock NFPA 130 requirements before final design is complete on West Seattle and Ballard Link, saving a bunch of money.

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Chad Newton @chadnewt.bsky.social · 01/01/2026

My take is that Canada's superior transit ridership over the US is 50% running more transit service in the suburbs and 50% running more transit service in the suburbs.

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Chad Newton @chadnewt.bsky.social · 29/12/2025

It is shocking how bad #transit is in much of the US. Per the FTA NTD, in 2024 Johnson County Transit (in Kansas, population 632,000) regular buses carried an average of 1,000 people per day. This entire system equals a single low performing route on King County Metro. How can it be that low?

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Chad Newton @chadnewt.bsky.social · 29/12/2025

As 2025 winds down, here at the top USA transit performers for calendar year 2024, based on full-year average daily ridership from the FTA NTD. This includes all transit modes reported to the FTA: bus, rail, commuter rail, inclined planes, etc. Love to see Honolulu and Las Vegas running laps...

Ranking of total urbanized area daily transit ridership for the full year of 2024, from the FTA NTD. New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, DC and San Francisco are the top 5.

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Chad Newton @chadnewt.bsky.social · 26/12/2025

The big 6 legacy transit cities have remained on top since 2002. Seattle has rocketed up to #9 on rail, while Atlanta has slid significantly.

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Chad Newton @chadnewt.bsky.social · 26/12/2025

As a Christmastime gift to transit stat nerds, I put together a ranking of rail transit daily ridership for 2024 (from the full-year FTA NTD). This aggregates all rail services in the metro area: light rail, heavy rail, commuter rail, plus etc. I will do this again in a few months for 2025.

2024 average daily ridership for all rail transit systems in each US metropolitan area. Top 10 ranking: New York, Washington DC, Chicago, Boston, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, San Diego, Seattle, Atlanta.

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