A briefing next week on the city's ongoing Transit Master Plan has some bad news for supporters of light rail between downtown and West Seattle, including Mayor Mike McGinn: According to the Seattle Department of Transportation's analysis, the demand for transit to West Seattle is among the lowest of any potential transit corridor.

At its meeting next Tuesday morning, the city council's transportation committee will get a briefing from SDOT on the progress of its updated Transit Master Plan, the document that steers transit planning in the city. That presentation---which is based on the first stage of the transit plan update---will show that downtown to West Seattle is among the lowest-ranking major corridors for transit in the city. Ranked on a list of quantitative and qualitative criteria---including current ridership, potential ridership (based on land use), zoning, and social equity---downtown to West Seattle received one of the lowest rankings among SDOT's "top 15 corridors."

Corridors that ranked highly (meaning that they had high current and potential ridership, served social equity, and had zoning that would promote transit-oriented development in the future, among other criteria) included: Northeast 45th St. from Wallingford to the University District; Denny Way from downtown to Queen Anne; Broadway running down  to 12th Ave. to Rainier Ave. S.; and Dexter Ave. N. between Queen Anne and Fremont.

The highest-demand corridors will be likely targets for future high-capacity transit, such as light rail or bus rapid transit. Incidentally, rail from downtown to Ballard, another part of McGinn's proposal, fares somewhat better than rail to West Seattle, though nowhere near as well as the many higher-ranked transit corridors.