How far might people walk to reach transit?

Since Bellevue is proposing to allow up to 9 middle +2 ADUs or a co-housing/SRO building within a 0.5 mile radius of RapidRide and Link, here are some examples of what the actual walking distance might be:

This location is 0.9 miles from an existing RapidRide B stop.

This one is within 0.5 miles of where it looks like a RapidRide K stop will be, so the higher density won’t apply until about 2028, when construction is expected to begin. The walking distance is 0.9 miles to the bus stop at Kamber and 145th (maybe slightly shorter distance to a stop at Eastside Christian School if you can do stairs and take the path).

This one is again within the 0.5 mile radius of RapidRide K; it’s the same 0.9 mile walk, but the estimated walk time is 3 minutes longer, probably because of the hill.

This one is a mile to the RapidRide K stop, but will have closer, even if it’s not “frequent” service from the 223.

Another location that is within 0.5 miles of where I think a RapidRide K stop will be located, and which is a long walk to that stop. I think this location will be much better served by the 226 (0.2 miles), though there would be a wait of 20-30 minutes between buses for that route.

You may be wondering if these would be required to have on-site parking, since it could be inconvenient for any new residents to actually live a transit-enabled lifestyle. Since HB 1998 was written with a 1/4 mile walking distance to “Major Transit” in mind (piggy-backing off the locations that are defined as 6 units or more in HB 1110), there is zero on-site parking required.

These areas would also allow 9 middle housing units and 2 ADUs per the Bellevue proposal, but HB 2321 (Section 2, subsection 6.e) says they can be required to have one parking spot per unit since they are more than 0.5 miles walking distance of the transit stop. If they were within 0.5 mile walking distance, they could not be required to have any off-street parking (subsection 6.d). There is also a proposed SB 5184 which I think might limit us to requiring only 0.5 spots per unit for even the more distant ones, but it is being debated in Olympia right now.