"Waitin' for the 49", by photocoyote
Metro is continuing its series of stop consolidations with Route 49, which would also delete stops for the 9 and 25. They plan to remove 13 of the 50 stops between Convention Place and the University Bridge, affecting about 4% of riders in that segment.
Metro will eliminate the stops on August 7th, after a public comment period that ends on July 23rd. You can submit a comment online, call 206-296-4511, or send email to community.relations@kingcounty.gov with ‘Route 49′ in the subject line.
Capitol Hill Seattle has more.
What other routes are next on the chopping block?
Is there any word on improvements in service times on routes that have already undergone consolidation?
Purely anecdotal, but my trips on Route 3 have been cut from 25-30 minutes to 22-25. Still slow, but now it’s faster than walking at least.
Theoretically it will also make travel times more reliable since stops are more likely to always have someone waiting to get on.
I just want to say yes to stop consolidation. Now, if we can only get the cars out of the way…
Pine Street needs more bus bulbs like the pair at Pike/Summit. Yesterday morning I took a bus and it had to wait for five cars to pass before it could leave the stop. I think it was the Bellevue stop, although maybe it was closer to downtown.
Cheaper fix: Amend the training program to teach us how to effectively block traffic while safely loading passengers (front door at curb, back door far enough to allow for a step into the street but no room for a car). There are plenty of us who do this anyway when we know cars won’t let us back in.
Even BETTER fix: Raise the ticket rate and get police officers to ticket more folks for not extending the legal right of way to a transit vehicle signaling its intention to come back into traffic. [RCW 46.61] :-)
I LOVE it when you operators do that – makes me so pleased that those autophiliacs have to wait. Keep it up!
It would help if buses had turn signals separate from their flashers, or didn’t use their flashers when stopped. Really hard to see if a bus wants to pull out unless they start moving.
Could give buses legal right of way, like in London. They just signal and pull out when they are ready to leave.
I thought that by law you are already required to yield ROW to a bus? Good idea though about separating the flashers from turn signals. The flashers could be more like the strobe that police and aid cars use when stopped.
I’m pretty sure you’re right that such a law exists already.
Maybe it’s time to reassign the Jaywalking Stasi to enforce something productive!
According to SDOT:
There’s a sticker on the buses with an RCW number. It would be interesting to look up the exact law.
RCW 46.61.220, to be precise. http://apps.leg.wa.gov/rcw/default.aspx?cite=46.61.220
…the only law i’ve ever been assaulted for following, for what it’s worth. it’s completely unenforced, though back in the 90s it was.
Writing tickets to cars refusing to yield to buses could be another revenue stream for Metro. Probably more efficient than fare enforcement tickets.
“It would help if buses had turn signals separate from their flashers, or didn’t use their flashers when stopped”
Yes, please!!!
I also never get why buses in N. America can’t have a second set of turn signals up near the roof line/near the Michigan Lights like those in Europe do. It would help with turn signal visibility.
Now I won’t be able to walk along 10th confident that I can get to the next stop before the bus flies by.
Make sure you send e-mail supporting this consolidation, because I imagine they’ll mainly be hearing from those opposed to it.
Other than the Boston St. stop removal, sure. That one presents some serious space between stops on a steep hill with inaccessible sidewalks for people in power chairs or folks in push chairs who aren’t adept at hopping curb lips. I sent a very pointed, polite email about this and have been ignored. I guess the response is just gonna be “take Access.”
The other stops to sack? Bring it on please.
Metro doesn’t typically respond to these emails.
Yeah, i’m getting that feeling. Egg on my face, i suppose. The problem is that i don’t know how to make this plain to them without having to resort to something as puerile as Get Jesse! or similar.
Not responding =/= not hearing.
We shall see, i suppose. Trying to talk to Metro about accessibility has been talking to a wall for many, many years. If the wall listens this time, though, i’m all for it.
Once I saw a stop closure notice sign, and I actually didn’t see it until after the comment period had officially ended, but I called them up and told them that I use that stop frequently and every time I get off there there are multiple people getting off, and it was an important transfer point, and the stop ended up staying. So even if they only get one comment, they see that as an indication that at least several people are feeling that.
finally. the number of stops made by the 49 is crazy.
Go Metro – keep it up!! Bravo!
The stop spacing was established back when traffic moved much faster in Seattle. Since then we’ve seen a complete collapse of signal progression everywhere, traffic calming that makes buses wait for a break in traffic to leave each stop instead of stopping in-lane, and other slowdowns that have slowed bus speeds by about 1%/year. That adds up to a *lot* of delay over the 30-40 years since the stops were first sited. These days it can be faster to get to town from Mountlake Terrace in HOV lanes than from the top of Queen Anne, and it’s partially a result of stop spacing established when buses moved much more quickly.
Thank you for paying attention to the speed and reliability of city routes, and for having some backbone. It’s always hard to make transit improvements, since there are always advocates for the status quo, but the people who would benefit have no idea – so they never show up at a public meeting.
Unfortunately, in Seattle people continue to think that anything that slows traffic will help transit. It’s the opposite, since things that slow cars end up slowing buses too, and more.
I think it’s a good idea for everyone to walk more. I’ve seen people run half a block to catch a bus then get off at the next stop. Some routes like the 65 have stops every two blocks in Wedgewood. Leave the office shoes at the office and put on some walking shoes.
Not everyone can walk, Bob. It’s a royal pain when there’s no curb cuts to get my wheelchair over and they take out stops, and Wedgwood is actually one of the worst neighborhoods in the city for curb cuts; there are plenty by the Meadowbrook community center but then a long expanse of inaccessible sidewalk. What am i to do when the bus isn’t gonna be able to pick me up from the street? That’s not safe for anyone involved.
And no, “you should take a handi-van” is not a solution.