Photo by Atomic Taco
Although the ones later this year are a much bigger deal, there are a few changes that begin today:
- Route 149 changes to new DART Route 907
- Some Route 186 trips change to new DART Route 915
- Route 251 changes to new DART Route 931
Metro hopes the DART conversions will save a little money and are appropriate for the demand. The complete list of altered routes is 149, 186, 221, 224, 240, 251, 910, and 917, and new routes 907, 915, and 931.
Pierce Transit changes over tomorrow, Community Transit has a major change starting Monday, and of course Monday is Presidents’ Day.
Does anyone know if they considered downgrading the 42 to DART service?
I think the idea was thrown around in comment threads here, but I never heard it from anyone with the agency.
They wouldn’t put DART in the city, but they could assign a van to the 42 and renumber it to 942. DART is a specialized kind of bus service for the outermost suburban fringes, where an entire district is too low-density to support a regular route. The bus has a nominal route (hourly, daytime-only), but will also go to other streets if you call ahead. Those other streets may be a long walk from the regular bus stop, especially in cul-de-sacs. So it’s basically combining several potential routes into one. It only works if the combined ridership in the entire district can fit in a van, and if there are only a couple deviations per run. If you made the 42 DART, then its district would overlap with the 7, 8, and 14, and you’d have people near those routes calling up asking for a pickup on the 42. And then you’d get everyone else in the city calling up asking why people near the 42 get this privilege that nobody else in the city does.
*golf clap*
Well said, Mike.
Thanks for the info. Sounds like a bad fit for that area.
I like the idea of converting to a van for the 42 (with no deviations). This would appropriately point out how ridiculous this route is. Maybe even a Prius instead of the van.
They do have the 773 which is a DART route for the water taxi.
With the elimination of the CT 190 and reduction in frequency and rerouting of the 113, my commute from Mukilteo to Edmonds CC might be as much as 30 minutes longer.