Today I’m taking you on my monthly bus trip to Lake Hills. I went on Saturday, September 26.
- 2 Line: Westlake – South Bellevue. 2:22pm – 2:42 (20 minutes). 6 minute wait for a 10 minute route. Ridership: A few seats available.
- 226: South Bellevue – Main Street. 3:03 – 3:25 (22 minutes). 20 minute wait for a 30 minute route. Ridership: I was the only one from the station. 2 on at Richards Road. 1 on on Eastgate Way. 2 on at Eastgate P&R. 2 on at 145th Place & 22nd (Bellevue College apartments). 3 on in southeast Bellevue.
- 226: Main Street – Bellevue TC. 6:03 – 6:25 (22 min). 55 minute wait for a 60 minute route. Ridership: 1 already on. 1 off at Northup Way. 8 on between 156th and 140th. 3 off at library.
- 2 Line: Bellevue Downtown – Capitol Hill. Ridership: 1 minute wait for a 10 minute route. I didn’t bother timing the trip. Ridership: Standing room only.
I feel so lucky riding Link across the late. No more express buses with congestion and turns and stoplights. Mt Rainier was visible, and a row of clouds looking like they’re sitting on an air shelf. Westbound cars were stuck in congestion from Mercer Island to Eastgate.
The transfer walk at South Bellevue station was 1:13 minutes. I was probably walking slowly.
Since I had a 20 minute wait for the bus, I did what I’ve never done and entered the P&R. I went to the top level and saw the view of the Slough, and counted the cars. There were around 225 cars. Level 3 goes to the station, but the most cars were on level 4. A guy on the top level was filming a video in front of his car.
The 226 is a U-shaped route on mostly Eastgate Way/SE 24th Street, 164th, and Bel-Red Road/NE 24th Street. My destination was right at the bottom of the U. I usually ride only the southern half, but today after my visit I rode the northern half to describe the rest of the route and clear up some misperceptions.
The threshold for a cost-effective bus route is 10 passengers per hour. The 226 got 11 in 22 minutes. So multiplying that by 3 gives 33 passengers per hour. People are riding it in the single-family neighborhoods, as I would if I lived there. Ridership was lighter today than other days.
On 164th it stops every two blocks, except between NE 6th and NE 16th (Northup) where it’s nonstop. This is the part that used to detour further east to the neighborhood I grew up in. So when it was rerouted to stay on 164th, no bus stops were added in the gap. South of NE 6th is all single family, and there’s a concentration of adult family homes. North of NE 6th are a few apartment buildings.
Interlake High School is at 164th & NE 24th. Weekday afternoons a dozen people would get on. Some of them got off if the detour further east that no longer exists. I don’t know what they do now. There’s no fixed-route service east of 164th any more; instead there’s a Metro Flex zone. I’m glad there was a fixed route when I lived there. But at the same time, the detour somehow added ten minutes to the trip. I hated it before it was extended to South Bellevue station and I had to ride it from Bellevue TC to Main Street and it took a whole 40 minutes.
Going from Main Street to 130th took around 15 minutes today. The time before it on a weekday it took more than 20 minutes. It’s a longish depressing walk from there to BelRed station (what CityNerd called “old Bellevue”),. So for me it’s not a compelling transfer westbound, and not at all eastbound where there’s no bench or shelter at the bus stop.
The 226 runs every 20 minutes peak hours, 30 minutes off peak, and 60 minutes evenings. Evenings starts at 4pm on weekends. I try to avoid it during that time, but since I’m more of a night owl than an early bird, sometimes I have to ride it then. This time I was ready to go but I would just miss it, so I waited 45 minutes at the home and then went out for it.
At 116th & NE 12th the 250 joins the route for 15-minute combined service the rest of the way. Overlake Hospital has two stops. Kaiser Permanente has one stop. A third stop is on the side of the library.
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