This post originally appeared on Orphan Road.
Metro shows off its fancy new toys. Though I still find the paint scheme to be a bit ridiculous, I think they’ve done a fine job with the rest of the BRT aspects of the system, including GPS, shelters with clear information about service frequency, real-time arrival information, and multiple ORCA card readers.
Sadly, there’s still on-board fare collection (though the ORCA readers should help with that).
The real test of BRT, of course, is not the paint job or the GPS system, but the right-of-way in which it travels. I don’t know the A Line route very well, and I understand that Aurora and Bell-Red are going to get some more transit-friendly updates in the interim. But any bus that has to snake through Belltown and Queen Anne to get to Ballard is not going to be too much different from the 15 or 18 Express (though the 3rd Avenue routing should help a bit).
While we’re at it, here’s a suggestion for Metro and SDOT: the express buses that head north towards Queen Anne/Belltown from Downtown have to jag West on Broad, then North on First because there’s no traffic light at the corner of 3rd & Denny.
Why not make that last little mini-block a transit-only lane heading Northbound on 3rd and have a transit-only traffic signal there? It could be reserved for Express buses, who don’t stop on 1st Ave anyway.
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