And a fancy new website to explain them!
As the highlights indicate, stops are being rearranged downtown and, when the Kirkland TC reopens on Feb. 26th, there too. Route 255 will go to 15 minute headways all day from Downtown Seattle to Totem Lake. Route 309 is a new peak express between Kenmore, SLU, and First Hill. The 309 map seems to indicate no stops at all below the ship canal but I suspect that’s some sort of mistake.
I can finally go to one bus stop downtown and catch any bus that goes anywhere near Fremont. Yay!
Same thing with Lower Queen Anne and West Seattle. 1, 2, 13, 15, 18 all pick up at the same stops nortbound on 3rd Ave and 15/18 will now stop with the 17 to Ballard too. West Seattle 21, 22, 54, 55, 56, 57, 116, 118, 119, 120, 125 all make the same stops southbound. Thats why there are different stop patterns for different routes. It will be easier for the passsengers.
I wish the 28 & 26 were bunched in with the Ballard buses, too, but it will still be nice that the 15 & 18 are on 3rd now.
Yes, but they had to move some routes away from the Yellow zones to make room for the 15/18. Alteast now the 26/28 are making the same stops with the 5/16/358 which will be at a common stop for the people who live between Aurora and Dexter, as well as the Fremont passengers having the 5, 16, 26, and 28 at the same stop.
So… let me see if I am right …
I know need to look for a green/blue stop to catch a 5,16,26,28, or 358 to my home in Westlake? How do you differentiate between stops for 26/28 Express or 26/28 local?
@ bgk
Pretty sure the 26/28 and 26X/28X will continue to share the same stops.
If you’re a frequent bus rider bgk the 16/26/28 (and 26X/28X) are moving to the current 358 stops.
I’m looking forward to having my main stop move from 3rd & Pike to 3rd & Pine.
I only see two 212 morning trips to Seattle deleted, but there don’t seem to be any 212, 225, or 229 morning trips to Seattle in the Trip Planner after 2/5. Website not fancy enough?
The information has only been up for a few hours–expect it to take a few more to get the trip planner working. Could be tomorrow or next week.
all these bus changes are a reminder that a bus route is not permanent. If I bought a house for a route to work and the moved or canceled my route, I would be SOL. Rail fosters long term growth and planning…
Except that the only parts of the routes that changed are the downtown portions of the routes.
It is unlikely that any of these routes would be moved or canceled, since they already have high ridership in their current routings (and have had for many, many years).
Rail is so long term that’s why we continue to provide UW to Ballard service via 85th Street at 6 mph (east-west service 120 years ago). Nothing is permanent. If you study streetcar development until it was ripped out it evolved as frequently as bus routes do.
And the Burke-Gilman trail, the East Lake Sammamish trail, and Interurban trails, and the paving over and tearing out of hundreds of miles of Seattle’s streetcar network tracks are reminders that rail is not permanent.
Rail is not permanent, but the investment required to remove the tracks is considerably greater than the simple cancellation of a bus route on existing roads.
Tracks don’t mean much. They didn’t remove the tracks for the Waterfront Streetcar. It just went poof when wealthy scions decided they wanted a sculpture park. We paid to put tracks in the bus tunnel and then paided to have them ripped out before Link could be built. There still tracks on the Eastside BNSF ROW but no trains.
Three reactions: (1) I wish it were possible to transfer from the 181 to 578, or vice versa, at Auburn Station without a 20-minute transfer penalty. (2) I’m glad to see the 26/28 making the same stops as the 5/16/358. I often ride the 5 but would ride the northbound 28 in a pinch, e.g., late at night. (3) I think the new web page looks great.
My vote is for an express bus from the south end directly to First Hill. Why are there express bus(es) serving First Hill from the northend, but none(?) serving the south end–at least the areas that are north of South Center. Having a route serving the areas between south center and First Hill would be just wonderful. How unfortunate and short-sighted and disappointing not to put Link through First Hill. But thanks for the streetcar! Only I STILL have to go through downtown to get to First Hill!! grr Helloooo–there’s a highly populated, business-oriented, residential neighborhood with Medical Centers, colleges and universities in the central core of the city. Can we please have efficient/express public transportation serving this part of the city without having to go through downtown? Puh-lease?? All of those buses going through downtown is redundant.
They have one…..it’s the 193 (old 941) Star Lake P&R, Kent-Des Moines Freeway station, Tukwila P&R, straight to First Hill. Check it out, it’s been running since atleast the early ’90’s. 7 AM trips and 5 PM trips.
http://metro.kingcounty.gov/tops/bus/schedules/s193_0_.html
Oh, you meant the areas north of southcenter. What about the 9X serving Rainier Valley. Which neighborhood are you wanting service from?
And not all express serving First Hill come from the northend. The 193 serving the I-5 south end park and rides, the 211 serving the I-90 park and rides, the 265 from Redmond, Houghton and SR-520. I know the the north end has more serve than other areas, but the 64 and 303 have proven the need for service in those areas with pretty high ridership. Hopefully the 309 will too.
The old 309 back in the day went to Kenmore as well IIRC, and was also limited-stop service, except it went downtown, not SLU and First Hill. I wonder if they’ll rip that service out (or route it downtown) once the new streetcar line opens, and force the transfer. Or if that’s service that’s being funded by Amazon and the hospitals…
I think the funding is part of the SR520 replacement mitigation along with the increased service across 520. More traffic is expected on Bothell Way/Lake City Way and the 309 is to try and more commuters out of their cars, by adding a new option to SLU and First Hill without the need to transfer from the 306/312/522 in downtown. I know many of you on here don’t like that idea of a one seat ride, but sometimes having a one seat ride makes the difference of between commuters taqking the bus or staying in their cars.
I live in the CD and I know the huge parking burden hospital folks put on the neighborhoods around them, usually due to a lack of transit service (or at least a perceived lack). I think this is a case where the perception of the one-seat ride can lead to more ridership, and that’s a good thing.
Thank you for the replys! I live on the south portion of Beacon Hill. And really I can’t complain too much coming from my neighborhood. However, the areas north of south center to First Hill are my primary areas of note. Yes there are the park and rides. Overall what I’d like to see Metro accomplish is to establish more crosstown routes. One idea to accomplish two of the above mentioned goals: When the FH Streetcar is complete make the #9 a route originating at Rainier Beach, proceeding up MLK (I like the idea of one-way direction traffic for MLK and Rainier BTW) and continuing to Rainier and then north on 12th Avenue to Aloha. There is no bus on 12th Ave and there needs to be public transit to 12th Ave. Making it an express at peak times would serve the First Hill workforce nicely. I’d also like to see the #36 proceed through Jackson, up Boren and downtown via west at James (or Cherry)–again serving First Hill and decreasing the redundancy to buses (certainly down Jackson) and through downtown. I haven’t heard recently Metro’s decision about the redundancy factor of the #3 and #4 but accomplishing that would work nicely with the rerouting of the #36. Of note, I gave up the car last summer after my lease was complete. I’ve always used public transit to get to work on First Hill. I’m increasingly enjoying not having a car. The occasional 24 hour car rental works just fine. Hence, I use Metro (almost exclusively) and wonder why with their need to reduce costs and increase efficiency and serve the public the beginning of to some revamping and rerouting is not happening with more of an aggressive pace. Thank you.
While the additional runs to the Eastside are welcome and necessary given the new tolling on 520, the main thing they do now is reemphasize the fact that there are far too many buses being shoved into the tunnel. The delays in the tunnel during rush hour are frequent and occur daily. What with having to deal with waiting outside the tunnel stations until the light rail has left, frequently disabled buses and the increased runs, it is time to begin moving as many of the Eastside bound buses onto the streets now instead of waiting until 2015.