These were beautiful proposals in 2005. In 2009, an earthquake in the form of the opening of Central Link shifted the center of gravity for transit transers in southwest King County to Tukwila International Boulevard Station and Airport Station. Metro’s southwest King County routes aren’t yet designed to take advantage of the efficiencies enabled by Link.
Average wait+travel time between Burien and the north end of downtown is a virtual dead heat between taking the 120 and taking 140+Link at nearly all times. (This assumes neither bus route gets stuck in a traffic jam.) If either the 120 or 140 were more frequent on Sundays, the scales would be tipped to the route with more frequency out of Burien. Putting this another way, adding frequency on the 140 might be part of the key to reducing overcrowding on the 120, and would do so at less new operating expense than adding frequency to the 120. Getting to the south end of downtown, 140+Link already holds the advantage over the 120, except during peak hours when the 121/122/123 run.
The 122 is the easiest Burien express to convert into a Link feeder route, enabling reduced operating costs and/or increased frequency in the Des Moines / Normandy Park corridor. Having the 122 transfer its load at TIBS instead of bending back west to Burien would be another virtual dead heat for getting to the north end of downtown, and a winner for anyone trying to commute to the south end of downtown. It would make reverse-peak directional travel easier as well, which would be nice given all the job sites along the 122’s path. The biggest problem would be whether the 122 picks up significant ridership south of Burien, or picks up most of its ridership at Burien P&R/TC. The proposed extension of the 156 down to 200th and over to the Des Moines waterfront would also factor significantly into this analysis.
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Metro didn’t plan for the City of Seattle to refuse to blink in the game of chicken over replacing the 16th Ave Bridge. Now, the 131/134, having two re-routes due to two major bridge closures, is virtually useless except for someone trying to get to somewhere on Airport Way, and redundant with the more frequent 106 even for that purpose. The 131/134’s primary original source of scoliosis — the jog over to Airport Way to serve the Georgetown saloon district — became pointless once the 60 became a 7-day route all the way to White Center. (The map doesn’t explain that the 60’s south terminus was in Georgetown on weekends.)
And so, barring a strong lobby effort by the Georgetown saloon district businesses to force Park Point (west White Center) riders to have to ride through the saloon district, the 131 and 134 will both be taken off of life support next year, long after the routes ceased functionality.
These were beautiful proposals in 2005. In 2009, an earthquake in the form of the opening of Central Link shifted the center of gravity for transit transers in southwest King County to Tukwila International Boulevard Station and Airport Station. Metro’s southwest King County routes aren’t yet designed to take advantage of the efficiencies enabled by Link.
Average wait+travel time between Burien and the north end of downtown is a virtual dead heat between taking the 120 and taking 140+Link at nearly all times. (This assumes neither bus route gets stuck in a traffic jam.) If either the 120 or 140 were more frequent on Sundays, the scales would be tipped to the route with more frequency out of Burien. Putting this another way, adding frequency on the 140 might be part of the key to reducing overcrowding on the 120, and would do so at less new operating expense than adding frequency to the 120. Getting to the south end of downtown, 140+Link already holds the advantage over the 120, except during peak hours when the 121/122/123 run.
The 122 is the easiest Burien express to convert into a Link feeder route, enabling reduced operating costs and/or increased frequency in the Des Moines / Normandy Park corridor. Having the 122 transfer its load at TIBS instead of bending back west to Burien would be another virtual dead heat for getting to the north end of downtown, and a winner for anyone trying to commute to the south end of downtown. It would make reverse-peak directional travel easier as well, which would be nice given all the job sites along the 122’s path. The biggest problem would be whether the 122 picks up significant ridership south of Burien, or picks up most of its ridership at Burien P&R/TC. The proposed extension of the 156 down to 200th and over to the Des Moines waterfront would also factor significantly into this analysis.
.
Metro didn’t plan for the City of Seattle to refuse to blink in the game of chicken over replacing the 16th Ave Bridge. Now, the 131/134, having two re-routes due to two major bridge closures, is virtually useless except for someone trying to get to somewhere on Airport Way, and redundant with the more frequent 106 even for that purpose. The 131/134’s primary original source of scoliosis — the jog over to Airport Way to serve the Georgetown saloon district — became pointless once the 60 became a 7-day route all the way to White Center. (The map doesn’t explain that the 60’s south terminus was in Georgetown on weekends.)
And so, barring a strong lobby effort by the Georgetown saloon district businesses to force Park Point (west White Center) riders to have to ride through the saloon district, the 131 and 134 will both be taken off of life support next year, long after the routes ceased functionality.
Park Point is east White Center, not west. My editing fail.