Monday, January 18 is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. Many transit agencies reduce their service levels that day, and some that do not run on Sundays, like King County Water Taxis, also take this day off. The South Lake Union Streetcar is usually open on most holidays, but is closed Monday due to street work, and since there is no “peak” period on a holiday.
If you are used to your bus route flying along in a peak-only bus lane, do not be surprised to find cars parked in them Monday, slowing down your commute. As Zach pointed out, the City’s bus lane policy has not kept up with its transit investments. In that way, even if no runs are being cancelled on your route, the level of service on your route is being reduced Monday if it has peak-only lane priority.
This is on top of WSDOT’s decision to make everyone suffer through gridlock on Aurora every day during construction periods instead of giving everyone an option to fly past the gridlock with a bus lane, as Martin pointed out.
| Agency | Day Before (Sunday) | MLK Day (Monday) |
|---|---|---|
| Clallam Transit | No Service | No Service |
| Community Transit Commuter | No Service | Routes 402, 413, 421, 855 |
| Community Transit Local | Sunday | Weekday |
| Everett Transit | Sunday | Weekday |
| Greys Harbor Transit | No Service | Weekday |
| Island Transit | No Service | Weekday |
| Intercity Transit | Sunday | Weekday |
| Jefferson Transit | No Service | Weekday |
| King County Metro | Sunday | Reduced Weekday/UW |
| King County Water Taxis | No Service | No Service |
| Kitsap Transit | No Service | Regular/No PSNS |
| Link Light Rail | Sunday | Saturday |
| Mason Transit | No Service | No Service |
| Monorail | 8:30 AM – 9 PM | 7:30 AM – 9 PM |
| Pierce Transit | Sunday | Weekday |
| Skagit Transit | No Service | Weekday |
| Sound Transit Express | Sunday | Weekday |
| Sounder | No Service | Weekday |
| South Lake Union Streetcar | No Service | No Service |
| Tacoma Link | Sunday | Sunday |
| Twin Transit | No Service | No Service |
| Washington State Ferries | Sunday | Weekday |
| Whatcom Transit | Sunday | Weekday |
You could add Washington State Ferries to your list: Jan. 18, Martin Luther King Jr. Day – Regular Schedule.
I remember one of these holidays a few years back when I lived in Bellevue. I had to walk about a mile to the nearest bus line that was running since the nearer one was on a reduced schedule. When I got there there were so many people using it that we watched one bus go by standing room only and had to wait for the next one.
Ah, I just found the alert. Thanks!
It’s ridiculous to assume people don’t travel as much on these minor holidays. This is anecdotal, but my office for instance does not have the day off. Why do Metro and other agencies decide to alter transportation so much on these days? Thanks STB for pointing out these schedules and for urging the agencies to change their policies.
While ridership may dip a little on minor holidays, as some businesses like government office buildings and most bank branches shut down, I don’t think Metro relishes trying to right-size holiday ridership.
Metro asked the county’s voters for more funding authority. The county’s voters said No. I think the voters were misled by ideology-based anti-public-transit groups, including some media outlets, into thinking Metro had serious inefficiencies, when that simply is not the case.
Seattle voters provided new revenue. Seattle voters got regular service on minor holidays, among much larger investments.
The exception is UW reductions, of course. More of the ridership on routes serving UW Station will be riders headed downtown and elsewhere, so a re-think is definitely in order for future Metro holiday service levels. Perhaps Metro has already done that re-think. We will see when the new schedules come out.
Seattle routes are spared thanks to prop one. Otherwise metro’s routes have historically seen reduced service on Martin Luther King Jr. Day. And Presidents’ Day which now follows the same reduced schedule as MLK used to be a Sunday schedule with selected weekday trips added. Things have changed.
Intra-Seattle routes 31, 32, 48, 65, 67, 68, and 75 all have some runs cut on minor holidays, including this Monday.
Not all Seattle routes have been spared. The 355 along north Greenwood will not operate.
On Martin Luther King day, there are definitely fewer rides on the routes I tend to ride. It’s the only day TriMet does a reduced weekday type service, with certain routes on Saturday schedules. It seems to work ok.
Another anecdote – my 11 had 9 people on it when it arrived downtown this morning; usually it’s SRO and often has 10-15 people on it before it even reaches 36th/Madison.
One anecdote to throw on the fire: Microsoft has added Martin Luther King Jr. Day as a company holiday starting this year. President’s Day has also been put on the list, so 18 January and 15 February should be rather quiet days at Overlake Transit Center.
Psst, your link says “South Lake Umion Streetcar.” :)
I have Monday off, so I will finally get to at least do two-thirds of the Seattle to Vancouver B.C. by public transit ride that I heard about a year and a half ago. I’m going to Bellingham and back on the same day. The weather won’t be great and the Spark Museum will be closed, but it’s a change of pace. I went to Everett on my Friday, July 3rd day off from work last year and found out Skagit Transit was running, by then too late to take the trip.
This year at my work, MLK and President’s Day have switched being days off.