At its monthly board meeting held earlier this Thursday, Community Transit unveiled its proposals for its first Proposition 1-funded service expansions, scheduled for September 2016 and March 2017. The two expansions add about 38,300 hours of service, fulfilling the promise of transit service on the State Route 9 corridor (in the form of two new routes) and adding incremental improvements to existing routes throughout the system. CT states that this expansion will add 14% more service over 2015 levels and will be part of a gradual increase of 40% more service to be achieved by 2021.
September 2016: 32,000 new hours
The new routes, coming in September, form the backbone of service on State Route 9, a major north-south corridor serving the eastern parts of the county. Route 109 runs from Ash Way Park and Ride along Ash Way, 128th/132nd Street in Mill Creek, Catchcart Way, through Downtown Snohomish on Avenue D, to Lake Stevens Transit Center. Route 209 runs from Lake Stevens Transit Center north along Highway 9 to 64th Street, turning west and continuing through Downtown Marysville and under Interstate 5, and north on 27th Avenue to Quil Ceda Village, ending near the Tulalip Casino and Seattle Premium Outlets mall; route 209 roughly follows the former route 221, which was cut in June 2010. Both routes will have 30-minute frequencies during weekday peak and 60-minute frequencies midday on weekdays, and all day on weekends. Community Transit planners stated that the two routes were split to increase reliability and to prevent overworking drivers on what would be one of the longest local routes in the system.
To complement the addition of route 209 through Marysville, existing route 222 (Tulalip to Marysville via Quil Ceda), will be rerouted through the eastern half of the city. Instead of turning south on 67th Avenue, buses will continue east on Ingraham Boulevard to serve Marysville Getchell High School and turn south on 83rd Avenue NE. From there, buses make another turn at the city’s Walmart store onto 64th Street, sharing stops with route 209, before turning north on 67th Avenue and west onto Grove Street, passing by the city’s library, and terminating at State Avenue (where it meets routes 201 and 202) near the Marysville Cedar & Grove Park & Ride. The change was spurred mainly by the introduction of route 209 service on the 64th Street and 4th Street corridor, allowing for that tail to be eliminated in favor of restoring service to Grove Street and the city library; as a result of these changes, a short 0.7-mile section of 67th Avenue will lose all of its transit service, but was determined by CT planners to be a low-preforming section of route 222 and well within reasonable walking distance to the new stops.
Seattle commuter routes will also see small improvements in the September service change. Route 417 (Mukilteo) will now skip the Lynnwood Transit Center, opting to stay on Interstate 5 and State Route 525 instead of taking a slow diversion through the transit center and city streets. Other routes will receive additional trips, mostly southbound in the AM peak, as well as trip time adjustments to increase reliability and schedule accuracy.
Full list of changes:
- Route 109 (Ash Way to Lake Stevens via Mill Creek, Snohomish and Highway 9): New route, running every 30 minutes during weekday peak and every 60 minutes at all other times (mid-day, evenings and weekends). Weekday span is from approximately 5:10 a.m. to 10:50 p.m.
- Route 209 (Lake Stevens to Quil Ceda via Marysville and Highway 9): New route, running every 30 minutes during weekday peak and every 60 minutes at all other times (mid-day, evenings and weekends). Weekday span is from approximately 5:35 a.m. to 9:55 p.m.
- Route 222 (Tulalip to Marysville via Quil Ceda): Eastern half of the route is moved to serve Grove Street and 83rd Avenue.
- Route 417 (Downtown Seattle to Mukilteo Express): Buses will no longer serve Lynnwood Transit Center, continuing instead on Interstate 5 to State Route 525.
- Route 402 (Downtown Seattle to Lynnwood Transit Center): One additional weekday southbound trip.
- Route 412 (Downtown Seattle to Silver Firs): One additional weekday southbound trip.
- Route 415 (Downtown Seattle to North Lynnwood): One additional weekday southbound trip and two weekday northbound trips.
- Route 860 (University of Washington to McCollum P&R): One additional weekday southbound trip.
- Route 871 (University of Washington to Edmonds P&R): One additional weekday southbound trip.
March 2017: 6,300 new hours
The March change is all about improving the existing network. Some 6,300 hours of service will be added to 9 routes, including Swift and other core services. Most routes will receive new trips that extend evening service further into the night, varying between 30 minutes to an hour.
The largest portion of the March service change is the addition of several new midday trips on weekdays for routes 119 and 120.
Full list of changes:
- Swift (Everett Station to Aurora Village): Six additional weekday trips, three in each direction, extending evening service by one hour.
- Route 101 (Aurora Village to Mariner P&R via Highway 99): Four additional weekday evening trips to complement extended Swift evening service.
- Route 113 (Lynnwood Transit Center to Mukilteo): One additional weekday trip northbound to extend evening service.
- Route 115 (Aurora Village to Mariner P&R via Alderwood): One additional weekday trip southbound to extend evening service.
- Route 119 (Mountlake Terrace to Ash Way P&R): Ten additional weekday midday trips, five in each direction.
- Route 120 (Edmonds to Canyon Park): Eleven additional weekday midday trips, six eastbound and five westbound.
- Route 201 (Lynnwood Transit Center to Smokey Point): One additional weekday southbound trip to extend evening service; and one additional Saturday northbound trip to extend evening service.
- Route 202 (Lynnwood Transit Center to Smokey Point): One additional weekday northbound trip to extend evening service; and one additional Saturday southbound trip to extend evening service.
- Route 222 (Tulalip to Marysville via Quil Ceda): Two additional Saturday evening trips, one in each direction, to extend evening service.
DART Paratransit
With the introduction of new service on State Route 9, dial-a-ride (DART) paratransit service will be expanded along routes 109 and 209 in Mill Creek, Snohomish, Lake Stevens, and eastern Marysville.
Public comment
Community Transit is taking public comments on this proposal between now and April 8 via a dedicated e-mail address (newservice@commtrans.org), or via its phone line (425-353-RIDE) and regular mail. Four public events will be held the week of March 22 to 24 and March 30 at locations in Marysville, Everett and Lynnwood. A public hearing will be held at the next Community Transit Board meeting, to take place on April 7 at 3 p.m. at the agency’s Merrill Creek headquarters in Everett.
Having grown up in Snohomish, I’m certain everyone there would agree that the highway 9 service that Snohomish really needs in a beeline to Woodinville (aka, a line actually on highway 9). This is the problem with county-based service areas.
The 105/106 go to UW Bothell, so that’s a parallel situation. But it’s not a great integration because it takes a long time to go through downtown Bothell and backtrack on a different street if you’re going to Seattle. The first question I have about a Snohomish-Woodinville routing is, is Woodinville really so popular that everybody wants to go there, or are they really going to to Seattle or Bellevue/Kirkland/Redmond? If it’s the latter, then we should look at whether a north-south bus to Woodinville really meets their needs effectively. From Mill Creek, you can take the 105 to Bothell and transfer to Seattle, but you’re better off going west to Ash Way P&R and the 512. From Canyon Park, I don’t know if there’s a fast bus to Lynnwood or Mountlake Terrace, but theoretically that would be the best way to go. So would it be similar from Snohomish? I don’t know how long the 109 would take from Snohomish to Lynnwood TC, but we should at least compare that before assuming a Snohomish-Woodinville routing would solve all problems, because from Lynnwood you can get to either Seattle or Bellevue/Kirkland.
I would think there would be a fair number of people going to Woodinville from the North along highway 9, but many would use it to continue on to Seattle. While you may be correct about routing to Bothell, Ash Way or Lynnwood/MLT offering better efficiency, these solutions wouldn’t help anyone south of Cathcart Way on SR9.
It seems that including a connection to Woodinville P&R would make a better network with the ability to go North, South and West, rather than just North and West.
Yeah, you can get to Bellevue – the long way. And even if you’re going to Seattle, thru Woodinville is hands down the most direct route – Cathcart Way is a slog compared to Hwy 9.
Since you bring up Seattle, I’ll point out that the Snohomish-Seattle commuter bus goes Snohomish-Monroe-Seattle. So, it basically goes 10 miles in the wrong direction before heading to where people are actually going. There is zero direct routes from Snohomish to Seattle, since the direct route is thru Woodinville.
To answer your question, Mike, people are both flocking to Woodinville for the “attractions” themselves and commuting through it to get elsewhere. Woodinville offers sizable shopping amenities for families, decent entertainment & restaurants and there are small corporate parks on the Bothell-Woodinville border. Woodinville is the nearest place for these things for folks who live near Hwy 9. People also use Woodinville as a bypass to reach Seattle & Bellevue.
Does Hwy 9 provide a clear path for Express service?
Never having commuted on that corridor, is there a chance that buses would be stuck in traffic?
Before the improvements done in the 2000s, it would take an hour from Woodinville to Snohomish during rush hour. That backup is mostly gone, but the two-lane Snohomish River bridge still causes some long backups. There are backroads to avoid these problems, but they probably don’t accommodate buses very well.
Any time transit takes over 2 hours to connect two significant population centers a mere 15 minute drive apart from each other, down a clear road, in a straight line, is pretty appalling. Woodinville to Snohomish is a clear example of this, and Woodinville to Monroe is even worse (outside of the two unidirectional trips per day on the 424). So, yes, there should be at least an hourly all-day bus route connecting Woodinville to Snohomish via SR-9, along with an hourly, all-day bus route connecting Woodinville to Monroe via SR-522. Because the existing connections between these areas is so awful that even hourly direct service would be a huge improvement over the status quo.
Ultimately, Woodinville isn’t so much about Woodinville per say, it’s about connecting Snohomish County (through additional connections) to the entire eastside.
One idea that might be worth pursuing would be for CT to pay ST to extend one route 522 trip per hour from Woodinville to Monroe. This dramatically speeds up trips between Monroe and Seattle, while eliminating the extra connection in Woodinville, while allowing for a 2-seat ride (via the 535) to Bellevue.
Community Transit also has a TDP process underway: http://commtrans.org/newsrelease/1648
I commented, will save my comments for when STB posts about the Comm Transit TDP. Really, really important folks get their comments in.
Agreed. For those who support an inter-agency agreement to extend Sounder North into Marysville and/or Snohomish, this is a key time to submit comments to the agency. Comment supporting extension of Sounder North should be directed to futureplan@commtrans.org.
Extending Sounder North further into Snohomish County is a low marginal cost for a high marginal gain. Adding additional stations and riders is the best way to make the cost-per-rider more efficient. Sponsorship of an inter-agency agreement by Community Transit is the only way that will happen.
If Sounder North were extended to Snohomish, would it make sense to extend it further to Monroe?
I can see BNSF agreeing to an extension to Marysville. The Canada line is adding freight, but as of today it’s not nearly at capacity. But the line to Snohomish or Monroe is the High Line to Chicago, the second most important intermodal route in the system. Fort Worth is not going to have a bunch of scoots messing up their cash register. Since nearly the entire line between Everett and KSS is double tracked, there’s plenty of capacity south of Everett. But not to the east.
They’ve got some capacity to the east due to the half hour time constraint to clear exhaust from the Cascade Tunnel.
I’d love to see Sounder North end at Marysville, Stanwood or Mount Vernon… once light rail extends to Everett Station. The Skagit Transit 90X can only do so much.
I’ve ridden Amtrak Cascades north from Everett a few times, and the section between Everett and Marysville is not particularly fast – average speed is probably about 20-30 mph. The bridge is also single-tracked, so it could be a bottleneck. Even if it isn’t, BNSF still won’t agree to it without driving a tough bargain. Whatever taxpayers would be willing to pay, that is what BNSF would ask for.
That said, extending RailPlus to Stanwood station is something I would support (since the station and trains are already there, anyway).
Speaking of which…does anybody know if RailPlus can be used on weekends, or is it weekdays only?
The one thing that concerns me is that CT wants to add more service to the 119, but it’s one of the lowest performing (and most expensive) routes they operate.
So CT is wanting to add two routes that nobody will use, modify one route that nobody uses currently and then add more commuter service…
It will be a full year before people who live and work in Snohomish country can take a bus home after 10 pm.
I wouldn’t say that about the new routes. The proposed 209 fills a lot of the gaps that Snohomish needs filled, including connecting the two high schools to each other and a direct route to bothLynnwood and Lake Stevens. It’s also a good straight-line route that is easy to use. Snohomish-Woodinville is just a different gap that CT isn’t addressing, probably because the Cathcart-Clearview-Maltby area between those two towns is not in the CT service district. (and this is why the service district should always be the entire county, folks)
Grant, you’re lucky…. for Skagitonians the last bus routes mainly start at 8:15 PM or earlier.
While it is only anecdotal, I see plenty of people using the 222, especially transfers from the 201/202 at State & 88th. Seems like a useful route, given that it covers the majority of Marysville’s residential population, which does not live on the State Avenue corridor.
As for 10 p.m. service, I managed to get home last night on the 201 after a evening meetup in Seattle at around 9:50. Plenty of late runs if you are lucky enough to live on a core route.