Here is my proposed bus system for Northeast Seattle after Northgate Link opens.
Routes to be discontinued: 41, 76, 77
Route Changes
The eastern terminus of Route 62 will be the same as that of current Route 71/76. Route 71 will instead run weekdays only to NOAA.
East of 15th Ave NE, Route 44 will run via NE 45th St to Children’s Hospital. The level of service will remain the same.
Route 78 will serve Brooklyn Station instead of Husky Stadium. It will also be extended east to serve more of Laurelhurst.
Route 74 will no longer run between U District and Downtown. Instead it will serve Brooklyn station. It will also go inside the NOAA campus, running in both-directions during peak.
Route 75 will run like Route 41 between Northgate and Lake City. The level of service will remain the same. Alternate service along Northgate Way will be provided by the new Route 72.
Routes 73 and 373 will be combined into a single Route 373. This new Route 373 will run like current Route 373 during peak, and current Route 73 during off-peak. It will have a minor deviation to serve Roosevelt Station.
Route 522 will have a minor deviation to serve Roosevelt Station.
Route 372 will operate to Northgate TC instead of UW. Alternate service along 25th Ave NE will be provided by the new Route 72.
Routes 31 and 32 will be separated from Route 75, and instead terminate at UW Station (Husky Stadium).
Route 67 will be separated from Route 65, and instead terminate at UW Station (Husky Stadium).
West of NE 45th St/25th Ave NE, Routes 65, 75, and 372 will run through the UW campus via Stevens Way, then take 15th Ave NE and NE 45th St to Brooklyn Station.
Routes 49 and 70 will terminate at Brooklyn Station. Routes that cross the Montlake Bridge will stop elsewhere on the UW Campus.
New Routes
A new route will run like Route 372 between UW and Northgate Way/Lake City Way, and like Route 75 between Northgate Way/Lake City Way and Northgate TC. This route will be numbered 72. This route will run at 15-minute frequency.
Maps
Route 72 map: http://bit.ly/2m8ZrVv
Route 78 map: http://bit.ly/2ltHJip
Routing of routes 65, 75, and 372 through the UW campus: http://bit.ly/2mtwF4x
If you are going to separate 65/67 and 31/32/75, where are you going to find layover space at Husky Stadium Stadium? (for routes 67, 31 and 32?)
There will be layover space freed up from moving Route 44 to Children’s Hospital and Route 78 to Brooklyn Station.
What are the advantages of this over Metro’s long-term plan? Some of it is a reversal of the U-Link restructure. Does that mean you think parts of the restructure failed?
62/71/74: This breaks the new crosstown grid service on NE 65th Street. Whatever happens to the 62, it should remain intact between Greenlake and Sand Point, either turning south from 65th to Latona as in Metro’s LRP, or turning north on Ravenna Blvd if it’s to replace the 45. Your network separates NOAA from its closest Link station (Roosevelt) and instead gives it two routes to a more distant station (U-District), one of which replicates the inefficient 55th/50th curves of the 30. It puts the frequent 62 on 50th Ave NE, where nobody uses it and which is narrow for buses. The 71 perpetuates the 62+71 overservice on NE 65th Street. I’d rather keep the 62 intact east of Greenlake, shift the 71’s hours into the 73, and put 55th on a coverage route as Metro plans to do.
72/372: Your 72 restores the pre-restructure 68. Are you sure both lower and upper 25th want to go to Northgate rather than going straight north-south?
73/373: This is almost like what Metro plans but Metro wants to straighten out the northern part like the 348 (15th-175th-185th). What’s wrong with that?
75: I have no comment on whether 5th or Northgate Way needs more service or is a better way to get to Northgate. But I’d rather the 75 go west on 130th to Aurora or Greenwood. It’s hard to get from northeast to northwest Seattle on the bus, and this would fill one of the gaps.
522: Will be gone when 145th Station opens, if it even makes it past 522 BRT’s opening. It would be more likely to terminate at Roosevelt than to deviate to it.
31/32/65/67/75: The 31/32/75 through-route provides important crosstown service, and Metro has been building it up over the past several years. Likewise, while I originally thought the 65/67 through-route was silly, I do find it useful.
There has been a suggestion for campus routes to go up Pend Orielle Road but then turn right instead of left on Stevens Way, and go out on 42nd. That would require a new road south of the Burke Museum where there’s currently a path and stairs. The Burke is now under construction; I don’t know whether the design will include such a road or preclude it.
72/75/372: Your 72 restores the pre-restructure 68.
My main goal of this restructure was to provide the same one-seat service to the UW campus while also providing efficient transfers to Link. I am not sure how many people ride on Route 67 between Campus Pkwy and 45th St, but if there is low ridership, maybe Route 67 could run via 45th instead and still through-route with Route 65. They could do something similar with routes 31/32/75.
I thought about the Route 62 restructure because I think the current weekend turnaround loop does not make sense. I thought that maybe if Route 62 serves Wedgwood, then Wedgwood residents would have a frequent connection to Link. Though it would be nice to keep Route 62 going to NOAA during weekdays, there are not enough options for a weekend turnaround loop. I posted an article about this earlier.
You do have a point about Route 72/372. This was simply an idea, not something I actually think will happen. I guess they could have Route 72 be the local portion of Route 372 between UW and Lake City, then have the old Route 372 travel via Northgate Way instead. Then the riders of the north portion will have an easy connection to Northgate TC, then transfer to Link to get to UW instead of having to travel the local portion along 25th Ave NE.
About Route 522. It could get terminated south of Roosevelt Station, but I thought that the current 522 riders would complain about losing their efficient connection to Downtown.
I see too many of your proposed changes as being regressive. It doesn’t add or complement as much as it eliminates service, as another poster has opined. One minor item to point out is Metro 67 is used quite heavily as it is the only quick Northgate to UW trip. That will change to a degree once Northgate, Roosevelt and Brooklyn open, but there will still be riders in-between those stations that still need to travel north or south to a LINK station. Removing 62’s crosstown service, an improvement over previous service, provided one of the rare crosstown services that allow people to ride from the edges of service into the core of the network. I have to ask: what is your home or work Seattle district?
I live in Wallingford, but I frequently go to Roosevelt, so I take the 62 quite a lot. I also frequently go to U-District, Capitol Hill, and Chinatown.
The only reason I suggested the 62 change was because I do not like the current weekend turnaround loop of Route 62. The connection to Magnuson Park and NOAA is nice though. Before 2011, some buses even used Magnuson Park as a turnaround loop, but then the park authorities wanted to remove large motor vehicles from the park. Ever since then, finding a weekend turnaround loop for crosstown routes near Magnuson Park has been a complete disaster. When Route 62 was first put into service, there was a much smaller turnaround loop, but for some weird reason they made an even bigger one. Now riders living on NE 65th east of 35th Ave do not have their easy connection to Wallingford and Fremont on weekends in the eastbound direction. I was hoping that using Route 71’s Wedgwood tail might solve that problem to a certain degree, in addition to adding service for some Wedgwood riders. If you guys have a better idea for a turnaround loop, feel free to write it down in this comment section.
And I even have to agree with the comments. My Route 72 suggestion was dumb. I was thinking it might be a possible way to replace Route 75 service along Northgate Way without adding too many service hours because I wanted to move Route 75 to 125th, but I guess there are enough people that use it as a north-south route so that the current Route 372 makes sense.