Metro Route 36 makes its way through Beacon Hill. Photo by SounderBruce.
This week is all RapidRide as we review the Candidate Corridors analyzed in Metro’s recently published RapidRide Prioritization Plan.
King County Metro Corridor 1064B, a potential RapidRide conversion of Route 36 — traveling between Othello, Beacon Hill, Jackson Street, and Downtown Seattle — was recently set as a Tier 1 priority corridor for future RapidRide expansion. Metro also considered a northward route replacing much of Route 49, from Capitol Hill to the U-District, but ultimate prioritized focusing on Route 36.
The proposed conversion would add speed and reliability connecting South Seattle to the rest of the city. Metro’s primary recommendation for RapidRide-ization of the route is the construction of a moderate amount of BAT (business access and transit) lanes.
Metro Route 40 crossing the Fremont Bridge. Photo from the STB Flickr pool.
This week is all RapidRide as we review the Candidate Corridors analyzed in Metro’s recently published RapidRide Prioritization Plan.
King County Metro Corridor 1993, a potential RapidRide conversion of Route 40 — traveling between Northgate, Ballard, Fremont, SLU, and Downtown Seattle — was recently set as a Tier 2 priority corridor for future RapidRide expansion.
The proposed RapidRide conversion adds BAT (business access & transit) lanes, provides time savings, and extends it to First Hill. Originally proposed as a RapidRide Fremont in the 2015 Levy to Move Seattle, the line was delayed after a lack of funding. Metro’s RapidRide Prioritization Plan investigated minor alignment changes, and possible transit speed and reliability improvements for the route.
RMTransit explores how the space between transit stops (“stop spacing”) is a careful balance between convenience and speed.
Oh The Urbanity! looks at transit-oriented development (“TOD”) in Montreal and discusses the promises and perils that come with this style of dense construction.
Metro Route 7 gets a taste of RapidRide styling. Photo by Zack Heistand.
Metro’s presentation of its new RapidRide Prioritization Plan revealed plans to resume work on RapidRide K and R. The Urbanist pointed out that King County Metro Route 7 was originally supposed to be replaced with RapidRide R by 2021 in the Levy to Move Seattle, but the project was delayed to 2024 and eventually put on hold due to budget issues. Now, the line will resume planning work next year, with opening targeted for 2031.
RapidRide 7 Project Corridor, from Metro’s RapidRide Prioritization Plan.
RapidRide R represents a major upgrade to Metro’s Route 7 that can’t come soon enough. With over 10,000 daily boardings (and growing) the 7 is the one of Seattle’s most important lines. During the pandemic its ridership didn’t drop nearly as much as other lines, and it has since almost recovered to the 2019 level.
A rendering of the West Seattle Link bridge over the Duwamish Waterway, as potentially viewed from the West Seattle Bridge. Screenshot from the July 18 meeting of the Seattle Design Commission. STB article to come.
A bus lane for RapidRide G, opening September 14. Photo by SDOT Photos.
Following major cuts to RapidRide expansions due to budget constraints posed by the pandemic, the King County Council asked Metro in 2021 to, among other things, produce a “RapidRide prioritization plan” by the middle of this year. Metro published its plan on June 28, in which it chooses the next RapidRide lines to build as part of the “interim network” intended to be operational before the Ballard Link Extension is finished in 2039.
The 61-page document, summarized in a Metro staff report, assesses eight corridors identified in the 2021 Metro Connects Interim Plan using a prioritization framework weighted heavily for equity and environmental sustainability, but also considers travel time, ridership, cost, and feasibility. These new routes would continue expanding RapidRide into a grid-like network building on the seven lines operating today (A, B, C, D, E, F, and H) and the five lines already in on the way (G, I, J, K, and R).
Typical for RapidRide lines, the plan proposes transit speed improvements ranging from BAT (business access and transit) lanes to queue jumps to address existing travel time delays. However, the high cost of additional infrastructure upgrades and lack of funding limits Metro’s ability to implement more than three or four routes by 2039.
A Link light rail train stopped at the Lynnwood Center Station during service testing. Photo: Peter Bohler courtesy of Sound Transit.
On Thursday, Sound Transit staff presented the plan for Lynnwood Link Extension’s opening ceremonies to the Board’s Rider Experience and Operations Committee.
At 11am on Friday, August 30, Sound Transit will hold a ribbon cutting to formally open the Lynnwood Link Extension of the 1 Line. Like the opening ceremony of the 2 Line, the ribbon cutting will be preceded by speeches from elected officials, board members, and stakeholders. The first official public ride will take place from Lynnwood City Center Station following the ceremony.
That evening (4pm to 8pm), Sound Transit is planning a Night Market at Lynnwood City Center station and events at each of the stations opening along the line. ST estimates over 350 organizations are signed up to participate across the four opening stations, including performances, food vendors, arts and crafts booths, games, and more. There will also be a commemorative map encouraging participants to visit new each station along the extension.
New Metro Flex Delridge/South Park area map (Photo: KCM)
King County Metro has announced that it is adding a new zone for Metro Flex, its on-demand microtransit service, in Delridge and South Park. Service in the new zone starts Monday, July 22nd.
Metro Flex is a service offered by King County Metro that lets users book rides on-demand within a certain zone. Riders use the Metro Flex app to request a ride during operating hours. The app will direct users where to wait for the vehicle (usually a short walk, typically much shorter than to a bus route), and the service will automatically route drivers to each waiting passenger.
Originally debuting as Via to Transit in 2019, this service began as a way to connect riders to Link stations. After a hiccup in 2020 that completely suspended this service for a time, Metro has expanded the number of zones and piloted similar services in Kent and Sammamish under different names and partnerships.
Since 2023, these services have all been consolidated into one service called Metro Flex, operating service in seven (soon to be eight) zones. The new zone in Delridge and South Park is bounded roughly by the Duwamish Waterway, SW Roxbury St, and 35th Ave SW, except narrowing to around Delridge Way SW in the north, and with a few other cutouts to follow the street grid around the river. Service is available seven days per week, from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m.
