King County Metro’s RapidRide D Line travels inbound from Crown Hill to downtown Seattle, primarily through Ballard, Interbay, and Uptown. Outbound trips travel north from downtown to Crown Hill. In August 2024, the D Line was the fourth busiest bus route in King County with 8,824 average weekday boardings.
Average Ridership Per Trip
The plots below show the average weekday ridership by stop in each direction, color-coded by time of day. For a more detailed breakdown of how the plots are set up, please refer to the How to Read the Plots section of the article discussing Route 70.
Overall ridership patterns for D Line show a route that has strong demand throughout the day, especially between Ballard and downtown.
- The northern terminus of the D Line has decent ridership, despite a lack of direct transit connections. This stop is located next to a shopping center and QFC grocery store.
- The spike in inbound boardings and outbound alightings at Holman Rd & Mary Ave in Crown Hill are likely from riders transferring to/from Route 40. Route 40 ridership patterns show the spikes in the opposite direction.
- The high usage of the stop at 15th Ave & 85th St is likely due to the nearby commercial area and grocery store. Additionally, passengers can transfer here to/from Route 45. Route 45 ridership patterns show strong boarding and alighting counts for this stop as well.
- Outbound morning trips see a significant number of alightings at 15th Ave & 65th St. This stop is adjacent to Ballard High School. Inbound trips have a much lower alighting count at this stop. As Ballard High School’s attendance area also includes Magnolia, more northbound trips to the school are expected.
- The 15th Ave & Market St stop sees significant ridership churn. This stop is the closest D Line stop to Ballard’s commercial area on Market St, and the area around this stop has higher-density housing and a grocery store. The D Line intersects with Route 44 at this stop. Inbound trips observe more boardings than alightings while outbound trips see the opposite. The high outbound morning alighting count suggests some reverse commute trips to Ballard.
- Patterns similar to 15th Ave & Market St are observed at 15th Ave & Leary Way. This stop is also close to downtown Ballard and is immediately adjacent to commercial destinations, such as Ballard Blocks. The D Line intersects with Route 40 at this stop; however, ridership data from Route 40 suggest there are not a significant number of transfers.
- South of the Ballard Bridge, the stop at 15th Ave & Dravus St sees decent use all day. The D Line shares this stop with Route 32, but ridership data from Route 32 suggest transfers between the two routes are uncommon. Instead, most of the ridership at this stop is likely from the higher-density residential buildings in the nearby area. Outbound morning trips have a decent number of riders boarding at this stop. These may be students traveling north to Ballard High School.
- 15th Ave & Armory Way (inbound)/Newton St (outbound) has decent ridership. The area around this stop is primarily big box retail (Petco, Whole Foods Market, HomeGoods, and more) and a few apartment buildings.
- The Expedia Group headquarters is adjacent to the stop at 15th Ave & Prospect St. Both inbound and outbound trips have some passengers alight at this stop in the morning.
- The stop at Mercer St & 3rd Ave West is surrounded by mid-rise apartment buildings in Lower Queen Anne. Both inbound and outbound trips in the morning primarily see passengers board here, while the boarding and alighting counts are more even at other times of the day. The passengers boarding outbound trips in the morning may be reverse commuting to Expedia (Elliot Ave & Prospect St) or Ballard.
- The stops in Uptown (Queen Anne Ave & Mercer St, 1st Ave & Republican St (outbound only)) have strong ridership all day. These stops are close to many residential and commercial destinations, Seattle Center, and Climate Pledge Arena. Additionally, the D Line intersects with routes 1, 2, 8, 13, and 32 here.
- At 3rd Ave & Cedar St (inbound)/ Vine St (outbound) in Belltown, there are about an equal number of passengers boarding and departing. Passengers traveling between Belltown and downtown are likely riders who just ride the first bus to show up, as routes 1, 2, 4, 13, 24, and 33 all mirror the D Line along this segment.
Daily Totals Per Stop
The average daily total boarding and alighting counts show a similar pattern to the per trip data. Most D Line Riders are traveling between Ballard, Uptown, and downtown Seattle.
Looking Ahead
As part of the Ballard Bridge/ 15th Ave NE Paving Project, the Seattle Department of Transportation is adding two new short southbound bus lanes on 15th Ave between Market St and the Ballard Bridge. Additionally, the Ballard Link Extension (BLE) is currently in development and is scheduled to start service in 2039. The extension will travel from the International District to Ballard with additional proposed stops at Midtown, South Lake Union, Seattle Center, Smith Cove, and Interbay. Last week, Sound Transit announced the start of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) scoping comment period that will end on December 9, 2024. The most recent BLE routing/station alternatives and the scoping comment form can be found on the project’s website.
I have to wonder if RapidRide D ends in the right place at its northern end. The stop activity really ramps down at Market Street.
To me, it suggests extending it to Link and crossing by RapidRide E to get more productivity out of the service. I’m not sure of the extension would pencil out though. Would the increase in riders make an extension more productive or not? Should it connect to Northgate Link or a different Link station? What’s the best route path and stops for RapidRide D/E transfers?
A different variation would be to turn it to serve Old Ballard. Then open a new RapidRide line between Old Ballard and Northgate and on to Lake City that would avoid the messy drawbridge hassle. That gets into a whole other restructure effort so it would need careful study and lots of community input.
I always wish that the D would be extended to Northgate, picking up the tail of the 40 north of 85th. Then send the 40 to Northgate via 85th, Wallingford Ave N, and 92nd.
I say the same thing below in the next comment (along with some other changes).
In an earlier SDOT transit plan, they had that concept. Metro did not enough red buses; branding adds another constraint.
The concept adds a stronger market at the end of the route; that would improve the route efficiency.
I have to wonder if RapidRide D ends in the right place at its northern end.
It’s not. We’ve discussed this before. It needlessly overlaps the 40 and then just ends in the middle of nowhere. It doesn’t make a connection with the 5, let alone the E. There are a number of different options, but here is how I think of it (step by step):
1) Have the D take over the northern part of the 40 and end at Northgate.
2) Send the 40 to Northgate via 85th and 92nd.
3) Now combine the 40 with the 61 (to reduce overlap). This means the 40 goes from downtown to Ballard to Lake City.
4) This new 40 is too long. The best place to split a line is where it reverses direction in some way. The 40 does this in Ballard. It goes far to the west then goes back east. Thus you split it in Ballard. The northern route is reborn as the 61 while the southern route is the 40.
5) There are a number of different ways of splitting it in Ballard. One option: Have the 40 follow the current route from downtown to Ballard but turn west at 65th then go north on 32nd until 85th. Have the 61 follow the current route from Lake City to 85th. The bus would continue on 85th until 24th, where it would turn south then turn west on Market and layover with the 44. This is fairly efficient. You overlap in the heart of Ballard (24th via Market and 65th). Both buses divert from the corridor to find layover space but in both cases traffic is minimal (the bus is pretty fast). The end result:
The 40 is more reliable. The 61 provides a straightforward one-seat ride from Ballard and Northgate to Lake City. You once again provide all-day service for Sunset Hill. The D is connected to three of the key transit lines: the 5, E and Link. The combination of the 61 and 40 provide excellent two-seat rides to the two main north-south corridors in Ballard. For example:
* D and 5: Ballard High School (BHS) to various places on Greenwood Avenue.
* D and E: BHS to various places on Aurora.
* D and 61: BHS to Lake City.
* 61 and 5: 24th & Market to various places on Greenwood Avenue.
* 61 and E: 24th & Market to various places on Aurora.
While there are other options for splitting in Ballard, it is clear that this is a much better network and the cost is minimal.
I agree with the “it’s not” [in the right place]”
The times I’ve taken the D at the north end, probably 15-25 passengers have been transfers from the 40, apparently not wishing to continue riding the long, slow slog that does.
The 15 and 18 that predated the D used to end in the residential neighborhood just south of Karkeek Park. I walked to them at their layover stop a couple times. I think the D termination was more convenience for replacing those than actual current transportation needs.
The D was put on 15th instead of 24th to leverage a growth area where future dense housing could be. Carkeek Park was the initial terminus, coinciding with the 28th’s terminus. (The 28 is on 8th Ave NW.) There were calls to extend it to Northgate, replacing the tail of the proposed 40. Metro said the D’s budget wasn’t enough for that (it would require more red buses), so the 40 took that over instead. The debate between the two has continued ever since.
Since Ballard High is mentioned, I thought a map showing high school attendance zones was in order for reference. Here it is:
https://www.seattleschools.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/SPSD-map-B-AAHS.pdf
In Ballard High’s case, is RapidRide D the best way to travel to and from the school?
Honestly, the high school attendance zones don’t seem to correlate will with frequent bus routes generally. Some schools are better connected via transit to their zones than others are.
It isn’t just getting to school, but getting to places after school. For that you need a good network. Ballard High is not served especially well, but it isn’t bad, either. It would be nice to have a crossing route on 65th, but even if we could manage to run a bus there we would have to come up with more money to operate it. The biggest problem in our system right now — by far — is that the buses aren’t frequent enough. Adding new routes would only make that situation worse.
The D isn’t perfect, but it does connect to several other routes. But it is awkward in plenty of areas. To get to Northgate you have to transfer to the 40, which curves around before finally getting to the transit center. To get to Lake City requires another transfer. It is a shame that the 61 doesn’t go just a bit farther (to Crown Hill) which would provide a faster connection to Northgate and a two-seat ride from the high school to Lake City.
Magnolia is messy and has been for a while. In my opinion the 31/32 should both go over Dravus and serve Magnolia. For many riders that still means half hour service, but at least it would be direct. The 24 and 33 take a fast route to downtown, but as a result they skip Interbay (which has plenty of retail) and require a lot of backtracking for people heading to Ballard. My guess is none of this gets fixed until they close the bridge. At that point I would widen the Dravus Bridge with two of the four lanes for buses (as a compromise). All the buses would converge on Dravus (with half going downtown and half heading to the UW) which would greatly improve the connection to Ballard.
It is awkward to get to the north end of Queen Anne, but I don’t see an easy solution. Unless you extend the 3/4 to Ballard you are looking at a three-seat ride or some backtracking (via Uptown). Again, I see the biggest issue being frequency. Transfers aren’t nearly as bad if the buses are frequent.
In the case of Magnolia, a big part of the problem is the draconian and outdated zoning laws. It is really in the heart of the city but is treated like Marysville. Other parts of Seattle are similar — but Magnolia is such a huge glaring example of our failed development policies. It should have a lot more people (and thus a lot better transit) but it doesn’t.
It’s a good point about after-school destinations. Many students can get dropped off in the mornings but need to use transit after school. High schools also have after-school activity so students need options beyond school buses generally.
We often look at transit route maps and see how close to high schools they run. We rarely do the opposite — look at high school locations and their attendance zones (and afternoon destinations) to assess how the bus route layouts affect students.
I thought I would suggest sometimes looking at Metro from this other lens.
What is the most popular downtown stop? I’m in the office once a week and the 3rd and Seneca stop often has some delays /gaps in service around 5:30pm. Is it because the downtown trips are delayed?
This could get nasty when Amazon (and Amazon wannabes) require people to come in 5 days a week.
The data (and anecdotal experience) indicates 3rd/Pine/Pike is the busiest stop. I’ve also noticed the D has unreliable departures after ~5pm from downtown.
ST wants to build a Ballard Link station at 14th and says all buses are gonna be split at the station, i.e. at Market. SDOT eventually wants to replace the Ballard Bridge with something that lands farther north in Ballard, probably making a Leary D Line stop impossible (and also making the pedestrian environment near Market and access to the train station even worse).
Nobody tell them that, as much as they’ve already ruined the pedestrian environment down at 15th and Leary, it’s a popular bus stop because it’s just fundamentally useful. Nobody tell them that those stops in Interbay have pretty balanced usage in both directions. Beacuse there’s stuff there and the bus goes places where more stuff is in both directions! Forcing all those riders into backtracks, extra transfers, or longer walks, just to travel up and down a corridor as wide and straight as 15th, is…. well, it’s exactly what you’d expect the officials in this city to do.
Can we talk about the D’s southbound terminal? Why doesn’t it end closer to King St. Station? I get that Metro needs a place to turn around for northbound trips. But, c’mon, Terrace St.??
@Greg,
Maybe Metro thinks that turning around closer to King St Station would be turning around too close to Link.
That should be under “Greg”. My bad