King County Metro’s RapidRide F Line travels inbound (westbound) from Renton to Burien, via the Westfield Southcenter mall and Tukwila International Boulevard Station. Outbound (eastbound) trips travel in the reverse direction. In October 2024, the F Line had 5,107 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.
The ridership patterns for the F Line show a route with a few dominating stops connected by stops with minimal ridership. Some observations:
- The F Line’s eastern terminus at The Landing in Renton has a few passengers board each inbound trip and alight each outbound trip. This stop is located on the east side of The Landing shopping center, next to an apartment building.
- On the west side of The Landing, the F Line stops at Logan Ave N & N 10th St. This stop provides convenient access to Boeing’s Renton Production Facility and the many shops and restaurants at The Landing. This stop has some usage all day, with a noticeable spike in late night inbound boardings. This may be from Boeing employees who end their shift sometime between 10pm and 12am. Unlike most RapidRide routes, the F Line does not offer night owl service. The last inbound bus departs from The Landing at 12:01am.
- At Renton Transit Center, inbound trips primarily pick up passengers and outbound trips primarily drop off passengers. Inbound trips are busiest mid-day, while outbound trips are busiest in the afternoon. Renton Transit Center is conveniently located in downtown Renton near several apartment buildings, shops, and restaurants. Riders can transfer here between the F Line and routes 101, 105, 106, 107, 148, 160, 240, 153, 907, and Sound Transit routes 560, 566.
- West of the Renton Transit Center, the F Line travels along Rainier Ave and 7th St to serve various big box shops and grocery stores. Despite the auto-oriented development around these stops, each stop in this segment has a few riders per trip in both directions.
- At Tukwila Station (Tukwila Station Access Road & S Longacres Way), the F Line provides a direct connection to Sound Transit’s Sounder service and Amtrak’s Cascades train. As Sounder only runs in the mornings and afternoons, it is not surprising that F Line trips in both directions pick up passengers in the morning and drop off passengers in the afternoon. Amtrak Cascades has 12 total (6 per direction) departures from Tukwila Station each day.
- The F Line serves the Westfield Southcenter mall with the stop at Andover Park W & Baker Blvd. This stop generates significant ridership. Inbound trips primarily pick up passengers and are busiest in the afternoon and evening. Outbound trips primarily drop off passengers and are busiest in the mid-day and afternoon. Passengers can transfer here to routes 128, 150, 156, and 906.
- While the stops between Southcenter and Tukwila International Blvd (TIB) Station have minimal usage, this segment has the highest load of the route. Many passengers use the F Line as a connector between Link and the mall.
- TIB Station is the busiest F Line stop. This station is a Park & Ride with 600 spaces and also serves routes 124, 128, RapidRide A Line, and Link 1 Line. Inbound F Line trips drop off about 5-10 passengers and pick up 4-6 passengers per trip. Outbound trips have the reverse pattern as each trip drops off 4-6 passengers and picks up 5-10 passengers. While the area adjacent to the station has a few apartment buildings, the high F Line ridership at this stop is likely the result of passengers transferring from other routes.
- West of TIB Station, the F Line travels immediately north of SeaTac airport and through Burien. The stops in east and south Burien have some all-day ridership. The F Line stop at 4th Ave SW & SW 152nd St has decent ridership in the mid-day and afternoon in both directions. This stop is located in the center of Burien’s commercial area.
- The F Line’s western terminus is at Burien Transit Center. F Line trips are busiest in the mid-day and afternoon, but have strong ridership all day. Burien Transit Center is a Park & Ride facility with 488 parking spaces and serves King County Metro routes 131, 132, 161, 165, 631, RapidRide H Line, and Sound Transit Route 560. The transit center is located 2 blocks from downtown Burien and is near several mid-rise apartment buildings.
Daily Totals per Stop
The average daily total boarding and alighting counts show a similar pattern to the per trip data. Just four stops (Renton TC, Southcenter, TIB Station, Burien TC) account for the majority of the F Line’s ridership.
F Line Routing
Given the shared RapidRide branding, its easy for one to compare the ridership of the F Line with the ridership of other RapidRide routes. Before doing so, its important to acknowledge the role these routes play in the communities they serve. The F Line is unique among the RapidRide routes in that it connects distinct urban centers separated by areas with minimal development. A direct service between these cities is essential, but the geography limits the route’s ridership and productivity because it has to travel through areas with lower ridership. In contrast, the A Line and E Line travel along mostly straight urban corridors and have much higher ridership and productivity.
Unfortunately, the F Line’s ridership is further hampered by its indirect routing. As shown in the map at the top of this article, the route is relatively straight between Burien and TIB Station. East of TIB Station, the route continues straight on Southcenter Blvd before turning right (south) onto 66th Ave S. While Southcenter Blvd (SW Grady Way east of the intersection with Interurban Ave S) provides a direct route to Renton, the F Line takes a significant detour to serve two key destinations: Westfield Southcenter mall and Tukwila Station (Sounder/Amtrak). Given the strong ridership of the Westfield Southcenter mall stop, a detour to serve the mall is arguably worth it. Tukwila Station, however, hardly has the ridership to justify a longer detour all day.
Rerouting the F Line to run on Grady Way/Southcenter Blvd between Rainier Ave S in Renton and 66th Ave S (near Southcenter mall) would significantly speed up the route and increase ridership. The resources saved from the faster F Line routing could be used to operate a new route. This new route should be timed with Sounder and Cascades train departures and could run between Southcenter mall and Renton TC to serve Tukwila Station when needed. Alternatively, Metro may be expecting Sound Transit’s upcoming S1 Line to handle the express trips along the F Line corridor, while the F Line handles shorter trips. As the S1 Line will not stop in Southcenter, riders traveling between Renton and Southcenter would still need to use the indirect F Line.
Looking Ahead
Metro has not indicated any significant changes are planned specifically for the F Line. Most of the region’s transit focus has shifted to the Stride S1 Line.
Sound Transit is currently in the Design and Construction phases of the upcoming Stride S1 Line. When it starts operation in 2028, the S1 Line will be a highway-running BRT line between Burien and Bellevue, with stops at TIB Station, South Renton Transit Center, and NE 44th St. The S1 Line has the potential to nicely complement the existing F Line, offering express trips between Burien TC, TIB Station, and South Renton TC. South Renton TC is a new facility that will be built on the northeast corner of the intersection of S Grady Way and Rainier Ave S. This location is further from downtown Renton than the existing transit center, but provides better access to I-405 and I-167 for busses and drivers using the Park & Ride. Metro has not shared any restructuring plans for the routes that currently serve Renton TC. Unfortunately, Sound Transit has made several compromises with the S1 Line design that will increase travel times and reduce the overall utility of the line.
It’s frustrating because Metro knows there isn’t demand all day at Tukwila Station. It doesn’t even run the 906 all day there. So why is your most frequent (and one of your most important) South King County routes making that detour all day every day?
I used to think the same thing. But it *might* be worth keeping the detour because it does serve the surrounding industrial employers that wouldn’t otherwise be served.
Doesn’t look like that’s worth much though.
What’s more important, an office-only ghetto that Renton created and could fix, or the entire transit market around the 154th corridor and everybody who lives there or goes there? It’s paper cuts like these that are why American suburbs are so car-dependent. People take one look at the transit offerings and say “No”. But a high-quality optimized network with more frequent and faster service they’d say “Yes” to. (Frequency isn’t so much an issue with the F as with other routes around it.)
The problem isn’t as much Tukwika Station as the long detour past the Kaiser and Boeing office complexes used to get to the station.
You could get to the station just fine if Metro were allowed access to the Boeing maintenance road on the east side of the tracks. But, that cuts out two office complexes that view themselves as important destinations.
Perhaps the lack of ridership could convince Metro to change the route now?
That is a very good point. That would save a considerable amount of time. There are two options. You could just continue to go on 16th like so: https://maps.app.goo.gl/gyXjta5HDt7LFLYL7. This is considerably faster and you only skip two of the existing stops (27th & Naches and Oakesdale & 16th). This would effect very few riders (about 50 a day). The 906 could serve these areas quite easily if it was deemed necessary. Given the coverage in the area it is hard to see why it would be though. Basically they just added those stops because they figured they might as well (since they were going that way).
I think the fastest option would be to head back to Grady right after serving the station: https://maps.app.goo.gl/s59X2MVv16SZsDCZ7. That is about as fast as going back via Andover Park East (https://maps.app.goo.gl/6dYT42Sgd1Nj7v8r5) or West Valley Highway (https://maps.app.goo.gl/FAVtWHfyMqU8PRHK6). Basically the deviation to the train station costs you nothing at that point. That means losing an additional bus stop (at Lind & 16th) but only about 20 people a day use that one. That stop is also pretty close to a nearby bus stop served by the 153.
Another option would be to connect Strander to 27th SW so the F runs across the south side of the station, eliminating the double detour south.
Tukwila/Renton/ST have been talking about that for a while, but it doesn’t look like there’s much momentum for that to happen at the moment.
That makes the most sense to me. It’s only about two hundred yards from 27th/Strander up to the platform, with an existing walkway. Yes, some stairs would have to be built down to the corner of “Tukwila Station Access Road” and 27th. And another underpass would be necessary for the UP tracks. But it makes a huge amount of sense to send the F straight across. That way you don’t lose any service at all.
There was going to be a new street across the tracks that would allow the F to be straighter between Southcenter and Tukwila Station, but it was never built for some reason.
I’ve always thought the station was in the wrong place. It’s terrible for transfers.
The Amtrak station should at Kent or Auburn Station, not Tukwila. That would be more intermediate between Seattle and Tacoma, the center of South King County’s population, and they have walkable retail.
Yes to Christopher and Mike both.
I wonder if Amtrak put the station at Tukwila to make car parking easier — i.e. because the location is bad. Familiar logic in the car-dominated world.
Metro routed the F to Tukwila Station and the Boeing Commercial office on Oakesdale to avoid the cost of a second peak route to serve them. The result is handicapping the F so it can’t reach its full speed and ridership. Metro should straighten out the F and add a second route like it should have done in the first place.
Even if the F turned on Baker (and it had a bridge), it would still have to go north to the station and then south to 27th. Glenn’s suggestion is clearly the best. A RapidRide doesn’t need to do the bus loop whoop-te-do, except at its terminal stations, if there are ones there.
“Rerouting the F Line to run on Grady Way/Southcenter Blvd between Rainier Ave S in Renton and 66th Ave S (near Southcenter mall) would significantly speed up the route and increase ridership.”
This might reduce travel time sometimes, but the trip might be less reliable because of the heavy traffic along SW Grady Way.
Has anyone heard about the status of the Strander to 27th connection project? Back when RR F was launched wasn’t that supposed to be done by now? Or at least well underway?
It’s hard to too excited about a lot of aspects of that project, and if it was completed it would have positives and negatives for the F — a simpler routing, but more traffic congestion. Maybe it could open up more ridership potential by encouraging more varied development along the route, but like… I don’t think anyone is planning to build The Residences at Tukwila Swamp.
If it were built I tend to think a simple 27th-Strander routing would be better than a Grady express. It would be somewhat longer but without any extra turns. Even with more traffic diverting to Strander I think travel times would still be more reliable since it would be off of roads that directly access the freeways. I think the train station just barely gives 27th-Strander more ridership-generators than Grady. If it’s never going to be built… that’s another story…
Just build it as a bus, bike and pedestrian only route. Or toll it. Yeah; that’s the ticket [ooooh, bad pun!]: a four-block long toll-road that buses can use without paying.
While researching for this article, I cam across the draft Tukwila Transit Plan Update from 2016. Figures 47-69 show the per stop boarding and alighting data per stop for routes 124, 128, 150, 154, 156, 193, 601, A Line, F Line, Link, and Sounder S Line. The ridership patterns for the A Line and F Line are quite similar to today’s ridership patterns, despite everything that has happened in the past 10 years.
PDF: https://www.tukwilawa.gov/wp-content/uploads/PW-Transit-Plan-Update-Draft-Plan.pdf
It’s kind of striking about how so few stops have all the boarding activity. It looks to me like Burien TC, Tukwila IB Station, SouthCenter and Renton TC have the bulk of the action. There are smaller but notable numbers for Renton Landing (Target), Fred Meyer and Walmart in Renton that I thought would he higher.
It could be tempting to reduce stops or find a higher speed roadway to use. However, Stride is supposed to soon tie in the big destinations except for SouthCenter. So that suggests to me that this route is seemingly going to evolve as primarily a connecting bus for SouthCenter and some Renton shopping trips.
There seems to be potential to develop vacant parcels between SouthCenter and Renton, so this segment could see more riders in years to come. And the need for a Strander street connection is rather obvious to me if the vacant parcels can be developed with denser urban uses.
Finally, these data suggest that SouthCenter should have had a Stride stop.
@Al S,
“ It’s kind of striking about how so few stops have all the boarding activity.”
Yes, but yet again the number one station for “boarding activity” isn’t one of the termini, it’s the one Link intercept stop near the middle of route.
We see this pattern over and over again. People are using Metro to get to Link, it’s often the biggest use on a given Metro route. Yet Metro continues to only provide anemic intercepts, sometimes provides long parallel service that has marginal usefulness, and often outright deletes Link intercepts (#20 in its entirety, and RR-B stop at Overlake Village).
I just don’t get it. The data is sending a clear meassage. Link intercepts work, and they work well for Metro ridership too. It’s what people want, and what people use. We need more and better Link intercept routes.
And if Metro won’t beleive their own data, maybe they should just look at the CT restructure around the LLE opening. That restructure actually increased CT ridership. It’s a good model.
yet again the number one station for “boarding activity” isn’t one of the termini, it’s the one Link intercept stop near the middle of route.
This is a quibble, but everything else being equal a bus would have lower ridership at a terminus because you can only go one direction from there. A common exception is when a bus ends at a major transfer point (Link or another bus). This is especially true for buses that are basically feeders (e. g. the trip is largely going the same direction). For example Swift Blue to Rapid Ride E (before Link). Riders just wanted to continue on the same corridor (SR 99) have to transfer which makes the ridership at the transfer point look especially big. Jarrett Walker mentions this general idea (in calling for strong “anchors”).
Metro continues to only provide anemic intercepts, sometimes provides long parallel service that has marginal usefulness
You have made this claim before but you don’t give any examples. ST does this a lot more often than Metro. ST runs the 510 right past the obvious transfer point (Lynnwood) and just keeps going to Downtown Seattle (where Link is headed). None of the Metro buses do that. The only Metro buses that cross the Ship Canal Bridge (I-5) are the 303 and 322. Both connect to Link (at Northgate) and both go to South Lake Union and First Hill (not the rest of downtown).
From the south the 586 does something similar. It runs express from Tacoma to the UW. It basically ignores the fact that Link connects Downtown Seattle with the UW (and has for many years). Does Metro have any expresses that run by downtown and go to the UW? No.
More to the point you keep saying Metro should truncate the buses even though they have. You can’t give an example of where they should. It is like you are saying Seattle should get a hockey team. We have one already!
often outright deletes Link intercepts (#20 in its entirety, and RR-B stop at Overlake Village).
First of all the problem with the 20 was that it was trying to mimic Link! It wasn’t a Link intercept — it ran from the U-District to Northgate — just like Link. An intercept (in that area) would run more east-west — just like the bus that replaces it, the 61! That is one of the key aspects of it. Now folks from Greenwood can connect to Link via the 45 and the 61.
Meanwhile the RapidRide B will intercept Link in three places (Downtown Redmond, Redmond Tech and Downtown Bellevue) when East Link is done. The B doesn’t need to go back and forth trying to go by every station. Making the route straighter will make the route better — including those taking the bus and then transferring to Link.
Lots of Metro buses — at least seven routes depending how you score it — cross the Ship Canal. I know you meant to say that, but you didn’t, so it does need to be corrected.
And, yes, I know that the 5 goes into Shoreline to get to Shoreline College.
I meant to say the ship canal bridge (and I meant to capitalize it). I’ll correct it.
@ Al… Indeed, this is typical of many suburban routes. Massive ridership at major points of interest with little activity in between. In the case of the F-line, it seems many people are either transferring to/from other lines or going to a specific destination like Southcenter or Walmart. There isn’t much residential density along the route, so I assume many of the riders are transferees to/from elsewhere.
Yes, it is typical of suburban routes but it isn’t typical of the other RapidRides — even those in the suburbs. The A Line (which is all suburban) and the suburban part of the E Line have decent ridership (both directions) at every stop. People aren’t just trying to get to a big destination — they are making various trips along the main corridor. Same with the new H. The F really stands out amongst the RapidRide lines for ridership stratification at the bus stops.
This shows what single-use zoning does. The A and E are on an ex federal highway where large-scale retail and small industry are banished to, plus a scattering of multistory apartments, and houses beyond that. That’s what the ridership on the A and E consists of: people going to those destinations or living there.
Oakesdale Street is an office-only ghetto, so only people working in those offices have reason to go there. 154th between Burien and TIB skirts the airport where development is limited because of height and noise. It gets no on/offs but at the same time it’s fast, so it’s like a quasi-express. The Oakesdale detour is slow because of all the meandering. West central Renton is all big-box stores — no housing.
SouthCenter should definitely have a stop. It’s the biggest destination in South King County, and it’s right next to 405. I don’t understand why it’s being skipped.
It’s being skipped because STRide 1 is running in the HOV lanes, and to get out, exit to Southcenter, return, and get back in the HOV for the run up the hill would expose the bus to too much traffic and congestion irregularity. If a flyer stop could be rigged in the HOV section, it probably would be, but there isn’t enough room. Maybe one could be rigged up just west of the 61st South Bridge, here: https://www.google.com/maps/place/Tukwila,+WA/@47.4630571,-122.2602906,174m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m6!3m5!1s0x549042df043470c5:0xe467f680f1cd8cd5!8m2!3d47.4748399!4d-122.2726248!16zL20vMDEwcnNo?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI1MDIxOS4xIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D but it would be a long walk from anywhere.
The real question is, what trips is STRide 1 designed to serve, and the answer blares: trips to and from downtown Bellevue. Downtown Bellevue already has a mall. A bus dedicated to serving it doesn’t need to serve a mall.
Downtown Bellevue has high-paying jobs South King County residents want to get to. And also high-end shopping, restaurants, and cultural activities.
Space can be bought. I’d be curious to know how much an I-405/Southcenter HOV exit would cost. I think anywhere between 61st and 66th would be fine; it’d be a 10 minute walk to Andover/Baker that can be avoided by taking the F or 150.
“ It’s being skipped because STRide 1 is running in the HOV lanes, and to get out, exit to Southcenter, return, and get back in the HOV for the run up the hill would expose the bus to too much traffic and congestion irregularity. »
I’m pretty sure that there is no HOV lane on SR 518. The lanes start and stop east of I-5.
And the westbound HOV lane veers off to I-5 southbound.
With buses having to access the new Rainier and Grady transit center. I don’t think it makes much sense for Stride buses to get in and out of the HOV lanes anyway west of there.
Al, you’re right. Those tightly-curved HOV lanes west of 61st go to and from I-5 north, so there’s no use for a little station there. So far as not using the HOV at all west of Renton I guess that makes sense, too. So ST is doing the right thing in skipping SouthCenter.
It may have issues with clearances but there does appear to be enough room to place an overcrossing between Macadam Road/ Southcenter Blvd and Tukwila Parkway near Bahama Breeze. Then HOV ramps could drop to and from the east. Stride could simply use Southcenter Blvd to reach TIBS.
Surely it would get more riders per dollar spent than the extremely costly NE 85th St interchange with 405 for Stride. That interchange rebuild is over $300M!
And skipping Southcenter also means skipping other transit connections. Stride skips Southcenter, Sounder, I-5 buses, and Metro Route 150.
It skips Southcenter because that was the mission of Stride 1. Bellevue, Renton, Burien or SeaTac. The community chose Burien over SeaTac. There was never any intention to go to Southcenter, nor to connect Southcenter to Bellevue.
Assuming the regional work is going to be handled by Stride, it makes sense to turn the F into a more “local” BRT line that serves more of the South Center commercial area. There is a lot there that is too far from the mall bus stop. Each individual stop won’t generate as much ridership as the mall, but in aggregate, it is quite a robust employment and activity center that calls for a more robust and frequent connection to the light rail and Stride. In general, regional retail centers are often undeserved by transit, in part due to the perception that the shoppers would be the only riders, and they would just drive.
I don’t believe Stride will have any effect on the future of the F-Line. There’s already a current version of Stride: the 560. For south end users, its purpose is to provide connections between cities (Renton>SeaTac>Burien) rather than neighborhoods (The Landing > “downtown” Renton” > Southcenter > International Blvd). Any restructure of the F-line should avoid breaking up the route into two. Maintaining a single route minimizes transfers.
Tukwila and Renton have recently re-done their land planning as well. Tukwila has the area around the Sounder station marked as TOD; Renton has not re-zoned the Oakesdale office area (as far as I can tell). On the other hand, Renton has re-zoned the Sunset Hills neighborhood and it’s already seen a decent amount of redevelopment. Perhaps the F could skip the Renton Oakesdale detour and instead extend to Sunset Hills. The F would then connect across all of Renton’s growth centers (south downtown, downtown, Renton Landing, and Sunset Hills).
https://www.tukwilawa.gov/departments/community-development/comprehensive-plan/comprehensive-plan-element-drafts/
https://www.rentonwa.gov/Projects-Development/Community-and-Economic-Development-Projects/Planning-and-Programming/Comprehensive-Plan
I find the terms “inbound” and “outbound” very confusing for a route that goes from from one central city-bordering suburb to another. Simply using “westbound ” and “eastbound” would be better.
The terms come from Metro and in this case they do seem rather arbitrary. So Micheal didn’t add those terms — the data came from that and he just made the charts from the data. He could have mucked with the data to make it easier to understand though — I get that. The big clue for me is “Renton” listed as the fifth stop. So “read down” means the bus starts in Renton and “read up” means it ends there.
Slightly off topic, but it has always mildly annoyed me they never call Andover Park & Baker Blvd just Southcenter TC because that is what the neighborhood is called and easier to remember than the current name.
Anyway, I’m not sure what you do with the Sounder and Industrial Park Section. You could make it a run that is done every half hour outside peak with an express on Grady Way to Lind Avenue for all other runs.
If the F line were to skip Amtrak, it begs the question of what should replace it. A peak-only bus route is no good because Amtrak runs all day. A bus route that runs every couple hours, times with Amtrak is also no good because Amtrak is not punctual enough to make a timed connection feasible. A frequent route also suck because it’s very expensive, unless implemented as a detour that makes the bus extremely slow and nauseating for everyone else.
So, I’ve been thinking, maybe the best solution to serve Amtrak (and nearby Boeing buildings) in the middle of the day is actually some form of microtransit.
In general, I’m not a fan of microtransit, but it’s the only mode I can think of that can handle connections to a train with Amtrak level of delays without long waits or spending crazy amounts of money. Plus, the microtransit might be more efficient than normal if 2 or 3 people get on at once when the train comes. Anecdotally, use of Tukwila station in general is very tiny, and most of those that do use have family picking them up and dropping them off. That would leave small enough volumes remaining for a single microtransit van to actually handle.
So, maybe the solution is to:
1) Straighten out the F by putting it back on Grady Way, as soon as it’s done with the southcenter detour
2) Add a new bus route to plug the holes and connect to sounder, during peak hours only.
3) Add Via service to cover the area during the the midday period and on weekends, with a special button on the app that says “I’m on a northbound Amtrak train, please have a van waiting for me when the train arrives”, with the Via backend communicating with the Amtrak status page to know when to dispatch the van.
As I stated before, if there were 20 or 30 people per train making this connection, microtransit would not work, but for 2 or 3, I think it would, and possibly better than any of the other alternatives.
Ouch. That “special button” would be VEEEERY popular with thirteen year old boys. Jes’ sayin’
We’ll, you’d have to pay the fare to do it, which would serve as a deterrent to doing so frivolously.
The specific goal during F line planning was to serve Sounder, not Amtrak.
If you want microtransit, there can be a more general Via area for western Renton.
The F should serve Southcenter. It’s a major ridership generator.
Yeah, that was basically what I was envisioning. While it would serve Amtrak, that would not be it’s only purpose; it would also serve the general SW Renton area that the straightened F line would skip.
Agree that serving southcenter is worth it. It’s an important destination, and there really isn’t much reason to take the F all the way from Renton to TIBS anyway. Going to the airport, you take the 560. Going downtown, you take the 101. Rainier Valley, you take the 106.
“there really isn’t much reason to take the F all the way from Renton to TIBS anyway. Going to the airport, you take the 560. Going downtown, you take the 101. Rainier Valley, you take the 106.”
The 101 is half-hourly weekends, so it’s not worth waiting for if it’s not coming in 10 minutes or you don’t know the schedule. If you’re coming from The Landing, the overhead of transferring and waiting at Renton TC can swallow the gain. The best way from The Landing to downtown is often to take the F to Southcenter and transfer to the 150.
The 906 already serves the station. The 906 runs every half hour throughout the day. It connects to the 150 and this bus (even if the bus didn’t serve the station). At most we run the 906 a few more times to the station. That is fairly cheap and more than adequate.
The other stops aren’t worth bothering with. The ridership is extremely low despite the frequent F Line. They really aren’t special. There are plenty of similar stops in that area (and other areas) without coverage. There is no bus stop here: https://maps.app.goo.gl/MrpVJFWJRwVgeG6U9 despite a few stores in the area. It is about a ten minute walk which is roughly the walk from either the Naches stop or the Boeing Commercial Airlines Group stop to the train station. The stop at 16th & Lind is close to the 153.
Oh, there is Microtransit in the area. They are called taxicabs. They have been serving train stations for about as long as they have existed. I see no reason why the county should subsidize them here. Take the 906 and if you don’t want to take the 906 call a cab.
On paper the connection between the train and the F looks great. It seems like it should have a lot of riders. But it doesn’t. No sense worrying about it. Of course Glenn’s idea is ideal. If Boeing opens up the road for buses you could easily serve the station as it would be on the way. But right now it isn’t and serving it with RapidRide is a big waste.
Two fast, frequent, direct premium services between 99 and Burien seems like overkill. Maybe either the F or, more appropriately S1, could serve West Seattle (Westwood) instead, via 518->509->Roxbury.
It’s unfortunate rhat neither cruise terminal has any decent public transit service. I’d really like to see the Ballard line serve at least pier 91 with quality service although i guess tlfrom the airport that would be a transfer… unfortunateoversight to not provide good coverage to a major 3conom8c driver. I assume pier 66 will still be all by its lonesome self regardless.
It’s unfortunate that neither cruise terminal has any decent public transit service.
It does have good public transit service. The problem is people don’t use it. https://seattletransitblog.com/2025/02/28/ballard-light-rail-at-grade/#comment-952451. There is really no reason for the public to pay for anything more. The cruise ship folks are welcome to run buses from there (I would imagine they already do).
Oh, and pier 66 is downtown. That means that anyone there can go up the hill (by elevator if they so choose) and then take transit to pretty much anywhere in the region.
Cruise ship linkages are an interesting transit market. While a boat may carry lots of people, it’s not like one arrives several times every day. It’s almost like a special event like a Seahawks game. However, since people have luggage and Seattle is generally treated like an embarkation point rather than an intermediate destination stop, the role of a light rail connection is diminished.
There is a larger discussion that’s probably needed though: the ferry-Link connectivity. Despite its long length, ST3 does not have anywhere that directly connects any ferry to Link. Unlike cruise ships, ferries arrive several times every day — and carry riders mostly without giant suitcases.
So if ST was going to look at improving water transportation connectivity, the ferry connectivity should be the first concern addressed. For example, the Center City Connector could be reimagined as a Ferry Terminal extension of the FHSC. In an alternative universe, the AWV viaduct could have been replaced with a light rail viaduct (as opposed to DSTT2).
It’s a pretty short walk to the bus stop on Columbia: https://maps.app.goo.gl/HsPQ8nqLxUPxPGWJ9. From there the buses go up to Third. The C Line goes to South Lake Union. If they replaced the streetcar with buses they could make the route much faster (and better for bikes).
The RapidRide G gets pretty close to there as well. It is about a five minute walk via the Marion Street Walkway (https://maps.app.goo.gl/uXtKMQV3MdF7W2u69). It would be better if the G used Marion and Madison (instead of Spring and Madison). Too late now.
Overall it isn’t perfect but it is pretty good. I think the first priority should be getting rid of the South Lake Union Streetcar and adding bus lanes close to South Lake Union. That would dramatically speed up the RapidRide C. Then extend the H to the same place and the connections to the ferry would be outstanding. You would continue to have a bunch of buses running from the ferry to Third Avenue (especially during peak) as well as two frequent (RapidRide) buses running from the waterfront to South Lake Union.
What it really lacks is service along the waterfront (north of the ferry). The Benson Streetcar provided that (albeit infrequently) but now we have the tourist bus (that only runs during the summer). The best option (besides just walking or paying a bundle for bikeshare) is to catch one of those buses and then walk (or take an elevator) back down to the waterfront. It makes the most sense as a streetcar because there is existing rail there. For a bus it is tricky because once you get to the north end of the waterfront you either have to make a tricky U-Turn or go up the hill. The latter means crossing the tracks. That ends up destroying reliability and with it any hope of decent service along there (assuming it would be an extension to some other route). Maybe you could run a little shuttle van (and somehow make a U-Turn) but it is hard to see it being worth it outside of tourist season.
The best bet is probably to shift a few routes over to First. That would cover the whole section (all the way to Belltown) which is better than the proposed CCC streetcar. It would also be better because the service would essentially be free (no one has ever explained how we are supposed to pay for CCC service — they only talk about running the thing). It is easy to access First from the ferry, but not so great as you go north. It would still be considerably better than today (and cost practically nothing).