The Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) is wrapping up two projects in Pioneer Square that will make traveling in the area easier for everyone. SDOT is hosting a celebration during the Pioneer Square Art Walk today from 5-7pm at 3rd Ave S & S Main St.
SDOT’s 3rd Ave S & S Main St project redesigned 3rd Ave S between Yesler Way and S Main St. The street now has wider sidewalks, a smoother roadway surface, and improved pedestrian lighting. The bus stop at 3rd Ave S & S Main St is quite busy, serving routes 7, 14, 21, 36, 40, 70, 124, 131, and 132.
In May, SDOT completed the 3rd and Yesler Safety Improvements project. 3rd & Yesler intersection is used by Metro routes 1, 5, 7, 24, 27, 28, 33, 36, 40, 62, 70, 124, 131, 132, D Line, and E Line. This project added several curb bulbs to the 6-way intersection that clarify traffic movements and shorten road crossings. Additionally, the bike lane connection between Yesler Way and Dilling Way/4th Ave has been adjusted for a smoother connection. The Yesler Way bike lanes should eventually connect to the new waterfront, if SDOT can find the funding to replace the traffic signal at 1st & Yesler.
Those two blocks of Main St have gotta been the roughest in the city. Thankful for a smoother ride but sad because that shiny new bus stop is gonna be f*@k’d up be the end of the month.
The messed up part they can spend money on playgrounds and bus stops,but oh God Forbid they would take the abandoned buildings downtown and train some people with compassion and sterness to run the buildings as shelters.. just think those stops you payed for with taxes what a great way to WASTE THAT MONEY.
I’ve been hoping SDOT would finally get to fixing this awful pavement for … decades I think. Thankful it’s finally happened.
I don’t know how long the clean bus shelter and sidewalk will last, but at least travel lane is repaved. Concrete pavement at some part of 3rd Ave are so bad that I think it is damaging the transit vehicles running on it.
Amazing evening going on for King County Metro. Buses are totally not arriving an hour late.
These days the commuter buses are show up and hope you get home. There is no use of a schedule anymore.
King County Metro for one could save service hours by not having a bus do a long peak hour route, then drive back up to Seattle to do it again. Are there not hundreds of buses in Seattle that could take the place, while the peak hour bus can serve areas locally instead?
For example, the 102, 162, 556, etc. sends the same buses (you can tell because of the bus number scheduled on OneBusAway) back up to Seattle for later evening runs. Instead they could just serve the 101/150? Boggles my mind and it’s not a surprise they run late because of traffic. Half of the buses come from the bus base too when an existing bus in Seattle could serve it instead. High frequency buses can afford the lateness and gaps in service since they’re…high frequency.
And in the case of 556, it could head back as a 554. And 554 buses in the area can run the 556.
Instead they send 556 buses all the way from Issaquah back to the U District to do more runs and give almost zero bandwidth to catch up for lateness.
I think the problem is more subtle that that, as King County Metro absolutely has and uses software to optimize their bus runs.
My guess is is that, if a peak hour bus were to run in service for the reverse direction, the extra time serving bus stops would delay the bus’s ability to start another peak direction trip by 15-20 minutes, which would adversely impact schedules in the peak direction. For example, if a route’s 4 daily peak trips are 40 minutes apart, rather than 30, you may end up with not enough “peak of the peak” service, leading to overcrowding.
I think the problem is more subtle that that, as King County Metro absolutely has and uses software to optimize their bus runs.
I agree. I think the problem is that it is geared towards normal traffic. Traffic isn’t normal now. There are big backups everywhere. Riders notice it when on the bus but it also effects dead-heading. It may be that under normal conditions the cheapest, most reliable thing is to deadhead back to downtown and then repeat the run. That is no longer reliable. Not until this work is done.
“I think the problem is that it is geared towards normal traffic. Traffic isn’t normal now.”
Sadly, worsening traffic congestion is the new normal. The region’s population continues to grow, especially within the Seattle city limits. Truck volumes (both semis and box trucks) are way up as everyone is getting little boxes shipped to their door from miles away rather than shipped in bulk to a local retailer in a single box where they can buy it.
Exclusive transit facilities are the only major systemic solution. And those facilities have to be useful for transit users.
The future of long-distance express buses is even going to be limited by HOV or express toll lane traffic congestion — as well as the congestion hassle getting between those lanes and desired destinations.
I’m even reminded of how UPS hired teenagers to ride along in delivery box trucks in San Jose years ago to enable use of the arterial HOV lanes.
Could never figure out why the 556 didn’t at least have a few reverse direction runs given how bidirectional the Bellevue-Seattle(UDistrict) travel market is. The 271 is packed to the gills in peak period going to Bellevue in the morning and UDistrict in the evening. Its like the 556 was set up 70 years ago based on Bellevue still a sleepy commuter town instead of the major regional downtown employment center it is.
Replied in the 6/6 open thread because these topics are straying too far away from Pioneer Square streets or similar.
Interested to see how irlt is now. It will be nice to have these bus options back for getting to stadiums instead of hooking from linkbstadium station. That steep hill down from third and yesterday was quite the bouncy ride before.i do hop the fancy new stop can stay presentable for a little while.