Sammamish and Renton Bus Trip

56 Replies to “Sammamish and Renton Bus Trip”

1. The 111 through routes immediately back to South Bellevue for most trips. The loop basically serves “both directions”, so staying on the bus is usually fine. The bus cannot layover in Renton Highlands. Have to check the block schedule to be sure though.

   You didn’t miss much though. The last part is just a bunch of houses.

2. Love these in-person reports of transit. It has inspired me to do something similar.

   I wonder with a route like 269, up on the Sammamish plateau, who makes up the bulk of ridership? Mike rode it on a Saturday, but on a Tuesday morning, is it mainly tech workers, which Sammamish has a lot of? Or, are they mostly driving to transit garages and parking lots to take transit? Or, on a Tuesday morning, is it more like a school bus, with kids walking to 228th, the main drag, to catch the route 269 to go to school? Sort of like how the route 245, on a weekday morning, serves as a school bus for schools like Lake Wash HS, and Sammamish HS in Bellevue, and even Bellevue College.

   Anyway, loved the post. Some of the places you wrote about I haven’t been to in decades. Also, not surprised about the out of date signs you mentioned. Metro seems to be really behind on replacing and updating signage.

3. I’ve mused the idea of a Issaquah to Renton express via SR 900 but I have no idea how high the demand is between Issaquah and Renton is to justify that express. I guess because there’s basically nothing in the highlands this would be a good idea so the highlands has a trunk route at least. This express wouldn’t also require a transfer in Bellevue to the 560 from the 556 and avoid taking the slow 240 from Eastgate from the 556.

   1. Metro Connects has several express routes mostly in the outskirts, the 2xxx routes. The target service level for these is half-hourly daytime (ending at 7pm), though some may be peak only.

      The current concepts are Renton-Issaquah, Auburn-Snoqualmie, Renton-Enumclaw, Fauntleroy-WSJ-SLU (replacing the suspended Vashon express), Issaquah-North Bend (superceded by the 215?), Admiral District-White Center, Redmond-Duvall, Bothell-Duvall, Sammamish (superceded by 269?), Woodinville-Bothell-Lake City-First Hill, Bothell-Edmonds, Redmond-Maple Valley.

      I’m skeptical some of them would have ridership. Who would go between Auburn and Snoqualmie? Who would go between Renton and Issaquah? Just Renton Boeing workers?

      The Admiral District-White Center express is interesting and I haven’t seen it before, so either it’s new to the map or I hadn’t noticed it before. This could be a way to connect West Seattle Link to more of West Seattle.

      Some of these concepts seem to be just segments rather than entire routes. E.g., a tiny one within downtown Bothell, one within downtown Seattle, and one at Auburn station I think. These must be alternatives for part of a larger route.

      1. “the 2xxx routes. The target service level for these is half-hourly daytime (ending at 7pm), though some may be peak only.”

         I wish we did away with service like that, not operating outside of peak and not running buses half hourly without evening service (at least for the urban areas and reconsider for the less dense, rural areas). These standards will still exist in 2050? What a shame.

         “I’m skeptical some of them would have ridership.”

         Affirmative. Most of the express corridors are highways.

         “Who would go between Renton and Issaquah? Just Renton Boeing workers?”

         Not only them; people who live, work, and play in the highlands that lack decent transit service; people wanting to avoid a transfer somewhere in Bellevue; people wanting to go shopping to the Landing. There’s more purposes for an SR 900 express than just Boeing (even though I get what you’re saying but would make a lot more sense if this were Paine Field).

         “The Admiral District-White Center express is interesting and I haven’t seen it before, so either it’s new to the map or I hadn’t noticed it before. This could be a way to connect West Seattle Link to more of West Seattle.”

         Maybe it’s just for the sake of giving SR 509 more bus service.

         1. It’s not on 509, it’s on 35th Ave SW.

         2. SR900 wouldn’t be much of an express. It’s clogged with car traffic. Though according to people, nobody wants to ride between those cities.

      2. “I wish we did away with service like that, not operating outside of peak and not running buses half hourly without evening service (at least for the urban areas and reconsider for the less dense, rural areas). These standards will still exist in 2050?”

         This is a goal for the post ST3 Link era. 2050 is a proxy for that. It would require more service hours than currently available, so it depends on a countwide expansion levy. King County has talked about such a levy since 2016 but has never offered one.

         There’s an Interim phase for the ST2 era, which we’re now in. Metro Connects was written in 2016, and the two phases were then called 2025 and 2040. Since Link is delayed, the phases were extended to “Interim” and “2050”. Since the levy never happened, we never got the Interim level of service, so it seems irrelevant to now.

         Instead what we’ve gotten is Metro implementing some of its goals in revenue-neutral restructures, meaning some segments are underserved or became underserved (270, the 77 not fully serving Lake City), and the restructures contradicted some goals without explanation. (E.g., the 8-Madison and 106-Boren weren’t implemented in the G restructure. The Broadway north-south route wasn’t either, and the RapidRide 36 plan now contradicts it. The 75 didn’t become the Pinehurst-130th route.)

         In the case of the 36, the RapidRide project has two alternatives, one to downtown and one on Broadway to the U-District. The first is the current routing. The second would fulfill the Broadway north-south route. In Metro’s RapidRide prioritization it leaned toward the current routing, saying it better matches ridership demand and equity. That means the RapidRide plan and Metro’s long-range plan now contradict each other. So why doesn’t it take it out of the long-range plan?

         With the 8 Denny-Madison concept, we have no idea what Metro wants now. It wasn’t in the RapidRide G restructure because Metro wanted to keep the 11 and 49. After the restructure was finalized I saw Metro’s planners (at a Swift Blue extension press conference I think), so I asked them what the status of the 8-Denny concept is? Is it dead? Is it waiting for some other change to trigger it? They said it’s not dead, it may be implemented someday, but they have no information on when it might happen or what might trigger it. So all the residents are just left in limbo for years or decades, not knowing what their mobility options will be in the future.

      3. Renton-Issaquah is actually a pretty popular route for cars. But not sure if the bus would get any riders.

         Issaquah has jobs too. And Renton isn’t just Boeing.

         1. There are several points worth making here.

            First off, if a Renton TC->Issaquah TC express bus were to somehow exist, it would almost certainly take I-405 and I-90, not SR-900, as it avoids a ton of stoplights on Sunset Blvd., while also taking advantage of the HOV lanes as well as connection opportunities at the freeway stations. But, such a route would be quite weak, in spite of the fact that so many people take cars between Renton and Issaquah.

            There are a number of reasons why. First off, there exists no single point in Renton or Issaquah where everyone is coming from or going to, and the last-mile “fanout” inevitably becomes the killer of demand. After all, however long it takes sitting in traffic to drive, it is still faster than a bus ride that involves a 20-minute wait for a shuttle on each end to complete the trip. Second, a good portion of the cars driving Renton->Issaquah are actually just drivers trying to avoid traffic on 405 – people which, if taking the bus, would just prefer a bus that takes the I-405 HOV lane and be done with it.

            If a Renton->Issaquah route were to exist, the most likely path, I see, would be a local route, not an express route. The local route would follow the path of route 240 down Park Ave. Sunset Blvd., stopping at all of the 240’s stops, but, rather than turn onto Coal Creek Parkway, would stay on SR-900 all the way into Issaquah. Under such a hypothetical scenario, the portion of SR-900 east of Coal Creek Parkway would be a lot more developed than it is today, leaving to a void in coverage that Metro would be trying to fill. This change would then, presumably, be paired with a modification to the 240 to avoid route duplication. But, current development along SR-900 east of Coal Creek Parkway doesn’t appear to be sufficient to justify running such a bus route.

         2. I don’t think that’s the end of the world? So many routes are already multi trip. South Bellevue and Bellevue TC aren’t the last stop for most people. Transfers are inevitable. Even for Seattle you often need to transfer after getting off at Westlake or wherever. Same would go for Renton and Issaquah TC.

            However I do agree with you, and mentioned in another comment that Renton-Issaquah should use the freeway. The only downside is people who live in the Highlands who want to get to Issaquah. I would actually think 900 should have congestion pricing (+free permits for people who live or work in Renton/Issaquah) so buses can use it.

         3. I personally drive Renton to Issaquah myself, and I am not avoiding the freeway. My destination is near Issaquah. Not everyone is avoiding the freeway. It’d be dumb to use 900 to avoid the freeway because it’s way slower if you are going to Bellevue or Redmond. It’s only faster / more fuel efficient (or comparable) for going to Issaquah itself (especially in the mornings). Unfortunately I can believe many people do take it as a detour anyways.

         4. If Metro connects builds all their planned routes, I would have a two seat ride to Issaquah taking nearly the shortest path (as if I drove)

         5. In the end I think Issaquah, Kent, and Renton are cities that deserve connectivity outside of Seattle. They are large cities with employment centers and shopping. Issaquah is slotted for future light rail too.

            On top of that, they are the best transfer spots for a large number of people in neighboring cities. Renton and Kent is beneficial for East Hill, Covington, Maple Valley, etc. Issaquah for Snoqualmie and North Bend. By improving connections from these cities, the number of comfortable transfer trips to key destinations like the airport, hiking/trails, shopping, workplaces, etc. greatly increase. South Bellevue won’t hold up well for many trips especially since multiple transfers are already involved.

            Ideally every major suburb city with a population over 50k should have an express to Seattle. Over 100k should have an express to Bellevue as well. And wherever geography is complicated, expressed between suburbs too… Potentially working as open BRT and in coordination with shuttles. It’s basic essential connectivity that can add new riders to the transit spine without them using P&Rs right next to Link.

            Stride is just one corridor (which was absolutely long overdue) but there is a disconnect east and south of 405 still.

         6. Unfortunately there isn’t a good transfer point between 405 express service and I-90 express service. Issaquah to Renton via South Bellevue would be an ok option between Renton and Issaquah had S1 could transfer 556 somewhere closer to I-90.

   2. I drove that route once during peak hours, and I can tell you that such an express would not be fast. The traffic is horrible, and there is no room for bus lanes. A transfer between an I-90 route and I-405 route at least allows for HOV lanes, and avoids the need to spend a ton of extra service hours, just to avoid a transfer.

      1. Could launching an SR 900 express bus possibly reduce congestion on the highway? Or would one simple express bus not be enough to convince them and instead partner with the state to expand the number of lanes on the state-owned right of way?

         1. Most drivers don’t live along SR 900. For example some people doing Kent to Issaquah take that route.

      2. Yeah an SR 900 express isn’t necessary. I’d build Renton to Issaquah using 405/90 if we even want it as a single ride.

4. I love these in-person reports of transit as well. This week has been awesome – first Michael Smith’s Orca Speedrun, and now Mike Orr checking out the new bus routes and seeing different places. I think most of us who are passionate about transit can relate to these experiences.

5. I suspect Route 269 will be a useful and successful service. It was conceived for the 2003 Metro Connects ballot measure. (I wanted ELC to consider extending local routes past the MI Link station via 77th Avenue SE; Route 269 could have served MIHS; and/or Route 245 (split at RTS) could have served South Mercer Island via the Eastgate local bays, I-90, and Island Crest Way. Routes 204 and 630 deleted; Route 630 has the additional issue of duplicating Link. Such extended routes would have gone around the ST-MI interlocal agreement limits on buses south of I-90).

   Route 111 has an awkward south terminal and will face congestion leaving South Bellevue Link station on Bellevue Way SE and the ramps to I-90 and southbound I-405. The South King report of a near live loop is troubling. The online schedule appears to confirm this. https://kingcounty.gov/en/dept/metro/routes-and-service/schedules-and-maps/schedule?route=111&day=weekday&direction=a
   Service guidelines eight and nine seem relevant.

   In the case of Route 111, a larger project scope would have been better; Route 105 could have been extended to the 2 Line and a new local implemented for the Route 111 tail area of Lake Kathleen. Before Covid, Route 105 attracted more rides per platform hour than the Renton routes put into the ELC project scope (e.g. routes 111, 114, 240).

   Agencies should be very careful about live loops; they impose the reliability issues of a through route without providing riders the benefit of additional connections. I doubt operators or riders like them. A live loop should be short and free of much variation. Here, the southbound lateness due to ramp congestion and I-405 will be passed on the northbound trips. In fall 2012, Metro had to use them on Pine-Pike to protect the 3rd Avenue transit spine from turns and to avoid the AWV related congestion on 1st Avenue. The latter issue disappeared in 2019. Yet, the Pine-Pike loop continues. During U Link, March 2016, live loops were used on routes 71, 73-373, and 78. I doubt it worked very well; careful through routes would have been better. (In the theoretical network for north Link ridership forecasting, the local routes were paired past Link stations; the two stages of Link extension, 2016 and 2021 made implementation awkward, but through routes still could have been used).

   1. Live loops are best when they can provide additional coverage. In other words they are more like lollipop loops (a common hiking term). There are disadvantages to loops in general — riders have to go the wrong way. But in some cases this is the best value.

      A good example is the 22. It is a coverage route. You really can’t justify much service in the area. Riders are forced out of their way but happy to have any service at all. In contrast, the buses that use the Pike-Pine loop don’t gain any additional coverage. As you wrote, you gain nothing from the live loop. You lose reliability while gaining no additional trip combinations. The same is true with the RapidRide G. In both cases the bus can (theoretically) regain reliability with a tiny layover at the furthest western point (1st or 2nd). It would not be a full break for the rider — just a chance to stop if the bus is going to fast (to regain reliability the other direction).

      The other option is to turn. That has other issues. There are limited options. Think of the area that has east streets and east avenues (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e1/Seattle_WA_Directional_Zones_v10-14-16.svg?utm_source=en.wikipedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=original).
      There are only two ways north (unless you count the freeway). There is no way east. Thus you have fairly limited options for continuing that direction. You could continue once you are downtown (like the 2, 3, 4) but that has drawbacks. I don’t know what combination would work well.

      Most of the live loops don’t bother me. I think there are other flaws — with those same routes — that are a bigger deal. The 61 should keep going to Crown Hill somehow. The 10 and 12 should branch later on Capitol Hill (if at all). The 11 should not go downtown — it should merge with the 8. The 49 (probably one of the worst for live looping) should keep going down Broadway. That would get rid of some live-loops. To a certain extent the issues are related. By extending the 61 you provide a lot more value. But you also make it difficult to live loop — you have to find a different layover. You still have a couple live-loops (the 10/12). This doesn’t bother me nearly as much as the routing on Capitol Hill or the fact that Pike/Pine has congestion.

   2. Seattle pressured Metro to minimize layovers downtown because it’s essentially a parking space, which gets in the way of urban/dense uses. So the Pike/Pine routes live-loop, and the G, and others were moved to a new Eastlake layover place, and others further south to Pioneer Square.

      Live loops are probably fine for the Pike-Pine routes. Their recent unreliability is because the street rechannelization made them stuck in worse congestion behind traffic lights.

      But a long route like the 111 may be too much for live looping.

      On the other hand, the reason I didn’t go to the terminus is I didn’t want to wait possibly 20 minutes, and it looked like too long a walk back to 4th where I could get the 105. If I had known it lived-looped, I would have taken it around the end and back to 4th.

      1. Since the G Line is the only bus on First Avenue it has a de facto layover spot there (https://maps.app.goo.gl/uvKr6ahjJQkVLDCU7). The bus could layover there a long time but since the trip is so short there is no reason to. But it is very easy for the bus to pause there for a minute or two if it is running ahead of schedule (to avoid bus bunching on the way up the hill).

         The 10, 11, 12, 49 all turn around via 2nd. They could do the same thing except there are issues. These buses are not coordinated with each other. The 10 might be running a bit fast and want to pause for a bit. The 12 won’t be along for another ten minutes. But the 11 and 49 might come along right away. Thus you need the ability to pass the buses which isn’t trivial along the corridors.

         A bigger problem is that the buses don’t even stop on 2nd. They have to stay to the left before taking another left to go up the hill. In contrast the RapidRide G takes a couple right turns. It is ironic that the RapidRide G doesn’t need doors on both sides to serve its westernmost stop. In contrast, the 10, 11, 12 and 49 need them but don’t have them. Oh well. The buses could stop at the next stop, which is between Third and Fourth. But again, that would be problematic as a lot of people wouldn’t know which bus to take if they are just heading up the hill.

         In the long term the Pike/Pine corridor needs more red paint. There are a couple options. One is to run contraflow (west on Pike, east on Pine). The buses would turn right on First (like the RapidRide G). Another alternative is to turn Pine into a transit street with buses running both directions. It could again turn go all the way to First and take a right. Then it would run contraflow on Stewart until 3rd. Then it would take a left on Pine to go up the hill. It might still be difficult to layover there — or even pause a while — but at least it would be able to have a bus stop to the west.

         1. Oh, and the only Pike/Pine bus that really needs to layover is the 49. All the other buses are short enough that it doesn’t matter. The 49 should not use Pike/Pine which means you solve the problem that way.

            I would also send the 2 to Pike/Pine but not the 11. I would use some of the savings to bump up the 2 to every ten minutes. Then the 2 and the 10/12 would provide five minute headways from downtown to 13th & Pine. This would also make the 2/13 branch on Queen Anne a lot more tolerable (with twenty minute headways instead of thirty). With buses running every five minutes on Pike/Pine I could definitely see the looping ones (the 10/12) pausing before heading up the hill (if they are running too fast). Oh, and I would run the 3 every fifteen minutes.

         2. I thought about including Pike/Pine in my list of routes for the red paint treatment, but I thought they were too narrow.

            Seattle considered and rejected making Pine Street two-way bus-only. The issue was business access to the Roosevelt Hotel which was renovated in the 2000s.

   3. “the buses that use the Pike-Pine loop don’t gain any additional coverage.”

      There are people who loop around from Pine to the Pike & 4th stop to get closer to their destination or transfer. Most are elderly or have mobility issues, but I use it sometimes to transfer to the 131/132 or go to the post office or the CSV pharmacy. I don’t do it often because it sits and waits to turn to and from 2nd, so it sometimes seems worse than walking. But those turns could get speeded up, and then going around the end would be more popular.

   4. I haven’t seen any major reliability issues on the 111. The 556 is suffering though.

      The South Bellevue 405 ramp isn’t as bad as people make it out to be. It’s about 5-10 mins delay. But obviously on a really bad rainy day, there would be issues. But that is what it is… It’s not the end of the world. Their frequencies aren’t bad.

6. Great report. I am really glad that there were actually a few riders on the 269 on the first weekend of operation since COVID. Even on a weekday ridership can be very sparse at times. The misleading bus stop signs in that part of the world is nothing new. When a stop is lightly used, I doubt whether anyone bothers to make reports. Anyway there is hope that the new 269 will attract some custom.

   1. I was surprised so many people rode the 269 and 111 on the first day. That means they knew it was coming, and they were latent pent-up demand waiting for a route.

      It’s an impossible task to change all the stop signs and schedules throughout the county in one night. I’ve noticed Metro starts a month early at some stops and ends up late at others. Still, Mercer Island is a transfer hub, and the 215 and 269 are Metro’s new darlings it wants to promote. There must at minimum be a list of new route numbers at those stops. Especially when passengers don’t know where the 215 and 269 will stop because they didn’t exist until today. It would suck to cross the street or be at the wrong stop and miss the bus.

7. Nice report. Downtown Renton is underrated.

8. “Downtown Renton is underrated.”

   Renton’s quiet growth surprised everyone I think. I always thought of Renton as smallish. It now has 106,000 people. That’s second in the Eastside after Bellevue, and second in south King County after Kent.

   Eastside (in thousands): 154 Bellevue, 106 Renton, 97 Kirkland, 84 Redmond, 66 Samamish, 40 Issaquah. (53 Bothell.)

   South King County: 135 Kent, 106 Renton, 100 Federal Way, 86 Auburn, 54 Burien, 33 Des Moines, 22 Tukwila.

   Most of downtown Renton looks like a bomb dropped on it, with three highways converging (405, 167/Rainier, 900 MLK/Sunset), one-story big-box stores and the bad kind of superblocks. But there is a pre-WWII style walkable part around the TC, with the aforementioned Liberty Park and ped bridge, a charming high school and performing-arts center next to it, and a half-dozen blocks of historic retail storefronts with no setbacks. I wish the shops were open evenings/weekends so that people with 9-5 jobs could shop there, but that’s the legacy of a former small town, and downtown Kent has the same problem. I also wish the transit center weren’t moving. Or if it must move, that most routes would serve both the new and the old TC.

9. What other routes would you like to see in future bus trip articles? If they meet my curiosity I might do them. King County trips are the most likely.

   The next ones on my list are lower priority because others will do them or they’re logistically difficult with hourly routes:

   • Des Moines waterfront: 166 from KDM, now feasible with half-hourly weekend service. Before the routes from KDM or Angle Lake were hourly the times I’d do them.
   • Southeast Renton: 148. Hourly route, so it’s hard to be motivated to put the time into it.
   • 270 and 77: Everybody and their brother is doing this. I’d like to see my old neighborhood, north Bellevue Way, but it’s not urgent. I’ll do it when I happen to have an errand that direction.

   1. I don’t know if others are seeing what I’m seeing with the 270, but many of the buses I see are carrying very light loads– especially compared to what the 271 was carrying. Are people taking the 2 Line and transferring at South Bellevue or Mercer Island to buses that serve their destinations better than going through the Bellevue Transit Center? I’d be interested in knowing what is actually happening.

      1. It will take a couple weeks before we get data on the routes. Even then it will be data for only a couple days (since the restructure started in late August). Even after a full month of data we won’t know where people are actually riding. That takes several more months.

      2. UW is on summer break.

      3. I’m using South Bellevue more than any other Bellevue station. The transfer walk is shorter than at Bellevue TC, Overlake Village, or Redmond Tech. The bus stops have benches and shelter. You can look at the wetland and the green-colored art.

         Bellevue Downtown has a longer transfer walk that crosses a street and stoplight.

         Overlake Village has a 6-minute walk uphill to the closest stops, which are on 152nd and have one half-hourly coverage route, with no bench or shelter so you have to stand the whole time, and in the rain or hot sun. It’s a longer walk to the B, and even longer to the 226 (a 20-minute walk; I timed it).

         Redmond Tech has a relatively good walk to the 245 or B. It’s 2-3 minutes and flat, and at least southbound there’s a bench and shelter.

         I haven’t tried Wilburton.

         1. I haven’t tried Wilburton.

            I guess there are a few options from Wilburton for transfers. You can hike out to 116th and get the 250 or 226 or go down to NE 8th to get RR-B. For the 250/226 probably better or no worse to use the TC. The only way you’d transfer to the B is to go east or you’d just get off at BTC. To get to an EB RR-B you have to take the Eastrail bridge across NE 8th. To get there you have to go down to street level and they back up to the bridge. There are stairs or a long hike out to when you could use ADA compliant ramps. So the only really useful transfer there is if you are coming from Crossroads and trying to get to Link then you might want to transfer there. If the train is crowded you’ll be more likely to get a seat than if you transferred at BTC. If you’re WB on RR-B the transfer is pretty good. But from Link to RR-B EB… not so much.

         2. I’m using South Bellevue more than any other Bellevue station

            That surprises me. I’m pretty sure it’s not because you’ve taken an interest in wetland biology and the Swamp & Ride is your “ultimate” destination. It’s an elevated platform so you have to go down stairs or use an elevator to get to bus level, right? This and Least Main are the only two East Link Stations I’ve never used. I can’t see ever using Least Main but I seriously will likely use the Swamp & Ride to visit the Nature Center and hike the trails. Or take a bike and hop on the Mtn2Sound bike path.

            Where are you going that there’s a transfer there you can’t do better somewhere else? I get the lack of benches and shelters at many Bellevue stops. That problem is in large part because the routes keep changing so much Metro probably doesn’t want to invest. And COB has learned the lesson after spending money on better stops only to have Metro eliminate service.

         3. Even with the two-way escalators it’s less than a minute from Link to the bus bays. Maybe even thirty seconds. However, there is a caveat, the bus bays go southbound. Northbound the routes I’ve taken stop at the Bellevue Way stop, so the walk to Link is twice as long, but still better than at the other stations.

   2. The 148 sucks. Not worth riding.

      1. 150/906 is better

      2. What I want to see is what southeast Renton is like now. SKR said there are a bunch of apartments in that area, so I want to see how dense it is now, and how much potential the area has.

         1. You’ll see more of them on the higher ridership 102/160/906. The 148 just serves a bunch of single family homes, besides Royal Hills.

10. Metro Service Guidelines start at PDF page 27. The following section is flexible service (Metro Flex).

    Jack mentioned guidelines 8 and 9 re live loops. 4 and 6 also come up often on the blog re parallel routes and stop spacing, and 2, 3, and 5 re directness and simplicity.

11. Mike and I took routes 45, 65, 1 Line, 8, and 40 this afternoon. Route 45 was broken from Route 75 and will have the pathway it had between March 2016 and fall 2021. Route 65 was revised to approach Shorecrest via 25th Avenue NE, NE 150th Street, 15th Avenue NE, and NE 155th Street. Routes 72 and 522 will serve NE 145th Street.

    We saw that SDOT has not completed work on 30th Avenue NE (Dicks) between Lake City Way NE and NE 125th Street. We saw that Route 77 had an awkward reroute. Note there has been plenty of time since the ordinance; the shift of Route 522 and implementation of routes 72 and 77 was delayed by the 2 Line delay. (I do not endorse the Route 77 design).

    There seemed to be a single student alighting on 25th Avenue NE nearside NE 150th Street.

    Denny Way seemed to be flowing well in the p.m. peak. Mike checked two consecutive eastbound Route 8 trips; they were on time nearside Fairview.

    From Metro Alerts page:
    Single Route Reroute, ongoing
    Route 77 will be rerouted off 30th Avenue NE between NE 125th Street and Lake City Way NE from Sat Aug 29 through Sat Mar 27 due to construction.

    1. Yeah, I noticed the construction on 30th the other day. The work is being done precisely for this bus route and yet they didn’t time it right. The same is true for the work on 125th/130th (which is still ongoing). The opening of Pinehurst Station is delayed substantially and yet they aren’t done with the road work. SDOT started too late.

12. 2026 has been the worst ridership year for many peak hour routes including the 102 (until 2025 ridership was trending up every year and month). Interestingly enough, this year has also been the worst for on-time performance, especially over the summer.

    Metro finally fixed it in the recent service change by ousting the bad low experience 40 foot bus operators and bringing back the on-time articulated bus operators. But ridership has already been lost, down 20% especially over the last couple of months.

    1. Metro should send apologies to the riders of routes that have suffered mismanagement and poor on-time performance if they fix it. They should take steps to restore the lost ridership.

    2. Lol the 102 got passed by another 102 that was scheduled for 20 mins later. This is happening every week at this point. Never gonna change.

13. “None (taking 269) from Mercer Island.”

    I bet before this fall, no one would commute this way by bus. There isn’t a reasonable transit option between Sammamish and Downtown Seattle. It is nice to have especially for game day, but I think 269 should go to South Bellevue since they are 215/218 to Mercer Island already.

    1. I don’t quite understand the logic of running so many all-day service to Issaquah Highlands. The area down the hill seems more like a place with off-peak demand. 215 should stop at Downtown Issaquah rather than highlands.

       1. Downtown Issaquah has fifteen minute service to Downtown Bellevue (the 556). It stops at Eastgate and South Bellevue Station along the way. If the 215 stopped there it would be half hour service to Mercer Island. This is a bit faster for trips to Seattle but I doubt very many people would take it. They would just take the 556 even though it is slower.

          In contrast, by combining the 269 and 215 you give Issaquah Highlands 15-minute service to Mercer Island. This is an attractive option for those headed to Seattle not only because you skip South Bellevue but because you skip Central Issaquah. According to Google, it is about 20 minutes faster. This means that riders are always better off catching a bus to Mercer Island (if they want to go to Seattle). Thus it provides a much bigger benefit than if the 215 went to Downtown Issaquah.

          If Metro wanted to save money it would just truncate the 215 at Eastgate (when it isn’t going to North Bend). But that still wouldn’t save that much money since that bus runs every half hour. Actually it is less than that. It is three times every couple hours. You would save about 12 minutes (one way). So that is an average savings of about 18 minutes an hour (one way). Metro figures there are enough riders in Issaquah Highlands to be worth fast, fifteen-minute service to Mercer Island.

    2. I think 269 should go to South Bellevue since they are 215/218 to Mercer Island already.

       The 218 is peak only. The 215 only runs every half hour between Issaquah (Highlands) and Mercer Island. The 269 also runs every half hour. By sending it to Mercer Island the two buses combine for fifteen minute headways between Mercer Island and Issaquah. Meanwhile, the 556 runs every fifteen minutes from Issaquah to Downtown Bellevue (via South Bellevue).

       1. Route 218 should not be. If routes 215 and 269 are not adequate for the demand, add more of the Route 215 turnback variant. Provide two-way service; there is some demand to reach the Highlands, so it would become an in-service deadhead.

    3. The 269 and 215 are the fast ways from Issaquah to Seattle, so Sammamish benefits from that. The 556 goes to South Bellevue station but has more stops in Issaquah. It’s faster to take the 269 super-express to Mercer Island and transfer to Link there. Renton wishes it had options like these.

       What Sammamish would be less happy about is getting to Bellevue. You’d have to backtrack on Link via Mercer Island, transfer to the 556 at Issaquah Highlands P&R and go through more stops (but it goes through a lot of downtown Bellevue), or take the 269 the other way to Marymoor Village and transfer to Link to Bellevue. None of those would be as fast as getting to Seattle.

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