The SLU Streetcar rolls toward Westlake, sharing stops with RapidRide C and Route 40. Photo by SDOT.
It’s quite common in Seattle to see bikes and transit compete for the samelimitedstreet space. Once in a while though, we have the opportunity to improve both transit and cycling at the same time. This is one of those times.
South Lake Union Streetcar
The South Lake Union Streetcar opened in 2007. Unlike most modern streetcars, it was not built because of increased transit demand along the corridor; it was meant to help redevelop the neighborhood. Local historians can argue whether it was key to the neighborhood being redeveloped or largely irrelevant. It is hard to argue that it matters much now as it carries about 500 people a day. It is owned by the City of Seattle but operated by King County Metro, and recently it was out of commission for a few weeks. Rather than run substitute service, Metro did nothing. This is telling — the streetcar contributes so little to transit mobility that neither the City nor Metro thought it was necessary to provide a substitute. We can do better.
Metro and Sound Transit will restructure bus routes in the north end on September 14, 2024 (two weeks after the opening of Lynnwood Link). The changes will occur at the same time as the changes surrounding RapidRide G which is why Metro is listing them on the same service change page. Here is a list of some of the main changes:
New Routes:
61: Lake City to Greenwood via Northgate)
333: Mountlake Terrace to Shoreline South Station via Shoreline Community College
365: Shoreline North Station to Northgate via Meridian Avenue and Haller Lake
Several buses have been rerouted because of last night’s storm. This is causing delays as well as skipped stops. Check the Metro service advisory page to see if your bus is effected. This is a developing story, but here are the reroutes I am aware of:
10 — rerouted off of 15th Avenue E between E Galer Street and E Aloha Street due to downed power lines.
322, 372, 982, 986, 987, 988 and ST 522 — fallen tree near NE 92nd Street & Lake City Way NE
73 — rerouted off of 15th Avenue NE between Pinehurst Way NE and NE Northgate Way due to downed power lines.
75 — fallen tree near 20th Avenue NE & NE 125th Street.
118 — fallen tree near SW 250th Way & Vashon Hwy SW.
162 — canceled today (this may be related to the storm or coincidental).
As part of the work surrounding 130th Station in north Seattle, SDOT has started making plans in the area. While this initial work has focused on the area east of the station, this is a proposal for changes to the west. The goal is to improve pedestrian, biking and transit connections to the station.
Station Background
130th Station is designed primarily to connect riders from the east and west (Lake City and Bitter Lake). There will be some who walk and ride to the station, but I expect the vast majority to arrive by bus. The crossing bus route will also connect riders in the north end (for one- and two-seat rides not involving Link). It’s essential that the bus avoid congestion. At the same time, 130th is also one of a handful of I-5 bike and pedestrian crossings in the north end. People need a way to walk and bike through the area safely and easily. In this essay I largely ignore the issues east of the station, but propose the following set of changes to the west:
Three buses currently serve the east side of Green Lake: The 20, 45 and 62. As soon as Link gets to Lynnwood, the 20 will go away. There are aspects of the 20 that should be adopted by the other routes. However, this will require the help of the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT). Here are the things that SDOT and Metro can do to significantly improve transit in the area:
62
The 62 was created with the U-Link restructure. It replaced part of what was then the 16. I don’t have a link for the route but you can see it on Oran’s old map (it went from Northgate to downtown via Aurora and Green Lake). This helps explain why a southbound 62 goes the wrong direction (north) on Ravenna before heading back south on Woodlawn. With the Northgate restructure, planners hoped to improve the route in this area by having it follow Latona and 56th to Meridian. Unfortunately, changing the route would require SDOT to harden the street and they couldn’t do it then. Now that Metro is about to get rid of the 20 it is time to push for this. By following the previously proposed route, it would improve things in couple ways:
There would be better coverage in the area (especially with the 20 gone). The bus would run through the middle of the neighborhood, minimizing the distance someone has to travel to get to a bus stop.
It would be considerably faster. This is not only better for riders of that bus, but it saves Metro money, which would allow the agency to increase service levels (there or elsewhere).
45
The 45 was essentially split off from the 48 with the U-Link restructure. North of 65th it has followed that route for as long as I can remember. In contrast, the old 16 (and more recent 20) follow a different path through the area. Both are problematic. I propose having the 45 follow the current route of the 20 (like so) but with some changes by SDOT.
Right now the 20 encounters two significant problems in that area. The first is turning left from 1st to 80th. Although both streets are arterials, there are no traffic lights or stop signs there. As a result the bus spends a lot of time waiting for a break in traffic. The second is that eastbound rush-hour traffic often builds up along 80th. This can delay a bus considerably.
But the pathway of the 45 is not without issues either. It is common for traffic along the lake to be very slow (especially on nice days). The path of the 20 covers the area better, so that is preferable even if it is only as fast as the current 45. Changing the route and making it faster would require a couple fixes (with a possible variation):
Add eastbound BAT lanes between Wallingford Avenue and 1st. This would require getting rid of some parking and moving southbound 80th closer to the curb. This would have a side benefit: Safety. Right now drivers exit the freeway and then make a sweeping right turn (downhill) on 80th. There is no merge there, so drivers often go too fast. This would act like a chicane, slowing drivers.
Add a stop sign or traffic signal at 80th & 1st. The cheapest option would be a stop sign there. A traffic signal would work, especially if it was triggered by a bus (or a beg button for pedestrians or cyclists). Either a stop sign or traffic signal would again improve safety and make crossing the street a lot easier.
Both of these changes are relatively minor, but the benefits would be big. With the loss of the 20, these changes make more sense than ever. Contact your city and county representative (especially if you live in the area) to request these improvements.
Federal Way Link will not only connect Federal Way with other Link destinations but it will make it much easier to provide regional transit. Unlike other stations south of downtown, Federal Way Link has an excellent interface to the I-5 HOV lanes. Buses will be able to easily serve it from both directions. The following is a proposal for a new network once that happens.
Current Regional Transit
Sound Transit provides most of the regional service for the South Sound, shown on their map. Sounder provides mostly peak service (i. e. to Seattle during morning rush hour, away from Seattle during evening rush hour). The buses are a mix of peak-only and all-day half-hour service. Sound Transit was planning on running the 594 and 577/578 every 15 minutes, but this fell victim to the driver shortage.
Federal Way Link
Federal Way Link will offer another way for riders to get to Downtown Seattle. Those who live south of Federal Way will be able to transfer to Link instead of taking a direct express bus (like the 594). Unfortunately, this would be slower than Sounder and considerably slower than a bus in the middle of the day (when Sounder is not running). By my calculations (shown below) it would be more than fifteen minutes slower to transfer to Link, not counting the wait time. I am proposing instead a combination of Sounder and express buses:
Sounder
Sounder provides a comfortable and consistent trip that is often faster than an express bus. It is also faster than taking a bus and transferring to Link. It only runs during peak, but for Tacoma (and places south) that is the only time it is faster than a bus. Sounder is also expensive to operate and unlike most transit, becomes increasingly expensive (per trip) the more it operates. BNSF owns the tracks and the more trips the train makes, the larger the burden on them (and the more they will charge us). Ridership during peak is down from before the pandemic, but remains reasonably good. In contrast, midday ridership and reverse peak ridership is low and has always been low. Improving frequency during peak (e. g. running trains every 15 minutes instead of 20) might very well be worth it. Outside of that period though, buses are a better option.
Proposed Bus Network
With that in mind, I propose something a bit unusual. During peak, the buses from Tacoma (and places to the south) would only go to Federal Way. Outside of peak the buses would stop at Federal Way but then continue to Seattle. Thus riders would take Sounder during peak and a direct express bus outside of peak (as they do today). They would have the opportunity to transfer in Federal Way if they are headed to the airport, Rainier Valley or some other Link destination. This is what I propose for the existing routes serving Federal Way, Tacoma, Lakewood and Dupont:
Peak only service now truncated in Federal Way: 590, 592, 595
The 594 (which does not run during peak) would stop at Federal Way but keep going. Frequency would increase to every 15 minutes all-day and evening.
For other South Sound destinations, it is a little trickier. While I’m sure several riders would love to see the 578 continue to run to Seattle, it is harder to justify given the relatively low ridership outside Federal Way. It is also worth noting that many of the Sounder Stations have little in the way of fast, direct connections to Downtown Seattle outside of peak. I propose a combination of service to Link and all-day service along part of the the Sounder corridor:
588 — New express bus connecting Auburn, Kent, Tukwila and Downtown Seattle. Runs when Sounder doesn’t.
This means riders from Puyallup and Sumner would have to transfer to get to Seattle, either via Link or the 588 express bus. The 578 and 588 could be timed to work together. Riders from Auburn would could get to Link via the 578, whereas riders from Kent and Tukwila would use Metro service to get to Link. I think fifteen minutes service on the 578 and half hour service on the 588 seems possible, and a big improvement over what they have now.
* Update: I forgot to mention that early morning trips to the airport would still be necessary. This is when the 574 gets the bulk of its riders and transferring to Link would not be an option at that hour (since it doesn’t operate that early).
Metro has released their final plans for the bus restructure following the implementation of Lynnwood Link. Unlike the other phases, this time it is very similar to the previous proposal that we wrote about.
New or Modified Routes
There are only a couple changes in routing, both of them minor:
303, 322 — Now serve South Lake Union on the way to First Hill.
Modified Headways
This is the biggest change between now and the previous proposal. Several routes improved, with only the 28 getting worse. Here are the differences between Phase 3 (P3) and the current proposal (changes are in bold):
Numbers in commas are Peak, Midday, Evening, Night
All other routes remain the same as in P3.
Phases
As before, this will be implemented in phases, as described at the bottom of this letter from the county. Here is a summary:
Phase 1 — Link gets to Lynnwood. Most routes change.
Phase 2 — East Link goes over the lake and the 522 is sent to 148th Station*. This will result in a cascade of changes. Buses 45, 65, 75 and 331 will be altered. The 72 replaces the 372, while the new 77 will serve Lake City Way.
Phase 3 — 130th Station is complete, and the 77 is extended to serve it.
* The wording is actually vague, implying that Sound Transit might send the buses to Shoreline at this point. To quote the plans for the 522:
When ST Link 1 and 2 Lines are both in fully scheduled operation and trains can operate across Lake Washington , Sound Transit may also consider changes to ST Express service in the SR 522 corridor at that time.
The key word here being “may”. It is possible that Sound Transit may wait until the Stride 3 project is ready before removing service on Lake City Way.
The Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) deserves a lot of credit for adding bike lanes and various bus improvements throughout the city. They may not be building them fast enough, but they are building them.
Unfortunately, far too often, the bike lanes are built right where the buses run. Quite often this limits the ability of SDOT to then add bus improvements (like bus or BAT lanes). The street just isn’t wide enough. While this is inevitable in some cases, whenever possible bike lanes should be added where they won’t conflict with buses.
For example, consider Fremont Avenue in the north end of Seattle. At North 110th Street it connects to the Interurban Trail — a major bike route that extends all the way to Everett. From 110th to 77th, Fremont Avenue is a Greenway. Work has been done to make the route more pleasant and safer for riders. Much of the work is quite extensive. At majorintersections bicycles are allowed to go straight, but cars are not. It has practically everything you want in a bike route — except bike lanes. To the west there is a similar street: 1st Avenue NW. It isn’t quite as good (cars are allowed to follow 1st on major intersections) but it is close. It wouldn’t take that much effort to reach the same quality as Fremont Avenue. In both cases it needs bike lanes. Instead, the bike lanes come and go on Greenwood Avenue, a street with a major bus route (the Metro 5). There are additions to the bike lanes being considered as part of improvements to the 5. These are all well and good, but they create a needless conflict with buses and bus infrastructure. In most cases, there is a limited amount of street width. You can’t add bike lanes and bus lanes (or BAT lanes) in the same place. Quite often we are simply putting the bike lanes in the wrong place.
In some cases these conflicts are inevitable. Eastlake is a great example of this. It is a critical bike path. It is a very important transit corridor. There is only so much room. The end result is a plan that largely favors bikes, which I believe was the right call. It is too important a bike corridor, and there is no good alternative. While it took a while, SDOT has managed to come up with a plan that should allow the buses to avoid the worst congestion, while maintaining good speed and safety for bicyclists.
But quite often, we don’t have to make that choice. More recently, SDOT started planning around the NE 130th Station. Most of the riders will come from buses to the east and west via the 130th/Roosevelt/125 corridor. It is essential that the buses avoid congestion, and offer riders a fast connection to Link. But it is also a significant bike corridor. There are only a handful of crossings of I-5, and 130th is one of them. Between the station and 1st Avenue NE, there is no alternative but to travel along (or right next to) 130th. But west of 1st NE, there are two very good alternatives for bicyclists. North of 130th, riders could take Roosevelt to Meridian and then either stay on Roosevelt (to Aurora & 145th) or go west on 137th. South of 130th, there is 128th. This would require a new traffic light at 128th & Aurora, but it would completely replace the dreaded crossing of Aurora at 130th. It will prove very difficult to make 130th & Aurora safe, let alone pleasant for riders. There is a pedestrian overpass, but it doesn’t work for bikes. Everyone else has to deal with cars and trucks making turns from one major street to another. In contrast, while it would require some money to add a traffic light (and beg buttons) at 128th, it would be remarkably safe, similar to the excellent crossing at 92nd. Once riders crossed Aurora at 128th, they could easily connect to the aforementioned Interurban trail, or continue west toward Broadview. The result would be an excellent set of bike paths that serve both sides of 130th. Riders looking for a bike lane would be able to avoid having to go all the way north or south to 130th, while also avoiding the nasty crossing of Aurora. This is a great opportunity to create a system that is ideal for bikes and buses.
These opportunities are not everywhere. In many cases we have to make tough decisions as to whether to prioritize bikes or buses on a corridor that is important for both. But whenever possible, we should move bike lanes onto streets that don’t conflict with buses.
