Wesley Lin

RapidRide Corridor 3101 + 1028 (RapidRide B + 271)

August 9, 2024August 8, 2024 by Wesley Lin

A RapidRide B and Route 271 take off from Bellevue Transit Center. Photo by Bruce qu via the STB Flickr Pool.

With the full Link 2 Line across Lake Washington expected to open in the next year or two, King County Metro is considering how to best reroute the the roughly-parallel RapidRide B Line. A potential merger of Metro Route 271 and a portion of the B Line, also known as “RapidRide Candidate Corridor 3101 + 1028” was recently set as a Tier 2 priority RapidRide line connecting the U District, Downtown Bellevue, and Bellevue’s Crossroads neighborhood. The RapidRide B‘s current route (forming a backwards L between Redmond and Downtown Bellevue) would be split at the turn at Crossroads, with the other half eventually being connected to Metro Route 226.

RapidRide Corridor 1999 (RapidRide B + 226)

August 8, 2024August 8, 2024 by Wesley Lin

An electric battery bus serving Route 226 heads toward the Eastgate Park & Ride. Photo by Bruce qu via the STB Flickr Pool.

With the full Link 2 Line across Lake Washington expected to open in the next year or two, King County Metro is considering how to best reroute the the roughly-parallel RapidRide B Line. With RapidRide Candidate Corridor 1999, recently set as a Tier 3 priority line, King County Metro proposes a new north-south RapidRide between Redmond, Crossroads Bellevue, and South Bellevue. The current RapidRide B running an L would be split into a east-west and this north-south variant.

RapidRide Corridor 1012 (Route 44)

August 1, 2024August 1, 2024 by Wesley Lin

*A Route 44 bus heads east from Ballard. Photo by Bruce qu via the STB Flickr pool.*

This week is all RapidRide as we review the Candidate Corridors analyzed in Metro’s recently published RapidRide Prioritization Plan.

King County Metro Corridor 1012, a potential RapidRide conversion of Route 44 — traveling between Ballard, Wallingford, and UW — was recently set set as a Tier 2 priority corridor for future RapidRide expansion.

Conversion of Route 44 would build on upgrades included in SDOT’s recently-completed Transit-Plus Multimodal Corridor project, and include additional transit priority treatments in Ballard, Wallingford, and around UW.

RapidRide Corridor 1064B (Route 36)

July 30, 2024July 28, 2024 by Wesley Lin

*Metro Route 36 makes its way through Beacon Hill. Photo by SounderBruce.*

This week is all RapidRide as we review the Candidate Corridors analyzed in Metro’s recently published RapidRide Prioritization Plan.

King County Metro Corridor 1064B, a potential RapidRide conversion of Route 36 — traveling between Othello, Beacon Hill, Jackson Street, and Downtown Seattle — was recently set as a Tier 1 priority corridor for future RapidRide expansion. Metro also considered a northward route replacing much of Route 49, from Capitol Hill to the U-District, but ultimate prioritized focusing on Route 36.

The proposed conversion would add speed and reliability connecting South Seattle to the rest of the city. Metro’s primary recommendation for RapidRide-ization of the route is the construction of a moderate amount of BAT (business access and transit) lanes.

RapidRide Corridor 1993 (Route 40)

July 29, 2024July 28, 2024 by Wesley Lin

*Metro Route 40 crossing the Fremont Bridge. Photo from the STB Flickr pool.*

This week is all RapidRide as we review the Candidate Corridors analyzed in Metro’s recently published RapidRide Prioritization Plan.

King County Metro Corridor 1993, a potential RapidRide conversion of Route 40 — traveling between Northgate, Ballard, Fremont, SLU, and Downtown Seattle — was recently set as a Tier 2 priority corridor for future RapidRide expansion.

The proposed RapidRide conversion adds BAT (business access & transit) lanes, provides time savings, and extends it to First Hill. Originally proposed as a RapidRide Fremont in the 2015 Levy to Move Seattle, the line was delayed after a lack of funding. Metro’s RapidRide Prioritization Plan investigated minor alignment changes, and possible transit speed and reliability improvements for the route.

RapidRide Future and Prioritization

July 23, 2024July 22, 2024 by Wesley Lin

*A bus lane for RapidRide G, opening September 14. Photo by SDOT Photos.*

Following major cuts to RapidRide expansions due to budget constraints posed by the pandemic, the King County Council asked Metro in 2021 to, among other things, produce a “RapidRide prioritization plan” by the middle of this year. Metro published its plan on June 28, in which it chooses the next RapidRide lines to build as part of the “interim network” intended to be operational before the Ballard Link Extension is finished in 2039.

The 61-page document, summarized in a Metro staff report, assesses eight corridors identified in the 2021 Metro Connects Interim Plan using a prioritization framework weighted heavily for equity and environmental sustainability, but also considers travel time, ridership, cost, and feasibility. These new routes would continue expanding RapidRide into a grid-like network building on the seven lines operating today (A, B, C, D, E, F, and H) and the five lines already in on the way (G, I, J, K, and R).

Typical for RapidRide lines, the plan proposes transit speed improvements ranging from BAT (business access and transit) lanes to queue jumps to address existing travel time delays. However, the high cost of additional infrastructure upgrades and lack of funding limits Metro’s ability to implement more than three or four routes by 2039.