Tag: King County

One of the most significant transit gaps in Seattle is on Boren Ave between Jackson Street and Denny Way. Boren Ave is aligned with the downtown grid and runs through the heart of First Hill. The avenue is unique as it is the only road connects South Lake Union (SLU), First Hill, and Little Saigon. The current transit network in the area is still focused on getting people to and from downtown Seattle. Over ten Metro and Sound Transit routes intersect Boren Ave, heading to and from downtown. A route along Boren would connect these many routes and provide a direct route between the International District, First Hill, and South Lake Union.

Running a bus on Boren is not a new idea. Today, peak hour express routes 193, 303, 322, and 630 have stops on Boren. This proposal is focused on adding an all-day, frequent bus route. Over the past 15 years, several STB posts have proposed rerouting a bus to Boren Ave, including Route 7 and Route 106. These proposals are still valid ideas; however, today’s route proposal focuses on a different route: Route 40.

While most people looking at the sky today are hoping to see fireworks, I prefer to look at overhead trolleybus wires. The map below outlines the location of all trolleybus wires in Seattle. This dataset was created by King County and last updated in 2018. While the map has not been updated in 7 years, it is still mostly up to date. The biggest change not reflected in the map is the removal of trolley wire from Madison St from the RapidRide G Line construction. The official map and dataset is available here.

Many of the trolley bus routes that run today are immediately identifiable. Looking past the wires that are used by today’s routes, the map shows two other types of overhead wire: deprecated route wire and what I’m calling “utility wire”.

King County Metro’s Route 44 travels inbound from Ballard to UW Station via Wallingford and the University District. Outbound trips travel in the reverse direction. In October 2024, Route 44 had 6,663 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.

King County Metro’s Route 40 travels inbound from Northgate Station to downtown Seattle via Crown Hill, Ballard, Fremont, and South Lake Union. Outbound trips travel in the reverse direction. In October 2024, Route 40 had 8,539 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.

King County Metro’s RapidRide H Line travels inbound from Burien to downtown Seattle, via White Center and Delridge. Outbound trips travel in the reverse direction. The H Line launched in March 2023, replacing Route 120. In October 2024, the H Line had 8,636 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.