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Friday Roundtable: Boren Ave Route Idea

August 1, 2025July 31, 2025 by Michael Smith

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.

Downtown Seattle Transit Map with Boren Ave Circled (Screenshot from Seattle Transit Map)

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.

Race the L8

July 12, 2025July 11, 2025 by Michael Smith

On Thursday, Fix the L8 hosted a race between people walking, rolling, and dancing vs a Route 8 bus. The race was on Denny Way from Dexter Ave to Stewart St. On paper, this should be an easy win for Route 8 as its schedule indicates a 7 minute trip along this segment. Walking is estimated to take 13 minutes. Regular readers of the Blog will be familiar with the severe reliability issues that Route 8 endures. Jason Li recently wrote a 3-part series on the route: Route 8 Bus Lanes, Redesigning Denny Way, and Long W8s.

While the race was scheduled to start at 5pm, we waited for some racers that were on a Route 8 bus from Capitol Hill that was running 30 minutes behind schedule. While we waited, I spoke with a few people to learn about their experience with the route. One person mentioned they recently bought a scooter as Route 8 was too unreliable for their commute. Another mentioned they moved from Capitol Hill to South Lake Union to avoid taking Route 8. After a few introductory words from organizers Nick Sattele and Jason Li, the race kicked off as Metro bus 8047 crossed Dexter Ave at 5:29pm.

Friday Roundtable: Metro Trolley Wire Map

July 4, 2025July 10, 2025 by Michael Smith

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”.

4th of July Transit Service

July 3, 2025July 2, 2025 by Michael Smith

Tomorrow is a Independence Day, so Puget Sound transit agencies are running reduced schedules. To help everyone travel to and from the celebrations throughout the region, some agencies are running extra service. The schedule changes are outlined below. Click on an agency’s name to view the official announcement.

Sound Transit

1 Line: Sunday schedule (every 10-15 min) with extra trips running until 2am. Between 2am and 3am, trips will only run on part of the route. View the official schedule for more details.
2 Line: Sunday schedule (every 10 min) with extra trips running until midnight.
ST Express: Sunday schedule
Sounder: No service
T Line: Sunday Schedule

King County Metro

Bus Routes: Sunday service with some reroutes planned in Bellevue, Bothell, Burien, Issaquah, Kent, Kirkland, West Seattle, and downtown Seattle. Check Metro’s service advisories to see impacted routes/trips.
Trailhead Direct: Trailhead Direct routes will run on Friday. Details of these routes are discussed in a previous post.
First Hill Streetcar: Regular service
South Lake Union Streetcar: Regular service with extended hours. The last streetcar to Lake Union Park will depart at 9:45 p.m. No streetcars will operate during the Lake Union fireworks display, 10:15pm to 10:45pm. After the fireworks display the last trip to downtown Seattle will leave Lake Union Park at about 11:15pm.
Water Taxi: Regular weekday service

Ridership Patterns for King County Metro Route 44

February 13, 2025February 12, 2025 by Michael Smith

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.

Average Weekday Ridership per Route 44 Trip: March 2024 to September 2024. “Inbound” is toward UW Station; “Outbound” is toward Ballard. Click the plot to view at full-resolution in a new tab.

Ridership Patterns for King County Metro Route 40

December 27, 2024December 26, 2024 by Michael Smith

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

Average Weekday Ridership per Route 40 Trip: March 2023 to March 2024. “Inbound” is toward downtown Seattle; “Outbound” is toward Northgate Station. Click the plot to view at full-resolution in a new tab.

Ridership Patterns for RapidRide H Line

December 17, 2024December 15, 2024 by Michael Smith

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

Average Weekday Ridership per H Line Trip: March 2023 to March 2024. “Inbound” is toward downtown Seattle; “Outbound” is toward Burien Transit Center. Click the plot to view at full-resolution in a new tab.

Busway for SeaTac Airport

November 30, 2024November 29, 2024 by Martin Pagel

To accommodate growing passenger and cargo levels, the Port of Seattle plans to build new terminal for SeaTac Airport with their Sustainable Airport Master Plan. In addition, Concourse C will be expanded with 4 additional levels. There’s a slew of other projects but this article will focus on the transportation aspects for passengers and travelers. While earlier plans had called for a new people mover, the latest plan will only build an elevated busway.

West Seattle Link Costs Keep Climbing

September 19, 2024September 19, 2024 by Nathan Dickey

*A rendering of the West Seattle Link Extension’s planned cable-stayed bridge over the Duwamish. (Sound Transit)*

Last week, Sound Transit released the Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) for the West Seattle Link Extension (WSLE) ahead of its scheduled publication date of September 20. Although there’s technically one more comment period allowed for the FEIS, the massive document and its findings present a detailed review of each of the potential alternative paths Link may take from SODO to West Seattle.

Although the FEIS is focused on a vast range of potential tangible and intangible impacts the project may have, left unstated are the potential impacts of the project costs significantly exceeding Sound Transit’s assumptions in their 2021 Realignment.

Reshaping Pigeon Point

August 16, 2024August 15, 2024 by Nathan Dickey

*The preferred route of the West Seattle Link Extension as presented to the Seattle Design Commission, by Sound Transit.*

On July 18, the Seattle Design Commission met with Sound Transit to review its proposed design (pdf) for the West Seattle Link Extension‘s high bridge over the Duwamish and its landing at Pigeon Point. Although the cable-stayed bridge might end up being the most visually impressive component of the project, Sound Transit also expects to radically reshape Pigeon Point during construction of the light rail extension.