We attended meetings of the Southwest District Council and the North Highline Community Council in the first few days of February to talk about proposed changes to bus service coming in September 2012. About 16 people attended the Southwest District Council meeting and 29 attended the North Highline Community Council meeting. Here’s a brief summary of the main themes we heard:
Yes, please:
- 15 min. all-day service on Delridge and 7 min. all-day service on California Ave SW. As one person said, “That’s pretty good!”
- More options for getting to/from the Sea-Tac airport from West Seattle via light rail.
No, thanks:
- Loss of weekend service to South Seattle Community College in the revised proposal related to Route 125.
- A Delridge neighbor was looking forward to the changes on the routes 128 and 120 and the new route 40 as proposed in November, but now feels like the Delridge neighborhood is losing out to maintain existing West Seattle service that would serve fewer riders.
- Additional travel time added for White Center residents taking routes 120 or 60 if those routes serve Westwood Village.
- White Center residents would still have to pay a 2-zone fare when they take the bus to Westwood Village.
- Some Arbor Heights residents would still have a long way to walk to get to the proposed new routing of route 22.
Suggestions:
- South Seattle Community College could work with Metro to open their gate on Saturdays and have the proposed more-frequent service of the 128 serve the college bus stop.
- Improve the transfer point at the Luna Park/Avalon stop under the West Seattle Freeway.
- Get funding for a Park-and-Ride at Westwood Village.
- Extend the RapidRide Line C to serve White Center
- Move the fare zone line south of White Center-or do away with zone fares all together.
What’s next?
There were many questions that came up and we’ll do our best to respond here in more depth to frequently asked questions over the next several weeks. You can continue this conversation with your fellow community members:
- In person, by attending an upcoming open house, presentation, or info table. Check our “Have a Say” calendar for a schedule.
- Online, by commenting on this post with anything we missed.
Don’t forget to make your opinions about these proposed changes known to Metro and the King County Council by completing our online survey.
I really don’t understand what Metro is talking about in re-routing bus 123 mainly in comments that the ridership is down during non-peak times. This bus does NOT run during non-peak times. I ride this bus and most persons on the bus get off on 4th Avenue in the Georgetown area. Taking bus 131 or 132 to this area would take apx. and additional hour of commute time. Changing the 123 to the same route as 121 & 122 why even have a route 123 in that case. Not everybody lives in West Seattle and Ballard so why accomadate a few to unaccomadate a majority. It’s not just route 123 your changing the route of others that go to Highline Community College area and leaving some commuters stranded. Go figure.