Yesterday afternoon the King County Council unanimously adopted the September Service Change Ordinance with one amendment. The amendment gives the Seattle Department of Transportation time to decide whether to allow an increase in the number of buses per hour on the Route 4 “tail” to 16 trips per hour. The increase is needed to combine routes 3 and 4 (north part) into a single pattern. If approval is not forthcoming, Route 3 will stay the same as it is today.
The arrival of two new RapidRide lines is part of a service package that includes 48 changes throughout the transit system all starting Sept. 29. The RapidRide C Line will run between West Seattle to downtown Seattle on Fauntleroy Way SW and California Avenue SW. The D Line will run between downtown Seattle and Ballard along 15th Avenue NW.
These service changes are the culmination of a public process that included public meetings hosted by the Council and Metro Transit. Metro received more than 10,000 public comments, and made several changes in response:
- Route 156 will serve the temporary home of Aviation High School and the Highline School District’s Home Schooling Resource Center.
- Route 125 will continue to have Saturday service to address South Seattle Community College needs.
- New Route 50 will now serve the VA Medical Center drive on Beacon Hill and connect North Delridge to the Alaska Junction.
- Route 24, originally slated to stop running along Viewmont Avenue in Magnolia, will continue to serve that area.
- Route 2 will continue to connect the Central Area, downtown Seattle, and Queen Anne rather than being split as originally proposed.
Visit King County Metro’s Have a Say website to see details of approved changes for all routes. Read the Council’s news release.
Please consider getting rid of #28 on N. 143rd. There’s never anyone at the stop, and the stop seems to be useless, except to bring noise pollution and sketchy characters into the neighborhood. The #304 and the #358 do a fine job of that already.
As a Metro operator I am confused as to why you need 16 trips per hour on the tail of the route 4. The only part of the route 4 that would require so many trips is between Harborview Medical Center and 3rd St and James St. The 3 and the 4 will still run by Harborview and can be staggered just as they are now. Neither the Judkins Park or Nob Hill part of the route 4 have more than a couple passengers and usually nobody.