Bus bulbs are going in at several RapidRide stops along the new C and D lines.
A bus bulb extends the sidewalk at a bus stop out into the parking lane of the street. The bus simply stops in the travel lane instead of pulling out of traffic and back in again after serving the stop. This makes bus service faster.
Yes, vehicles behind the bus have to wait while the bus pauses to pick up and/or drop off passengers. But traffic studies by the City of Seattle show minimal delays to traffic flow from bus bulbs. In Ballard along the D Line, morning peak-period congestion is expected to remain mostly unchanged at all 10 intersections between NW 85th Street and Leary Avenue NW since the morning peak-hour travel lane was converted to bus bulbs and parking.
Travel time is expected to be a bit longer for general-purpose vehicles, with a southbound increase of about 50 seconds during the morning peak between NW 85th Street and NW Market Street.
But travel times for buses are expected to improve by 1.5 to 2 minutes, depending on the time of day, along the same section of road. This benefit comes partly from the bus bulbs, and also partly from other transit priority improvements that have been made as part of the RapidRide program, including transit signal priority at each intersection with a traffic signal.
Bus bulbs have additional benefits, including increased parking and wider lanes for general-purpose travel. D Line bus bulbs on 15th Avenue NW between NW 80th Street and NW 67th Street will bring back 24-hour on-street parking, for an estimated net increase of 105 parking spaces in morning peak hours.
The outside travel lane will also be widened slightly, providing more room for the larger freight vehicles that use the corridor. In Ballard, D Line bus bulbs will create a southbound two-lane roadway at all hours, like the street profile on 15th Avenue NW between NW 65th Street and NW Market Street.
And stops with bus bulbs have more space for passenger amenities — like shelters, benches, and real-time bus arrival signs — and their added waiting space helps keep sidewalks clear for pedestrians.
I totally agree. I live near this intersection & I no longer shop/eat at Morgan Junction because of this hazordous situation. Drivers get mad & run red lights & block the intersection because they are tired of waiting light after light. Unacceptable!!
The one at California and Fauntleroy is ridiculous. Last week I sat through three (3) full traffic signal cycles because of the buses and cars piled into the space, and watched southbound cars cross into the northbound left turn lane, nearly causing head-on accidents. Whoever designed this new bus stop didn’t have their thinking cap on. Did they read the AASHTO manual? Transit still accounts for a small, subsidized percentage of traffic, so why do we forget to remember we need to accomodate the highest percentage of road users in this area, which is cars?
I wonder how safe this kind of “bulb stop” is for the handicapped, blind, and in/or using medical devices….saving a few minutes is not a service to those disabled!
Bus bulbs make it easier for disabled passengers to wait, board the bus, and in some places to cross the street safely (by shortening the crossing distance and slowing traffic). Buses can more easily stop curbside, so there’s less variation in the distance between the sidewalk and the bus, and waiting riders are more visible to approaching bus drivers. Also, a larger bus stop area provides an improved waiting environment, with more room to move around.
Which stops? Why couldn’t this have been done when the new shelters were put in?
Please tell me this isn’t going to mean we won’t have benches at 35th and Avalon northbound for an extended period again. Please not again.
Hi Norah, bulbs on C line are complete. They were built at the same time we did all the site work for the other passenger amenities. Bulb construction is underway at three D Line sites (on lower Queen Anne), again tied with other site construction.
Thanks!