It was great hearing from riders in West Seattle this morning! Four teams from Metro Transit met dozens of riders during the Tuesday morning commute.
Comments from riders – at the bus stops today, on this blog and through the survey – show we still have work to do to make the service run as smoothly as possible. Some of you think it’s gotten better since the start of RapidRide service, thanks to more buses added during peak commute times.
But, you still want buses to be less crowded, and for real-time arrival signs and OneBusAway to let you know when to show up at the bus stop or give you confidence that you can let a crowded bus pass by knowing the next one is just few minutes away.
It’s a work in progress as we troubleshoot these challenges. West Seattle continues to be a strong and growing transit market, and we want to make sure we are meeting the needs of riders. Keep the comments coming using our online questionnaire through Dec. 7. We plan to summarize the results and dig deeper into the concerns raised in the weeks ahead.
Agree with Patrick above. There is nothing rapid about the Orwellian named Rapid Ride. Just because you call it that does not make it so and kind of turns a reliable, albeit crowded commuting alternative into the butt of jokes. Frequent and reliable, yes. Rapid, no.
And please continue to work on the soul sucking overcrowding of this route at commute time or restore service to alternate routes at peak commute time. I don’t care which way you slice it; we’ll adjust. Just get more capacity at peak ride times.
Also, OK, RR has no published schedule. But can you at least get it up on One Bus Away so we have a clue?
Would have actually been worth while if there was actually someone from Metro at 35th & Avalon to speak with. No one was there at 6:30 until at least 6:38, when the bus I caught left. Who knows when they showed up, if at all. Your people that were supposed to be there at 6:30 must have been on one of your buses and late. And West Seattle can’t be all about the “C Line”. Your focus there as screwed up many other routes, for me, route 21 and their express runs specifically. I think you should rename the “Rapid Ride” “Frequent Ride” because until you have a dedicated bus lane all the way to downtown, as impractical as that may be, this line will not be Rapid. Heck, even Frequent might be stretching it a bit.