Earlier this year, we rode the routes and spoke with you, talked with you at the transit centers, and heard from you via our online survey. We appreciate the comments that we received from more than 700 Metro riders who gave us feedback on ideas we had for changes to routes in the I-90 corridor. We carefully reviewed your suggestions when developing the following final recommendations that are expected to move to the King County Council for their review and approval on April 18, 2013.
When evaluating each of seven peak period routes serving the corridor, we focused on ways to provide bus trips when and where they are needed most. Because of Metro’s constrained budget, we were limited to proposing improvements that did not incur additional costs.
Below is a summary of the proposed changes that would impact the routes along the I-90 corridor, beginning September 30, 2013. For additional information about the project, please refer to the project website.
Route 216, which currently serves North Issaquah and Sammamish, is proposed to serve the Issaquah Highlands Park-and-Ride. This routing change would improve route productivity and help alleviate overcrowding on Route 218, as well as avoid heavy traffic in North Issaquah. In addition, five morning and nine afternoon trips on Route 218 would be converted into a new Route 219. This new route would serve the same routing between Issaquah Highlands Park-and-Ride and downtown Seattle as Route 218, but would continue past Issaquah Highlands and serve destinations in Sammamish.
Route 215 is proposed to no longer stop at the Issaquah Transit Center, a move that would make the trip between North Bend/Snoqualmie and downtown Seattle about eight to ten minutes faster. Riders going to Issaquah would be able to take revised Route 209, which will offer three morning trips from North Bend/Snoqualmie to Issaquah and three afternoon trips from Issaquah to North Bend/Snoqualmie.
At the Issaquah Transit Center, more trips would be added to Route 214 to offset the loss of Route 215 and you may see slightly tweaked schedule times to provide more frequent service at the busiest times of the day. We also heard from people that the connection to downtown Issaquah on Route 214 is important to them. We are proposing to retain six morning and afternoon trips on Route 214 that would continue east into downtown Issaquah. In the initial outreach, we had presented a concept that included the complete elimination of all trips between downtown Issaquah and the Issaquah Transit Center.
Changes are also proposed to Eastgate Park-and-Ride and Freeway Station that alter how riders are served. We heard a strong preference to maintain service frequency at the lower level platform in the morning instead of focusing services at the freeway stop (which is accessible via the pedestrian walkway on level four of the Park-and-Ride facility). Given the feedback we received, we modified our original concept so Route 210 would join Route 212 in serving the loading platform within Eastgate park-and-Ride in the morning. In the afternoon, the revised Route 210 would serve the Freeway Station, which is a faster path. With the combination of routes 210 and 212, the number of trips serving the Eastgate Park-and-Ride loading platform in the morning would be the same as today. The proposal also includes a Route 216 stop at the Eastgate Freeway Station in both directions. Route 216 would stop eastbound in the afternoon to restore a direct connection to those traveling to destinations in Sammamish from Eastgate.
Route 211 is proposed to no longer stop at the South Bellevue Park-and-Ride to reduce travel times and make the route more attractive to Eastgate and Issaquah Highlands riders. Alternative service to downtown Seattle from South Bellevue Park-and-Ride is available on Sound Transit Regional Express Route 550. From downtown, Route 550 riders can reach First Hill on routes 2, 3, 4 or 12, or the First Hill streetcar that is scheduled to begin service early next year.
No changes are proposed to service at the Mercer Island Park and Ride. Routes 211 and 216 will continue to serve the Mercer Island Park-and-Ride.
While we are not able to address every concern that we heard during our outreach process, we have incorporated much of what we heard into our recommendations. Metro greatly appreciates your participation and values the opinions of our customers.
The King County Council will consider these recommended service changes and others along the I-90 corridor in April/May. If approved by the Council, the changes will take effect on Sept. 30, 2013. Riders who are signed up for route alerts will be notified of the King County Council’s meeting date. You can sign up at
http://metro.kingcounty.gov/signup/index.html.
Learn more | Contact us
• http://www.kingcounty.gov/HaveASay (I-90 Corridor Improvements)
• HaveASay@kingcounty.gov
• 206-263-9768
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It sounds like it will be very difficult to get from Fall City to Issaquah. Will we have to take an SVT bus to Snoqualmie or North Bend in order to catch a bus to Issaquah?