Beginning Friday, June 10, and until further notice, Route 62 will travel a new path on evenings and weekends when NOAA is closed.
This new routing creates a single consistent route along established transit corridors during nights and weekends. Night and weekend shuttles will not be needed because the route no longer will enter Magnuson Park, and this new routing will no longer be subject to changes when there are events at Magnuson Park.
During evenings and weekends, Route 62 heading toward Sand Point will travel instead via southbound 35th Avenue Northeast, eastbound Northeast 55th Street, southbound Princeton Avenue Northeast and eastbound Sand Point Way Northeast to its new terminal just north of Northeast 55th Street, serving all posted stops along the new routing.
Heading toward downtown Seattle, Route 62 will start at its new terminal, northbound on Sand Point Way Northeast just north of Northeast 55th Street, and continue on Sand Point Way Northeast, then on to its regular westbound routing on Northeast 65th Street.
- On weeknights, the first trip to Sand Point affected by this routing revision is the one that leaves Third Avenue and Union Street in downtown Seattle at 5:28 p.m.
- On weeknights, the first trip to downtown Seattle affected by this routing revision is the one that would normally be scheduled to leave Sand Point Way and Northeast 74th Street at 6:28 p.m.
All Route 62 trips scheduled to and from NOAA when NOAA is open are not affected and will serve their usual routing and stops.
I feel this revision unduly penalizes customers on the portion of the usual routing east of 35th Ave NE. Already disadvantaged by lack of evening service on Rt 71, they are now faced with up to ten blocks of additional walking, some of it impacted by terrain, beyond what they now contend with if they live north of NE 65th St and east of 35th NE. Granted, in my experience, there is not a lot of ridership on this portion of the route, but Metro had ample opportunity to understand the implications of NOAA and Magnuson Park closures and events before finalizing the original design of Rt 62.