(Crossposted with the SDOT Blog!)
UPDATE: Metro and the Seattle Department of Transportation are postponing the Route 40 drop-in sessions (previously scheduled for March 17, 18, & 19) until later this spring.
We’re continuing to follow guidance from our partners at Public Health – Seattle & King County (PHSKC), Washington State Department of Health (DOH), and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) regarding COVID-19. We’re working round-the-clock to ensure our communities and our workforce can stay safe and healthy while also ensuring that projects can move forward as planned.
We strongly value your feedback and are committed to finding ways to incorporate your input into the Route 40 corridor improvement process. We’re still planning online or in-person engagement opportunities later this spring and will be in touch as soon as possible with updates about how you can be involved.
King County and the City of Seattle are taking steps to protect the health of our community by making recommendations that are meant to slow the spread of novel coronavirus and reduce the number of people infected. Please learn more about COVID-19 at www.kingcounty.gov/covid, or follow our blog for updates.
With over 13,000 weekday riders, route 40 is in Metro’s Top 10 for ridership, carrying riders to some of the busiest parts of Seattle including South Lake Union, Fremont, Ballard and Aurora. Sometimes that means it runs late, and while it’s on time 65% of the time or more during rush hour, we’re tackling the challenge of improving reliability for riders.
That’s why Metro and the Seattle Department of Transportation are partnering on the Route 40 Transit-Plus Multimodal Corridor Project. We are in the early planning phase of the project and identifying how we can speed up and improve the reliability of the Route 40. Improvements would then be designed, with construction anticipated for completion in 2024.
To better understand where improvements should be made, Metro went straight to the source: Route 40 bus operators. Who else is better to provide in-depth insight on the Route 40 than the operators who drive this route at all hours, every day, and in all kinds of weather?
Metro staff rode the Route 40 corridor on a 60-foot bus with five experienced Route 40 operators. What did we hear? They shared the challenges they experience that make it difficult to stay on schedule and safely navigating buses through some of the most congested streets in the region. They also shared their ideas for improvement, topics like signal timing and curb locations.
Watch our video to see what we learned.
Now it’s your turn! We want you to tell us how we should make the Route 40 faster and more reliable.
There are many ways for you to share your ideas:
- Take our online survey about the Route 40! The survey will be open from Feb 24 – April 3.
- Visit the project webpage for the Route 40 Transit-Plus Multimodal Project. Have questions about the project? Contact Route40@seattle.gov or call 206-775-8731.
Transit-Plus Multimodal Corridor Projects: Routes 40 and 44
Metro is also partnering with the City of Seattle to improve the speed and reliability of the Route 44. on The Route 44 Transit-Plus Multimodal Corridor Project will implement changes to the Route 44 corridor to speed up and improve the route in 2023. The first phase of public outreach for this project was completed in fall 2019. Additional outreach opportunities will be held in 2020. You can read more on the Route 44 Transit project webpage.