To support the health of passengers, drivers, and community members, King County Metro has instituted new passenger limits to promote social distancing. Metro is also developing additional mobility options for customers taking essential trips.
To better help each person maintain six feet of separation from others as guided by Public Health – Seattle & King County, the optimal number of passengers is 12 on a 40-foot bus and 18 on a 60-foot bus.
If a bus is below the optimal number, drivers will allow passengers to board at a stop even if the total number of new passengers means the coach’s limit will be exceeded. However, in such a case, passengers may make their own decision to wait for the next bus if they are able.
The optimal number of passengers in the ADA priority seating area is one, which will be counted as part of the total number. However, if the ADA seating area is empty, a customer needing that space will be allowed to board.
Also, if the bus stops to allow passengers to exit, the driver will allow all intending customers to board even if doing so exceeds the optimal number.
When a bus reaches or exceeds the optimal number, the driver will pass subsequent bus stops unless current passengers wish to exit. Drivers may show their bus is at capacity by switching the external destination sign from the “Essential Trips Only” reminder, to “Coach is Full, Sorry.”
Bus drivers will stay in frequent contact with Metro’s Transit Control Center, alerting them if they reach capacity, if they have to pass up a stop where passengers wish to board, and when the number of passengers drops back below capacity.
During reduced schedule operation, customers are urged to please reserve transit for first-responders, medical personnel, other essential workers, and people who rely on Metro for access to food, medicine, and similar essential needs. Space is at a premium to preserve room to safely conduct essential trips.
Customers taking essential trips on transit should:
- Visit the Reduced Schedule page to ensure their route is operating;
- Check the Canceled Trips page and use Text for Departure to confirm the status of their specific trip; and
- Allow extra time in case their first-choice trip is already at capacity.
Customers with disabilities whose essential travel needs are not being met during Reduced Schedule can also use Metro’s Access Paratransit service—even if the customer is not a certified user and would not normally be eligible. Contact the Access Transportation Call Center at 206-205-5000 for assistance.
Metro apologizes in advance to customers who could be passed by at-capacity buses and other transit vehicles. Within the constraints of reduced schedule operation, a limited workforce, and social distancing guidance, Metro has assembled a task force to develop and implement more options for essential travel.
Metro Vanpool may be an option for essential workers. The requirements for participating in the Metro Vanpool program have been loosened to allow for social distancing and to support essential workers whose regular transit service is temporarily unavailable or unfeasible. Metro Vanpool is a commuter service that uses Metro vans for several people – such as coworkers, friends, or neighbors – with a similar origin or destination.
Until further notice, the minimum number of group members in an existing vanpool has been reduced from five to two for mini-vans, and from eight to three for larger vans, and a limited supply of vans has been designated for new, temporary vanpools for 2 or more essential workers. Those interested in forming a new vanpool can email vanpool@kingcounty.gov with “Emergency Vanpool Formation” in the subject line to get started or for more information. As of now, the process takes seven to ten days from application to approval, so interested essential workers are encouraged to begin the application process immediately.
Metro continues to monitor passenger counts to see how ridership is evolving and to ensure the transit system is best supporting essential travel.
Additional Resources
- King County Metro Transit
- Public Health
- Other King County services
Hey Metro – how about putting out reminders for the drivers – in huge print – about these passenger limits? I haven’t heard anything since about a year ago – we all need to hear it again, as do the riders!
The D line has been beyond 18 passenger capacity.
Well I am essential worker I was just waiting for the 150 in Kent. On W James St. Been waiting for 20min. Only one passenger on the bus. Bus driver didn’t look our way or even attempt to enter only transit lane ..I always catch the 4:34 pm bus. Very upset takes an hour as it is get to my job site.
We need MORE TRANSIT and MORE CAPACITY! Waiting for an hour or more on a busy route is simply unacceptable! And if there isn’t seating at a stop (which most do NOT have) then standing an hour or more on concrete is pure agony! None of us are just joy riding, we have to get to WORK or pick up NECESSITIES or GET HOME. To act like riding is a luxury is ableist and elitest. There are no other transportation options or we wouldn’t be on the bus during a pandemic. Remove wait times by increasing capacity OR putting far more buses out!
C line bus heading into town. Is still allowing more passengers on than they should. The bus is crowded at times and many maskless riders are still being let on. It’s sad that other passengers have to hop off the bus in order to feel safe!! If masks are a government mandate now I would think king county transit should make sure to enforce mask usage to keep everyone safe on the bus. And adhere to limiting the number of passengers on the bus to better allow social distancing.
Even though it is LAW in this state that everyone MUST wear a mask in public settings and enclosed areas, Metro believes they are exempt. Metro will not back the drivers or passengers in requiring passengers to wear masks PROPERLY or at all. They don’t want to offend anyone, which is crap. Some of us drivers will not proceed on our routes unless everyone is masked properly. Some don’t care, and some are afraid of their own shadows and think if they tell someone to pull up their masks, they risk getting assaulted! With the shields now in place, that is less likely to happen. I haven’t had trouble – I tell the problem riders they may leave the bus at the next stop if they can’t keep the mask on. You alll need to get on Metro about it – the masks – not on the drivers. They have fare enforcement officers that can enforce the mask wearing, but are only using them on a handful of routes. Speak up!
Though I try not to, I need to take the bus sometimes. People sometimes ignore the social distancing seating guidelines. I don’t expect the bus driver to enforce this (she has to drive after all and make decisions about capacity), but if people were required to wear masks, then it would be less risky. I have gotten off the bus a couple of times because of maskless riders sitting too close in undesignated spots.
They are going to be giving masks out in lots of places – why not transit?
I read the thread below and there were several complaints about the homeless joyriding because the fares are free. Like the #7? Has Metro addressed this? Could someone from Metro answer this PLEASE? Rob Gannon or Terry White are you reading these comments at all? Any direction needs to start at the top! Please ride the buses you oversee and get a sense of the #7 and what the public deals with every day.
Every morning Route 101 5:18am the bus was kot following the the nunber of commuters…driver should really aware if this social and physical distancing…please have a strict policy of number snof commuters for this route please
At this point, many of your riders are essential workers. I work at a hospital and transfer from Metro to Community Transit. With all the reductions, if I miss a Metro bus, I am waiting for an hour or more for my next connection. Also, it is getting uncomfortable waiting for a bus in a lonely spot. Please if the drivers see that they are missing riders, add another bus. Also, you need to monitor the homeless who are staying on the bus and not leaving.
I work at Swedish and have to be there at 7am, no tolerance for even being a few minutes late. I live in West Seattle, Admiral Junction. The combination of slashed service and bridge closure has been a nightmare. The water taxi schedule with no shuttle on the downtown side does not allow enough time for me to get up to first hill in time. I finally found a way to avoid the transfer at Alaska by boarding along Avalon. But the last three mornings the C line has passed me. I’ve taken the 21 instead and had to literally run up the hill to get to work on time. Driving is not an option and would require the 1st Ave bridge in any case. I can’t count on any bus service to get me to work on time unless I allow more than the hour and a half I’m already spending. Please add more buses! Something!
be thankful that you have a job to go to.
Thank you for saying this. Transportation to/from West Seattle has always been a nightmare. It’s great that routes between DT and North Seattle have improved, but it seems that the attention is always directed away from West Seattle/DT trips. There’s been plenty of times I’ve been severely late because the buses are overcrowded, etc., whereas friends in other parts of Seattle have never experienced these issues. This has been a problem before the stay-at-home order, so I imagine it’s now only exacerbated. Don’t mind the commentor telling you to be thankful you have a job – that wasn’t the point of your comment and nothing indicates that you aren’t thankful. I’m sure you are. Good luck, and I too hope the bus services changes soon. It’s wildly inconvenient.
https://www.king5.com/mobile/article/news/health/coronavirus/metro-transit-overcrowding-homelessness-social-distancing/281-51876927-9ea8-4b3d-a328-60ab8d598c88
Please, King County, start requiring passengers to wear masks, even if that means you need to hand out masks at bus stops. The best way to prevent spreading the virus is for everyone to keep their germs to themselves.
Thats a nice idea, but where exactly do you expect them to obtain (let alone replenish and maintain) this supply of masks?
As a healthcare worker that works in the lab, fsurg masks DO NOT PROTECT YOU. WE don’t wear them in the lab ever. A real quarenting requires a N85 or better, and the general public does not have access to them. It is a FALSE sense of security. The CDC website goes in to great detail about why surg masks were invented, and why they do not protect you. Cover your face when you cough, when you sneeze and wash your hands, don’t touch your face. We all learned this in Kindergarten.
King County, needs signage placed where you enter the bus, stating passengers are required to wear a mask and reminder announcements on the bus with all new King County requirements.
Is anyone actually enforcing the bus capacity limits? Today I got on the southbound route 36 bus at 3rd Ave/Pine St. (by Macy’s) at 3 PM. This bus was one of the 40′ trolleys with a 12 passenger limit. Six people got on at this stop (the first stop on the southbound route). When the bus made its second stop in front of Benaroya Hall, it was already at or very close to the capacity limit, yet the driver continued to pick up passengers and never turned on the “sorry, coach is full” sign.
I think Metro needs to have security staff monitoring the bus stops and riding on the buses to count passengers. I sit at the front of the bus (near the area taped off between the driver and the first rear door.) It’s hard for me to see how many people are getting on the bus when I’m sitting there, so I don’t see how the drivers can tell how many people are on the bus either because they’re behind a partition that blocks their view of the back of the bus. I think having someone riding the bus to count passengers would help with overcrowding.
Also, some busy routes such as the 7, 36, and 70 get so many passengers that unless you’re able to board at the first stop on the route, you run the risk of being left behind because the bus is already at capacity. I have yet to see any buses with the “sorry, coach is full” sign on no matter how many people are on it. Also, many of the people on the bus are homeless people joyriding just because the bus is free now.
I work at an essential business. Many of my coworkers who take the bus to work are also expressing the same complaints as the other posts on this thread. Metro, get a clue! People are angry because you’ve cut service so much, yet you’re letting homeless joyriders on the buses instead of people who are actually going to essential jobs!!
Have y’all gotten on the 7 recently? It’s literally filled with the homeless. In like every seat. So zero distancing. One guy today had thrown up on the seat next to him and passed out in it. But I still have to go to work!
An essential employee who isn’t too happy when the D Line flies by because there’s too many on board to stop. You KNOW the homeless are taking full advantage of no fares to ride buses all day long. Many of us workers have to transfer buses, and after a day’s work really don’t want to have to miss their connection because there’s too many upstanding citizens on the bus that flew by them. The drivers should know by now who the regular passengers are and be allowed to ask the homeless to get off the bus.
Wait, it’s Seattle, never mind…
Imagine being such a self-engrossed narcissist as to chastise your local metro transit service because a bus passed you by because it was too full with people you haven’t even met but have somehow determined to be less important/deserving of ridership than you are. How awful to be such a person. My condolences on your repellant personality.
If the maximum number of passengers per bus is being limited will you also be increasing the number of buses on these routes to help get people to work? As a healthcare worker I am seeing that this will affect how coworkers get to work and when they can get to work.
Have you also looked at “misting” disinfectant in the buses between trips so that you can lower the chance of transference of Covid between riders?
I’m all for social distancing but Metro needs to step up and increase frequency to meet these new standards.
I am a healthcare worker attempting to use public transportation s-a-f-e-l-y!!!!!
Unwashed, unsanitary, unsafe, b-u-m-s are consuming and contaminating most of the “safe” public transportation.
Remove them from the transportation immediately.
Not only is it ridiculous it is unsafe and counter to the “Be Safe” initiative.
The next thing we’ll see is they will release c-o-n-v-i-c-t-e-d criminals from prison for “safety”….oh wait…
Our “science” driven Governor is already doing that!
Absurd.
I work at a hospital. This makes no sense. Reducing trips and limiting the number of passengers per bus. Is this policy widely disseminated to the public?
I completely agree with all of the above. I catch the northbound route 70 bus at 5th Ave/S. Jackson St. at approximately 5:47 AM. Today the driver stopped picking up passengers before he got to the Ross Dress for Less stop at 3rd Ave./Union St. because he was close to the passenger limit. When he stopped at 9th Ave/Virginia St., 5 of the 13 passengers still on the bus got out at the urban rest center there. This is typical every weekday. Also, many of the homeless people I see getting off buses just loiter on the sidewalk instead of going to a specific destination.
With the new capacity limits, it’s going to be hard for truly essential riders to get on northbound route 70 trips unless they’re boarding near the start of the route. I think Metro needs to either activate the 3rd Ave. card readers, station monitors at the bus stops, or have security staff on the buses to keep homeless joyriders off the buses. Most essential workers either have a company ID badge with their name/photo or carry company letters stating their status as essential workers. Having security staff check ID would help keep homeless joyriders off the buses and make room for the truly essential workers who need the buses to go to work.
Also, I think Metro and Link need to increase service earlier in the morning. Many of the people riding early in the morning are blue collar workers who start before 7 AM and who have to punch a time clock rather than having flexible start times. Cutting service early in the morning just forces more people onto the remaining early buses because people end up having to leave home even earlier so they don’t run the risk of being late due to their previous bus being eliminated.
This is completely true. All essential employees either have a work ID or a letter stating that they are essential. Metro needs to have their security staff checking these IDs and STOP letting the homeless block the essentials from getting to their places of employment. It’s ridiculous that freeloaders who are filthy, smelly, and are going nowhere are allowed to ride, while the normally paying riders who need to get to work, pharmacies, groceries, doctors, can’t get where they are going.
Come on, Metro! You want SAFETY, SECURITY. KEEP COVID OFF THE BUSES – LET THE ESSENTIAL PEOPLE GET TO WORK!!!
I catch the light rail at pioneer station and ride to Angle Lake and it is always standing room only; how are you going to manage those when everyone returns to work?
When hired for any transit driver position with metro; mastery of verbal communication in a small enclosed space is the utmost sought after ability for promoting community relations with the public. 12 riders for the regular bus and 18 for the articulating buses, should not pose any problems for the transit driver when asking a homeless person to leave the bus. And if the transit driver’s verbal communication abilities are not up to standard; drivers are always in communication with their ‘home base’ and ‘bouncer help’ is always available to clear the bus!
Try clearing the area in front of each mall entrance with only a bulky two way radio and your body!
When hired for any transit driver position; mastery of verbal communication in a small enclosed space is the utmost sought after ability for promoting community relations with the public. 12 riders for the regular bus and 18 for the articulating buses, should not pose any problems for the transit driver when asking a homeless person to leave the bus. And if the transit driver’s verbal communication abilities are not up to standard; drivers are always in contact with their ‘home base’ and ‘bouncer help’ is always available to clear the bus!
Try clearing the area in front of each mall entrance with only a bulky two way radio and your body!
Bah
They have never allowed bus drivers to use their own judgement about passing by or refusing rides to “non-destinational riders.” Most drivers would prefer not to pass up workers and other legitimate passengers while the “non-destinational riders” kick back and use the bus as their free motel room.
Homeless taking up most of capacity, is there any way for them to regulate that issue?! It’s ridiculous.
I catch the 193 from Federal Way TC to First Hill at the 272nd street freeway stop at 533am which is the 2nd stop on that route. At that time there are never fewer than 20 people already on that bus. Does this mean I have to stand on a freeway offramp for at least another 30 minutes just hoping I’ll be permitted to catch the next one that will already have 20+ riders on it again? This is ridiculous! Reduce the buses and then penalize the people that still have to work by not even letting them on?! Complete garbage, Metro.
I’m trying to wrap my head around your thinking. You slashed the bus service, forcing more people on a bus. Now your going to drive by front line workers at a bus stop because of your social distancing standard is achieved when there are 5 homeless dudes on the bus. Super intelligent!!!
Completely agree with James above. Insane. I’m an essential worker and the #7 is going to pass me by because it’s filled with homeless?? The next two runs are cancelled so I’m supposed to hangout on Rainier ave for 30-40 minutes (very unsafe, shooting at Rainier and Genesee last night) in addition to missing all my transfer connections?
Great Job Metro!
Metro has promised to put security on the buses to keep the homeless off – bet you haven’t seen any yet, have you? If they kept their word, the numbers would work! Normal mumbo jumbo garbage talk to look good to the public! We all know better!