Survey: King County Metro seeks feedback on project vision for future RapidRide K Line

King County Metro is working to bring the new RapidRide K Line to the Eastside, delivering better, more reliable bus service to communities in Kirkland and Bellevue. Eastside workers, riders and residents can review the project vision via a new survey through Feb. 13 and learn more at upcoming meetings.

Metro is collecting public feedback on recommended projects to improve bus speed, reliability, pedestrian and bicycle access on the future RapidRide K Line. Online surveys are available in English, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Russian, Spanish, and Vietnamese.

Planned to launch as soon as 2030, the 16-mile RapidRide K Line service will connect the fast-growing communities between Totem Lake, downtown Kirkland, downtown Bellevue and the Eastgate Park-and-Ride. Metro has identified 22 speed and reliability investment areas, nine areas for projects to improve access to transit, and 35 transit station pairs along the route.

Once service begins, it will connect major transit services in the area, including Sound Transit’s Link light rail 2 Line, RapidRide B Line and Sound Transit’s future I-405 Stride Bus Rapid Transit. Service also will connect riders with many major employers in the medical, technology and aerospace industries, as well as several universities and other popular destinations.

Have A Say: Survey and open houses online, in person

Take our survey to share your opinions on the planned RapidRide K Line, or join a community conversation to get involved.

Open houses

Saturday, Jan. 18, 2025: 11 a.m. to noon, online open house. Spanish, Chinese (Mandarin), and Portuguese interpretation available.
Thursday, Jan. 23, 2025: 3:30 to 5 p.m., in-person meeting at the Bellevue Library, 1111 110^th Ave. N.E.
Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2025: 6:30 to 7:30 p.m., online open house. Spanish, Chinese (Mandarin), and Portuguese interpretation available.
Saturday, Feb. 8, 2025: 1:30 to 3 p.m., in-person meeting at Kirkland Library, 308 Kirkland Ave.

Virtual office hours

Ask a question on Tuesdays during our 30-minute online, weekly sessions.

Jan. 21, 2025, 12:30 to 1 p.m.
Jan. 28, 2025, 12:30 to 1 p.m.
Feb. 4, 2025, 12:30 to 1 p.m.
Feb. 11, 2025, 12:30 to 1 p.m.

Community feedback guides design recommendations

In summer 2024, Metro gathered community input to help make key route decisions for the RapidRide K Line. This feedback helped decide:

Routing choices in downtown Bellevue
Station locations in main areas
Areas of focus to improve path and walkways for transit, bike or pedestrians

Metro will use community input to help develop the Locally Preferred Alternative (LPA), the final step in the planning phase prior to pursuing approval at the King County Council, launching design work and pursuing grant funding.

Metro prioritizes improvements in areas that lead to transit on each RapidRide project. Community feedback received to date emphasized the ability to safely access RapidRide stations. This includes improvements to the various ways people get to transit service, whether on foot or with a mobility device. Access to transit investments were incorporated into the overall project based on a combination of community input, equity goals, partner input.

Metro has identified several types of improvements for this project, including transit priority lanes and signals that can reduce bus travel time to meet project goals. Transit priority projects are the most important element of RapidRide to provide fast, reliable and frequent service and to welcome more riders.

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