Metro completes study on possible transit improvements for Route 60

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King County Metro, in collaboration with the Seattle Department of Transportation, is exploring transit improvements for Route 60 to reduce bus travel times and improve reliability. Route 60—which runs from Capitol Hill to White Center— connects riders to jobs, schools, health care, essential services, and local businesses, which plays an important role in daily mobility for thousands of people.

Route 60 serves an average of 6,200 riders each weekday. About 70% of all Route 60 buses arrive on time, performing below Metro’s on-time performance goal of at least 80%.  This makes the route a candidate for investments to address delays and inconsistent travel times. The project team identified potential transit improvements that can provide faster, more reliable bus service. To understand how riders use this route and what types of improvements are most important to them, Metro focused on four main segments along the Route 60 corridor:

• Segment 1: East Mercer Street to South Weller Street (First Hill, Capitol Hill, Chinatown-International District).
• Segment 2: South Lander Street to South Albro Place (North Beacon Hill).
  • The portion of Route 60 between South Weller Street and South Lander Street was not included as part of this study. It was recently analyzed as part of a similar study for Route 36.
• Segment 3: Swift Avenue South to 16th Avenue South (Georgetown).
• Segment 4: East Marginal Way & 16th Avenue South (South Park, Westwood-Highland Park).

Between January 16 to February 20, 2026, Metro presented initial concepts and gathered feedback from riders, community organizations, and businesses along the corridor. Outreach focused on communities that rely most on Route 60, including people with low incomes, People of Color, immigrants, refugees, people with disabilities, and people with limited English proficiency. To make participation easier, Metro provided materials in six languages: Amharic, English, Simplified Chinese, Somali, Spanish, and Vietnamese.

Across all engagement activities, Metro heard from more than 930 people, including:

• 748 online survey participants.
• 30 riders reached by performing bus stop and neighborhood outreach (8 total bus stops).
• 97 small businesses during door-to-door visits.
• 5 briefings with community-based organizations.
• 2 briefings with Transit Operators on Route 60.
• Additional community members who shared input through direct email with Metro or informal conversations
• Metro Matters blog post viewed more than 1,600 times
• Email and text alerts to more than 8,000 subscribers
• Social media posts viewed over 400 times

Thank you to those who took the time to engage with our team on how to improve Route 60 service in their neighborhoods.

Key themes from the community

Feedback gathered throughout all engagement activities revealed several consistent themes across audiences. Below is an overview of the key themes that emerged from our findings. To learn in more detail about the outreach methods, community feedback, and key findings per outreach activity in more depth please see the full community engagement report.

• There is strong support for corridor studies to improve speed and reliability: People expressed a strong desire to make Route 60 faster and more reliable and expressed strong support for the specific concepts and approaches presented. People who responded to our survey voiced the strongest support for proposed improvements in Segment 1 (87%), where Route 60 has its highest ridership and lowest support in Segment 3 (71%).
• Riders want more bus priority lanes and intersection improvements: When asked to prioritize types of speed and reliability improvements, survey respondents’ highest priority was to add more bus lanes, followed by improving intersections to reduce delay. Support for bus lanes was also evident with key community groups and on specific survey questions about potential parking removal tradeoffs needed to implement bus lanes, though there were some strong concerns that certain bus lanes could create excessive traffic impacts and potential neighborhood parking problems.
• Reliability and frequency are top concerns: Participants generally value Route 60’s frequent service but noted inconsistencies in bus arrivals. Riders shared that delays and back-to-back arrivals make trip planning difficult, particularly during peak hours or evenings. Improving schedule reliability and maintaining even spacing between buses would enhance rider confidence and comfort.
• Safety is a concern on and off the bus: Safety concerns were raised consistently across all outreach methods and neighborhoods. Riders described feeling unsafe while waiting at stops and while riding, citing issues with lighting, pedestrian crossings, and behavior at stops and onboard. Businesses along the corridor echoed these concerns. Community organizations, particularly The Vera Project, emphasized the need for better-lit, welcoming stop environments that feel safe for young people travelling at night. Addressing safety conditions at stops is seen as essential to supporting both ridership and community confidence in the route.
• Multimodal Safety: Community members pointed out potential challenges and opportunities to improve road safety for all users. Respondents asked Metro to ensure transit improvements would be compatible with recently completed or planned bike lanes and multimodal paths. People also asked Metro to help address problematic intersections where collisions, near misses and excessive speeding occur.
• Buses and stops need upgrades: Maintaining clean and welcoming stops and buses emerged as an important factor in rider experience. Bus stop functionality is a priority, with the community wanting more shelters, seating, and real-time arrival information. Businesses also recognize the value of nearby bus service but stress the importance of safe, clean, and accessible stop areas, particularly for riders who are older adults and people with limited mobility.
• Environmental priorities and community-specific needs: Communities in South Park and the Duwamish Valley raised distinct concerns within their community. Community members and organizations highlighted the area’s history of environmental impacts and expressed strong support for zero-emission vehicles. Looking ahead, community leaders noted that South Park is growing, with more than 200 new housing units expected in the next three years, which will increase demand for frequent, reliable and emission-free service.
• Strengthening connections and communication: Through engagement events, participants emphasized the importance of reliable connections between Capitol Hill, First Hill, the Chinatown-International District, Beacon Hill, Georgetown, South Park, and Westwood Village. Some riders were not fully aware of how Route 60 links to major destinations. Increasing public awareness and reinforcing these connections could help riders better understand how Route 60 supports daily mobility across communities.
• Route 60 is essential for daily life: Route 60 is a vital transit lifeline for the communities it serves, connecting residents, workers, students, and businesses to key destinations and light rail stations. Engagement across Capitol Hill, First Hill, the Chinatown-International District, Beacon Hill, Georgetown, South Park, and Westwood Village demonstrated how transit reliability directly impacts access to essential services and daily stability for people. Businesses reported that many customers and employees rely on Route 60 or light rail to reach them, demonstrating the route’s economic importance. Many businesses believe improvements to Route 60 could increase ridership.

Planning study outcomes

The study identified and evaluated transit improvement concepts that could improve transit performance while considering a wide range of impacts such as traffic, safety, business and resident access needs, and other priorities identified through community engagement. The project team finalized the project improvements list, prepared concepts for 10% design, and developed a final report with recommendations.

The project team recommended a total of 26 concepts to advance into the design stage. In total, these improvements are estimated to save 3.5 to 6 minutes per trip during the PM peak. In addition to reducing average travel times, the recommended suite of improvements would improve travel time reliability. Currently, some trips during peak congestion experience major delays, which result in significant disruption and frustration to riders. These major disruptions often affect trips with the highest ridership. More reliable travel times results in better on-time performance and dependability for riders.

Recommended improvements include:

• Bus zone modifications, including creation of in-lane stops, relocations and closures
• Transit priority treatments, including business access and transit (BAT) lanes, transit signal priority (TSP), and queue jumps
• Roadway channelization to better define travel lanes for all users and improve on-street bicycle facilities
• Intersection control changes.

See the complete list and overview of the recommended Route 60 Improvements.

Next steps

The planning study recommendations will inform a future budget request for funding the design and delivery phases of this project, which are currently unfunded. Metro will regularly review the timeline for design and delivery of improvements contingent on funding availability and partnership opportunities.  Community engagement will continue in the next phase of design when funding becomes available.