Dunn expands bus service to SE King County

The Metropolitan King County Council today passed its annual transit service change ordinance, in which it makes major additions and changes to the Metro transit system. King County Councilmember Reagan Dunn, who serves as Chair of the Regional Transit Committee, was able to add significant bus service for Southeast King County.

“Southeast King County is the fastest growing area in our region,” Dunn said. “We are desperate for more transit service and it’s finally coming.”

The annual service change will take effect in September and improve routes 143, 161, 915 and create a new route 157. These routes serve the communities of Renton, Kent, Covington, Maple Valley, Black Diamond, Enumclaw and unincorporated King County. The route changes include:

• New route 157: will operate between the Lake Meridian Park and Ride and downtown Seattle via the Glencarin neighborhood on the Kent east hill during peak commuting hours.
• Enhanced route 143: two new trips will operate in the mornings and one additional trip will operate in the afternoons.
• Revised route 161: this service will become faster and more direct with the elimination of a loop through the Glencarin neighborhood, improving total trip time by eight to 10 minutes.
• Improved route 915: new Saturday service will be operated between Enumclaw and Auburn and run every 90 minutes between 10 a.m. and 6:30 p.m.

These changes are part of the “Rapidly Developing Areas” service in the Transit Now plan adopted by voters in 2006. The plan called for 50,000 annual service hours to be implemented in areas of King County with rapid population growth and very little existing bus service. Over the next several years, the entire 50,000 hours of service will be implemented with several more improvements in Southeast King County.

“As Chair of the Regional Transit Committee, I am watching very closely to make sure that Metro delivers on the promises made to voters with the adoption of Transit Now,” Dunn said. “Many citizens in Southeast King County want to take the bus but they just don’t have any options. Now they have a few more.”

King County Councilmember Reagan Dunn represents District 9 including the cities of Bellevue, Black Diamond, Covington, Enumclaw, Kent, Maple Valley, Newcastle, and Renton.

Read more about this legislation on the King County Council’s LEGISEARCH system.
Type in “2008-0228”