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Week of Sept. 18, 2006
New bus routes, service changes begin Saturday
 King County Metro Transit is gearing up for a major service change starting Saturday, Sept. 23. This particular service change features many transit revisions in South King County, including a new bus route to employment areas around Sea-Tac International Airport.
Metro is revising its network of bus routes in South King County to make service to and from Seattle more efficient, create connections to other major work centers, and improve transit reliability in heavily congested corridors. This means new service, revised service, and some discontinued bus routes.
In other areas of the county, there are adjustments to routes serving several Eastside park-and-ride lots, and improved bus-ferry connections on Vashon Island. Details are available in new orange timetables.
Metro updates its routes and scheduling three times a year in February, June and September to improve service and keep up with the changing needs of transit passengers. Passengers should pick up a new orange timetable to see if there are any changes for the routes they regularly use. The overview in the “Special Rider Alert” brochure can also help you decide if there are new connections or service that would improve your travel options.
Here are the highlights of the upcoming service change:
New Route 161 – Kent to Seattle
Route 161 will provide peak-period commuter service between Kent East Hill, North Meridian Park, Glencarin, and downtown Seattle via the Tukwila Park-and-Ride. The new routing replaces portions of discontinued Routes 160 and 163, and will also stop at the Tukwila Sounder Station.
New Route 180 – Auburn to Burien via Sea-Tac International
Route 180 provides weekday-only service between Auburn and Burien via the airport during the expanded commute hours of 3 a.m. to 8 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. to meet the needs of shift workers in industries that require 24-hour operations. Outside of those hours, the Route 180 will operate between southeast Auburn, Auburn Station and Kent Station, replacing portions of routes 150 and 151.
 New DART 919
DART Route 919, which replaces discontinued routes 185 and 186, will operate between North Auburn and Southeast Auburn via the downtown Auburn Station, providing a combination of fixed route and Dial-A-Ride (DART) service.
Route 118 – Vashon Island
Routing will be revised to serve the social-service center on Vashon Highway. This more direct routing also improves travel times, so the schedule was adjusted to better match up with several ferry sailings.
Routes 152 & 915 – Enumclaw, Auburn & Seattle
Route 152 will be shortened to operate between Auburn Station and downtown Seattle, while Route 915 picks up the fixed-route service between Enumclaw and Auburn. Four morning and four afternoon trips on Route 915 trips will be scheduled to connect with Sounder trains at Auburn Station.
Route 216 – Sammamish to Seattle
Metro will add one morning and one afternoon trip on Route 216 serving the South Sammamish and Bear Creek park-and-ride lots. In addition, Sound Transit will extend two trips on the ST Express 554 in the evening to serve the South Sammamish Park-and-Ride.
 Routes 212, 218, 225, 229 – Bellevue & Issaquah to Seattle
Routing for Metro routes 212, 225, 229 and 218 will be revised in mid October when Sound Transit opens the new HOV ramps on Interstate 90 at Eastgate.
Issaquah Highlands Park-and-Ride
Metro's Issaquah Highlands Park-and-Ride will now have weekday service to Bellevue, the University District, and Northgate via ST Express 555 and 556.
Routes replaced with new and revised service
The following Metro routes will be discontinued: 151, 160, 163, 185, and 186.
Details of all these changes are included in a special Rider Alert brochure. The Rider Alerts and new orange timetables are available on buses and in Metro information racks. Transit customers trying to do some advance planning can visit Metro’s Online Trip Planner. Enter a travel date for Sept. 23 or later to find trips that reflect Metro's new and changed service.
Sometimes people need more than just bus service. That’s where Rideshare Services can help by providing resources for carpooling, vanpooling or vansharing. Carpooling and vanpooling match people traveling to common destinations. VanShare helps those who need to make a connection to or from bus service. You can VanShare from home and connect to your bus, or use VanShare from the bus stop or park-and-ride lot to complete a trip to work.
For information about all the services Metro provides, visit Metro Online or call Metro Rider Information at (206) 553-3000.
On Saturday, the University of Washington Huskies will host UCLA at 12:30 p.m. at Husky Stadium. The Huskies will be offering free Metro service to the stadium. In addition to regular bus service to and from campus, there is also special shuttle service between the stadium and eight park-and-ride lots: Shoreline; Northgate Transit Center; Houghton; Kingsgate; South Kirkland; Eastgate; South Renton; and Federal Way. On Sunday at 1 p.m., the Seahawks take on Eli Manning and the New York Giants. There will be special shuttles to Qwest Field from the following park-and-ride lots: Northgate, South Kirkland, Eastgate, Kent/James Street, and Federal Way/South 320th Street. The fare is $3 each way. See Metro Online for details on service to all the games.
Periodically, the Road Design and Construction Standards (road standards) for unincorporated King County are updated to reflect new road design and construction requirements and practices, and to comply with current storm water management, environmental policies, state and federal requirements, and the county's Comprehensive Plan. Last week, King County Executive Ron Sims transmitted a draft of the updated road standards to the Metropolitan King County Council. The county requires standardization of road design elements where necessary for consistency and to assure as much as possible that the public's motorized and non-motorized needs are met. Considerations include safety, convenience, aesthetic appearance, proper drainage, economical maintenance, and cultural and environmental resource protection. For more information, visit the road standards Web site. |
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“The Puyallup,” Western Washington’s largest fair [external link], is winding down for another scone-filled season and will close on Sunday, Sept. 24. But, there’s still time for one last Krusty Pup. There are a lot of transit options for getting to and from the fair – including connecting service on Metro for King County passengers who transfer to service in Pierce County for the final leg to the fairgrounds. To travel to the fair from King County using regular bus service, passengers will need to transfer from Metro Transit to service provided by Pierce Transit or Sound Transit. Use the Trip Planner with the destination of “Puyallup Fair” to find the most convenient connections to the fairgrounds. Pierce Transit and Sound Transit are also offering special shuttles to the fair from several locations, but King County residents will probably find the Tacoma Dome Station and Sumner Station the easiest to get to. Use the Trip Planner to help you figure out the best transit trip from points in King County to those two locations. See Metro Online for all the details on getting to the fair. |
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