Week of Jan. 29, 2007

Metro set to roll out first of ‘Transit Now’ bus service

Route 174 travels through downtown Seattle.

The “Transit Now” sales-tax increase passed at the polls in November, and will allow Metro to increase bus service in King County by up to 20 percent over the next 10 years. The first Transit Now funded improvements are included in Metro’s February service change, and adds more frequent service on nine heavily used routes.

“With the passage of Transit Now, some of the first things we wanted to address was overcrowding on popular routes and adding more service during the midday periods and weekends,” said Metro General Manager Kevin Desmond. “We wanted to move quickly to add this service, even before Metro begins collecting the additional one-tenth of one percent sales tax in June.”

Once the sales tax revenues are available, Metro will proceed with plans to purchase more buses for additional regular route improvements, and also continue to develop plans for bus rapid transit service dubbed “RapidRide” in five key corridors.

It all kicks off with 14,700 hours of more bus service in February, which includes:

Route 8 – Adding several trips during the morning and afternoon commute to offer bus service every 15 minutes on the portion of this route between Seattle Center and Capitol Hill;
Route 44 – Adding early evening service on weekdays to achieve a 15-minute frequency for Ballard, Wallingford and the University District;
Route 101 – Adding three trips to relieve overcrowding and provide better connections at the Renton Transit Center and South Renton Park-and-Ride;
Route 120 – Doubling the amount of Saturday service to every 15 minutes from 9:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. between Seattle, White Center and Burien;
Route 140 – Doubling midday weekday service to every 15 minutes on this route serving Burien, SeaTac, Tukwila and Renton;
Route 194 – Adding two early morning trips on Saturdays and Sundays between downtown Seattle and Sea-Tac International Airport to better serve airport workers and travelers with early flights;
Route 234 – Adding evening service on this route serving Kenmore, Juanita, Kirkland and Bellevue;
Route 245 – Doubling Sunday service to every 30 minutes on this route serving Kirkland, Rose Hill, Overlake, Crossroads, Eastgate, and Factoria; and
Route 271 – Adding trips between the University of Washington campus and Eastgate to increase afternoon service to a 15-minute frequency.

In addition to the Transit Now funded improvements, Metro is also making other adjustments to bus schedules as part of the February service change. Metro updates its routes and scheduling three times a year to improve service and keep up with the changing needs of transit passengers. Here is an overview of other key changes:

• Route 111 will have one new afternoon trip from Seattle to Renton;
• Metro has revised schedules to improve connections at the Kent Station/Transit Center for routes 150, 164, 166, 168, 169 and 180;
• One additional morning trip and one new afternoon trip will be added to both the Route 218 (Issaquah Highlands to Seattle) and the Route 269 (Issaquah, Sammamish, Redmond, Overlake);
• There is new routing for the Route 230 between the Kirkland Transit Center and Carillon Point to serve State Street and Lakeview Drive; and
• There will be new temporary bus stops near the Redmond Park-and-Ride for passengers who ride routes: 220, 230, 232, 249, 250, 251, 253, 254, 265, 266, 291, 922 and 929. Most of these routes will serve new stops located on 161st Avenue Northeast – just north and west of the park-and-ride. Two routes – 230 and 232 – will stop near the Redmond Library at Northeast 85th Street and 160th Avenue Northeast. These changes are being made to accommodate the upcoming construction of transit improvements at the park-and-ride; and
• Sometime in the next few months, buses in the Totem Lake and Kingsgate areas north of Kirkland will be routed to use the new Interstate 405 center ramps and overpass at Northeast 128th Street. Watch for Rider Alerts in this area to stay updated on the construction. The new routing will eventually affect Metro routes: 230, 237, 238, 252, 255, 257, 277, 291, 311, 342, 630, 644, 935 and 952.

All of these changes are detailed in the Special Rider Alert brochure available this week on buses and in Metro information racks. New purple timetables will also be available this week, and online information should be ready in Metro’s Online Trip Planner by Feb. 2. Enter a travel date for Feb. 10 or later to find trips that reflect Metro's changed service.

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