March Service Changes
King County Metro, Sound Transit, and Community Transit start their semi-annual service changes today, Saturday March 30. Pierce Transit's changes start tomorrow, Sunday March 31. Stephen Fesler at The Urbanist has a detailed list of the changes. The agencies have their own lists, linked at the beginning of each section. I won't repeat all the details but instead focus on higher-level trends.
King County MetroMetro changes start Saturday, March 30.
Seattle is reallocating its Seattle Transit Measure (STM) levy investment to different routes to better match the city's goals. The winners are RapidRide H (several trips), 21 (1 trip), and 28 (several trips). The losers are the 5 (1 evening trip), 10 (4 evening trips), and 56 (4 trips). As a result, the 10 will be half-hourly after 7pm, as it was before 2016.
Changes unrelated to the levy:
The Eastside has one route change: route 221 is moved to Overlake Village Station to prepare for the 2 Line light rail in April (see below). The 221 is a coverage route serving 164th in Bellevue, 148th in Redmond, Bellevue College, downtown Redmond, and Education Hill.
Routes 45, 73, 118, and 119 have schedule adjustments due to higher off-peak ridership. Route 57 is adjusted so that the 56 and 57 can provide alternating 20-minute service after the loss of some 56 trips. Coverage routes 631 (Burien) and 931 (Kent) have several trips restored.
The Seattle Transit Measure levy was passed in 2015 to provide additional bus frequency in Seattle beyond Metro's county-funded base level. It was renewed in 2020 at a lower level, and will expire in 2027 unless renewed again. There's a 2022 performance report on it. There's talk at the county level about a countywide levy to replace it and implement Metro's long-term expansion plan, but so far nothing concrete has emerged.
The changes in the STM's priorities are also reflected in the RapidRide G restructure coming this fall. Routes 10, 11, and 12 will have less service; routes 49, 60, and 125 will have more service. To quickly summarize the G restructure, Routes 10 and 12 will move to Pine Street, alternating for 10-15 minute service to 15th. Route 11 will move to Olive/John to backfill the 10. The 8 and 11 will thus overlap between MLK and Summit Avenue. The route 3 downtown only" extra runs will be extended to Summit, replacing the 47 service that was suspended in 2020. The net result will be more frequency on Pike-Pine, but less frequency on 15th, 19th, and Olive/John. These changes are not happening now: they'll happen in the fall if the G restructure is approved by the county council.
Sound TransitSound Transit changes start Saturday, March 30. The Link 1 Line light rail has several reductions:
- Evenings between 8 and 10 pm it now runs every 12 minutes instead of 10 minutes. This adjustment will accommodate testing and certification work related to our upcoming Lynnwood Link Extension" in the fall.
- Some runs have 3-car trains instead of 4-car trains. This started a while ago, so don't wait at the very back end of the platform, because if a 3-car train comes you may have to run forward to reach its back end.
- All northbound night trips after 12:15am will terminate at Beacon Hill Station. ST has a blog post explaining how to continue north on Metro buses and why the change is occurring.
Several ST Express routes in Pierce County and Federal Way are reduced. The 577, 578, 590, and 594 have some trips suspended. The 590 is truncated at Tacoma Dome and no longer serves downtown Tacoma. The 580 is suspended. These are due to a driver shortage at Pierce Transit, which operates those routes.
Snohomish County ST Express have schedule adjustments to make service more reliable. This affects the 510, 512, and 513 to Seattle, and the 532 and 535 to Bellevue.
On April 27th, the Line 2 Starter Line light rail will launch. It will run from South Bellevue Station to Redmond Technology Station every 10 minutes from 5:30am to 9:30pm. [Correction: An earlier version of this article incorrectly said every 15 minutes.]
Community TransitCommunity Transit changes start Saturday, March 30. There's an index to CT blog posts about them.
The Swift Orange Line BRT starts Saturday. It connects Edmonds College, Lynnwood Station, Alderwood Mall, Ash Way P&R, Mill Creek, and McCollum Park P&R. It runs every 10 minutes weekdays and every 20 minutes evenings and weekends. Orange-Green transfers are at three stations in Mill Creek. Orange-Blue transfers are at 196th & Highway 99. Orange-512 transfers are at Lynnwood or Ash Way. Tips for using the Orange Line. The northern terminus is adjacent to McCollum Park, which has forest trails, an athletic field, and a swimming pool.
To complement the Orange Line, new routes 102, 114, and 166 are created. Routes 115, 116, and 196 are deleted.
Route 202 is moved in northern Marysville between 152nd and 172nd Streets NE. It now remains on 51st Ave NE to serve the Amazon fulfillment center at the Arlingtion airport industrial district. It then turns west on 172nd to Smokey Point Transit Center.
Pierce TransitPierce Transit changes start Sunday, March 31 (one day later than the others).
The Stream Community Line is a peak express on Pacific Avenue between the future Spanaway Transit Center (south of Walmart) and Tacoma Dome Station. It runs every 20 minutes peak hours and makes 14 stops. This is an interim step toward Stream BRT, a planned all-day service that's deferred.
Routes 13, 63, 409, and 425 are replaced by expanded Runner service areas. Runner is smartphone-summoned taxis similar to Metro Flex. If you don't have a smartphone you can call a phone number to book a ride. The Puyallup South Hill, Spanaway, and Gig Harbor districts operate 7am-10pm daily. Ruston and Tideflats start earlier at 5:30am weekdays, but are the same on weekends. JBLM is peak only and has special limitations due to the military base. The fare is the same as PT buses, and they accept ORCA transfers. Runner's website says, We are experiencing high demand with our Runner service. Due to this, we are adding more vehicles to zones. We appreciate your patience."
OthersKitsap Transit will make its changes in June. Everett Transits last change was in June, and it doesn't appear to have future changes online.
Musical interlude: Some darkwave/goth music to celebrate/lament the changes with: 1, 2.