Work Resumes on RapidRide R

Metro Route 7 gets a taste of RapidRide styling. Photo by Zack Heistand.

Metro's presentation of its new RapidRide Prioritization Plan revealed plans to resume work on RapidRide K and R. The Urbanist pointed out that King County Metro Route 7 was originally supposed to be replaced with RapidRide R by 2021 in the Levy to Move Seattle, but the project was delayed to 2024 and eventually put on hold due to budget issues. Now, the line will resume planning work next year, with opening targeted for 2031.

RapidRide 7 Project Corridor, from Metro's RapidRide Prioritization Plan.

RapidRide R represents a major upgrade to Metro's Route 7 that can't come soon enough. With over 10,000 daily boardings (and growing) the 7 is the one of Seattle's most important lines. During the pandemic its ridership didn't drop nearly as much as other lines, and it has since almost recovered to the 2019 level.

Average weekday boardings on Route 7 from 2019 through today.

While the delay has been frustrating, SDOT has continued to improve the corridor by adding dedicated bus lanes and other improvements. Now that the RapidRide design and planning has restarted, it will be interesting to see what additional changes will be proposed and how this will impact travel time and ridership.

Although RapidRide R would mostly follow Metro's Route 7, some stops would get consolidated. The terminus would change from the current Prentice loop to the Rainier Beach Station of the Link 1 Line, a change which STB proposed in 2014 but is has been contentious recently.

What else should Metro and SDOT consider when they finalize their plans? Since feedback was last given in 2018, what new developments warrant Metro's attention?