Better Bus Service to Pinehurst Station

Pinehurst Station is scheduled to open sometime in 2026. When it does, Metro will run buses to it from nearby neighborhoods like Lake City and Bitter Lake, saving riders a lot of time on trips that involve Link. As part of the Lynnwood Link restructure Metro has proposed the following:

Most of what is on that map has already been implemented. The only changes scheduled for the Pinehurst Station opening are:

• Route 72 - Will replace the 372 and go to Shoreline South/148th Station instead of Kenmore.
• Route 77 - New route between Bitter Lake, Lake City and the U-District, serving Pinehurst Station along the way.
• Route 522 - Will go to Shoreline South/148th Station instead of Roosevelt.

We can do better.

Poor Bus Stops for the 77

While the 72 and 522 are interesting, they are not the focus of this essay. The 77 is flawed for several reasons. It is basically two bus routes; one from Bitter Lake to Lake City, and the other from Lake City to the U-District. Both of these routes are fundamentally strong, but the combination is flawed. Not only do you get very little out of combining them, but the combination leads to very poor service in Lake City.

The two routes form a 7' shape (or acute angle) in Lake City. This means that the bus will be heading east for a while, then back (south)west. As Jarrett Walker explains, routes that are straighter are more effective. This route is not straight. As a result there will be plenty of combinations that just don't make sense. For example Bitter Lake to Roosevelt or Ingraham High School to the U-District. Riders will instead just take Link for part of the trip. The trips that do save some time (e. g. 15th & 125th to 20th & Lake City Way) are not as common.

Worse yet is what this means for the bus stops in Lake City. The routing is slightly different than what Metro originally proposed. SDOT will make improvements in the area which will allow the bus to make a straightforward set of turns like so:

(As with previous maps you can display it in full screen by selecting the box in the corner. ) Going either direction the bus needs to make two turns involving 30th. Bus stops will be added along 30th (close to Dick's Drive In). Unfortunately this means that it will serve very little of Lake City. Those headed to Roosevelt Station will have to walk further than they do today. Similarly those coming from Pinehurst Station will probably have a long walk at the end of their journey. According to the plan, this will be the only bus going to Pinehurst Station as well as only one bus going to Roosevelt Station (the two fastest ways to Link). Yet look at the actual bus stops (and walking distance) for the 77 each direction:

The map shows the area within a five minute walk of a 77 bus (as best as I can draw it). This will be the only way for riders to get to Pinehurst Station or directly to Roosevelt/U-District. I chose five minutes because it is roughly the same as 400 meters of walking (the point at which ridership typically drops off). As you can see there are a lot of people that have a long walk. For many people headed to Roosevelt it is worse than what exists now. One of the big reasons that Pinehurst Station was built was to serve the people in Lake City. Yet this fails miserably in doing that. There is a better option.

The 75, 76 and 77

Here is what I propose:

There are two layers on the map that can be selected. The first shows the proposed changes while the second shows several (but not all) of the existing routes.

To get an idea of the changes it helps to know the current network. The Metro 75 runs along 125th (just like the proposed 77). From the Northgate Transit Center it heads up 5th NE and then takes a right on 125th until it become Sand Point Way (eventually serving Sand Point, Children's Hospital, the U-Village and the UW). I propose that the 75 instead start at Bitter Lake (at Metro's proposed start of the 77). The 75 would then go along the 130th/Roosevelt/125th corridor until it resumed its current pathway. It would be the only bus on 125th.

To backfill service on 5th NE I propose a new bus, which I will call the 76. It would start at the Northgate Transit Center and follow the current pathway of the 75 up 5th NE. But instead of turning on 125th it would continue north, to 130th. It would then take a right (very close to the station) and loop around using Roosevelt Way and a small section of 125th before turning left on 5th NE (as the 75 does now). A bus stop would need to be added (most likely on 5th NE) to enable a short walk to Pinehurst Station.

The 77 would then be a much straighter bus. It would start at 130th & Lake City Way (where the 61 currently lays over). It would then go south to the U-District via Lake City Way. Coverage would be a lot better as a result. Here is a map showing the bus stops in Lake City served by each bus:

Like the other map you can enlarge it by selecting the box in the corner. It also has layers; this time they show the bus stops and walking distance depending on which bus a rider takes.

A lot more people have a short walk to a bus going to Pinehurst Station. A lot more people have a short walk to a bus headed to Roosevelt and the U-District. The buses are also more complementary. If you aren't that close to a bus headed to Pinehurst you are probably close to one headed to Roosevelt (or vice-versa). Thus a lot more people have easy access to the two fastest ways to get to Link. It is worth noting that a lot of the growth in Lake City has occurred east of Lake City Way. People from that part of Lake City would have a dramatically faster connection to Link under this plan than they do today (or they would under Metro's proposal).

Various combinations from the same bus stop would be better as well. Right now, the 65 and 75 share three bus stops along 125th (at Lake City Way, 33rd and 35th). Under the Metro plan, nothing would change at those bus stops. Both buses would provide a connection to Link, but not an especially fast one. The 65 connects to Link via 148th which isn't that bad but the 75 is a remarkably slow way to get to Northgate. But with this change the 75 would make the fastest connection from Lake City to Link - straight west on the main corridor. Riders who miss the 75 would have the 65 as a backup.

The same is true along Lake City Way. Right now riders can take a bus towards Roosevelt (the ST Express 522) or Northgate (the 61) by using the bus stop south of 130th or 125th. The combination is undoubtedly handy. Someone headed to Roosevelt can take the 522 to Roosevelt or the 61 to Northgate. But under the current plan the bus to Roosevelt wouldn't serve that stop (or the stop to the north). With my proposed change, it would. Riders simply switch from taking the 522 to the 77.

You also improve the trip combinations with this proposal as both routes are straighter. Unlike the 77, there are plenty of potential trips that involve just staying on the bus (e. g. Bitter Lake to Sand Point, Children's Hospital or U-Village).

Service Cost

One of the best parts about this proposal is that it would save money! You eliminate the overlap on 125th that would provide marginal benefit. This means you can run these buses (or other buses) more often.

Modifying the 5

For a relatively small amount of extra service, we can do even better. This is what that would look like:

Right now the Metro 5 goes up Greenwood Avenue and ends at Shoreline Community College. I propose instead that it turn on 130th and follow this same east-west corridor between Bitter Lake and Lake City. It could then take a left at Lake City Way (as the old 41 did) and layover at 130th & Lake City Way. Instead of the 75 ending at Bitter Lake, it would be extended to Shoreline Community College (using the current pathway of the 5).

This would double the service along the Bitter Lake/Pinehurst/Lake City corridor while also extending coverage in Lake City. Some riders would use the stop at 125th & Lake City Way (where the buses converge) or any of the stops west of there. Those further north might prefer a shorter walk to 130th & 35th or Lake City Way & 130th where they could catch the 5 to Pinehurst or the 77 to Roosevelt. A lot more people would have a lot faster trip to Link and a lot of them would have double the effective headways (i. e. buses running every 7 minutes in the middle of the day). For riders on the RapidRide E this would be an especially handy way to transfer to Link (for trips to the UW, Capitol Hill, etc.).

It would improve the network in other ways. There would be another option for getting from Shoreline Community College to Link as well as the first direct connection from the college to Lake City since the 330 ended. The 5 would connect Greenwood Avenue and Phinney Ridge to Pinehurst and Lake City. The Aurora corridor (with the very fast and frequent RapidRide E) would be connected to Greenwood Avenue and Phinney Ridge as well, eliminating some very long walks or awkward out-of-the-way transfers.

Yet it wouldn't cost that much money.

One potential way to save that money is to simply run the new 77 between Lake City and Roosevelt. It could easily do a live loop at 65th NE. This is less than ideal (I would much rather it continue to the U-District) but no different than what the 522 currently offers.

With relatively minor changes the buses in the north end of Seattle could be made much better than the current proposal. Please contact your county representative and let them know what you think. Contacting the city council is also an option.

Update: It turns out that the plan is to connect the 75 and 77. This makes the case for sending the 75 to Bitter Lake even stronger. The combination would be much shorter and simpler for drivers. Here is a map showing both options. As you can see, this proposal is not only significantly shorter but drivers don't have to remember which way to go while driving on NE 125th Street.

Note: Special thanks to retired planner Jack Whisner for the Metro 5 suggestion.

References: Ridership report for the 5, 75 and 522 routes.