4th of July Service Change-Ups

He should have taken light rail.

On Monday, we celebrate the 240th anniversary of the colonies' Brexit. Of course, forming a nation took a few years longer, but not as long as it has taken, and will continue to take, to build grade-separated high-capacity transit to Ballard, West Seattle, Everett, and Tacoma. There are those who think we should take even longer to build these lines, or rather, not build them.

This Monday will continue our celebration of freedom to get between downtown and North Seattle quickly for fun stuff like watching amazing pyrotechnic shows over Lake Union.

But it won't be a day we ride transit freely about the countryside, as many smaller transit agencies shut down for the day.

King County Metro will be on a Sunday schedule, will re-route some routes including 26 and 32 after the fireworks, will have 25 extra buses after the show, and is offering advice on how to get home. Along with the extra bus service, the South Lake Union Streetcar will run until midnight.

My advice is to enjoy the walk to UW Station if you need to head south, and let those who aren't up for the walk have space on the 32 and 44 buses. The last southbound train is scheduled to leave UW Station at 12:36 am. The last train to UW northbound leaves Airport Station at 12:04 am and Westlake Station at 12:42 am.

Light rail naysayers are going to have a hard time convincing people around the region that they have a better transit plan than Sound Transit does, now that this single line is transporting far more passengers every day than every other transit agency in the state besides Metro and Washington State Ferries, and will certainly be outperforming all the closed-down transit agencies Monday.

The list of which transit agencies are open, and which are closed, Sunday and Monday, is below the fold.