RapidRide passes federal muster for Fall 2024 opening

A RapidRide bus at Bellevue Transit Center Image: Oran Viriyincy

SDOT's proposed RapidRide G line will now open in 2024 after SDOT and the Federal Transit Administration have agreed that the agency has the chops to complete the project. FTA had raised concerns in February about staffing issues and other timeline aspects of the 2-mile BRT line, first conceived in 2011. Those concerns threatened the project's federal funding as part of the Small Starts grant program.

A project management oversight contractor" was brought in to help correct some of the outstanding issues in SDOT's original application. The extended timeline includes more contingency and clarity about the org chart and the balance of responsibilities between SDOT and Metro.

The contractor has also provided a set of recommendations that are not blockers for the current small starts grant but are interesting to consider and examine. It's like having a federally funded transit blogger:

Provide justification for the use of left-side platforms on this route, which requires a unique sub-fleet of buses, beyond simply stating that The left side doors will be used to serve island platforms located in the center of the Madison Street BRT running." References should be made to documents that describe other options that were considered, as well as the alternatives analysis evaluation process utilized.

Reconsider the statement in the draft FMP that an unspecified number of the five-door buses may have their two left-side doors removed if their use on MBRT is not required, since it would seem to be an unnecessary expense that would preclude those buses from ever being used on MBRT if the future need should arise.

A great question! The custom bus fleet has been a concern of ours as well. There are no easy answers here, since the current route veers between running in the median and running curbside. (First Hill advocates argued for the unique center-running section, which makes for great BRT, but is challenging if only partially implemented). But it ought to make SDOT and Metro stop and think if they really ought to make this route such a special snowflake without bringing the rest of RapidRide up to similar standards.

Explain why the non-revenue mileage appears to be high. The draft FMP states that the MBRT bus sub-fleet will operate 1,725 deadhead and other non-revenue miles per week, which is 26% of the total of 6,625 weekly miles.

That's quite of non-revenue miles for a short, center-city route. Leave your explanations in the comments and maybe the FTA will refer to them down the road.

Update 8/20: SDOT's Ethan Bergerson responds via email with a note about the left-side doors:

Center-running buses with boarding platforms on both sides was originally addressed in the development of the locally preferred alternative in 2015. Left-sided boarding is necessary to build the bus-only lane in First Hill and over I-5 which does not conflict with right-turn movements. This decision was based primarily on operational analysis showing that center transit lanes would facilitate 40% faster and more reliable service by separating buses from lanes with right-turn movements. Center transit lanes not only lead to more reliable service, they also help make more room for pedestrians in areas with narrow streets or sidewalks.

No doubt the center-running lanes are better. It would have been great to have them for the whole route (and a few other RR routes as well).