Transit agencies roll out spring service changes

King County Metro rolled out its spring service change last Saturday, with new green-striped schedule pamphlets.

Several routes' schedules were adjusted to better serve school bell times, including routes 48, 50, 106, 107, 128, and 269. Routes 106 and 107 will have a slightly different schedule on Wednesdays than the rest of the week.

Routes 302 and 303 were adjusted to better serve shift times for some First Hill employers.

Route 5 is getting several new trips on Sunday.

Route 7 is getting several new trips on weekday and Sunday evenings, to improve span of 15-minute headway.

Route 12 is getting several new trips on Saturday.

One clear loser is peak frequency on the Des Moines Community Shuttle, DART route 635, which connects the Des Moines Marina District and Des Moines Creek Business Park to Angle Lake Station. Peak frequency is dropping from every 15 minutes to every 30 minutes, but 30-minute headway lasts all day from ca. 6:00 to 6:00, Monday through Saturday. The route is funded in part through a partnership with the City of Des Moines.

The other clear loser is the South Lake Union Streetcar, which is dropping from 10-minute to 12-minute weekday headway, improving reliability, but removing timing with the 1 Line.

Sound Transit Express 522 (operated by Metro) will no longer serve Green Lake Park & Ride, and instead terminate at Roosevelt Station. Every route that served that freeway park & ride on 65th Ave NE under I-5 also serves the station.

Community Transit service reductions

Snohomish County Community Transit rolls out its service changes today.

All the service reductions are on weekday service, focused heavily on Northgate commuter routes. All the 800-series routes will have some trips cut. ST Express 511 (operated by CT) will have several trips cut, while ST Express 512 will see southbound afternoon service cut to 18-minute headway after noon, and northbound late morning service cut to 20-minute headway between 10:00 and noon. It is hard to blame Snohomish County commuters for favoring fewer-seat rides and work-from-home as the pandemic drags on.

Downtown commuter routes 412 and 435 will lose a greater share of their trips than other routes will.

The SWIFT Green Line will have all-day weekday frequency cut, from service every 10 minutes to service every 12 minutes.

Routes 112, 113,119, 120, 130, 196, 402, 410, 416, 417, 422, 435, and ST Express 510, 532, and 535 will also see some trips cut.

Pierce Transit is also rolling out minor service revisions today.

Everett Transit rolled out its service change a week ago.

Both Community and Pierce Transit have joined Sound Transit in ditching dead-tree schedule books, which is making it easier to make have service changes any time they are needed.

Addendum:

Sound Transit, which has its bus services operated by CT, PT, and Metro; its light rail service operated by Metro; and its Sounder service operated by BNSF Railroad, also rolled out its service changes over the weekend and today. The once-mighty ST Express 545 and 550 are now up to 10-minute peak headway. The opening of the 2 Line, scheduled for 2023, will roughly double staffing requirements for light rail, and, if there are enough operators by then, run every 8 minutes during peak.

Meanwhile, the S Line (South Sounder) will pick up two additional trips in each direction.

Schedules and maps, which shows a list of the actual route timetables and PDFs, was removed from the Ride with us menu sometime over the winter, but is still active and up-to-date, if you know where to look.