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| Detail from map of proposed bus routes from Metro |
As Sound Transit extends Link light rail north to five new stations in coming years, King County Metro is working to improve public transportation for communities in northwest King County and southwest Snohomish County.
Working in collaboration with Sound Transit, Community Transit, and other partners, Metro is developing potential bus route improvements to meet residents’ priority transportation needs as new light rail stations open in 2024.
“With Link light rail’s five new stations under construction from Northgate to Lynnwood, we’re delivering on our vision to build a world-class regional transit network connecting millions more people with reliable, carbon-free transportation,” said King County Executive Dow Constantine, who also serves as Sound Transit Board Chair.
“The mobility needs of our communities are a top priority and have shaped the initial planning. Now, we are seeking public guidance to ensure the voices of our riders are heard as we expand and improve Metro bus service to connect to our newest light rail stations.”
We invite you to learn more and take our survey on these proposed bus routes by March 10.
What we’ve heard so far
When we surveyed the communities around the coming north King and South Snohomish County stations in 2022, we heard it’s currently difficult to travel east-west across this area, and improving these options is important. People also told us they value more all-day bus service instead of peak-only service, and that longer travel time is a barrier to more transit usage.
Other community priorities included
- Transferring between modes should be convenient, accessible and reliable.
- Night owl service is important for those traveling later in the evening.
- There are destinations and neighborhoods in the area that don’t currently have transit service.
Based on what we heard from the public and our partners in our first round of engagement, we are proposing bus route changes to
- Create new east-west connections to light rail and community destinations.
- Provide more all-day service instead of peak-only service.
- Add additional service on nights and weekends.
These proposed route changes incorporate feedback from our first survey, conversations with community-based organizations, and in-depth review and input from our community board and key partners, including other transit agencies.
Visit our Lynnwood Link project page to review each route in detail.
We’ll use your feedback on these potential routes to create a final bus service proposal for community review later this year.
At the present time, there are two bus routes serving North 200th Street between Aurora Ave N and NW 3rd and the Hillwood neighborhood of Shoreline (routes 301 and 331). With the proposed changes, there will be zero bus routes serving that section of North 200th Street and the Hillwood neighborhood. In addition, with the proposed change, the 333 and 336 will duplicate each other along Aurora Ave N, between N 185th and N200th. I suggest that the 333 should follow the 331's current route from Shoreline Community College to Aurora Village. This would maintain service to the Hillwood neighborhood and eliminate some of the duplication between proposed routes 333 and 336.
ReplyDeletePlease share this in the survey.
ReplyDeleteI am now driving to work as 347 and 348 are cancelled so often I can't take them to Northgate to catch the light rail. Even with higher gas prices it's cheaper for me to drive to downtown than pay to park at Northgate. (it doesn't matter where the route is if the bus doesn't run. is it staffing problems? mechanical? who knows? its been going on for months)
ReplyDeleteI agree on this matter because I can tell you right now what's going to end up happening is that they start canceling routes on the 347 and 348 you are going to start seeing people using an Uber or a Lyft to get to where they need to go. Because most of us do not drive at all! Take me for instance I'm legally blind, and I can tell you right now that if they replace the 347 with another bus route? That's going to confuse the hell out of people. And that to me is wrong thank you they need to start doing something about it as soon as possible and before they make these changes. Otherwise they're going to start seeing the blind and disabled use ride sharing or a taxi to get to where they need to go. Because we do not have the money for those kind of things because we're all on fixed income! Don't these folks even get the message?
DeleteThe system map still shows the 522 route https://kingcounty.gov/~/media/depts/metro/maps/system/09172022/pdf/metro-system-map-nw but the 522 apparently has been abolished because it does appear on the list of bus schedules https://kingcounty.gov/depts/transportation/metro/schedules-maps.aspx
ReplyDeletehttps://www.soundtransit.org/ride-with-us/routes-schedules/522?direction=0&at=1675929600000&view=table&route_tab=schedule&stops_0=1_23561%2C1_75992&stops_1=1_75995%2C1_23422
ReplyDelete