Op-Ed: It’s time for the Stride S3 bus line to stride ahead
Saturday, March 22, 2025
He found a place in Woodinville where he could live comfortably with his wheelchair and receive the medical care he needed.
Whenever the family did things together, I would first have to drive 20 minutes alone to Woodinville, help him into his wheelchair accessible van, and drive him 20 minutes back to meet the rest of the family. No one would call it ideal.
The planned Stride S3 bus rapid transit line on State Route 522 would have connected our family and given him access to everything Puget Sound has to offer. He and his wheelchair could roll onto the bus in Woodinville — no lift or driver assistance needed — then roll off again at Town Center or a light rail station, and go anywhere he might please.
I’m troubled to see another round of threatened lawsuits aiming to halt construction of the Stride S3 project. Like many in Lake Forest Park, I’m eager to see that project completed. When it’s done, it will let people switch from sitting in traffic to riding in a clean, quiet, efficient bus. That will improve our lives and our air whether we ride the rapid bus or drive, walk, or bike next to it.
This rapid bus will create opportunities for many of us. For some it’ll mean a quicker commute and more time for family, hobbies, and community. For others it means an easy ride to the airport, or just to the breweries in Kenmore. But especially for people who don’t drive, due to age (young or old), disability, or disinclination, it will open up the world.
Now, my father died several years ago and won’t be able to enjoy the freedom offered by the S3 line, but when people in Lake Forest Park — even city council members — threaten lawsuits unless the project is delayed for years, I think of my father and what he missed, and all the other people waiting patiently for this bus to be available.
I think about my children, too, and whether they will be able to fully enjoy it. One is nearly a teenager, and the S3 line would let him and his friends quickly ride to the movie theater in Woodinville, or catch concerts in Seattle. Well before he can get a license, let alone my permission to drive, he could be out having independent adventures that every teenager deserves.
And I think about my many neighbors who joined a coalition demanding a rapid bus on 522 as part of 2016’s ST 3 vote, and the 60% of Lake Forest Park residents who backed that ballot measure. They did so in part with the promise of a rapid bus and a park and ride garage right here, and I fear that the council’s actions have delayed and disrupted that promise, all to satisfy a small but vocal minority in the community.
It’s time for Stride S3 to move ahead. People with experience riding existing buses on 522 have given feedback to Sound Transit on important decisions that will be resolved soon, as will detail on how pedestrians will move across and alongside the rebuilt road. None of those decisions need to be dragged out.
I’m troubled to see another round of threatened lawsuits aiming to halt construction of the Stride S3 project. Like many in Lake Forest Park, I’m eager to see that project completed. When it’s done, it will let people switch from sitting in traffic to riding in a clean, quiet, efficient bus. That will improve our lives and our air whether we ride the rapid bus or drive, walk, or bike next to it.
This rapid bus will create opportunities for many of us. For some it’ll mean a quicker commute and more time for family, hobbies, and community. For others it means an easy ride to the airport, or just to the breweries in Kenmore. But especially for people who don’t drive, due to age (young or old), disability, or disinclination, it will open up the world.
Now, my father died several years ago and won’t be able to enjoy the freedom offered by the S3 line, but when people in Lake Forest Park — even city council members — threaten lawsuits unless the project is delayed for years, I think of my father and what he missed, and all the other people waiting patiently for this bus to be available.
I think about my children, too, and whether they will be able to fully enjoy it. One is nearly a teenager, and the S3 line would let him and his friends quickly ride to the movie theater in Woodinville, or catch concerts in Seattle. Well before he can get a license, let alone my permission to drive, he could be out having independent adventures that every teenager deserves.
And I think about my many neighbors who joined a coalition demanding a rapid bus on 522 as part of 2016’s ST 3 vote, and the 60% of Lake Forest Park residents who backed that ballot measure. They did so in part with the promise of a rapid bus and a park and ride garage right here, and I fear that the council’s actions have delayed and disrupted that promise, all to satisfy a small but vocal minority in the community.
It’s time for Stride S3 to move ahead. People with experience riding existing buses on 522 have given feedback to Sound Transit on important decisions that will be resolved soon, as will detail on how pedestrians will move across and alongside the rebuilt road. None of those decisions need to be dragged out.
For grandparents and grandkids, commuters and the community, I urge Sound Transit to keep to the schedule which would bring this needed service to the region that demanded it and voted for it so many years ago. If you agree, please sign the petition at lfp4brt.org
- Josh Rosenau is a resident of Lake Forest Park, where he and his wife live with their three children.
- Josh Rosenau is a resident of Lake Forest Park, where he and his wife live with their three children.
Posts
11 comments:
And it brings sidewalks. Many of the people who live along and off of 522 do not have safe access to FULL sidewalks. There are electrical poles in the way, missing sections, and very narrow sidewalks considering how fast these cars are going. Kids are getting off the bus and practically walking in traffic.
I agree! we need to be thinking of our elderly. Woodinville is very hard to get around in. We need more sidewalks, and safe places to walk.
Right on! It's already been voted up, time to make it happen. Give people a choice in how to get around.
Elderly and handicapped people don’t have to wait years for expensive bus rapid transit. The 522 bus currently runs from Woodinville to the light rail and supports wheelchair bound riders. It may take a few minutes more than when the project is completed but seniors (like me) generally don’t mind. Those not near a 522 bus stop should also know that Metro Flex (https://kingcounty.gov/en/dept/metro/travel-options/metro-flex) provides a great micro-transit option if you’re in the covered areas. It’s a shame that Sound Transit, with its billions in funding, is only designing fixed-route transit without helping to expand these newer micro-transit offerings that are so appealing to seniors who don’t commute to the same work location each day.
Elderly and handicapped people don’t have to wait years for expensive bus rapid transit. The 522 bus currently runs from Woodinville to the light rail and supports wheelchair bound riders. It may take a few minutes more than when the project is completed but seniors (like me) generally don’t mind.
Excellent article thank you. Approved in 2016, reviewed by SEPA in 2021 with NO APPEALS. Once in a generation improvements in pedestrian safety, lighting, stormwater treatment, added landscaping etc... This is the environmental answer. Please build it now.
If only the ST3 BRT line in Lake Forest Park delivered better service than the previous 522 bus line that went directly downtown in 25 minutes. Now residents in LFP must transfer to a link station that more than doubles the time of the ride from 25 minutes to 45 minutes to an hour and fifteen minutes. Not to mention the tremendous environmental impacts to the residents who live and work in LFP. The removal of nearly all the trees along Bothell Way will change the character of our city. On the west side of Bothell Way the trees will be replaced with nearly a mile-long retaining wall, rising to 17’, with no greening or landscape buffer. Certainly sidewalk improvements are welcomed but they will only happen on the east side of Bothell Way. The west side with a 2’ shoulder will become a death trap for any and all trapped there, including pets who mistakenly cross the highway. Yes, many of us voted for transit, but we demand a humane and ecological design, not an engineered, generic roadway that creates more issues than it solves and only saves a minute or two of transit time at best. The LFP segment could be improved by adding sidewalks, green buffers and pedestrian lighting without adding an eastbound BRT lane that impacts the entire wellbeing of our city and residents.
Our world and our neighborhoods are changing. The population is aging; for some, creating transportation limitations. Our youth deserve opportunities to move about independently of cars. It often seems that when voters approve something, those who have the responsibility to carry out the will of the people back-pedal for so long that projects cost twice as much as when they were voted upon. This is wrong. If the majority vote for something, the minority have no right to stall.
I encourage the author to view the Citizen's Organized to Rethink Expansion site to understand better the issues and solutions local grass roots neighbors are offering: https://www.lfpcore.org/. It’s the little people vs. the massive corporate Goliath who wants to deforest LFP, harm wildlife, pour cement by the ton, and make a community with some personality look like any other strip mall community. You should review with your son so he can see how people can try and wrestle powerful corporate interests. You will agree that the shear logic involved goes to the grass roots. Make sure your son knows there is almost nothing to be gained and hoe much is to be lost. As for the elderly, check out all the options they have now, including from transit authorities and others, to be picked up at their door and dropped off at their destination. That is what they want. As a frequent bus and train rider I don’t see
the elderly because they have such better options, including between Woodinville and LFP. Both young and old have options now that ST3 won’t improve except maybe by a couple minutes. If you have an objection to the common sense reasoning by the grass roots citizens share those in an op-ed. Young and old tire of having political power pull at their heart strings without sound reasons to waste community resources. It is why they support ‘enough is enough’ movements that demand accountability. Your son may be inspired to stand up to powerful corporate and political forces to protect community grass roots effort, wildlife, green habitation, natural resources, and practical independent solution too one day.
Unfortunately the improvements planned along Bothell Way have been mostly deleted by the residents living on the lake side of SR-522, many of whom have personal property that has encroached into the SR-522 right of way. I understand that they don’t want to remove their fences or garages that are in the public right-of-way, but that is OUR public ROW, not theirs! Lawsuits by a few private NIMBY homeowners with direct access to transit are depriving the rest of our citizens a service that we’ve been paying for through our ST taxes for over 30 years. And no more excuses about trees, LFP has trees in abundance! It is time to get this project properly built and deliver what LFP citizens voted for overwhelmingly so long ago.
Piffle.
Post a Comment