Looks like Wallingfordians took Metro up on it’s offer to “Have a Say” regarding its proposed system-wide restructure. You may recall, there were many advocates who wanted Metro to keep Route 26. Now, with a new round of changes to the proposal, King County Metro has decided the following:
Routes 26, 28X, 31, 40 (now numbered as Route 20), 48X, 355X, and the Water Taxi shuttles operated by the King County Ferry District (Routes 773 and 775) were previously included as part of this proposal. In response to public feedback, we are no longer proposing changes to these routes at this time.
According to Bruce Nourish of the Seattle Transit Blog, King County Metro released its revised restructure proposal yesterday. In the post, Nourish does a pretty amazing job summarizing what routes have been changed and what hasn’t, and adds that while Metro hasn’t published individual route maps yet, you’ll be able to see them on the System Restructure page on the Have a Say site. Nourish adds, “Metro staff tell me that citywide and neighborhood-by-neighborhood maps will be available by the end of the week.”
Nourish goes on to summarize route changes by neighborhood. For Fremont, Greenwood and Wallingford, he writes:
Fremont, Greenwood and Wallingford: All routes have been returned to their current configuration, except for the replacement of the current Route 17 with Route 18; however, with the introduction of RapidRide E, it’s likely that Metro will reexamine this area next year.
You can read more of Nourish’s post here.
Linda Thielke of King County Metro also provided us with the addition, changes, and deletions affecting Wallingford:
Green Lake – Fremont – Wallingford
New Routes: RapidRide C and D Lines, and 32
Routes proposed for routing or frequency changes: 3, 5, 13, 16, 28, 30
Routes proposed for deletion: 45, 46
All the details are at: www.kingcounty.gov/haveasay. We are working to add maps and more information to that site in the next few days.
With regard to Route 16, Nourish writes on the Seattle Transit Blog, “Minor changes to Route 16, but the bus will still travel directly into Northgate TC via 92nd St versus looping around on Northgate Way.”
All changes will take effect in September, during the system-wide service change. This updated proposal is still open for public comments and review, beginning February 13. Here’s a schedule of six open houses:
- Monday, Feb. 13 – Ballard High School
- Wednesday, Feb. 15 – Madison Middle School, West Seattle
- Thursday, Feb. 16 –Chief Sealth High School, Delridge/White Center
- Tuesday, Feb. 21 – Union Station, Downtown Seattle*
- Thursday, Feb. 23 – Queen Anne Community Center
- Monday, Feb. 27 – Washington Middle School, Central Area/Mt. Baker ·
Open house meetings will be held from 6 p.m. – 8 p.m. *Feb. 21 meeting from 12 p.m. – 2 p.m.
Riders who are unable to attend an open house can share their comments by responding to an online survey on Metro’s website.
Yay! Thanks to all who had their say!
Hallelujah! I had no idea the 355 was on the chopping block. That’s my lifeblood — 10 minutes downtown from 45th & I-5.
Great news. Hope we don’t have to have the same fight next year.
It’s nice to see that the number of trips for the route 16 wouldn’t be increased to one every 15 minutes. when the route 16 bus travels on kirkwood pl. no. it is really dangerous. these buses run cars off the road and don’t yield to pedistrians.
The 355 was never on the chopping block. Next year it will be replaced by RapidRide, which should be faster and more frequent.
@Michael-
In November they proposed shifting the 355 from I-5 to Aurora, which meant that it would no longer stop by I-5 and NE 45th.
The argument I’ve seen on the Seattle Transit Blog (whose main contributors seem to hate the 26 with a passion) is that the Rapid Ride E (the replacement for the 358) would somehow replace the 26. Given that the only place it would stop in what might possibly be called Wallingford is at 46th and Aurora (and southbound, that’s Wallingford in someone’s very badly mapped dreams), I don’t see the justification. That’s about a dozen blocks from any stop on the 26 as it is currently aligned, and generally uphill and across a major and pedestrian-unfriendly highway.