We’ve been getting multiple reports that planned changes to the Route 16 bus are undesirable. Both the WCSC and University House are working on petitions that oppose the changes. Mike Ruby covered this previously for us, but he’s out of town and Richard did a great job of writing up the changes that are coming.
Richard Writes:
I am concerned that Metro is proposing the deletion of large portions of the present #16 bus service as part of their 2016 system changes to accommodate Link Light Rail. I am particularly upset that Metro has been less than fully disclosive about these service deletions. Their public notifications have been almost entirely of the tenor, “more buses, more and changed services, thank you taxpayers”.
Hidden behind the headlines are unadvertised but extensive 2016 route deletions including parts of the present #16 route. As a #16 bus rider, I have not seen one word on public posters about any proposed service deletions. This lack of adequate notification to transit riders prevented my timely feedback (and that of many others) from being adequately presented. I have heard from friends that many people from other parts of the City are also upset for a number of different reasons. Of course Metro knew that would happen. Perhaps that’s exactly why they hid upsetting changes.
Essentially Metro proposes to delete the north end of the #16 route, north of Green Lake, and redirect it instead to the east through Roosevelt and on to NE Seattle. To travel to the Northgate area, the medical facilities along College Way N and Meridian Ave N, Northwest Hospital, the businesses along Northgate Way, or encircling Northgate, one would now have to make two transfers between three buses. In Metro parlance, that would be no problem, just a simple “three seat ride”.
To the south, Metro would take the #16 off of Aurora and re-route it through Fremont and over the congested Fremont Bridge (currently at 22+ bridge openings per day and growing). One could transfer to the new 26X at 40th and Stone Way to avoid that, but service on that proposed route is at very infrequent 30-minute intervals. But course that would only be an easy Metro “two seat ride”.
Why do any of this? Here are the Metro proposals (click to zoom):
#16 (to #62) Route Changes:
http://metro.kingcounty.gov/programs-projects/link-connections/pdf/062-info-08-15.pdf
#26 Route Changes:
http://metro.kingcounty.gov/programs-projects/link-connections/pdf/026x-info-08-15.pdf
If any of this concerns you, the King County Council Transportation, Economy and Environment Committee still has a very short window of opportunity open for public testimony. You can file written comments here: http://www.kingcounty.gov/council/testimony/testimony-backup2.aspx
Public hearings are currently scheduled for:
- Tuesday, September 29, 9:30am, King County Courthouse, 516 Third Ave, Room 1001; and
- Tuesday, October 6, an open House at 6:30 pm, meeting at 7:00 pm, The Mountaineers Club at Magnuson Park, 7700 Sand Point Way NE.
- Meeting Agendas: http://kingcounty.gov/council/committees/transportation_economy_environment.aspx
I’m part of what I think is a silent majority that loves this change. Just want to get out there the fact that we exist too.
There is no bus today from Wallingford “downtown” to Fremont “downtown”! These are two adjacent neighbourhoods that are popular hang-outs and are booming. It’s absurd that there was no bus connection between the two, and props to Metro for trying to fix that.
> I have heard from friends that many people from other parts of the City are also upset for a number of different reasons.
Really? Can Richard get vaguer than this?
One, you can’t really claim that notice has been inadequate from Metro. They’ve been talking about this for months (at least April 17). It’s all been described on their Link Connections website, so they haven’t been hiding anything.
Two, if you want to get to Northgate, you can now take the super-frequent 44 (running better than every 10 minutes at peak) and transfer in the U-District to the frequent 67 (now running every 15 minutes), or 66 or 68. Once Link opens in Northgate, of course you would just take Link. Transferring is a mechanism that Metro can use to improve their own efficiency, and stretch our tax and fare dollars even more effectively. Obviously you need frequent routes to support the transfer, but that’s exactly what they’re giving us.
Three, you don’t mention at all the people who will be helped substantially by the new route 62. Metro lacks decent east-west connectivity in much of Seattle, and this route fills in a gap. For instance, there might very well be folks that would like to get to Magnuson Park, or stores in Wedgwood/Bryant but can’t right now. Every change has winners and losers, and Metro has to balance that.
Four, the frequency change actually involves an *increase* in headways, not a decrease. The 16 comes at best every 20 minutes, and the 62 will come at best every *7 minutes*. That’s a huge increase. The 26 comes every 20-30 minutes at peak right now, and the current 26X only has a handful of trips. The new 26X will come at best every 10 minutes at peak, before dropping to every 30 minutes (the old headway). By not slogging through Northgate traffic from the west, Metro could afford to give Wallingford very excellent bus service.
As a daily commuter to downtown, I don’t like the change. Going thru Fremont is a huge bottleneck.
@Seattlejo,
The all-day 26X will take Aurora just like the current 26X, so no need to worry about slogging through Fremont.
The new #62 also will be an improved route from Fremont/Wallingford/Greenlake to Roosevelt High School. Great for lots of kids.
The statement in the article that “we’ve been getting multiple reports that planned changes to the Route 16 bus are undesirable” seems a bit odd and makes it sound like there’s been some kind of objective analysis – “we’ve heard from some people who don’t like the proposed changes to the Route 16 bus” would be clearer.
I can definitely see why some folks might prefer the current setup but I think for many of us the combo of a more frequent 16/62 connecting to Fremont and then the 26X taking over the Aurora routing works out as a net positive.
I think saying Metro has been secretive about this is not even remotely accurate. I would say the opposite – they seem to have learned from past proposed changes and have been pretty up front and offered multiple opportunities for comment.
I love the new changes to both 26 and 16. Thanks for providing the link so I could say so 🙂
I’m moving to Wedgwood next month, and I love this change! It’s a definite step towards connecting the north neighborhoods, and it makes access to Mag Park and Greenlake much more palatable.
The benefits far outweigh the negatives, in my opinion. Sure, there are always going to be people who want their connection serviced. You can’t please everyone.
My response is regarding the sketchy blue van.. in forums. apparently the wallyhood service to log in for forums is unavailable. I speak to the last contributor- who said we should leave these folks alone. Have you personally seen them/ Did you see how bad the van looked? No furniture.. just empty no siding inside doors..out of date license tabs? Did you see them in an apparent drug deal? Did you happen to notice that one of the men who occasionally sits by parking lot of QFC ( looking gaunt) is the same as one who sometimes sits nside the van?
According to the leader of Metro:
“Metro bus service will get better in Seattle and across King County starting Sept. 26—and there’s more to come as we continue working with partner agencies to deliver more frequent, well-connected, easy to use public transportation.” He says that this “improvement” is thanks to passage of Prop. 1 last November.
It’s good that some transit riders will benefit from changes to route 16, but there are many elderly residents for whom the proposed improvements will be anything but. Those who want to get to Northgate from Wallingford, e.g., the proposed changes will be painful, since it will require changing buses with the accompanying wait for connections, often in unpleasant conditions. Increasing the frequency with which the 16 bus comes, will hardly compensate for the discomfort that will surely come.
It would appear the new 26 will provider a quicker 1-seat ride from Northgate to Wallingford than today’s 16. See the map in the article. The 26 extends North to Northgate.
This is a great change for folks living in the southern part of Wallingford; not so much for those of us in the northwest part — much slower ride to downtown, and loss of service to Green Lake, NSCC and environs. King County Council will still be voting on modifications to the proposed plan in October. Larry Phillips ([email protected]) is the rep for District 4 — generally west of 1st Ave NE. Larry Gossett ([email protected] for District 2 — to the east. I’m sure they’d be happy to hear your thoughts.
Walking to Latona or 40th is possible for me, but it would be easier just to walk over to Aurora and take the E Line. That’s not an option for people with mobility impairments that make it impossible to go up the grade from 46th. And, yes, it’s possible to take a bus and transfer to the 26 (which is proposed to run half as often as the 16), but by the time you do that, you might just as well get on the 16 and sit through Fremont, Dexter and the SLU traffic.
These changes have been out there for some time. I just didn’t pay any attention because they were pitched as being related to Link expansion, which generally has nothing to do with me. I totally don’t get why the 16 is being routed across 65th to connect with a station that won’t open until 2021???
I believe the new 62 has to do with the Link station at UW stadium because the north ends of the 71/72 disappear. Or the 74 or whatever. Something like that. It’s tangentially related.
Changes might net out to: the 16 becoming a hyper-local hyper-slow route 62, the sort which the “mobility impaired” will still take, while the 26X replaces most of it with a more express commuter, inter-neighborhood route that people are more willing to walk to. One which (unfortunately) avoids 45th because it’s slow as heck.
I have commuted to Pioneer Square on both the 16 and 26 in the morning, and I think 45th up through Tangletown has legitimate reason to be sad. The flipside is another number of people who are happy.
Let me agree with the commenters who were entirely aware of these proposals months ago (I read the Seattle Transit Blog, where they were covered in detail).
Any change to bus routes by necessity affects some people negatively. Metro cannot and should not provide buses that go everywhere from everywhere, and it has to ration its service hours. It’s inevitable that when a route changes, someone is a winner and someone is inconvenienced. It is not Metro’s job to make sure that never happens; it’s going to.
The reality is that both the 16 and 26 have been incredibly unreliable routes for years. I have waited for the 16 at Stone and 40th sometimes for 20 minutes while it slogs its slow way through 45th Street. I’ve sat in it in stop and go traffic around North Seattle College where I’ve had to get off and walk because I was moving faster on foot than the bus. The 26 gets affected by the Fremont Bridge and with all the new apartments on Dexter has gotten to be SRO from there to downtown even in the middle of the day.
The proposed changes are intended to make both routes more reliable. The routes aren’t “Wallingford’s” routes; they’re the county’s routes. The new 26X, because it will not go through Fremont, will be more reliable. The new 16, because it’s not wandering all over the place from Tangletown north, will be more reliable. Our traffic situation is such that that is always a relative concept. But the planners at Metro should be commended for trying to rationalize these routes. When the 16 moved from Wallingford to Stone Way in, if I recall correctly, early 1998, I had just moved to a house where that change was a serious inconvenience. But I don’t have the right to complain that Metro does things that inconvenience me personally if they have good reasons.
I can’t remember how long ago Metro set up a table in QFC in Wallingford with maps of the potential reroutes. Maps! Actual paper maps printed in a decent size for readablility! And a person to talk to!
The 6/16/26/359 (just one day for that route, which ended with the shooting/near plunge on Aurora Bridge) have always been interchangeable in Metro’s eyes. I am just thrilled as hell that there’s going to be a bus that runs across 65th from Green Lake to Sand Point. Any additional crosstown bus is a boon. If there was any way we could get it to run to Ballard…..ah, I’m dreaming.
It will turn out to be a good move if they can add more buses and cut down on wait times. Then transferring won’t be the arduous task it is now.
I have said for years the entire Metro map should be tossed and replaced with one that makes sense. Maybe in the next decade, as rail opens…
Meanwhile, these changes do address east/west connectivity and the Wallingford-Fremont link. Yes, someone always is inconvenienced when a route changes, but there will be more benefit in the long run for more people from these changes.
Count me in as one who generally supports the changes to the Metro routes. The increased frequency is quite an improvement!
I live on the current 26 route and personally would have preferred the 26 have the “new” portion of the 62 route that takes it by the future light rail station and on to Magnuson, and then keep the 16 with the Northgate route. But at least now we have a bus in the neighborhood that goes east instead of just north/south. I do think the change will be hard on the folks at the Hearthstone that have that great bus stop behind their building with the 16 that goes both downtown and to Northgate…two places I would think those folks would really need to go to. Of course I miss having the 16 go right by Seattle Center like it used to…made it a great bus for festivals.
I live a block from the Hearthstone and ride the 16 daily, at all times of the day. I have never seen anyone from there get on or off the bus, perhaps because the Hearthstone has a van to take residents to doc appointments, shopping, etc.
Since the 62 will still be stopping there, even more frequently than the 16, although not go to Northgate, I would not be surprised if the residents would not be happy about bus noise outside their door.
I’m also perplexed by that stop for the 16, especially because there’s the stop it shares with the 44 around the corner. That said, Metro only puts bus shelters out if there’s some minimum number of boardings at a stop, so there must be someone using it.
I’m not sure why the Heathstone residents would mind the increased frequency – they live on Stone Way, after all, and the road is practically a minor highway. Whether there’s buses or not, there’s all manner of other unpleasant traffic they must be putting up with.
Hearthstone is in the Green Lake area, far from Stone and the 44 route. It’s on the north end of the sort of crazy back road stretch of the 16 route between Tangletown and Green Lake, through narrow streets where the bus routinely encroaches on the oncoming lane.
Bah, guess I confused Hearthstone with University House on Stone Way. That area of Woodlawn is actually pretty wide compared with, say, the tail of the 71 where artic buses are barreling down narrower streets with parking on both sides. Heck, that part of Woodlawn is wide enough to have a dashed yellow line painted! 🙂
More to the point, though, even if Metro doesn’t run buses on Woodlawn, lots of people use it as a Green Lake bypass. I’ve gotten plenty of angry people tailgating/roaring past me when I bike near there. I’d be more concerned about them than any Metro drivers.