King County Metro is preparing for a major ‘tweak’
Mar 25, 2016, 10:15 PM | Updated: May 6, 2016, 10:16 pm
The bus you’re on today might not be the one you catch next week.
King County Metro is about to tweak nearly 40 percent of its bus routes. It’s one of the biggest overhauls of bus service in recent history.
Related: Traffic is going to bog down around Seattle this weekend
Now that the light rail stations are open in Capitol Hill and the University District, Metro is going to try and marry its bus routes to the new service, consolidating trips and making the system more efficient, assuming that some of its current riders will use light rail.
Victor Obeso, Metro’s deputy general manager, says service is changing on about three dozen bus routes in Northeast Seattle and Capitol Hill. About three dozen additional routes are changing around the county on major arterials and freeways where Metro is seeing crowded buses.
That means more than 70 bus routes that will be tweaked during the changes that take effect on Saturday.
Obseo says it’s a major change for all users. More than 100,000 daily Metro riders will see more frequent service, he says.
The changes also include expanding the Rapid Ride System to further destinations.
But with the streamlining of the Metro system, some routes will be eliminated. Service on those routes should be picked-up by other buses so riders shouldn’t be impacted too severely.
Metro will have staffers out at 26 different locations today to help riders with questions. People can also go online to look for changes and if they will impact you.
Obeso expects it will take riders about two weeks to get comfortable with the changes. The bus drivers will also have an adjustment period because many will have new stops and routes to learn.
