Laurelhurst Bus Route 25 Under Consideration To Be Replaced By Week-day Only Route To Connect With Link Starting In March, Give Your Input Now

King County Council is considering a final set of bus changes in NE Seattle that would replace Laurelhurst bus  Route 25 week day only service to new Route 78 starting in March of next year when Link light rail begins service.

The King County Council is considering this route and other recommended changes in the latest proposal submitted by Metro bus service that would help commuters connect from bus service to the light rail service at the nearby Husky station and other new stations.
 
Route 78 would serve Wedgwood, View Ridge, Laurelhurst, the University District, and the University of Washington Link Station every 30 minutes during the day and peak hours and every 60 minutes in the evening. The hours would be 6:30am-10:30pm.
 
Public comments are being accepted by the King County Council, the final decision maker.

"These service changes are extensive and Council discussions are now underway. We need you to be part of the process and hope you will please send us your comments and concerns by using our submission form" the website says.
 
The King County Council is expected to make a decision on the recommendations soon. 
 
The information says:

Link will give riders a reliable eight-minute trip between Husky Stadium and downtown Seattle, avoiding freeway and surface-street traffic.

Metro’s recommended changes would make it easier for riders to connect with the new service. The changes would also improve bus networks in northeast Seattle and on Capitol Hill, using resources saved by trimming bus service that duplicates new Link service. 

 

Here are the proposed route changes:
Route 78

Replacement for route 25 that currently serves Laurelhurst and runs every 30 minutes

 

Route 65

Touches the corner of Laurelhurst by Children's Hospital and runs every 10-15 minutes

 

Route 31 and 32

Both start near Children's Hospital on Sand Point Way and run every 20-30 minutes

 

Here are comment the Laurelhurst Blog received:

The routes will connect nicely with the new Link light rail station near Husky Stadium when  it opens.

We recently moved to Laurelhurst and were surprised by how bad the bus service is to downtown. My wife works in Pioneer Square and tried a couple bus options. The 25 meanders through the U District and Capitol Hill taking an hour to get downtown in the morning. She also tried parking by the Center for Urban Horticulture and taking a bus on Sand Point Way to the U District and transferring to an express bus. It was still just under an hour. Now she ends up driving to Sodo and catching a bus there. 

It's nice to see the proposed route changes are centered around connecting with the Link light rail. The frequency of the trains is being increased to every 6 minutes during commute times. Combined with the advertised "8 minute travel time to downtown," Laurelhurst will hopefully be only a half hour away from downtown via a connection with the new route 78. 

SDOT and King County Metro are cutting some commuter bus lines or re-routing them through the U District to feed the light rail stations, even after Seattle voters approved more $ for buses.

For more information:

•  here to see the detailed news release
• proposed changes to north Seattle service: including travel times to primary destinations from key transfer points.
• map showing bus stops, and the routes that would serve them, near the University of Washington light rail station
• interactive map that allows you to compare the current transit network with the proposed one
• submit comments

 

 

 

Bus Route 30 Upcoming Route Change Will Not Bring Evening and Weekend Service To Laurelhurst

Ashley DeForest, with King County Department of Transportation, just sent us an update on the upcoming changes for Bus Route 30 starting in October.

Here is the post we did last month in which two proposed alternatives were laid out, one route would either serve Hawthorne Hills (blue route above) or  the second proposed route would turn south to serve Laurelhurst and Children’s Hospital (green line).

Ashley informed us that Altenative 2 was chosen, "the Hawthorne Hills Loop."

With this Alternative, the new route will no longer serve Sand Point Way NE north of NE 65th Street, but instead serve the NE 65th Street entrance of Magnuson Park. Riders will need to board and exit the bus at different locations because of the one-way loop.

Alternative 1, that wasn't chosen, would have served Children's' Hospital and Laurelhurst, but would no longer serve Sand Point Way NE north of Princeton Avenue NE, or Magnuson Park.

Ashley's email says:

Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts about alternative routing for the Route 30 during evenings and on weekends. We heard from more than 300 people via our online survey, email and phone.

We also attended the May 5th meeting of the Northeast District Council to talk to community members about the proposed change.

The majority of respondents indicated a preference for Alternative 2:

East of 40th Avenue NE, Route 30 would make a one-way loop. Eastbound, it would still cross the Princeton Avenue NE bridge and continue north on Sand Point Way NE. It would turn west at NE 65th Street, and end on the far side of Sand Point Way NE. Westbound, it would go west on NE 65th Street, continuing on NE Princeton Way NE to NE 65th Street and 40th Avenue NE. At this intersection, it would turn south on 40th Avenue NE and rejoin the regular (weekday daytime) routing with a west turn onto NE 55th Street.

Metro will be implementing this alternative for Route 30 evenings and weekends routing in October 2011.

If you have any additional questions about this change, please feel free to get in touch at ashley.deforest@kingcounty.gov or by phone at 206-684-1154.

Metro Bus 30 Route Change Could Bring Night And Week-End Bus Service To Laurelhurst

A reader forwarded us information from the Seattle Transit Blog,  alerting us that Metro Bus Route 30 might be extended into Laurelhurst, because the City of Seattle has asked Metro to change the route’s eastern end, now going through Magnuson Park.

With the upcoming change in the route, Metro Bus 30 would either serve Hawthorne Hills or turn south to serve Laurelhurst and Children’s Hospital.

The reader said the change would provide much better weekend and evening coverage in Laurelhurst,  as currently there is no service after 7pm on weeknights and no service on weekends.

Route 30 currently winds its way from Seattle Center to a variety of endpoints near Sand Point. The route currently ends at Magnuson Park and turns around inside there on weekday evenings and on weekends.

The City of Seattle has requested that Metro not go into Magnuson Park anymore because of concerns about heavier vehicles traveling on park roads, so Metro needs to find an alternate route in the area.

Metro is looking into two possible alternatives for the east end of this route on nights and weekends.

In both of these, the routing would the same as it is now as as far east as the Princeton Avenue NE bridge. And with both alternatives, passengers could transfer to Route 75 to go further in either direction on Sand Point Way NE.

Here are the alternatives, also shown here on this map:

Alternative 1

After crossing the Princeton Avenue NE bridge, eastbound Route 30 would go west on Sand Point Way NE, turn south on 47th Avenue NE, turn west on NE 45th Street, and end at a bus loop on the south side of Children’s Hospital. Westbound Route 30 would go west on NE 45th Street, north on Sand Point Way NE, and north on Princeton Avenue NE before resuming its current routing.

With this alternative, on nights and weekends Route 30 would no longer serve Sand Point Way NE north of Princeton Avenue NE, or Magnuson Park. It would serve Children’s Hospital and Laurelhurst.

Alternative 2

East of 40th Avenue NE, Route 30 would make a one-way loop. Eastbound, it would still cross the Princeton Avenue NE bridge and continue north on Sand Point Way NE. It would turn west at NE 65th Street, and end on the far side of Sand Point Way NE. Westbound, it would go west on NE 65th Street, continuing on NE Princeton Way NE to NE 65th Street and 40th Avenue NE. At this intersection, it would turn south on 40th Avenue NE and rejoin the regular (weekday daytime) routing with a west turn onto NE 55th Street.

With this alternative, on nights and on weekends Route 30 would not serve Sand Point Way NE north of NE 65th Street, but it would serve the NE 65th Street entrance of Magnuson Park. Riders would board and exit the bus at different locations because of the one-way loop.

Metro is asking the community to share their opinions on its website by taking a quick survey. The reader said "It would be great to give Metro lots of feedback from Laurelhurst."

For more information about this project, contact Ashley DeForest at ashley.deforest@kingcounty.gov or call 206-684-1154.