Sound Transit has been busy on Capitol Hill for years but, for a long time, the only public transit that Sound Transit has actually provided directly to Capitol Hill has been a dogleg on the 545.

The 545 is Sound Transit’s express bus to Redmond, home to Microsoft’s campus and many other tech companies. At most times of day, the 545 comes through downtown Seattle and gets directly onto I-5 via Olive Way. But in the morning, it takes a zig-zag up Pine to Bellevue Ave and picks up Capitol Hill “v-dashes” before getting back to its normal route and onto the interstate.

On a recent Thursday morning, Bus Stop went out to wait for the 545 after grabbing a pastry at City Market. Several Microsoft Connector buses drove by the crowd passing the time at the bus stop looking at their phones. Full time Microsoft employees get to ride in the private Connector buses, but contract workers (“v-dashes” and “a-dashes” in Microsoft parlance) have to wait for the bus with the rest of us.

The dogleg is nearing its 10th anniversary this year and owes itself to the work of one man, Anirudh Sahni. CHS wrote about Sahni’s fight to bring the 545 to Capitol Hill a few years ago.

It’s hard to find another example of a bus route in Seattle that is so saturated with people heading to one particular destination, day in and day out. The 8 between Capitol Hill and South Lake Union is nearing the 545 on this score, but is not there yet.

Eventually Sound Transit will have light rail in place between Seattle and Redmond, in what it hopes will be another 8 years. Then Capitol Hill to Overlake will only be about 30 minutes away by train, not counting transfer time downtown. Sound Transit is also studying the possibility of a transit-only Lake Washington floating tunnel at Sand Point, but this would likely also necessitate a transfer at the University District.

In the meantime, Seattle transit planners dream of installing a freeway station that could make a Capitol Hill stop easier and perhaps lead to all-day service. The Olive Way freeway station would go in right at the on-ramp to I-5 on Olive Way and cut the detour time to serve Capitol Hill to almost nothing. This could also serve riders of such routes like the 255 to Google in Kirkland.

In the meantime, Capitol Hill’s eastside commuters are thankful for the dogleg.

The 10 is so Capitol Hill it needs two columns.

As the bus riders of Seattle wait to get through the next few cold, wet months with the lowest service level King County Metro’s had in years, the 10 might be the most useful route on the hill right now. As Broadway loses more and more retail outlets, Pike/Pine continues its revitalization, and 15th Avenue turns more and more into restaurant row, the route of the relatively reliable and frequent 10 is a Capitol Hill holiday shopper’s yellow brick road.

Another thing that the 10 has that other hill routes lack is the crown jewel of Seattle’s park system at its terminus. With Volunteer Park’s new playground and the grand reopening of the Volunteer Park Conservatory, there is so much to recommend this route.

What could easily have passed without any note or ceremony was made special by a small group of residents of the Summit Slope and other well-wishers Friday night as they came together to bid farewell, at least for now, to a small but well-loved Capitol Hill bus route.

Melvin, the driver of the last 47 coach to leave Capitol Hill, departing at 10:30 PM from Bellevue Ave E & Bellevue Pl E, has been driving Metro buses for 15 years, and reminisced about driving the 14 all the way from Mount Baker to Summit Ave. Continue reading →

The 9X is a secret weapon in a Capitol Hill bus rider’s toolkit. It’s not an incredibly well-known route, but it can come in handy.

On Broadway, and needing to catch the 550 to Bellevue? Coming home from an early happy hour in Columbia City after work? The 9X is here for you. It’s a direct route between Capitol Hill and the Rainier Valley and it runs in both directions, all morning and afternoon, on weekdays only. And it’s an express, so it doesn’t make as many stops as say, the 8, getting to Columbia City and the Rainier Valley.

I will not only sing this route’s praises; the limited hours do make using it tricky at times. The 9X stops running at 6:00 from the Rainier Valley and its last trip down that way leaves Broadway at 7:00 PM.

Continue reading →

Everyone has a favorite bus route, and mine is by far The 43.

As with most loves, it is complicated. My love for this bus has nothing to do with speed; while on the schedule a trip from downtown to the Ave takes approximately the same amount of time on the schedule as the University Bridge-bound 49, around 25 minutes, we all know that this doesn’t always play out in reality. The Montlake Bridge and traffic on Montlake Boulevard can frequently lead to long stretches sitting on this bus.

It has nothing to do with comfort. There are fewer streets in need of resurfacing as much as 23rd Avenue. The corridor project planned to overhaul it will not include any portion of the 43’s route north of John Street, so relief in this area is not in sight.

Perhaps the reason I love the 43 is because rather than heading straight through Capitol Hill via Broadway like the 49, it takes a more ambling route connecting the Hill’s neighborhoods from Olive Way and Summit Slope, to Broadway, up to the more affluent areas around 15th Ave and 19th Ave, and then onto 23rd Ave and out Capitol Hill’s backdoor into sleepy Montlake.

The main reason the 43 is my favorite bus, however, is the people on it. Everyone rides the 43: people of every socioeconomic stripe and variation. I met Rita, above, waiting for a 43 on Bellevue Ave near City Market. She told me that she has found the 43 to be very dependable recently as opposed to in the past, when it has not come on schedule. She asked us to only use her photo if she looked good in it, and we think she looks lovely.

Another reason I like the 43: There are no planned service cuts coming to this route. The 43 will likely take over quite a few 47 riders after that route is deleted in September and will become the only route serving Olive Way from Downtown. For one of the densest neighborhoods in Seattle, this is a big task. With new trolleybuses for routes like this coming next year, at least all of the buses will have air conditioning. The future looks breezy for the 43.

Previously on Bus Stop

• The 11
• The 2
• The 12
• More

The neighborhood of Madison Park was once the place to catch a ferry across Lake Washington to Kirkland much like residents of Bainbridge Island catch a ferry downtown today. And Madison Street is still the only street that connects Lake Washington to Elliott Bay.

Madison Park Beach by thenewamtrak.

What was once a cable car connecting these two bodies of water is now a bus, though it doesn’t go straight up Madison. Instead it makes a beeline through our neighborhood, providing our residents with a shuttle to Madison Beach, or what some affectionately refer to as the Capitol Hill Riviera. This is the 11. While you can take the 8 to get to Madison Valley, this is the only way to get to the beach.

With highs near the 80s this week, this might be your bus of choice. Because summer!

In planning possible cuts in Metro service, the 11 is barely affected. Still service could end earlier in the evening starting next spring if the ballot measure being tossed to the voters is not approved in the fall.

Sharon and family waiting at an 11 stop on Pine Street

Previously on Bus Stop

• The 2
• The 12
• The 49
• More