King County announced this week that it will begin a test of a new pilot program along with Microsoft and Children’s Hospital for “better use of public curb space” —
Starting Monday, April 24, Metro routes 10 and 12 will share space at bus stops – 11420, located southbound on 15th Av E just south of E Mercer St, and – 13250, located southbound on 19th Av E just south of E Harrison St, with Microsoft employer shuttle vehicles.
The City of Seattle, King County Metro Transit, Seattle Children’s Hospital and Microsoft are collaboratively conducting an innovative pilot project aimed at increasing ridership and safety, and making better use of public curb space.
The six-month long pilot project will allow – by permit – employer-provided shuttles to temporarily serve 11 public King County Metro bus stops to test the ability and value of multiple transit/shuttle services sharing existing transit stops. The pilot will result in no additional shuttles on the road than existing levels of service.
More information, including locations of the stops, is on the City of Seattle’s Employer Shared Transit Stops pilot website.
Public comment can be submitted by calling 206-256-5100 or sending email to [email protected].
Thank you for riding and for using Metro’s services.
CHS wrote about the increasing presence of company shuttles in the neighborhood last fall:
Microsoft running larger employee shuttles more often through Capitol Hill amid increased demand
Bad, bad idea. Do some research on what happened when San Francisco tried this. There were nearly riots. What are you thinking? Oh, I can guess.
Good, good idea. Why leave a bus stop empty 80 percent of the time when it could be used by shuttles? Obviously this wouldn’t work on stops serving multiple routes, but outside the urban core it’s definitely worth a try. It costs practically nothing to take a look.
Will Metro riders be able to use the shuttles? if not, then it seems like this is a slippery slope to special services for a privileged few supported by public infrastructure. I have to admit that my first reaction is that I don’t really like the idea. I have to look back and see what the issues were in the Bay Area. Could Metro deliver the service if they need the public infrastructure?
What’s the big deal? They use the curbs for free now.
As a taxpayer, there’s something about a for-profit corporation using taxpayer funded public transportation infrastructure for private transportation that rubs me (and others) the wrong way.
If they are kicking in a substantial permit fee and not interfering with the operation and usage of public transportation, seems like an acceptable use of space between public buses.
However, what worries me is that if the pilot is a “success” and is expanded, how long before these private buses stop playing nice and start causing mayhem for public buses and riders? The program makes it clear that the goal is to eventually allow other companies private shuttles to use public bus stops.
Amazon’s shuttles (operated by SP+) are the absolute worst: ignoring traffic laws, parking in bike lanes, not yielding to pedestrians, just generally don’t care about anyone else on the road or sidewalks, only getting to/from their destination as fast as possible. I dread the day they are allowed to use public bus stops.
So yeah, it’s kind of a big deal.
I too have a love hate view of the Connector busses. Yes, they get cars off the street, but, I have a real problem on two points; 1.Is this a Band-Aid to a misguided public transit structure with public funds i.e. “backdoor” privatization? 2. On a sociological take, is it a good idea for a certain economic class of people to be insulated from the real world with it’s “messy problems”. I think “disconnect” is the word I’m looking for… I believe if we continue with this division of class, there will be consequences both large and small.
Remember that at the end of the day, it’s about getting people to make money for a private entity. I don’t have answers. I have just thoughts.
The Connector busses tend to loiter at their stops, lest one of the privileged riders miss their nice charter-express-bus to Redmond. The loitering is where I think the problem would come in – the zone isn’t always big enough for two busses, and with a Connector hanging out for 10-15 minutes, it’s squatting on public curbspace for public busses and it’s not a public bus.