A new Metro coach ready for the center-loading RapidRide G line (Image: Metro)
King County Metro is planning for the return of Route 47 to serve Capitol Hill’s Summit and Bellevue Ave neighborhoods — kind of.
Metro and King County Executive Dow Constantine have arrived at a finalized plan for changes to area bus routes to better connect and optimize service with the planned 2024 opening of the RapidRide G bus line on Madison.
CHS reported here in December on Metro’s ongoing process to weigh rider feedback against available resources and hopes for increased service frequencies on key lines connecting to the RapidRide route.
Metro has been set on other changes including Route 10 and Route 12 with a proposal for the lines to be “reoriented” to operate along E Pine instead of E John and Madison, until they turn north on 15th Ave and 19th Ave. Metro is also going ahead with a plan to move Route 11 off Pine.
But the future of the former Route 47 service had been up in the air. Under the final plan being submitted for approval by the King County Council, Metro would restore service in the areas along Summit and Bellevue by “extending some Route 3 trips to restore trolley bus service in western Capitol Hill where the former Route 47 operated.”
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Under the RapidRide G planning, Metro had been making the case to permanently axe Route 47 leaving the area around Bellevue Ave without direct service. CHS reported here on the 47’s pandemic era suspension as Metro made cutbacks across its service areas due to changes in staffing and demand. Metro had said killing the 47 off would allow it “to focus service investments on routes along Broadway” despite leaving “no local bus along Bellevue Ave and Summit Ave, north of Olive Way where there are high-density residential populations.”
Respondents to a Metro survey only slightly preferred an option focused on increasing service on routes 10, 11, 12 and 49 and cutting service to the old Rt. 47 area. With enough support for a second option extending some Rt. 3 trips, Metro has opted to try to both increase frequencies and maintain some service to the I-5 Shores area of Capitol Hill’s Summit Slope.
Full details of the proposed service changes, revisions, upgrades, and cuts can be found here.
The King County Council must now sign off on the revision plans.
Metro and the Seattle Department of Transportation say the RapidRide G Line is currently planned to open in fall 2024. CHS reported on the last year of the expensive, involved, and hopefully fruitful construction process here.
Construction of the project has taken years following a pandemic-delayed ground breaking in the fall of 2021. The $134 million SDOT-managed project is also a complete overhaul with everything from the city’s sidewalks and intersections to its water and sewer mains being replaced along the 2.4-mile route. Along the way, the construction schedule has shifted the most intensive work up and down the corridor to try to give areas a break. When it finally debuts, along with what is hoped to be faster, more efficient bus service, the route will also have new curb ramps, sidewalks, and crossing improvements.
The new line promises six-minute service nearly round the clock between 1st Ave downtown and MLK Jr Way in Madison Valley with stops across First Hill and Capitol Hill along the way.
This week, SDOT said the construction has reached the “80%” milestone with all major paving, water main replacement work, new traffic signals, new tree plantings, and sidewalk work complete. The final months of work will include completing the installation of new bus shelters, center-running stations, comfort station and a new bus layover area, paving near a few driveways, asphalt paving and markings east of I-5, some sidewalk work, and a few more tree plantings. There are also a few pole installations for for trolley wires for adjoining routes and upgraded signals to be installed, SDOT says.
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Looking at the map, there will be a ton of service along pike and pine between downtown and the hill. That would be a convenient way to avoid a walk uphill, but I have no interest in waiting for a bus on Pike between 3rd and 4th Ave amid the junkies and drug dealers.
Cool story. Guess you can walk then.
I — and half of Capitol Hill — have waited for busses at 4th & Pike since I got here in 1983. Somehow we always complain, somehow we always survive. It’s always been what it is. If it really troubles you, you can always walk a couple blocks up and wait for them there.
I have and still use the 4th and Pike stop.
I am with Caphiiler. I use the Metro several times a week. The number 8 can be terrible. I know I will catch flack here, but I do not like being on a bus that smells horrible and is filthy. Want more people to ride public transit, which helps with pollution, traffic, safety and paying for transit by people that pay fares, then enforce rules on public transit.
This plan would be great for us. It would give me easier routes to the library and to and from Capitol Hill station from where we live on the east side of the hill. Thumbs up from us!
No mention in this article or in Metro’s press release about what the frequencies on the 10, 11, 12 and 47 (now the 3, I guess) will be. Last I saw, the 10 & 12 will be 30 min, and the 11 will be every 20-30 min, which is basically useless for an urban route.
We make capital investments to improve the system, but then make service cuts so that overall it’s the same or worse. No wonder vehicle miles traveled per resident continues to climb.
I wish the frequency issue was addressed or even disclosed in this press release. They are robbing the bus frequency for the Rapid Ride. I’m not so sure that this RR G service will b better than what exists. The 12 is an electric trolley and RR G a diesel hybrid, mainly diesel. Street improvements were needed, and likely could have happened at a lesser cost with the same or more frequency on existing routes. I wish it to be successful but am disappointed with the decrease in frequency on the 11 and others.
The article says there will be no decrease in bus frequency for existing routes.
The article mentions that Seattle metro opted for a combined approach of extending some route 3 trips while also avoiding reduction of service on existing lines. So same frequency for the existing routes, plus the addition of the rapidride that runs every 6 minutes on weekdays and saturdays, and restoration of route 47 area coverage. Certainly an improvement.
The blog post linked in the article also says they will be increasing route 60 frequency, another welcome positive change!
You can find more details about the new schedules for the routes here: https://kingcounty.gov/en/dept/metro/travel-options/bus/rapidride/g-line#toc-madison-street-area-project
King County Metro has hidden the fact that the changes are a net decrease in frequencies across the board.
The 10 & 12 are 30 mins, the 11 is 20-30 mins, the 3/former 47 is 30 mins (and ending at 7pm). The 49 is going down to 20 min frequency, though it’s also going to get more frequent nighttime service.
Thanks Jess.
In a word, they will be terrible. This is really a very bad restructure, and the resurrection of the 47 (by another name) doesn’t fix it. In the middle of the day the 10, 11 and 12 will run every 20 minutes. Think about that for a second. Imagine you are at 17th & Harrison. You are in one of the most urban places in the state. There are four bus routes you can easily walk to: the 8, 10, 11, and 12. The last three go downtown. Which do you take? It doesn’t matter, since none of them are frequent! They all run every 20 minutes. They all run on different streets through there, so none of them combine for good frequency. The only options that don’t involve a ton of waiting are to walk to Madison or Link — neither are which are close. It is like the buses are scurrying around, unable to cooperate like the Keystone Cops.
Meanwhile, the 47 will run even less often. Again, this is a bus that runs through the heart of the city — in one of the most densely populated parts of the state, and it will run every 30 minutes — at best! It won’t even run at night. Meanwhile the 49 has gotten worse. You still won’t have a good transit combination on Broadway. It would be nice if you combined a bus with the streetcar so that you could have a combined 6 minute frequency for any trip on Broadway, but nope, that won’t be possible. The 60 makes too many turns, the 49 abruptly turns and head downtown, and the 9 only runs a handful of times a day. So many bus routes, so little cooperation between them.
It is just a mess, and Metro planners blame money, but a lot of it is just poor routing. For example, imagine if the 12 branched at Thomas, or better yet Aloha (and headed east there). That means you would have ten minute (all day) service for a lot farther. A lot more people would have to wait a lot less for their bus and it wouldn’t cost a dime.
There are decisions already made, some of which are regrettable (e.g., the G Line alignment and mode). SDOT and Metro committed to the six-minute headway but have less funding, so must cut other service to fund the G Line frequency. But why are routes 10, 12, and 49 being reduced? Routes 10 and 49 have little to do with Madison Street. Are there not other segments of routes with low ridership? Why take Route 10 away from the Link station? Why number the Summit service as Route 3? It was Route 47; before fall 2014, it was Route 14 for decades. Does Metro really want to have buses turn to/from 3rd Avenue? They reduced those turns in 2012 when pay-on-entry fare collection was implemented; recall that routes 11 and 125 were paired (routes 11 and 20 before 2004).