Tag Archives: rapidride g

The A) and B) of RapidRide G’s first months of service: ridership, the semi-permanent big orange panels, and the surprise tunnel at 10th and Madison

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The big orange panels are staying — for now (Image: CHS)

Hoped to optimize an area that was already heavily served by a tangle of King County Metro bus routes in neighborhoods unlikely to be connected to Sound Transit’s light rail network anytime soon, the RapidRide G bus rapid transit line is currently serving around 4,000 trips a day up and down Madison and across Capitol Hill.

CHS checked in with the new transit line to see how A) ridership is faring and B) get updates on launch growing pains including construction problems that are making big orange steel panels a permanent part of First Hill’s streetscape.

A) RIDERSHIP: The first trip counts for the new 2.5-mile line are encouraging. RapidRide G averaged more than 4,100 trips a day on weekdays in October, doubling the boarding totals reported in the line’s first month of service in September. For comparison, the much longer 12-mile RapidRide C connecting across West Seattle to averages more than 7,500 trips per weekday and the 9-mile RapidRide D between Crown Hill and Downtown, more than 8,800. The RapidRide G’s “trip density” above 1,600 boardings per mile is tops in the city. Continue reading →

Repairs underway as city screwed up wheelchair access on platforms and every bus shelter on new RapidRide G line — UPDATE

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RapidRide G will continue to operate on Madison through the work but it turns out that more than signal timing and the line’s new “kiss the curb” coaches are in need of fine tuning.

The Seattle Times reported Monday morning that all 25 bus shelters and three station platforms along the newly launched $144 million line need to be repaired because of errors restricting wheelchair access.

Riders and CHS readers noted large orange steel panels placed at platforms at the route when the line began its first service last month. It turns out, the Seattle Department of Transportation placed the segments to raise buses the less than an inch required for the RapidRide wheelchair ramps to properly operate.

King County Metro says it is looking into solutions that could include making adjustments to the buses or lowering the cement platforms at eastbound stop 104 at Terry, eastbound stop 105 at Summit, and westbound 124 at the three-way intersection of Madison, Union, and 12th Ave. Continue reading →

RapidRide G arrives with ambitious public transit goals — and plenty of hiccups over Madison’s new buses, stops, signs, and signals — UPDATE

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With reporting by Hannah Saunders

The new RapidRide G stretching 2.5 miles along Madison Street from the waterfront to Madison Valley via First Hill and Capitol Hill is unprecedented in the city’s rollout of a growing alphabet of “bus rapid transit” lines. The first days of service across the line’s special coaches, dedicated lanes, center loading passenger islands, and coordinated signaling has been an illustration in the challenges of doing new things in the big city.

Starting with Saturday’s launch, the promise of 6-minute service and smooth rides through the corridor has mostly been out of reach due to early hiccups around signal and signage coordination, collisions, and delays due to mechanical failures and operator challenges with the new coaches.

King County Metro says it is responding to early issues though it also referred some questions about signalling to the Seattle Department of Transportation.

UPDATE: “This is the first RapidRide line with six-minute headways and, as we expected, our operators continue to gain experience with our scheduled operations and maneuvering with the varying traffic conditions along the route,” a Metro spokesperson said in a statement

Metro calls the line’s start a success despite the issues and says it is working with SDOT to address the signal priority issues.

Metro says the new or upgraded signals along the route along with a special signal at the terminal to ensure buses start their routes smoothly will continue to be adjusted.

“Metro and SDOT staff are working to resolve any issues as they come up,” the spokesperson said. “SDOT is currently updating signal timings along Madison Street and at the intersection with Martin Luther King Jr Way. SDOT will keep monitoring and adjusting these signals to improve traffic flow for both buses and general traffic in the coming weeks.”

The full statement from Metro appears at the end of this post.

Other issues also have added up in the growing pains around the newly launched $144 million line that includes bus service 10 new stations between 1st Ave and MLK Jr Way operating from 5:00 AM to 4:00 AM daily with a bus every six minutes between 6 AM and 7 PM Monday through Saturday.

The growing RapidRide system’s arrival on Madison is hoped to optimize an area that was already served by a tangle of Metro routes in neighborhoods unlikely to be connected to Sound Transit’s light rail network anytime soon.

Some issues are small in comparison to the ambitions of the new line. One Rapid G Line bus driver with a year of experience under their belt, for example, told CHS the protocol on the new route requires they switch drivers every time at the end of the route — just one of the many new steps and procedures slowing performance on the new line during the launch.

“It could be worse,” the driver said. Continue reading →

When will you ride RapidRide G? ‘Bus rapid transit’ line across First Hill and Capitol Hill starts Saturday

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There are 13 new Metro buses ready to ply Madison from the waterfront to Madison Valley via First Hill and Capitol Hill carrying paying passengers for the first time starting this weekend.

Three doors on the right — two on the left. $2.75 a pop.

The RapidRide G line begins service Saturday after a decade of planning and three years of construction powered by federal, state, and local funding that included massive infrastructure projects for utility systems up and down the $144 million route.

The 2.50-mile, 10-station RapidRide G line will operate 23 hours a day, from 5:00 AM to 4:00 AM between 1st Ave downtown and MLK Jr Way in Madison Valley with stops across First Hill and Capitol Hill along the way, with a bus every six minutes between 6 AM and 7 PM Monday through Saturday.

A twisting path of bus-only lanes and plenty of paint, a First Hill cluster of center-loading bus islands, and signal priority along the way is hoped to speed the journey.

How ridership of the new G line will look is unclear. Continue reading →

CHS Pics | Ribbon cut on RapidRide G in a big month for public transit around Seattle — Service starts September 14th

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Local and federal officials cut the ribbon last week but you’ll have a few more days to wait for your first ride on the RapidRide G line.

Thursday’s ceremony featuring Federal Transit Administration Administrator Veronica Vanterpool and local officials in the First African Methodist Episcopal Church’s one-acre surface parking lot along E Madison was a photo op.

September 14th brings the real action as Metro buses roll out on the new $139 million route for the first time. The new five-door, 60-foot-long buses can load from both curbside and center island stations on the route. Continue reading →

Officials holding Thursday ribbon-cutting ceremony for RapidRide G

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It won’t open until September 14th but they are cutting the ribbon on the RapidRide G line today.

The city announced the Thursday ceremony Wednesday.

The rushed ceremony after three years of construction on the $139 million Seattle transit project comes as federal officials are also in the area for another celebration of Washington D.C.-boosted transportation spending — Friday’s opening of Sound Transit’s $3.1 billion light rail extension to Lynnwood. Continue reading →

As RapidRide G moves toward September 14th opening, riders are reminded that new bus stops are ‘not yet operational’

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RapidRide stops are “not yet operational,” the city reminds

The Seattle Department of Transportation says construction on the $139 million RapidRide G bus line on Madison remains on schedule for a planned September opening that will also bring major changes in service to mahy nearby bus routes and stops.

Meanwhile, King County Metro is hoping to clear up confusion for neighborhood riders stuck in the transition.

“Construction progress in July has been vital to the project as it moves toward completion in the fall, when service begins on Saturday, September 14. While heavy construction wrapped up earlier in the summer, July saw our crews complete countless details, repairs, upgrades, and finishing touches that tie the revamped Madison St. corridor together with some final details to wrap up this fall,” SDOT said in its latest construction update. “Our crews have been filling in gaps in new roadway painting and markings, adding features to bus shelters, repairing damaged sidewalks and removing debris and equipment that is old and leftover from prior eras.” Continue reading →

SDOT explains why so much of the new RapidRide G line is paint, not concrete

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(Image: SDOT)

After a decade of planning including three years of construction, it is only in recent weeks that many elements of the $135 million RapidRide G bus rapid transit project connecting downtown, First Hill, Capitol Hill, and Madison Valley are finally visible.

The Seattle Department of Transportation is finally laying down the paint.

To cut on costs and save money while also making massive infrastructure and water main upgrades along the route of the soon-to-be completed project, the city is using painted features rather than concrete along the coming soon bus line.

“Many features along this route, such as curb bulbs, are being executed with paint instead of solid, concrete-poured structures primarily due to cost considerations,” an SDOT spokesperson said. “Utilizing paint allows us to implement traffic calming and pedestrian safety measures more affordably, while still achieving the desired improvements.”

The department says not all of the coming RapidRide G paint is a cost saving measure. Some of the paint was in the plans from the beginning like markings to help ensure drivers don’t park near crosswalks. Continue reading →

With RapidRide G starting on Madison in 2024, Metro planning changes to Routes 10, 11, 12, and final elimination of the 47

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Metro’s plan is to keep the electrified trolleys of Route 12 and 10 rolling once RapidRide G comes along (Image: CHS)

With construction of the new line now at “50%,” officials are collecting feedback on proposals to alter existing bus routes that will connect with the Madison RapidRide G line when it begins service in 2024.

The new “Madison Street Area” network would alter Routes 10, 11, 12, and 47 in the Capitol Hill, Central District, First Hill, and Madison Valley neighborhoods to “improve public transportation connections and transfers,” reduce duplication with the new RapidRide G line, and “address service that was suspended since COVID began in 2020,” Metro says.

The new configurations could also fit better with the streetscape overhaul currently underway that will make Pike and Pine one-way between downtown and Bellevue Ave.

Metro’s plan is to roll the proposals out now and collect survey feedback through May before possibly revised revisions go out later in the year and are finalized in time for RapidRide G’s start of service in 2024.

Metro is promising “a final proposed bus route network that reflects community input from this survey, conversations with community members, and equity analyses” by fall 2023. Continue reading →

Traffic closure between 12th and 14th Ave as Madison RapidRide G construction ‘50% complete’

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The city says E Madison will be closed to vehicle traffic through March 20th as the latest RapidRide G line project’s construction phase moves through the area.

Starting at 6 a.m. on Monday, March 6, we will fully close E Madison St between 12th Ave and 14th Ave. The road will reopen by 6 a.m. on Monday, March 20. There will be a signed detour for people driving and buses will be rerouted. The closure is necessary as we work on replacing a 120-year-old watermain. Continue reading →