We Need More Buses

Wednesday morning, Route 301 from Shoreline to downtown Seattle. Waiting patiently, sweating profusely, standing on an over-crowded bus yet again.

It's been in the news many times this year. Ridership is up. And with gas prices as they are, we expect the number of people riding will only climb higher.

Back in 2006, King County Executive Ron Sims announced a plan to deliver "up to 21 million more annual bus rides within 10 years." Transit Now, he called it.

In April of 2008, the county provided an update on Transit Now, as well as information regarding its future.

Now, Metro turns its attention to the needs of growing communities in East and South King County that currently have limited bus service. By the end of the year, Metro is proposing new or revised routes serving North Bend, Snoqualmie, Issaquah Highlands, Klahanie, Carnation, Maple Valley, Black Diamond, and the Kent East Hill. Specific routes will be finalized later this year following public input.

Not looking good for us northern folks. To be fair, we know those areas to the south and east are currently under-served and in need of new routes. Just don't forget about the routes already on the map. It's no fun having to stand butts-to-nuts every day to and from work.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@seattlest.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Jack in Miscellaneous on May 14, 2008 9:06 AM

Comments [rss]

Queegmire

Just wait for Friday afternoon when it the temperature hits the mid 80's.

Nothing more fun than to spend 45 minutes on a crowded bus in hot weather.

John Knee

More buses with WHAT money? If people are driving less, there goes your funding for more buses. Ironic ain't it?

jessejb

^lalalala not listening! -Seattle City Council

Matt the Engineer

More buses = more drivers = more annual dollars (each one will cost you several million dollars every decade). Longer buses would help, or we could let the outside areas have our old buses and get a higher-capacity in-city system. You know, something like traffic-separated streetcars, a city-level light rail system, or a monorail...

ozmafan

sometimes it seems like the solution to overcrowded buses is as simple as GETTING A LONGER BUS. i've been crammed onto short/normal size buses so many times and always wonder why a longer/articulated bus couldn't be brought to the route. of course there's the issue of not having longer/articulated buses available, but maybe some bus swapping could occur...?

polyrhythmic

+1

While I was running 4 blocks to my transfer -- the 16 ran 12+ minutes late again today -- I was thinking the exact same thing...

Troy Morris

Too bad Ron's a jackass and couldn't build rail because it infringed on his prize Rapid Bus Lines.

Boy, he's a jackass.

jessejb

No, because that would require common sense to solve. Just like the common sense it took for them to go out there and madly build out streetcar and light rail routes no matter what the obstrucionists say, in order to accomodate the surge. Oh..wait..no theyre not.