Earlier this month King County Metro and Sound Transit release proposed plans for changes in bus service routes that will affect Northwest Seattle riders, and the Ballard District Council has made recommendations to the proposals.

In early 2016, Sound Transit’s Link light rail will connect Capitol Hill and the University of Washington with downtown Seattle, Rainier Valley and Sea-Tac Airport. With the new system, Metro and Sound Transit are considering changes that they think will help buses and light rail work together to improve overall mobility.

According to Metro, average transit boardings per day average around 400 thousand. As of March of this year, ridership has been 1.4 percent higher than last year. Metro attributes the growth to an increase in local employment.

Changes are proposed to 32 Metro bus routes (8, 10, 11, 12, 16, 25, 26, 28, 30, 31, 32, 43, 44, 48, 49, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 238, 242, 316, 372, and 373) and three Sound Transit routes (ST 540, ST 542, and ST 545)

Route 44, 45 and 28 will affect Northwest Seattle riders.

Overall, the council would like to see the two agencies gather more input from the Ballard and surrounding communities before implementation of the proposed plans.

“We recommend providing neighborhoods more time to respond to these proposals, especially those which were not consulted in their development,” the Council wrote in a statement.

“Because we are not to be served by Link we are disconcerted to see proposed changes to three Ballard bus routes. The implied connection to LINK service deterred many from parsing the proposal. References to sounding boards and outreach undertaken in March are obscure -- we are unaware of any efforts to solicit the opinions of riders and others in Ballard. ”

Metro proposes an increase in service to Route 44. The route is a direct line from the University District to Ballard via North 45th Street through Wallingford. Riders could expect waits times between buses down from 15 minutes to 12 minutes during peak hours.

The Council stated that the increase in service will be a benefit to Ballard riders but should be implemented regardless of implications from Link service.

“This was promised in connection with last year's Proposition 1, is clearly needed, and should be implemented regardless of the timing of the commencement of Link service to North Seattle.”

Moreover, Metro proposes to make dramatic changes to Route 28. In North Seattle the new route would completely bypass the commercial portion of Fremont on North 36th Street.

In addition, route 28 will be rerouted to follow Aurora to downtown instead of Dexter Avenue North, limiting service to South Lake Union.

“Route 28 is to be realigned, abandoning its service to commercial Fremont and South Lake Union. Commuters will find their rides lengthened due to the proposed reduction of service and consequent need for connections. ... Route 28 does not and would not serve any light rail stations other than Downtown, so its inclusion in this set of proposals is odd.”

”Many portions of Ballard have lost all or substantially all bus service in recent years. We hoped this would be reversed, rather than continued. [Metro and Sound proposed changes are presented following a process which seems not to have involved anyone from this area, and we are most displeased.”
Route 45 is a new route that would replace the Loyal Heights/ University District route 48, coupling in the University District.

“We commend the proposed overlap between Routes 45 and 48, which will ease transfer by eliminating the need to walk between the two lines for those who use both.”

Learn more at www.kingcounty.gov/metro/LinkConnections and www.soundtransit.org/LinkConnections