In the past few months, King County Metro Transit has closed some bus stops in West Seattle and has plans to relocate others that the Seattle Department of Transportation says pose safety concerns.

Most recently, the bus stop located at California Avenue Southwest and Southwest Hinds Street was closed in early August after the Department of Transportation informed Metro that buses were blocking a crosswalk when picking up and dropping off passengers, said Sharon Slebodnick, supervisor for Metro's transit route facilities. The stop serviced about 35 riders a day, she said.

The location of the stop, just a few feet away from a crosswalk, was unsafe because people were driving around the bus and not stopping for pedestrians in the crosswalk, said Gregg Hirakawa, communications director for the transportation department. Because the department manages the public right of way, it often advises Metro on bus stop locations and relocation, he said.

Metro first looked at moving the stop either north or south, but that would have placed it about 300 feet away from stops on either side of it. Ideally, bus stops should be no less than 800 to 1,300 feet apart, though that's not a hard and fast rule and depends on the community it serves, said Laurie Kittredge, a Metro transit route facilities planner for West Seattle bus stops.

For instance, Kittredge said, Metro places stops closer together near a retirement facility or a senior center.

Only one person called to protest during the two-week period a notice was posted at the Hind's stop informing customers that it would close, said Slebodnick.

In the next few months, Metro plans to move two stops on California Avenue. The northbound stop at Oregon Street and another at the intersection with Andover Street will be moved farther north, said Kittredge.

The city Department of Transportation received many complaints that buses stopped at Oregon Street often blocked the intersection, located just a few yards from the stop. It's a problem especially when the bus is loading or unloading a customer who uses a wheelchair because it can mean the intersection is obstructed for a few minutes, said Hirakawa.

Buses stopping at Andover Street were impeding the line of sight for westbound drivers trying to get onto California Avenue.

Two other West Seattle Metro stops were closed this summer: 44th Avenue Southwest and Southwest Seattle Street was shut down in mid-July and a northbound stop at Massachusetts Street and California Avenue closed in late August. Metro closed the stop on 44th because it was one of three in a space of about 600 feet.

"Seattle has a very old transit system," said Slebodnick. "Some stops are only about 300 feet apart. Too many stops can really slow the trip down."

Metro is actively looking for areas of the county where unnecessary stops can be removed, she said.

The Massachusetts Street bus stop was being used as a layover terminal for buses on Route 55, one of West Seattle's major bus routes. Again, residents living near the stop complained they couldn't see around stopped buses when trying to exit their driveways, said Hirakawa.

After getting some "very vocal complaints" from residents, the layover was moved one block south and the stop closed, said Kittredge.

"It just wasn't a good location for a stop," said Kittredge. "We just decided to close it--then the issue would go away."

Consolidating bus routes by removing stops that are scarcely used is one way Metro tries to make its routes faster and more efficient, but it also saves the transit system some money since it costs about $1,300 a year to maintain a stop with a shelter and bench, said Kittredge.

The repaving of a 1.5-mile stretch of California Avenue from Edmunds Street to Admiral Way and new construction development across the area could change traffic patterns in West Seattle, said Hirakawa. This could mean more changes to come for West Seattle bus stops as Metro re-evaluates stops for safety and traffic impacts, said Linda Thielke, a Metro spokeswoman.