Dear Editor:

"Rapid Ride" in West Seattle is an oxymoron!  For many years I took the 54 Express to and from Downtown even though I had a company car and was authorized a parking space in 2 Union Square.  Why didn't I drive?  The 54 Express was faster and more convenient.  Forty-five minutes from the time I closed my front door in Fauntleroy until the time I switched on my computer on the 38th Floor versus up to an hour and fifteen minutes if I drove.
At the Fauntleroy Food Fest (Fauntleroy Community Association's Annual Meeting) at the Hall of Fauntleroy I had the opportunity to speak with the representatives from Metro King County.  After learning that the 54 Local and Express would be discontinued in West Seattle and replaced by Rapid Ride, which goes through Alaska Junction, I asked a number of questions, including "how much longer will it take to go downtown on Rapid Ride (and return) at rush hour from the 45th and Wildwood?"  I was shocked by their admission:  "Between 10 and 15 minutes LONGER (my emphasis)."

Help me understand how "Rapid Ride" is rapid if it takes 10 to 15 minutes longer than the existing route?  I see all the construction for the 'new' bus stops, which I don't understand why they are needed, the old ones were fine and served the same purpose.  It just seems to me that it's another way to waste our tax money (the Sharrows being another).

I learned a long time ago, "If it 'ain't broke', don't fix it".  Maybe our city and Metro King County bureaucrats should learn that.

I'm going back to my driving my car.

Thank you King County Metro.

Robert E. Callard,

Fauntleroy
West Seattle