News from Metro's General Manager

Teaming up to take on gridlock

November 16, 2015

A recent headline in the Seattle Times summed up what we’ve all been experiencing: “More drivers, more gridlock, more delays.”

The good news? Transit agencies, cities and other partners are teaming up to keep people moving. In the past few weeks we took some big steps toward improving mobility for people traveling in Seattle.

Link connections

On Oct. 19, the King County Council approved revisions of Metro service in central and northeast Seattle that will integrate our bus routes with Sound Transit’s U-Link service.

Starting March 26, Metro buses will get riders to the Capitol Hill and University of Washington Link stations for fast trips to downtown—8 minutes from Husky Stadium. The redesigned network will also improve bus service for some 80,000 daily riders, offering new connections to more places and more frequent service in many areas. Read the details »

This major transit service change will require a lot of people to change their travel habits. To make the transition as smooth as possible, we’ll join Sound Transit, the City of Seattle, and the UW in an all-out campaign to inform current and new riders about the revised bus/Link network.

RapidRide C and D improvements

The County Council also OK’d our plan to separate the RapidRide C and D lines and extend them to South Lake Union and Pioneer Square, respectively. These changes and the addition of service hours will make both lines more reliable and less crowded. We’re using funding approved by Seattle voters last year to make these improvements, which start in March.

Let’s Move Seattle

Voters’ approval of Seattle’s transportation investment package on Nov. 4 will lead to more transit enhancements, including seven new RapidRide lines and a variety of roadway improvements to make bus service more reliable. You’ll hear more as plans are fleshed out.

Center City Mobility Plan

Seattle’s center city is expected to add 56,000 jobs and 25,000 households over the next 20 years. To help accommodate that growth, the City of Seattle, King County, Sound Transit and the Downtown Seattle Association have agreed to jointly create a transportation plan for downtown Seattle and surrounding neighborhoods. This new plan, which will tie together our various agency plans, will help us move more people on Seattle’s streets in both the short term and the long term.

By the way, Metro is proud to operate both the Seattle Streetcar and Central Link light rail in close cooperation with the City of Seattle and Sound Transit. Our rail operators are giving the streetcars trial runs now and are getting ready to test Link trains in the new tunnel segment. We’re looking forward to giving riders fast, reliable and easy connections to popular destinations in the Chinatown/International District, First Hill, Capitol Hill, and the U District.

Sincerely,

Kevin Desmond, General Manager
King County Metro Transit