Metro changes include new bus routes, more trips, and bike demo project
With ridership nearly 7 percent higher than this time last year, King County Metro Transit is making its largest single addition of new service since 2001. The new service includes two new bus routes and added service on 20 existing routes. Many of the changes are designed for help riders make transit connections and to ease commuter overcrowding. It all happens with the service change beginning Saturday, Sept. 20.
The new bus routes will serve North Bend, Snoqualmie, and Kent; plus service improvements will be added to 11 routes in Seattle, five on the Eastside, and four in the south part of the county. And in response to requests from the cycling community, Metro will launch a demonstration project that allows bicycles to be loaded and unloaded on buses at any stop in the Downtown Seattle Transit Tunnel – not just the first and last tunnel stations. Other bus-bike changes are planned for next year.
Metro's ridership has recently climbed to about 400,000 boardings each weekday, and is expected to increase this fall.
“We’ve listened to riders, cities, and businesses and are pleased to have these improvements hit the road as ridership continues to climb and more service is needed,” said King County Executive Ron Sims. “So many more people are taking the bus here in King County that Metro is among the fastest growing large transit agencies in the nation.”
Most of the additional service for the September service change is funded through the voter-approved Transit Now initiative. More than 48,000 new annual hours of Transit Now service will begin to operate on Sept. 20 – with about 33,000 new hours related to partnerships formed with local cities and employers. Read more...
Related information
- New bus service in Snoqualmie, SnoValley Star
- Metro: Honoring promises, Seattle Post Intelligencer
- Map of service improvements (pdf)
- More routes, more service for Metro, Seattle Post Intelligencer
- Metro adds routes, more bus service, Seattle Times
- Metro to add more buses, routes, King 5 News
- Metro Adding More Buses, New Routes To Ease Overcrowding, KIRO News
Smooth sailing for Brightwater outfall pipelines
Brightwater’s second, mile-long outfall pipeline took a tugboat ride into the sunset yesterday evening after leaving Port of Everett on Tuesday afternoon.
The second pipeline, currently staged north of Edmonds, is expected to be towed to Point Wells later today and connected and submerged tomorrow. Work will continue around the clock at Point Wells until the installation of both outfall pipes is complete.
The first pipeline arrived at Point Wells early Tuesday, successfully completing the 17-nautical-mile journey from its lower Snohomish River construction site to Point Wells on Puget Sound.
Workers attached the first pipe to an on-shore connector and just completed the controlled submergence that lowered the pipe 600 feet to the bottom of the Sound.
Read more...
Related information
- Pipeline video
- Pipeline laid for Brightwater outflow, King 5 News
- Massive pipe for Brightwater towed down Snohomish River, Everett Herald
Proposal would get medication to homeless people at no cost to patients or county
King County Executive Ron Sims has proposed a new agreement to provide homeless patients with needed medications at no charge to them or the Public Health clinics where they receive care. The proposal, through an agreement between Pfizer and King County, has been transmitted to the King County Council for their approval and would save an estimated $35,000 in King County general fund expenditures per year. Learn more...
Sports fields to come to Eastside under Sims' proposal for Sixty Acres South Park
As many as 10 much-needed, public sports fields could be coming to the Redmond area in a new agreement proposed today by King County Executive Ron Sims. Meanwhile, a separate proposal has been made to resume active farming operations on 72 acres of rich south Sammamish Valley farmland – land that has been fallow for years and was once considered for sports fields development. Learn more...
King County helps parents and children access quality health care
2,700 more children in King County have signed up for health insurance and have access to a doctor and dentist thanks to a local partnership helping uninsured but eligible families sign up for medical care. The success has been two years in the making. Read more and learn about the Children’s Health Initiative 2008 Annual Measurement and Evaluation Report.
Ron Sims is 2008 County Leader of the Year
Calling the King County Executive's collaborative, holistic approach to problem solving "the genius" in his leadership style, American City & County Magazine today named Ron Sims the County Leader of the Year for 2008.
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