Showing posts with label transit. Show all posts
Showing posts with label transit. Show all posts

Metro bus rider information

Monday, November 22, 2010

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Metro Transit planned ahead and put all its busses on snow routes for Monday. Following is useful information from Metro for dealing with the snow.

Know the snow routing for your bus route.
Check the timetables online for snow route maps for each route. Not every bus route has snow routing, but most do. Two routes – 38 and 45 – don’t operate in these conditions. Special bus service between downtown and First Hill, the Route 90, will be operating on Monday.

When buses are on snow routing, some streets and bus stops may be missed and there are often delays due to travel conditions. There is new snow routing in many areas that is different from past years, so be sure to check the snow routes for all the routes you use most often.

If you haven’t already, sign up for Transit Alerts to keep up with any major changes to bus service. The alerts can be received as email or text messages. Subscribe online.

Metro will be using a new online color-coded map to keep riders informed of the status of its bus service. 

All bus routes are assigned into one or more of seven geographic areas within King County.

When there is snow or ice on the roads, the service status of each area will be color coded and displayed on an online snow map. 
  • Green indicates buses are operating on normal routes
  • Yellow that some – but not all – routes in the area are on snow routes (primarily in higher elevation areas)
  • Red tells you that all bus routes in the entire geographic area are on snow routing.

People without online access can call the Customer Information Office at (206) 553-3000. 

General information about service will also be sent out via the kcmetrobus Twitter account.

Here are some other snow tips for Metro customers:
  • Head for bus stops on main arterials or at major transfer points such as park-and-ride lots, transit centers, or shopping centers.
  • Riders should wait at bus stops at the very top or very bottom of hills, because buses are often unable to stop for passengers on inclines.

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County Council eliminates 2011 transit fare increase for seniors

Monday, October 11, 2010


The Metropolitan King County Council today adopted legislation canceling the 25-cent fare increase for senior bus riders slated to occur in 2011. The legislation also begins the transition of replacing the Metro senior pass with an ORCA card, providing seniors with the ease of using one card for their public transportation needs throughout the region.

Senior/disabled ridership represents approximately 9 million of Metro Transit’s 107 million annual trips. In 2009, the Council adopted legislation approving a 25-cent increase in senior fares starting in 2011 to help fill the revenue shortfall in the Metro Transit Budget.

Today’s legislation repeals the fare increase, leaving the cost of a bus ride for seniors and passengers with disabilities at 75 cents.  

The legislation does increase the cost of a monthly pass from $18 to $27, but that monthly pass can now be used on any transit system in the region as part of the overall regional fare coordination effort. Consistent with other ORCA passes, yearly passes for seniors are also eliminated.



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Community Transit fare increase June 1

Sunday, May 30, 2010

By Brian Doennebrink

Fares on Community Transit local bus and Dial-A-Ride Transportation (DART) paratransit service will increase 25 cents effective Tuesday, June 1. Meanwhile, bus as well as DART paratransit service on Monday, Memorial Day, May 31, will be on Sunday schedule, and there will be no commuter service to King County or to Boeing-Everett. In addition, Community Transit’s RideStore, located at the Lynnwood Transit Center, will be closed. Customer Information Services also will be closed, but information about Community Transit routes is always available online.

Fare Change
Starting June 1, Community Transit fares will be:
  • Local bus - Adults $1.75, youth $1.25, seniors/disabled/Medicare 75 cents
  • Dial-Ride Transportation (DART) paratransit - $1.75 all ages
  • Commuter bus - no change
  • Vanpool - no change, fares are based on mileage and size of the vehicle.

Riders who use an ORCA card are urged to update their monthly pass denomination for June, or make sure they have adequate fare value in their E-purse account to accommodate the increased fares.

ORCA users with an autoload pass must cancel their autoload feature, buy a new pass at the appropriate fare value, then create a new autoload after they’ve used their new pass. Questions about ORCA can be answered at 888 988-6722.



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Community Transit approves service cuts

Saturday, May 29, 2010

By Brian Doennebrink

Due to lower sales tax revenues brought on by the economic recession, the Community Transit Board of Directors recently approved service cuts which will take effect June 13, which includes suspension of all Community Transit service on Sundays and major holidays. Major holidays include New Year’s Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day and Christmas.

A less-publicized aspect of the service cutback is the scaling back of one-seat service to neighborhoods. Instead, many routes will be now start and end at transit centers, many of which are underutilized. In many cases, riders will still be able to take local routes to transit centers, where they can transfer to the commuter routes.

Shoreline riders will be mostly affected by the following changes: 
  • the suspension of Sunday and holiday service; 
  • the elimination of the UW-bound #870, which presently crosses North 205th with stops at the north edge of Aurora Village, at Meridian, and 6th Ave. NE; and 
  • the reduction of the #101 buses that travel from Aurora Village along highway 99 to Airport Road and east to Mariner Park and Ride (128th) from every 15 minutes to every 20 minutes.

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SL Councilmember Chris Eggen to serve on regional transit task force

Monday, February 22, 2010


Metropolitan King County Council Chair Bob Ferguson (left) sponsored successful legislation to appoint Shoreline City Councilmember Chris Eggen to a transit task force that will address critical transit issues facing King County. 

“As a daily bus commuter, I know how important transit is for King County residents,” said Ferguson. “Councilmember Eggen is a leader in transportation issues and will effectively represent Shoreline and neighboring jurisdictions as we evaluate our transit system and its budget challenges.”

“My participation on other regional committees has provided me with an understanding of the significant transit issues to be addressed,” said Councilmember Eggen. “I appreciate the opportunity to represent Shoreline and Lake Forest Park on the task force and to help craft a sustainable vision for King County Metro Transit.”
Eggen is one of 27 members on the task force, which includes a mix of elected officials, riders, labor representatives, and business and other regional interests. The task force is geographically balanced, with equal representation from each of King County’s three transportation subareas. Shoreline and Lake Forest Park are part of the West King County transportation subarea, which also includes Seattle.

“People tend to forget that Seattle shares the west subarea with Shoreline and Lake Forest Park,” said Ferguson. “I requested that Executive Constantine include Councilmember Eggen on the task force to make sure Shoreline and Lake Forest Park have a voice in this regional discussion.”
The task force will discuss the future of Metro Transit, including developing a comprehensive vision for the future of the regional transit system. Also to be discussed are criteria for systemically expanding or reducing the transit system, depending on revenues available. The task force will make its recommendations by September.

The County Council directed the County Executive to convene the task force in response to ongoing projected Metro Transit budget shortfalls. A sharp drop in the sales tax revenues that support bus service led to a projected $213 million revenue shortfall for Metro Transit over 2010 and 2011. In the adopted 2010 King County Budget, the Council reprioritized property tax revenues and adopted a fare increase for 2011 to preserve existing levels of bus service through 2011. However, a projected shortfall remains in 2012 through 2014, which could require cutting approximately 500,000 annual service hours. 

 

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Metro fare increase

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

On January 1, 2010, King County Metro will implement a 25¢ fare increase for adult peak and off-peak bus service and in senior/disabled fares. This is part of the process of closing a wide funding deficit at Metro, with more actions to follow. The resultant new adult, age 19-64, fares will be: $2.75 for a peak trip that crosses Seattle's city limits (two-zone), $2.25 for a peak trip that doesn't (e.g., a trip from Shoreline/Lake Forest Park to Bellevue), $2.00 for an off-peak trip. Youth riders will have a fare of 75¢ on any trip, whereas Senior/Disabled riders with a valid Regional Reduced Fare Permit can buy a monthly pass for $18.00 (per ride cash fare wasn't listed on Metro's website). For more details, see the Metro website.

--Brian Doennebrink
Brian Doennebrink lives in Shoreline, works for a major transit organization, and follows transportation issues closely.

Photo by Oran Viriyincy

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Metro emergency service network

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

If a major snowstorm spanning several days strikes, Metro will activate a newly designed Emergency Service Network for its fleet. When the network is activated, Metro’s regular routes will be replaced with 70 pre-identified “priority” snow routes across the county designed to be reliable in severe weather conditions. Metro will make every attempt to keep service operating on these routes as long as transportation service providers are able to keep roads passable. I've heard that they're using a color system whereas yellow means some changes and red means complete changes.

Below is the Emergency Service Network for North King County. Notice that many routes are missing;  77, 301, 303, 304, 315, 316, 330, 346, 347, 373.

Metro recommends people sign up for "Transit Alerts"; these cover all types of emergencies.  Go to Metro Signup.  This way, you'll be notified of any changes to your favorite bus routes. You may set up an alert for individual routes. Notice that another tab is "Construction & Events," click on this to see other, more minor changes to Metro routing.
There's also a road alert website.

For transportation disruptions that off-times affect any type of commute, such as road paving, try "Eye on Your Metro Commute"

Lastly, here is a good traffic website

Emergency Service Network  North King County

If your bus route number is not listed, assume that it is not operating during emergency service.

Route                    Destination                             Route Map

5          Broadview - Greenwood - Downtown Seattle [PDF]
234      Kenmore P&R-Juanita-Kirkland [PDF]
251      Kenmore P&R-UW Bothell-Woodinville P&R [PDF]
312      Kenmore-Lake City-Downtown Seattle [PDF]
331      Aurora Village TC-Kenmore PandR [PDF]
345      Broadview-Northgate [PDF]
348      Richmond Beach - Northgate TC [PDF]
358      Aurora Village TC-Downtown Seattle [PDF]
372      Kenmore-U District [PDF]
522      Woodinville-Bothell-Kenmore-Downtown Seattle [PDF]
935      Kenmore-Juanita-Totem Lake TC map*

* DART routes run on their snow routes during emergency service

--Brian Doennebrink
Metro Bus Photo from Oran Viriyincy

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ORCA bus cards - ride the wave of the future

Sunday, November 29, 2009

By Brian Doennebrink
Special to the ShorelineAreaNews
Brian Doennebrink lives in Shoreline, works for a major transit organization, and follows transportation issues closely.

One Regional Card for All, a.k.a. ORCA, is the wave of the future, and if you think you and/or your family will be riding a transit bus anytime in the next several years, you can save yourself money by getting one for each member of your family now, because as of February 1, 2010, a $5.00 fee will be charged to get an ORCA card. Each person should have an ORCA card because, once the card has been tapped at a reader, it won't be recognized again at that reader for 5 minutes.

As of December 14, 2009, Puget Passes will stop being sold. U-Passes, Ed Passes, and FlexPasses will follow suit depending on their contract renewal. Come January 1, 2010, no more transfer slips will be given or applicable except on King County Metro buses, to transfer to another King County Metro bus. ORCA will be the only way to get a 2 hour transfer window for transferring to another participant in the system: Community Transit, Everett Transit, Sound Transit, Pierce Transit, or Kitsap Transit.

Still not convinced? Let's say that you take a trip from 175th and Aurora in Shoreline to Everett Community College. Come January 1, 2010, that round-trip will cost $9.00 per day, and you'd need exact change for each bus! This same trip with the ORCA card: $4.50 per day. If you took this routing 20 weekdays a month, you'd save $90/month by using ORCA! If you walked or biked to Aurora Village, you'd save another $30!

There are adult. youth, or Regional Reduced Fare Permit (RRFP) ORCA types, and for each, there are 3 options: (1) E-purse, which you can think of like a Starbucks card. Value is loaded on the card from $5.00-$300.00, but there are no fees and the value doesn't expire. This is the best if you only ride occasionally. (2) Monthly pass, the equivalent of a Puget Pass. This is best for a person who rides the same/nearly the same bus routes/system for at least 18 days per month. (3) Hybrid, which has a monthly pass and e-purse. If you take trips with differing total fares each day, this might be for you. With this product, the monthly pass value is applied first, and any extra that's needed comes from the e-purse.

ORCA cards are available online, by phone at 1-888-988-ORCA (6722) or TTY: 711/888-889-6368, at ORCA customer service locations (RideStore at Lynnwood Transit Center, Everett Station, Metro Pass Sales Office - 201 S Jackson St/Seattle, Westlake Tunnel Station -West Mezzanine/Seattle). Youths and current Regional Reduced Fare Permit (RRFP) holders need to get their cards in person. ORCA cards are not valid on DART/paratransit systems, but those riders may find some benefit from having an ORCA card; they're advised to contact their transit agency.

It's best if you register your card - online, by phone, or at an ORCA customer service location - in case it's lost or stolen, as that's the only way for your e-purse balance or pass to be transferred to a replacement card; otherwise, all value is lost. None of your personal information is stored on the ORCA card.

Lastly, a big tip for in-Shoreline riders: if you're only riding a King County Metro bus within Shoreline (145th - 205th) without ever riding into Seattle, be sure to tell your driver that you're only traveling in a single zone, as their machines are typically set for two-zone fares applicable to travel to Seattle. Otherwise, you'll get dinged for the two-zone fare.

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Metro Transit seeks members for Accessible Services Advisory Committee

Saturday, November 28, 2009

King County Metro Transit is accepting applications for several vacancies on its Accessible Services Advisory Committee (ASAC). You are invited to apply if you are a King County resident with an interest in providing suggestions for improving public transit for people who are elderly and/or have disabilities.

The committee’s purpose is to:

  • Advise Metro’s general manager, the King County executive, the Metropolitan King County Council, local jurisdictions, and sub-area transportation forums on transit matters of concern to people who are elderly and/or have disabilities;
  • Provide advocacy and leadership in the disability community toward obtaining equal opportunity and maximum independence in the use of public transit; and
  • Monitor, oversee, evaluate, and improve transportation services for people who are elderly and/or disabled.
The committee usually meets once a month for two to three hours during a weekday evening or on Saturdays, in addition to an all-day Saturday meeting each January. Participation in subcommittee meetings might be necessary. Members serve two-year staggered terms with a possibility for a second term.

Metro seeks members who represent a variety of ages, disabilities, income levels, ethnic backgrounds, cultural communities, geographical areas, and transit needs. Preference will be given to applicants who frequently use Metro’s bus and/or Access Transportation services.

Metro is now reviewing applications, and will continue to review applications until positions are filled. To be appointed to the committee, applicants must be approved by Metro staff, nominated by the King County executive, and confirmed by the Metropolitan King County Council.

Applications and more information are available online. Or, contact Sarah Luthens, Community Relations planner by email. Alternate formats are available by calling 206-684-1154 TTY 711.

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Swift Bus service from Aurora Village into Snohomish County starts 4 pm Sunday

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

by Brian Doennebrink
Special to the ShorelineAreaNews
Brian Doennebrink lives in Shoreline, works for a major transit organization, and follows transportation issues closely.
Community Transit's Swift Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) service starts at 4 pm Sunday with full service beginning on Monday, November 30. The only stop in King County is at Aurora Village Transit Center, where the bus will stop and pick up on the same platform as King County Metro's route #358 to downtown Seattle, but on the opposite (east) end. For the fastest trips to downtown Seattle during peak hours weekdays, the #301 and #303 are highly recommended.


The initial Swift line will cover highway 99 from Aurora Village in Shoreline to Everett Station, with a total of 12 stops. A policy decision was made that it would stop as a train does at all of the stations whether there are passengers visible there or not. Coach operators will have a time window of about 10 seconds at each stop, and it remains to be seen how well they'll adhere to that. Another open question is how and if Swift will operate in snowy conditions, as King County Metro management recently publicized their decision to not operate articulated buses during snowy conditions. Lastly, it will be down to the wire whether the station slated for Everett Station will be done on time, as the City of Everett only recently acted on approving the construction.

The Swift line replaces the present Community Transit route #100. Remember, for Swift, you pay before you get on the bus, and ticket machines are conveniently located at each station. Best of all, fares are the same as for "regular" buses, and cash, credit card, or ORCA card may be used for payment. Bicycles are loaded on a Swift bus, through the third door, and there are 3 onboard racks. And, while the #100 that's being replaced stops at all "regular" stops, the Swift only stops at Swift stations. This means that, if you wish to to go somewhere that's not near a Swift station, you must transfer to a "regular" bus. On highway 99, from Shoreline to Airport Road at the City of Everett boundary, CT #101 will run every 20 minutes weekdays and less often on weekends. Within Everett city limits, Everett Transit #9 is the primary route serving the "regular" bus stops along highway 99. Please note: only Swift buses stop at Swift stations, and Swift buses do not stop at regular stops. To transfer to a "regular" bus, you must walk from the Swift station to the "regular" bus stop, and to transfer from a "regular" bus to a Swift bus, you must walk from the "regular" bus stop to a Swift station.

Two new stations in both directions are to be constructed in 2010. Deleted from the original project due to reaching the limit on costs, the City of Everett received A.R.R.A. (American Recovery and Reinvestment Act), a.k.a. economic stimulus monies, to re-add them again. These stations are at 112th SE and at Madison Street, the only two transfer points to the Everett Transit #8 route, which goes northwest to Merrill Creek, Intermec, and Boeing-Everett. To make such a transfer before then, the shortest walk to an Everett Transit #8 stop is from the 4th Avenue West station northwest on 4th Avenue West to just past Holly Drive.

Because Swift will be operating 7 days a week, it opens up some interesting possibilities. For instance, one will be able to take a "one bus" trip from Aurora Village to Everett to: (a) attend an event at the Comcast Events Center; or (b) attend an Everett Aquasox baseball game without much concern about whether the buses are still running; Swift is slated to run 20 hours per day, roughly 5 a.m. through 1 a.m. the next day. At Everett Station, one can connect with Amtrak trains to Vancouver, B.C. and points in-between, including a soon-to-be-opened Stanwood station, Community Transit "regular" routes to Marysville, SW Arlington, Granite Falls, Snohomish, Monroe, and Gold Bar, a myriad of Everett Transit routes, and even Island and Skagit Transit buses during peak afternoon hours.

Photos from Community Transit

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Metro holiday schedule

Sunday, November 22, 2009

Metro is reminding bus riders that it will be operating on a reduced weekday schedule on several holidays now through January – including a full week of reduced service at the end of December. This is the first time in this rider's memory that King County Metro has effected this for a full week. This means that there's no service on Shoreline/Lake Forest routes #304, 308, 316, 355, and 373, and it seems - from what's reported on Metro's website - that there may be reductions or deletions for routes #301, 303, 345, 347, 348. For your interpretation, see the Metro website.
---Brian Doennebrink
Brian Doennebrink lives in Shoreline, works for a major transit organization, and follows transportation issues closely.

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