Partnership Looks at Bus Overcrowding

Bus riders in Seattle will enjoy more frequent service on major bus routes thanks to a partnership agreement between Metro Transit and the city of Seattle, approved today by the Metropolitan King County Council. The agreements are implemented as part of the voter-approved "Transit Now" initiative.
"Transit Now" set aside 90,000 hours of bus service for service partnerships with businesses and local cities throughout King County, with the goal of increasing transit service on major urban corridors. Seattle residents will see an addition of 56,000 annual service hours from the program thanks to partnerships between Metro and the city of Seattle, Harborview Medical Center, Swedish Medical Center, and Virginia Mason Medical Center.
The city of Seattle will partner with Metro to extend the span of service on portions of Routes 5, 13, 28, 48, 60, and 74; increase service frequency during evenings, nights, and/or weekends on Routes 7, 44, 48, 60 and 75, and the common portions of Routes 2 and 13, 3 and 4, and 26 and 28; and improve frequency during high-use periods on Routes 2, 3, 4, 8, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 26, 28 and 70. Metro will also provide more frequent service on the soon-to-arrive West Seattle RapidRide line, in exchange for the city implementing speed and reliability improvements such as signal prioritization, transit lanes at intersections and off-street bus stops.
Harborview, Swedish and Virginia Mason Medical Centers are teaming up with Metro to fund a new route connecting the three medical center sites on First Hill with the Coleman Dock and King Street station via a one-way loop.
Seattle bus riders will begin seeing transit improvements for the partnerships in September of this year.