12:19 PM: SDOT is “shelving” its unpopular proposal to reroute Metro‘s RapidRide C Line onto California between Alaska and Edmunds. That’s the word from City Councilmember Tom Rasmussen, with whom we just spoke. He says he asked the department to stop pursuing the plan, and that SDOT agreed, which he says is “a real win for the community.” While SDOT had said one minute would be saved each trip by moving the buses onto that block, instead of jogging westward from Edmunds to 44th and then eastward on Alaska, we’ve covered two public discussions at which multiple concerns were raised, with alternative time-savings suggested. The most recent discussion was this past Tuesday at the West Seattle Transportation Coalition‘s monthly meeting (WSB coverage here), during which opponents of the proposal said a lot more could be done by fulfilling the longtime promise to get transit-signal prioritization along the route.
We first reported the reroute proposal four months ago; its first public airing was at November’s meeting of the Southwest District Council (WSB coverage here), where commenters also voiced a host of concerns.
ADDED 2:03 PM: An official statement from Rasmussen was sent from City Hall, including:
“I appreciate that the Department is working to improve reliability of busses through West Seattle. However, it is important that transit efficiencies not have a negative effect on our business districts or major pedestrian areas such as the Junction. Improved bus service will be coming to West Seattle in June because of the passage of Proposition 1 without changing the C Line route as has been proposed by SDOT.”
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