TRAFFIC/TRANSIT TODAY: First Friday of 2018

(SDOT MAP with travel times/video links; is the ‘low bridge’ closed? LOOK HERE)

6:57 AM: Good morning! No incidents in/from West Seattle so far this morning, nor is there anything major in the area with potential ripple effects.

8:08 AM: The skipped Route 56 mentioned by commenters has finally resulted in an after-the-fact Metro alert:

8:37 AM: Another Metro note – the “online open house” for the Route 120 conversion into the RapidRide H Line, your next feedback opportunity, is open for 10 days starting today – it starts here.

11 Replies to "TRAFFIC/TRANSIT TODAY: First Friday of 2018"

  • Mark January 5, 2018 (7:45 am)

    Pretty sure the 56 route (7:25 am?) didn’t run this morning. 

    • NH January 5, 2018 (8:02 am)

      Must not have. My husband just texted there were so many at the bus stop at 45th and Admiral he couldn’t get on the bus. He’s waiting for the next one. 

      • WSB January 5, 2018 (8:04 am)

        Thanks for the reports. No Metro alert about that – we monitor both via being on the text list, and via Twitter, where the alerts are sent simultaneously. Bunch of non-WS routes had alerts this morning but nothing in this area so far.

        • WSB January 5, 2018 (8:07 am)

          … and just now, at 8:07 am, that alert was sent. Adding above.

          • In Admiral January 5, 2018 (8:25 am)

            There were at least two busses that didn’t show up and then, as others said, the next bus was jam packed and had to leave lots of people behind (including me). I gave up at that point and will be driving in instead. Grrrrr. 

  • Wes C. Addle January 5, 2018 (8:57 am)

    And the 57 that arrives at California/Admiral around 6:55 am yesterday didn’t show up either as I was 20 minutes late for work.

    Thanks Metro!

    • newnative January 5, 2018 (11:16 am)

      Wes C. Addle, I complained yesterday and was told here that the bus rolled by after the following 56 (which I had boarded). Yesterday’s reason/excuse was the I-5 collision. 

      The cancelled buses are one issue, the lack of alerts is another. What is the point of subscribing to One Bus Away and Metro Alert if they aren’t honest or accurate? 

  • Mark January 5, 2018 (9:21 am)

    The 56 finally showed up and the driver gave us some insight into the different layers to the problem.  As has previously been reported, Metro has a bus driver shortage.  The part-time routes (such as 56/57) are the first to get cut, and the shortest part-time routes jump to the front of that line (e.g. the 56 gets cut before the 55 because it travels a shorter distance with fewer stops).  He also explained that many drivers are retiring, therefore the drivers that used to drive these part-time routes have moved on to the full-time routes, which totally makes sense. 

     Though the explanation did not “fix the problem,” I appreciate the driver breaking it down for us as we crammed into the 56 on a Friday morning.  He encouraged people to take to twitter/social media to encourage our Councilmembers to do something and pass the word along to folks looking for work.

  • Meg January 5, 2018 (6:24 pm)

    I’m riding the 37 home. Left about 9 minutes late from downtown and then took the wrong exit off of the bridge.  We started heading down Delridge. This is the second time it’s happened. 

  • flimflam January 6, 2018 (9:13 am)

    pretty amazing that metro can get away with simply not showing up (especially the same route, over and over) – i thought this was what would happen if we DIDN’T pass the last money grab levy?

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