Metro service changes: Details on new West Seattle trips

In that photo we took 17 months ago, King County Executive Dow Constantine stood next to the man who held the title at the time, Ron Sims, as the county announced money from the state would pay for more bus trips during Alaskan Way Viaduct-related construction. With that construction really revving up, more of those added trips are kicking in. Today – thanks to Robert for noticing and sharing the details — we know more about new Metro trips to/from West Seattle taking effect at the next “service change,” one week from tomorrow (February 6). (You can get the full list by going here and clicking Metro Schedule and Route Revisions.) West Seattle highlights include:

*21E – Northbound service to downtown Seattle will have three new trips arriving at 3rd Ave & Pike St about 7:50, 8:14 and 9:17 am. Southbound service to Arbor Heights will also have three new trips leaving 1st Ave & Union St about 4:25, 4:55 and 5:25 pm.

*54 – Service will improve to every 10 to 15 minutes during weekday peak periods.

*56E – Northbound service to downtown Seattle will have two new trips arriving at 3rd Ave & Pine St at about 7:45 and 8:14 am. Southbound service to Alki will also have two new trips leaving 1st Ave & Pike St about 5:13 and 6:09 pm.

*60 (White Center)- Service will improve to every 15 to 20 minutes between 6:30 am and 6 pm weekdays. Northbound trips will leave from a new bus stop northbound on 15th Ave SW & SW 100th St. Two new southbound trips will leave 10th Ave E & E Mercer St at 10:10 and 11:10 pm. Route 60 will also be revised to serve the Olson Pl/Meyers Way P&R on weekdays.

marco January 29, 2010 (12:51 pm)

You made my day with this news :)

gidget January 29, 2010 (1:16 pm)

Yeah for a 56E that will leave Alki Bakery starting about 7:15 (based on a 7:45 arrival time)!!!

on board January 29, 2010 (1:23 pm)

Sadly no improvements to the bastard stepchild route #37 though.

Amanda January 29, 2010 (2:17 pm)

Thanks for posting this. Great information!

buddsmom January 29, 2010 (2:28 pm)

Finally Metro realizes that Arbor Heights REALLY does exist!

Dano January 29, 2010 (3:03 pm)

I don’t think these will have much impact at all…..Or help out the folks in the Alki or Admiral area. Maby of us need service that is regular during non-peak times…. So we just keep using our cars. It just isn’t very easy (or time worthy)to use the bus, which is a shame. Maybe they will understand sooner or later…..sigh.

eileen January 29, 2010 (3:10 pm)

I think the route 37 is a missed opportunity. When I first moved to WS in the late 90’s the 37 would act as a “feeder” route to get people from west of the junction (down the hills) to the junction to catch a bus down town. When Tim Eymans first intitiative passed and funding to metro was cut it stopped working that way – in fact now in the mornings (when I’m going up the hill….) the 37 is driving down the hill and the reverse in the evenings. It’s maddening as in these directions when I see it it’s EMPTY.
If they really want us to stop driving our cars, they have to provide people with a way to do it. The driving up the hill to park is not fair to our WS neighbors who are impacted, so why doesn’t metro get it that that need to connect the dots?

carraig na splinkeen January 29, 2010 (7:02 pm)

The 56 express added runs are welcome, of course, but the local 56—especially the mid-day return trips from downtown—are perpetually late (and therefore totally unreliable). The folks who use local service rather than express commute services (like the 56 express) are usually more transit dependent. I would trade the added 56E runs for on-time reliability on 56 local and since I use both, feel justified in saying so.

Wsea to SLU January 29, 2010 (7:59 pm)

Will there ever be a day when a resident of WSea can ride the bus directly to other parts of the city (such as SLU or U dist) without having to go downtown and transfer up to 3 times? I think we have this type of service to Ballard via Interbay and Capitol Hill(?) However, I would chance a greater number of people work in SLU/Udist, or will when Amazon moves. I certainly would utilize the bus much more often if it could efficiently be used to reach many parts of town.

ws January 30, 2010 (12:04 am)

The 57 will actually run on time at least once a week on the afternoon route. What? Dang, why did you awaken me…it was such a pleasant dream.

Melinda January 30, 2010 (9:06 am)

I just want a bus that will connect from north Delridge to the light rail at SoDo or Beacon Hill. Getting to the airport in a timely, inexpensive manner is almost impossible. While I’m at it – from north Delridge to the Junction, too. It was in the works, but budget cuts axed it.

Kara January 30, 2010 (1:55 pm)

Peak…figures.

austin January 30, 2010 (5:04 pm)

re: Melinda- I’m pretty sure you can take the 120 or 125 to very near the westlake center station, which is where the light rail starts. I took the light rail from Westlake station when they opened up the airport link in December, just for the sake of riding the train, and it was pretty painless.

eileen February 2, 2010 (10:07 pm)

Just saw the new schedule. When I first saw this blurb I looked up what Metro calls peak and it was listed at being until 9am in the morning. The new schedules for the 55 and 54 now show peak ending after 8:35 in the morning. What a load of cr#%. “extra rides during peak – sure now that peak is shorter.

old timer February 7, 2010 (9:11 pm)

@ Melinda:
I don’t know how far north you are.
But.
Have you tried the Sound Transit 560?
It passes thru the White Center Transit Center on it’s way to
Sea-Tac Airport, and then to Bellevue.
The schedule is on the Sound Transit website.

rob February 8, 2010 (6:20 am)

According to my calculations and taking in to account the new fares and my time, it’s cheaper for me to drive. So keep taking that disease filled fogged up bus known as the 120 and I’ll take my car.

Sorry, comment time is over.