Metro plans to stop buses for ‘moment of remembrance’ on MLK Day

Just announced by Metro:

King County Metro will briefly pause all bus service at 4:04 p.m. Monday, Jan. 15, for a moment of reflection and remembrance to honor the birthday of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and to mark the 50th anniversary of his assassination.

About 975 commute time Metro and Metro-operated Sound Transit buses will be in service at that time, and the majority will pull over and stop for a brief moment of reflection in honor of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., whose legacy of justice, inclusion and diversity serves to drive King County to better serve people. King was assassinated April 4, 1968, and King County is named in his honor.

“Dr. King devoted his life to fighting for equality and human rights for all, and we dedicate this moment to equity and social justice for all that Dr. King lived and died for,” said King County Metro General Manager Rob Gannon. “Metro believes that mobility is one of those rights. We are proud to provide public transportation services that enable all people to access the opportunities needed to thrive in King County.

“As we briefly pull our buses to the curb for a moment of reflection, we invite you to join us.”

Metro and Metro-operated Sound Transit buses in King County will pull over and stop only where and when it is safe to do so. Buses will not pause service if they are traveling on highways, in the Downtown Seattle Transit Tunnel or on roadways where there is no place to safely pull over.

Metro will notify riders via transit alerts and on-board announcements in the days leading up to the moment of reflection. We appreciate and share our thanks to riders in advance for respecting and supporting our pause in service, and give our assurance that transit service will quickly restart at the conclusion of the moment of remembrance.

11 Replies to "Metro plans to stop buses for 'moment of remembrance' on MLK Day"

  • LJ January 10, 2018 (5:17 pm)

    KIng county was not named  after MLK it was only recently that the county logo was changed from a crown to a MLK logo.

  • West Seattle Hipster January 11, 2018 (7:05 am)

    Nice gesture, but at 4:04pm most buses (at least in the downtown area) will be already stopped in traffic.

  • BlairJ January 11, 2018 (12:17 pm)

    I assume they mean “… where it is safe to do so…”  I doubt they will expect a bus where the HOV lane is moving to actually come to a stop for a minute.

    • AJP January 11, 2018 (4:24 pm)

      Yes, if you read the announcement, you would see that it says exactly that. 

  • Enid January 11, 2018 (1:45 pm)

    One of the dumbest things I’ve ever heard of.

    What gives Metro the authority to hold passengers hostage for a moment of mandated “reflection”?   Why target bus riders, many of whom will be low wage workers with no holiday benefits, no MLK day off?  In other words, many of the same people MLK fought for.

    I’d rather just go home and “reflect” on my own time, in my own way.  This is silly and inappropriate.

  • Azherebyjohn January 11, 2018 (4:22 pm)

    What a meaningful gesture …..

  • TreeHouse January 11, 2018 (10:35 pm)

    It’s little things like this that make me proud to live in Seattle.

    It’s also a breath of fresh air to read this after hearing about all the vile things our president is saying about non-white countries. 

  • Rayray January 15, 2018 (4:48 pm)

    What a meaningless gesture…

    • WSB January 15, 2018 (6:24 pm)

      Were you on a bus for the moment?

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