FOLLOWUP: Metro Route 56 to get more service, after Councilmember Herbold’s request

| Transportation | West Seattle news

Back in February, we reported on District 1 City Councilmember Lisa Herbold‘s request to SDOT to see what it would take for the city to spend some of the “more bus service” Transportation Benefit District money on the underserved Admiral/Alki corridor. Tonight, Herbold tells WSB that SDOT, via the TBD, “has agreed to fund two route 56 trips each Monday-Friday beginning in September 2018. One in the am arriving downtown at about 10 AM and another leaving downtown at about 7:15 PM. Folks in Admiral and Alki have been super helpful in making this happen.” That’s just a start, though; Herbold had pitched for hourly 56 service but was told that would cost close to a million dollars and due to other factors such as fleet availability could require reductions in Route 50 service. She has been promised by SDOT that “we’ll definitely continue to work with the County to improve service to the North Admiral area.” She notes that research done by her legislative assistant Newell Aldrich revealed a few things strongly supporting increased service to Admiral, such as that it’s “the only Urban Village with no off-peak bus service to Downtown, one of only two Urban Villages not included in the High Capacity Transit Network, and … the only Urban Village not served by the current Frequent Transit Network.”

RS June 1, 2018 (12:23 am)

This is great…I’ll be able to take the bus to work again!

DC June 1, 2018 (1:00 am)

This is Great! A late night bus to the Admiral area is a blessing.

WestSeattleCoug June 1, 2018 (5:42 am)

Now if only we can get some sort of weekend service again. BTW – I’m currently typing this while sitting on the 56 going downtown.

HpGuy June 1, 2018 (6:23 am)

Thats nice the 120 is borderline dangerous with how many people they pack into one bus and i regularly have the bus drive past without stopping. These extra taxes seem to have made no difference in service.

Rlv June 1, 2018 (7:55 am)

This is great news – thanks for working to make this happen, Lisa Herbold!

craig June 1, 2018 (8:03 am)

special interest project. EVERY West Seattle bus route needs more service.

NH June 1, 2018 (9:06 am)

????Admiral is getting upzoned, even though we have the least bus service of any urban village. They know this. Not special interest, needed service. Thank you, Lisa Herbold!
KM June 1, 2018 (9:19 am)

I would say that’s every Seattle bus route if we’re taking it that far. And it makes sense that’s is special interest (everything is, really) since Lisa is our WS representative. I have never used the 56, but I’m happy to hear that other regions of WS other than my own will be getting increased transit service.

MJ June 1, 2018 (8:58 am)

I’m confused by fleet availability, the maximum fleet use is during the peak hours, thus during off peak sufficient busses should be available. For example the 56 headway during the peak hours is about 30 minutes. If hourly service, its needed, were provided during off peak only half the number of busses would be needed.

heartless June 1, 2018 (10:05 am)

Yes, this point exactly. And that confused me too, MJ, I don’t know how fleet availability can possibly be an argument against non-commute or even weekend trips–all of which would be most welcomed.

Mike June 1, 2018 (9:33 am)

Amen. I would love to get back to using the bus for downtown and First Hill trips. From my location, I have to drive.

olivist June 1, 2018 (11:06 am)

What about the 57?!?! There are already more than twice as many 56s vs, 57s (9 vs. 4). Plus, Alki has the 50 and the 36. (Genesee hill resident)

newnative June 1, 2018 (12:29 pm)

This is great news. If I have to stay over, I often miss the last 56 in the evening by minutes, necessitating 3 buses to get home, changing the commute from 30-45 minutes to an hour-hour and a half. the later morning departure also helps for doctor appointments.

TJ June 1, 2018 (12:36 pm)

WOOOHOOOO! The entire peninsula needs more routes, but this is a start thanks to Joe McDermott and Lisa Herbold. The West Seattle Chamber of Commerce noted that the entire peninsula was lacking in mass transit.This is just a start. Joe said “bus funding has become intertwined between King County and the City of Seattle”. Moreover, he also advised those concerned, that the best strategy is to “remind the city about bus needs”. Lisa Herbold has proven herself extraordinarily effective. If you need more routes, talk to Lisa, Joe, the city and Metro.

chemist June 1, 2018 (3:16 pm)

Maybe in some instances, but Lisa’s office was unable to get me a copy of the “promised with Phase 2 updates” 35th Ave SW Phase 1 Before and After Evaluation. Newell forwarded the request to several people at SDoT and there was no response from SDoT or Lisa’s office a week later.

So, I filed a public data request (for a report once slated for public release in late 2016) and have been told I may get it a month after I filed.

https://www.seattle.gov/transportation/document-library/reports-and-studies#rechannelization-reports

https://web.archive.org/web/20180207195235/http://www.seattle.gov/visionzero/projects/35th-ave-sw

E June 1, 2018 (1:54 pm)

Thanks for advocating for more buses Lisa H. I’m very happy that any service at all is being increased. West Seattle is so under served for buses considering how much we have grown and are still growing in population. The C line is a miserable pack of sardines at rush hour every morning. It’s quite uncomfortable to ride (putting it mildly) I would LOVE to see more buses added to that route as well. Or more buses on routes that could take some of the load off these “arterial” bus lines like the C.

junctioneer June 1, 2018 (3:47 pm)

This is fantastic. I’ll definitely be using these. Maybe someday we’ll get a usable weekend way to get downtown year-round (water taxi is great in summer).

rico June 1, 2018 (5:45 pm)

Great news for Admiral, but for historic reference, until about 15 years ago the 56 and 57 ran “full time” like other commuter routes to downtown. So in reality this remains less service than when I used to commute on the bus from Admiral, which I stopped doing for a variety of reasons, this being one of them,

JayDee June 1, 2018 (7:27 pm)

I agree with Rico. The 56 and 57 used to run more frequent and so did the intra-neighborhood 53. Our current service sucks–If I have to take the C to the Junction I have to hope the 50 wasn’t delayed by trains. Not to mention the fact that the SODO stop didn’t list the 50 as of three weeks ago. Metro needs to lay off the BS regarding bus service to Admiral and Genesse.

Chib June 1, 2018 (7:50 pm)

I voted for Lisa and it’s great to see someone elected to represent a district, represent a district… As opposed to end run the people to approve heavily unpopular new taxes and spending… I won’t vote for Lisa again…

Sorry, comment time is over.