With ridership dramatically down, Metro plans temporary service cuts

Under the pre-virus plan, Metro‘s spring service change would be happening this weekend. Instead, the transit system is planning a more drastic change – service cuts starting Monday (March 23rd), because of a sharp drop in ridership with so many people working from hom. In the announcement, Metro said, “Some bus routes will not operate and nearly all routes will see individual trip cancelations. … We do not make these decisions lightly and have designed the reductions to maintain some service on as many routes as possible.” The specifics are to be announced “by Friday.”

9 Replies to "With ridership dramatically down, Metro plans temporary service cuts"

  • D.D.S. March 19, 2020 (7:36 am)

    I cant believe the busses are running at all. Talk about social distancing.

    • Love Public Transit March 19, 2020 (9:00 am)

      With as few people riding, I’m further away from people on a bus than I am from the four other people in my family in our 1,300sq ft. home.Seriously, though, busses are essential for many folks who have no other means of transportation so they can get to groceries, doctors, pharmacies, etc.  If we just let them ride, the system will continue to be safe (for now).                

    • KM March 19, 2020 (10:39 am)

      There are several people who still have to go to work, get food, go to the doctor, etc who don’t have a car. About 1/4 of Washington State’s residents don’t have a license. Transit is necessary for communities. 

      • NH March 19, 2020 (12:22 pm)

        Even if you have a car, parking is prohibitively expensive for many.

    • Kristina March 19, 2020 (12:12 pm)

      I’m a nurse. Harborview is not providing free or reduced parking for employees nor are they even giving employee parking permits during this crisis.

  • Greg March 19, 2020 (8:41 am)

    For employees who must work, this means that the remaining busses will be more full. Isn’t this the wrong time to increase density?

    • Rene March 19, 2020 (9:28 am)

      I agree with you.    My son does not have a car. 

  • Working March 19, 2020 (10:32 am)

    I work in an essential service that needs direct government intervention to allow closure. My main bus route already doesn’t run on the weekends. Today my bus had 5 people total on it. I hope they leave “rush hour” times with at least some service.

  • Brayton March 19, 2020 (5:40 pm)

    I wouldn’t think Metro is necessarily ‘bleeding money’, but it’s certain not cost effective to run hundreds of empty buses. With the flow of money drying up everywhere I’m sure Metro can continue reduced operation longer than it can continue full operation with a small fraction of the usual riders. Does reduced service put more riders in close contact? Yes. My husband had been taking the bus to work through all of this and his experience is that practically every journey has one person coughing and hacking on the bus. It’s like the few people left to ride already have some health issue that creeps you out. 

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