West Seattle, Washington

19 Friday

65℉

Will suspended bus routes return? Metro surveying riders

February 16, 2021 4:20 pm
|      22 COMMENTS
 |   Transportation | West Seattle news

(WSB photo, December)

Since the onset of the pandemic, West Seattle has lost some Metro bus routes, and lost some service on others. Should/will any of that service be restored? Metro has a survey open right now, as it looks toward decisions for the September service change. The survey asks whether you are still riding Metro or not, as well as which of the still-operating routes you do or would ride, now or when the pandemic’s over, and it asks your thoughts on the suspended (like West Seattle’s 22 and 37) and reduced-service routes. Deadline to answer it is March 8th; you’ll find it linked here, in six languages.

Share This

22 Replies to "Will suspended bus routes return? Metro surveying riders"

  • Kerry February 16, 2021 (4:36 pm)

    Is it ok to park in these hooded bus zones for the time being? I wanted to park in one running a quick errand but don’t need a ticket. Thanks 

  • anonyme February 16, 2021 (5:28 pm)

    This is so typical of Metro, to set up a survey that few will know about or have access to, and then use the low response as a reason to cancel a route they have already decided to cancel anyway.  I’m calling BS on this, a big steaming pile of it.  Believe it or not, not everyone reads the West Seattle Blog – especially the many seniors who ride Route 22, so most previous riders will have no way of knowing this survey even exists.  I have contacted Lisa Herbold, Dow Constantine, and Metro about the hardship created by lack of service to Arbor Heights and was blown off by all of them.  It’s a slap in the face to live in a crowded neighborhood on a busy street in a big city, paying exorbitant property taxes – with no access to public transportation.  That, and no vaccination site.  Pathetic.

    • WSB February 16, 2021 (6:35 pm)

      Well, if it’s any consolation, they aren’t expecting WSB to be a distribution channel. I wouldn’t have heard of this – no news release or media alert sent – if not for a commenter mentioning it recently. Many government agencies/entities just publish posts on their own blog-format websites – many of which I check at least once daily but hadn’t seen this before the commenter mentioned it – and assume people will find it somehow. – TR

      • Wendell February 16, 2021 (6:41 pm)

        I think Anonyme is saying “Thanks for Posting, WSB. I never would have found this survey”.

  • Wendell February 16, 2021 (6:39 pm)

    I’ve just filled out the survey, I didn’t see an additional comments section, and the questions only focussed on regular bus travelers.It may be helpful if Metro listened to those who want to take the bus more. Case in point, I don’t think there are direct bus routes from the Alaska Junction Terminus to Swedish Hospital or Virginia Mason up on Pill Hill.If there are changes to schedules, perhaps metro could roll in some route modifications. There are plenty of us that want to take the bus, but it ain’t all that convenient.

    • Kadoo February 16, 2021 (7:27 pm)

      You can do that by exiting the C line at 3rd and Marion and taking the #12 up Marion. The 12 runs every ten minutes. Even with a transfer it takes less time to get to pill hill by bus than driving these days.  

      • Sue L. February 17, 2021 (7:08 pm)

        Kadoo, I take the C bus to Whole Foods at the corner of 9th Ave and Denny Way. Then I walk around that corner and catch the #8 bus directly to Kaiser Capitol Hill.

        • Wendell February 18, 2021 (1:46 pm)

          I was just using Pill Hill as an example, not intending to be literal. But thanks for reinforcing my point. The buses from (Alaska Jct) the business center of West Seattle always seem to need one or two transfers and take several hours out of the day to accomplish a relatively short distance, no matter the destination. This survey read like the future Metro route decisions will be based on pre-pandemic criteria. In essense more (probably less) of the same.

  • Eileen February 16, 2021 (9:42 pm)

    Thanks for posting the link WSB!

  • D Del Rio February 17, 2021 (5:49 am)

    Couldn’t Metro just bring back the 21 to Arbor Heights instead of making the loop to Westwood? 

    • anonyme February 17, 2021 (9:41 am)

      I’ve asked that same question many times, in many formats.  It makes way too much sense for Metro to ever consider.  As it stands, buses sit at WV for extended periods while in active service, not just for breaks and layovers.  They could instead be using that time to provide service loops to Arbor Heights, but Metro can’t have that.  I do prefer the 22 as it provides direct service to both WV and the Junction, but anything is better than what we have now – zero.

    • Debby March 2, 2021 (3:55 pm)

      I am very hopeful that the 37 will return, even if it’s just a limited route that services West Seattle. That bus was so valuable for people living near Alki or anywhere near Beach Drive! 

  • AlexC February 17, 2021 (6:22 am)

    I took the survey. Wish they gave us a chance to explain some answers like “not comfortable riding but still riding”. 

  • anonyme February 17, 2021 (6:24 am)

    Not a consolation, but certainly no criticism of the WSB either.  If it weren’t for the WSB, we wouldn’t have heard of this at all – which kind of goes to prove my point, that Metro is not at all interested in either public opinion or the opinions of riders.  I would urge anyone concerned about the restoration of Route 22 to try and contact neighbors and other riders and urge them to write, make phone calls, and be sure to document those contacts.

    • CAM February 19, 2021 (2:45 am)

      The survey was advertised by Joe Mcdermott on Facebook which is where I found it. I can only presume it was also advertised by other council members and parts of the government in other ways but that is the person I follow. It wasn’t buried or hidden. In fact it’s popped up encouraging me to fill it out more than once on facebook if I recall correctly. 

      • WSB February 19, 2021 (7:24 am)

        Membership-required social media is not where government should be focusing their efforts. It’s OK as a supplement but an increasing number of people steer clear of that platform.

  • newnative February 17, 2021 (10:09 am)

    I had a hard time answering when I will return to riding because I really don’t know. It’s not that I feel too uncomfortable riding but my workplace is closed and my gym (which is close to work) is also closed. I have no need to ride the bus until those open up and I have no idea when/if that will happen. Because I don’t ride the bus, I have no idea how safe it is or how frequently it’s running anymore. I can see some of the passenger loads in my neighborhood but not what the connections are like downtown or in Queen Anne.  I have read some buses are running over-capacity but the buses I see are always empty. 

  • Fairmount February 17, 2021 (11:22 am)

    Thanks WSB for publicizing! Just completed the survey. I literally have no way to get to work via the bus (which I used every single weekday pre-pandemic) without the 116 line (or 118x, 119x) restored. There’s nothing else that runs near my street to sodo. Not sure what I’ll do when I’m forced to return to the office with the bridge out of commission if they don’t bring back that bus line. 

  • Barry February 19, 2021 (4:22 pm)

    I waded through Metro’s survey (and induced a neighbor to do likewise)  and also regretted there  was no place to provide comment or parse out some responses. The route 22 bus is important to me because I live on the highest part of Gatewood hill, a mile and a quarter or more from either the Thriftway at Morgan Junction or Westwood Village.  Almost every day I’d walk downhill for groceries or other shopping and bus back up to home laden with purchases; at 76, trekking back uphill laden with groceries is not something I expect  I’ll be able to do indefinitely.  Still, I doubt the route will be restored in September unless more people complete  the survey, especially the families whose children ride to and from the public schools along the route and the parochial schools in the Junction area and assert their needs for its resumption .

Sorry, comment time is over.