Home › Forums › West Seattle Rants & Raves › RANT: Bus Only LAne
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September 1, 2009 at 10:05 pm #592146
beachdrivegirlParticipantFirst,I am not one of those individuals that drive in the carpool bus only lane. However, i am one of those individuals that are beyond discouraged that I dont get to use the car pool lane despite teh fact that I am carpooling to & from work every day!
September 1, 2009 at 10:08 pm #676105
KBearParticipantHuh? The bus only lane is not a carpool lane. That’s why it’s called a bus only lane.
September 1, 2009 at 10:11 pm #676106
austinMemberIf you’re riding the bus you can use the bus only lane whenever you want. I did it earlier, it was terrific.
September 1, 2009 at 10:15 pm #676107
JanSParticipantAustin – big :)
September 1, 2009 at 10:23 pm #676108
JustSarahParticipantAustin – reply of the day! Thank you. And yes, it’s pretty awesome being on the 54X as it zooms past all the backed-up traffic and cuts over at the front of the line. This is why I love sitting on the right-hand side of the bus in the morning – I get to watch the faces of the pissed-off drivers. :-D
September 1, 2009 at 10:43 pm #676109
beachdrivegirlParticipantWell some of us can not ride the bus to work because we actually have to drive for the day. 90% of the time the bus only lane sits empty it would be of better use if it was actually turned into a carpool lane/bus lane.
September 1, 2009 at 11:05 pm #676110
johnnyblegsMemberbeachdrivegirl – I agree 100% with you. But until there is a posted ‘HOV’ we aren’t suppose to. Who could we contact to propose the change?
September 1, 2009 at 11:07 pm #676111
beachdrivegirlParticipantjohnyblegs. i dont know. i was actually thinking of looking into that myself. IMO, it will be a necessasity if they tear down the Viaduct to keep cars moving smoothly on the bridge.
September 2, 2009 at 5:02 am #676112
metrognomeParticipantI believe the bus-only lane was funded primarily by Sound Transit, although there is no mention of it on their project list. At the time, the ST Route 560 went to the Int’l Disrict instead of truncating at Alaska Junction as it does now. The addition of the bus-only lane to the EB on-ramp from Avalon Way thru the 1st Ave off-ramp was an attempt to provide WS its ‘fair share’ of ST service and facilities. Prior to the bus-only lane, Metro’s morning WS routes such as the 54 and 55 entered the bridge at 35th and often sat in traffic for 5 – 10 minutes. Now, these buses are routed down Avalon to the bus-only lane, minimizing delays during ‘typical’ morning rush hour traffic. Adding the bus-only lane between the on-ramp lane from Delridge and the general purpose lanes caused numerous problems to cross-merging drivers until they became used to the weaving.
IF the viaduct is replaced with the current deep-bore tunnel option, the vast majority of construction can be done with the viaduct continuing to carry its usual weekday traffic load; in the unlikely event of a change to a surface option or retrofit, all the viaduct traffic will need to be absorbed by existing surface streets and I-5 during a multi-year construction period(remember the gridlock when the viaduct was shut down for a few days after the Nisqually quake.)
The bus-only lane is actually quite an efficient to speed up travel. If the 60 to 80 people on each morning peak hour bus were carpooling with 2 people, that would add 40 more cars. Adding carpools to the bus-only lane would just slow everyone down during am peak.
Morning back-ups on the bridge are caused primaily by congestion on NB I-5 which prevents cars from leaving the bridge and by all the slow-moving loaded semis leaving Harbor Island at once. The changes that the city is making to the Spokane St (surface and viaduct) and bridge and First Ave S and that the state is making to Royal Brougham and to the south end of the viaduct (see several related project links on this page: http://www.seattle.gov/transportation/sodo_construction.htm) should help reduce these backups over the next few years.
Bottom line: the bridge ia a city facility, so SDOT is where you would make the request to include carpools (http://www.seattle.gov/transportation/contact.htm) Chance of success: pretty much zero, but you won’t know if you don’t ask.
September 2, 2009 at 5:32 am #676113
JayDeeParticipantI sometimes have to drive for work, and am amazed by those who are confused: Motorcyclists apparently fleeing Vashon think they are buses, people driving Ford-Jaguars from Admiral think they are buses, and late-merging SUVs think they are buses. The other subset is people who think queue-jumping is a good idea because the chumps who line up to merge onto the Viaduct exit lane coming from Admiral are wasting their time.
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However since the Great Recession, the traffic lining up for 99N is generally civilized nowadays at times when it used to be h-e-double-toothpicks (i.e. 7:30).
September 2, 2009 at 3:16 pm #676114
beachdrivegirlParticipantThanks for the response Metrognome.
I will be contacting the SDOT. Even if nothing changes, I will feel better that I expressed my concern.
I also was surprised to see that the lane is open to ALL traffic from the Delridge on-ramp to the viaduct. I had never realized that before.
September 29, 2009 at 4:23 am #676115
macjusticeMemberIt should also be noted that part of why HOV lanes look empty is that cars moving at freeway speed need a lot more room in between. But when you add the speed and the total passengers together, even “empty” HOV lanes have more throughput than other lanes in traffic. You fill a bus to standing-room only (as it is when I’m riding it in the morning and afternoons) and you’re moving a heck of a lot more people through than a regular lane could, even when it looks empty.
September 29, 2009 at 5:26 am #676116Hmmm…maybe you need to learn how to drive.
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