News of Madison Valley

[Reposted with permission from the Seattle Transit Blog]

Capitol Hill

We’ll spend the most time on this part of the proposal, because it’s so different from either Alternative 1 or Alternative 2. Here are the highlights:

Proposed Route 8

Proposed Route 38

Route 8.  This proposal splits route 8 in half, but in a different place from Alternative 1: the Central District, rather than Capitol Hill/Madison Valley. Route 8 would be truncated at 23rd and Jackson, and new route 38 would take over service along MLK Jr Way south of Jackson. Frequency on both routes would be similar to the level current route 8 will reach once Prop 1 investments are made, but with an improvement to 12-minute midday service on route 8 only. The frequent evening and Sunday service included in Alternative 1 is not included here.

Proposed Route 11

“All-Madison” route 11.  Metro received much feedback, not at all consistent, about Alternative 1’s Madison Street proposals. Its solution was to develop an “all-Madison” route 11, running every 15 minutes Monday-Saturday and every 30 minutes evenings and Sundays. It’s not clear this solution will make anyone happy. Downtown trips for eastern Madison riders will remain very slow, and will no longer reach the retail core. Connections from Madison Park to Link will require a ride all the way downtown or a two-bus ride to Capitol Hill Station. The route will have to use diesel coaches, which are far from ideal for the steep hills on Madison and Marion, and which will take electric trolley service away for riders on First Hill.

Proposed Route 12 (Or “Route 43 Jr”)

Routes 12 and 43 survive… sort of.  These two routes, both proposed for deletion in Alternative 1, received a lot of love in comments to Metro. Metro’s solution was to create a “route 12″ which is really a truncated 43. It would serve 19th Ave E north of Thomas, but be identical to route 43 between 19th/Thomas and downtown. It would have the same frequency as the current 43, except 15-minute service would last a bit later. This solution preserves frequent service between downtown and Summit and to 19th Ave E. But it does not address criticism of Alternative 1 from Montlake residents, who would still have to transfer from route 48 to get downtown or to Capitol Hill. It will also require changes to trolley overhead at 19th and Thomas. Finally, with 15-minute frequency on this route and 12-minute frequency on route 8, it’s impossible to coordinate schedules between the two for super-frequent service along John St.

Route 49 stays on Pine.  Alternative 1’s move of route 49 from Pine St to Madison St got a lot of love from the STB staff, and some from commenters, thanks to the new connection between First Hill and Link.  But other commenters worried that Route 10 by itself was not enough capacity along Pine Street, and they carried the day. Route 49 will stay on Pine. It will also receive a daytime frequency boost from 15 to 12 minutes, except Sundays.

Other tidbits:

• Route 47 is resurrected, and will run 7 days a week, every 35 minutes, during the day.
• Route 48 (which will now be truncated at the U-District) will run every 10 minutes during the day and every 15 minutes nights and Sundays.
• Route 10 will retain the frequency increases it is getting next month from Prop 1.