UPDATE to Metro Meeting posted in comments:
SAVE BUS ROUTE #2 – ONE OF METRO’S MOST HEAVILY USED ROUTES
SIGNIFICANT CHANGE PROPOSED
WHAT YOU CAN DO… JANUARY…February…
1. Call and/or email King County and Seattle elected officials to tell them how movingRoute #2 will affect you personally as wellas other members of your community.
2. Share this information with other bus riders and neighbors and encourage them to take action.FEBRUARY1. Look at Metro’s website Have-A-Say after February 2to see if and how Metro transit planners have modified the Route #2 proposed route changes.
Please tell Metro your comments by March 2nd.
3. Attend a presentation or Open House:
- Feb 7 at 7:15pm – Madrona Community Council
- Feb 10 at 11am – Horizon House
- Feb 21 12-2pm – Union Station
- Feb 23 6-8pm – QA Community Center
- Feb 27 6-8pm – Washington Middle School
4.See Metro’s calendar for details: http://.metro.kingcounty.gov/have-a-say/calendar.html
5.Call and/or email your elected officials again with your comments on the revised proposal(s)
Brought to you by Bus #2 riders and supporters. [email protected] Email to sign up for notices. Please send us copies of your comments and let us know if you want to help save Route #2.
Metro proposes to significantly change Route #2in September 2012. The decision will be made in April / May. HIGHLIGHTS OF THE IMPACTS OF CHANGE
- ELIMINATES ROUTE #2 SERVICE ON SENECA & THIRD AVENUE TO QUEEN ANNE. x
- MOVES ROUTE #2, WEST OF 12TH, TO MADISON -FIRST AVENUE – MARION WITH NO CONTINUING SERVICE NORTH OF MADISON TO QUEEN ANNE.SAFETY & ACCESSIBILITY x
- No flat transfer stops on Route #2 downtown, requiring transfers downtown on steep hills. x Route #2 bus stops will be in less active locations,impacting safety of evening and nighttime transfers. DELAY, TRANSFERS & ACCESS
- Madison is more congested than Seneca and added buses on Madison will further increase traffic congestion and delays.
- Transfers extend trip time and proposed route no longer serves many existing destinations directly, adding travel time and causing a loss of ridership.
- Requires transfers for any destination north of Madison, including 1, Light Rail 2.Benaroya 3.Westlake 4. Seattle Center at Mercer. 5. No longer connects to Light Rail or to the new RapidRide at Seneca and Third Avenue.
- Removes service on Seneca residential corridor from Harvard Avenue to Seventh Avenue.
- These changes disproportionately impact seniors, disabled and vulnerable populations
UPDATE:First Hill – Presentation to First Hill Improvement Association
- WhenTue, February 14, 6pm – 7pm
This change is all about ending the delays, avoiding the traffic snarl-up, and smoothing out the curlicues and loop-de-loops that make the #2 one of the least reliable bus routes in Seattle!
When buses are fast, frequent, and reliable, transfers are nothing to fear! Joanna only fears them because she’s never had fast and reliable transit before!
As her map helpfully shows, the route is moving by a mere two blocks, and yet it’s straightening out, evading bottlenecks, and using streets free of traffic bound for I-5! If you’ve ever walked two blocks in your life, this change is for you!
Yes, and we all know that the new route on Madison will never be affected by the freeway back-ups whereas Seneca…Oh yeah, never mind.
A new attachment describes the some of the Leschi community efforts to get at the truth of the #27.
As a frequent rider of the 12 as well as the 2, I can assure you that Madison and Marion streets fight much less I-5-bound traffic (having no direct on-ramps from either) than the 2 does on Spring street!
The 2 shares the right-hand lane with a backed-up ramp onto I-5 southbound for three straight blocks, and it can’t change lanes since it stops to pick up passengers on the right-hand curb.
Hermann, Madison/Marion isn’t perfect, but the data are pretty clear that it’s a faster, less congested route than Seneca. And the odds of getting things like bus-only lanes and transit signal priority are better if we only have to do one corridor instead of two.
Where are the statistics are to support the claim that Madison is more efficient? How many improvements at what cost will have to be made to make it work for the proposal? How does that solve the concerns of the many #2 riders? How many more buses and new configurations would have to be added to serve the considerable numbers of #2 riders? Doesn’t RapidRide’s use of Third Avenue duplicate the tunnel service? Why doesn’t RapidRide just connect to the northern and southern ends of the tunnel?
Come to think of it, Madison doesn’t really carry many buses now and the #12 riders lose access to the downtown core and tunnel. If the #11 were to take the Madison routing then that would be true for them. If feels like we in the inner city are somehow set up to lose. Really, between all the rerouting and supposedly necessary solutions how many resources are being saved for each one of these major disruptions. There will likely be a need to rethink routes in parts of the inner city when the light rail at E. John and Broadway and the First Hill street car begin service. These routes that are currently being discussed will interact in various ways with those completions. All of this should be done in an integrated way that serves the inner city, not in order to make way for RapidRide.
The route 12 riders I know are excited that their bus will no longer be delayed from zig-zagging around Pike Place Market and fighting traffic and lights on 1st Avenue (which it does today, totally empty).
No one is set up to lose here. We’re all set to get faster, better rides!
read the information, and share it with friends and family.
Attend a presentation or Open House:
Feb 7 at 7:15pm – Madrona Community Council
Feb 10 at 11am – Horizon House
Feb 21 12-2pm – Union Station
Feb 23 6-8pm – QA Community Center
Feb 27 6-8pm – Washington Middle School
Everyone, of course, will draw conclusions. I did also post a simple message from Metro.
hi
The current wastefull twisted jerrymandered silly routes should be criminalized. Even thoughts of the old route should be criminalized.
DON’T FORGET THAT METRO ANNOUNCED THESE MEETINGS TOO.
Next month we’ll be hosting a number of public meetings, community partner conversations, and information tables in many communities, including Burien, West Seattle, White Center, South Park , Beacon Hill, Madrona, the Central District, Southeast Seattle, the University District, South Lake Union, Ballard, Queen Anne, Magnolia, Fremont , and Green Lake . Details about the proposed routing changes and a survey will be available online after Feb. 1 at http://www.kingcounty.gov/metro/haveasay.
Public meetings: Please join us for one of these open houses or check our online calendar for a presentation or information table in your neighborhood. We’ll continue to update this calendar as additional events are confirmed, so please check back for the latest schedule.
Feb. 13 – Ballard (Ballard High School, 1418 NW 65th St, Seattle, 6-8 pm)
Feb. 15 – West Seattle (Madison Middle School, 3429 45th Ave SW, Seattle, 6-8 pm)
Feb. 16 – Delridge/White Center (Chief Sealth High School, 2600 SW Thistle St, Seattle, 6-8 pm)
Feb. 21 – Downtown Seattle (Union Station, 401 S Jackson St, Seattle, 12-2 pm)
Feb. 23 – Queen Anne (Queen Anne Community Center, 1901 1st Ave W, Seattle, 6-8 pm)
Feb. 27 – Central Area/Mt Baker (Washington Middle School, 2101 S Jackson St, Seattle, 6-8 pm
One highly undesirable result of the proposed reroute would be the elimination of the direct connection between the #2 bus and light rail service from and to the airport at the light rail University Station on Third Avenue.
First Hill – Presentation to First Hill Improvement Association
When
Tue, February 14, 6pm – 7pm
Where
Swedish First Hill Campus, B Level Conf. Room, 747 Broadway Seattle, WA 98122 (map)
Description
In November 2011, Metro asked the public to comment on suggested service changes related to the start of the RapidRide C Line and D line in September 2012. During this second phase of outreach, Metro will be offering a revised service change proposal for public review that reflects feedback we’ve heard. This proposal includes changes to routing, frequency, and what times of day routes will operate.
Attend this presentation to learn more and share your thoughts about Metro’s proposed service changes.
Need help planning your bus route to this location? Use our Regional Trip Planner at http://tripplanner.kingcounty.gov/
With all due respect to the self-styled “frequent sufferer” and John S, They couldn’t be more wrong! As an actual frequent user of the #2 and life-long Seattle resident (who has used transit for 50+ years), that the change from Seneca to Madison will be a disaster, both for rider convenience, and reliability. As any actual rider knows, most delays are caused by the “Mercer Mess” which could be easily alleviated by splitting at the north end of Belltown. As to those that will benefit from the new master plan, it will ONLY be those hypothetical riders who live in the Kent Valley,not those in urban Seattle that bear the brunt of the taxation.
John S. and others have you actually checked out the traffic counts Madison vs Seneca. The congestion is on Madison.