Metro Transit (King County)

:"There are also other systems named Metro Transit"Infobox Bus transit
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parent = King County Department of Transportation
founded = January 1, 1973
headquarters = 201 S. Jackson St., Seattle
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service_area = King County, Washington
service_type = bus service
alliance =
routes = 235
destinations =
stops =
hubs =
stations =
lounge =
fleet = 1,363
ridership = 365,000 [Metro estimates biggest ridership gain in 10 years [http://www.metrokc.gov/kcdot/news/2008/nr080123_ridership.htm] ]
fuel_type = Diesel, Diesel-electric hybrid, Electric trolleybus
operator =
ceo =
website = [http://www.kingcounty.gov/metro Metro Online]

Metro Transit, or Metro for short, is the public transit authority of King County, Washington, a division of the King County Department of Transportation. It began operations on January 1, 1973, but can trace its roots to Seattle Transit, founded in 1939, and Overlake Transit Service, founded in 1927.As of 2004, it operated 1,363 buses on 235 routes. Its annual ridership in 2003 was 100 million, making it the ninth largest bus operator in the nation.

History

The Municipality of Metropolitan Seattle, or Seattle Metro, was created by a local referendum in 1958 authorized to manage regional wastewater and water quality issues in King County. After two failed attempts to enable it to build a regional rapid transit system, it was authorized to operate a regional bus system in 1972. The bus system was known as Metro and began operations in 1973. Its operations subsumed Seattle Transit, formerly under the purview of the City of Seattle, and the Metropolitan Transit Corporation, a private company service suburban cities in King County. The Municipality of Metropolitan Seattle was overseen by a federated board of elected officials in King County. After its representation structure was ruled unconstitutional in 1990, and a popular vote in 1992, the municipality's roles and authorities were assumed by King County government. After completion of the downtown Seattle Transit Tunnel project, attention was drawn again to developing a regional rail system. This interest led to the formation of the Central Puget Sound Regional Transit Authority, also known as Sound Transit, which holds primary responsibility for planning and building high capacity transit in the counties of King, Pierce and Snohomish, in western Washington state. Metro Transit continues to provide local and regional transit service connections, primarily within its jurisdictional boundaries. Besides its own transit operations Metro operates bus service for Sound Transit, and will be the operator of Link light rail when it begins revenue service in 2009.

Operations

Routes

Metro combines service patterns typical of city and suburban bus networks. The city network, descended in large part from the Seattle Transit system of converted streetcar routes, is arranged in a hub-and-spoke pattern centered on downtown Seattle, with lesser amounts of crosstown service. Routes in the city network are numbered from 1 to 79, with special late-night "Owl" routes in the 80s and the waterfront streetcar and its replacement coach numbered 99. Because of the scattershot evolution of the system, there is no easily discernible pattern to the route numbers, although there are clusters in certain neighborhoods: for example, the 43, 44, 45, 46, 48, and 49, as well as the 65, 66, 67, 68, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, and 79 all run through the University District.

The in-city routes with the highest ridership are the 7, traveling from downtown Seattle through the International District and Rainier Valley; the 36, traveling from downtown Seattle through the International District to Beacon Hill; the 43 and 49 (the latter of which was formerly the northern portion of route 7), traveling through Capitol Hill to the University District; the 44, a crosstown route connecting the University District and Ballard; the 48, a very long crosstown route connecting most parts of east and north Seattle to the Central District and Rainier Beach, and the 3 and 4, connecting downtown to Queen Anne, First Hill, the Central District, and Madrona. However, because of the bus-only nature of the system, there are many other heavily used routes.

The suburban system is more numerically organized. Roughly speaking, areas south of the city from Burien and Des Moines through Renton and Maple Valley are served by routes numbered from 101 to 197. Areas east of the city from Renton to Bothell are served by routes numbered from 200 to 291. Areas north of the city from Bothell to Shoreline are served by routes numbered from 301 to 373. Numbers in the 400s and, for the most part, the 800s, are reserved for Community Transit (Snohomish County) commuter routes serving Seattle; numbers in the 500s are used by Sound Transit's Regional Express system, save for Pierce Transit's routes 500 (Federal Way-Tacoma) and 501 (Federal Way-Milton-Tacoma). 600 series routes are general "express" routes that are used for special purposes (the 630, for example, is intended to service the Kingsgate Park and Ride from Bellevue until construction adjacent to the park and ride is complete)as well as the Olympia Express Lines operated by Pierce Transit and Intercity Transit, and 900 series routes are reserved for Dial-a-Ride services and for routes serving outlying areas such as Duvall and Carnation.

Special routes numbered 206-208, 219 and 885-890 are used by Metro to serve Bellevue School District students and special coaches are dispatched around the region to serve as special shuttles for local events, including Seattle Mariners baseball games, Seattle Seahawks football games, and other special events.

Major all-day Metro routes in the suburbs include the 120, connecting Seattle and Burien; the 174 and 194, connecting Seattle, Sea-Tac Airport, and Federal Way; the 150, connecting Seattle, Southcenter and Kent (The Kent to Auburn portion was replaced by the new route 180); the 101 and 106 between Seattle and Renton; the 255, connecting Seattle and Kirkland; the 240, connecting Renton and Bellevue; the 230 and 253, connecting Bellevue, Crossroads, and Redmond; the 271, connecting Issaquah, Bellevue, and the University District; the 347 and 348, connecting Northgate and North City; and the 358, operating up Aurora Avenue N. to Shoreline.

Ride Free Area

To encourage transit usage, improve accessibility and encourage downtown shopping, a portion of downtown Seattle was cordoned as the "Magic Carpet Zone" in 1973, allowing for free rides within the area. Today, it is called the "Ride Free Area", and fares are not collected between 6 a.m. and 7 p.m. within the area. The Ride Free Area extends from the north at Battery St. to S. Jackson St. on the south, and east at 6th Avenue to the waterfront on the west [Metro Transit Ride Free Area [http://transit.metrokc.gov/tops/bus/ridefree.html] ] . For the portion of a bus route that originates or passes through the Ride Free Area, passengers pay their fare when they exit the bus at their destination. (A passenger boarding before the Area and leaving after the Area will obtain a transfer ticket upon boarding and paying fare, to be shown upon exit.) A 1975 study found that this arrangement generally reduced bus travel times within the Ride Free Area except for buses that traveled through the Ride Free Area to other destinations. It also found that unloading outbound coaches once outside the Ride Free Area took additional time, though not entirely quantified vis-à-vis time saved within the Ride Free Area. Metro routes 116, 118 and 119 are not included in the Ride Free Area. Between 6 a.m. and 7 p.m., bicycles are only allowed to be loaded or unloaded at a route's first and last ride free stop. Metro cites safety as the reason to disallow bicycle loading in the core of the Ride Free Area.

Bases

Metro operates out of seven bases spread throughout its 2,134-square-mile operating area: Atlantic, Ryerson, Central (1333 Airport Way S, Seattle), East (1975 124 Ave NE, Bellevue), Bellevue, South (12100 E. Marginal Way S, Tukwila), and North. Atlantic, Central, and Ryerson Bases are located close together near Safeco Field south of downtown Seattle. East and Bellevue bases are located in north Bellevue. South Base is in Tukwila; the innovative North Base, built mostly underground in 1989, is in Shoreline. The South and East transit facilities finished an ADA retrofit in 2001.

Atlantic Base is unique in that it is the only base that serves electric trolley buses. South Base is the largest base, with over 500 operators. South Base is located across the street from the Training Center, a facility where operator training, new equipment qualifications, and retraining take place.

Tunnel

A major Metro operations facility is the Downtown Seattle Transit Tunnel, or DSTT. The DSTT, a 1.3-mile-long, five-station tunnel through the center of downtown Seattle, was completed in 1990 at a cost of $444 million. Planned from the outset to be convertible to light rail operation, the tunnel was outfitted with rails and overhead trolley wire. A fleet of 235 dual-propulsion buses were produced by Breda of Italy, powered by electric traction in the tunnel, and diesel on city streets. Mode changes occurred at the north and south portals.

The tunnel suffered some significant problems in operation, as the Breda buses proved overweight and unreliable. The original plan to have up to 600 dual-powered buses using the tunnel never materialized; the 235 Breda buses were the primary buses to use the tunnel until Metro acquired its hybrid fleet in 2005.

The tunnel was closed in 2005 to replace the rails, lower the track bed for modern ADA-compliant light rail cars, and complete a stub tunnel for a future LINK light rail extension to the north. The tunnel finished its retrofit and returned to service on September 24, 2007. The tunnel is served by routes 41, 71, 72, 73, 74, 101, 106, 150, 174, 194, 212, 217, 225, 229, 255, 256, 301, and 550. Several routes that formerly served the tunnel will remain on surface streets including the 177, 190, 196, 266, 306, and 312. Reasons for the changes to tunnel routes include the lower bus volumes possible in the tunnel due to light rail service and a desire to increase the number of trips serving the tunnel in the midday hours.Fact|date=October 2007

Transit Now

In April 2006, King County Executive Ron Sims announced a program entitled "Transit Now" that, if approved by voters, would provide for a 20 percent increase in transit service by the end of 2016 over 2006 service levels, measured in annual operating hours. In order to realize this growth, Transit Now proposed an increase in the local option sales tax for transit of one-tenth of one percent. The Transit Now ordinance [King County Ordinance 15582 [http://www.metrokc.gov/kcdot/transitnow/ordinance.pdf] ] , passed by the King County Council on 5 September 2006 and signed by Executive Sims on 11 September 2006, forwarded the tax proposition to the voters and identified the programs to which operating revenue generated from the sales tax increase could be appropriated. The measure was approved by 56.62% of King County voters in the November 2007 general election. The service programs identified in the ordinance are as follows:

# Implementation of Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) service called RapidRide in five arterial corridors.
# Increase service on high ridership routes that provide frequent, two-way connections throughout the agency's service area.
# Service for growing areas in outlying sububuran/ [exurban] areas.
# Partnerships with cities and major employers to provide more service than could otherwise be provided through typical resources.
# Additional improvements such as expanded ride-share and paratransit services in King County.

RapidRide

The RapidRide corridors are as follows:

* A Line (Opening 2010) - Pacific Highway South. This line will connect with Sound Transit Central Link light rail beginning at SeaTac and travel along Pacific Highway South to Federal Way.
* B Line (2011) - Bellevue-Redmond. The line will serve downtown Bellevue, Crossroads Mall area, Overlake and downtown Redmond.
* C Line (2011) - West Seattle. The line will run from West Seattle Junction over the West Seattle Bridge to downtown Seattle.
* D Line (2012) - Ballard-Uptown. The line will serve Ballard, Uptown and the downtown Seattle Stadium Area.
* E Line (2013) - Aurora. This line will run from Pioneer Square in downtown Seattle to the Aurora Transit Center in Shoreline by way of Aurora Avenue North.

All lines will use new, low-floor, articulated buses that feature an identifiable look distinct from other Metro coaches. Stops will be farther apart than typical Metro service to increase speed and reliability and create "stations" more akin to what is found on light rail lines. Stations will have real time information signs to communicate estimate arrival times of RapidRide buses. Some form of off-bus fare collection would be considered. [About Transit Now [http://www.metrokc.gov/kcdot/transitnow/about.stm metrokc.gov] ]

Information technology

Collaborating with several local jurisdictions, Metro was also an early experimenter with transit signal priority (TSP), a system to extend green lights to allow buses to get through. The system can boost average speeds as much as 10%, and is in use on several of the city's busiest corridors, including Aurora Avenue N., Rainier Avenue S., and Lake City Way N.E.

*Metro lacks a smart card fare collection and automated stop announcements. Metro is currently planning to implement a smart card called Orca (One Regional Card for All) along with other transit agencies in the region.
*In 1998 the fleet was updated with a Automatic Vehicle Location (AVL) system that utilizes battery-powered beacons located at some stops. Metro is currently in the process of replacing the system as part of a system-wide radio update.
*Metro does use Traffic Signal Priority along some major arterials, utilizing a specialized radio system.
*The extent of Metro's intelligent transportation systems (ITS) available for customers has been limited to two projects:
**an early project by the University of Washington utilized the tracking data to provide real-time bus information. This is now hosted by Metro under the name [http://transit.metrokc.gov/oltools/tracker.html Tracker] . Google Maps now provides more extensive trip planning using schedule data as part of their Google Transit service.
**A pilot project provided bus information displays along a city arterial. Metro discontinued the project in 2005, citing the cost of maintenance and technical problems.

Programs

* [http://transit.metrokc.gov/prog/aas/adopt.html Adopt-A-Stop ]
* [http://transit.metrokc.gov/prog/sheltermural/shelter_mural.html Bus Shelter Mural Program]
* [http://transit.metrokc.gov/prog/mi/moveit.html Move It! Youth Project]
* [http://transit.metrokc.gov/prog/partners/partners.html Partners in Transit]
* [http://transit.metrokc.gov/prog/poetry/poetry.html Poetry on Buses] [The Poetry on Buses program has, since 1992, "inspired residents of King, Pierce, Kitsap and Snohomish Counties to participate in this program that serves as a national model." Selected poems are displayed on interior bus placards, and selected poets receive an honorarium for the poems' use.]
* [http://transit.metrokc.gov/prog/recycle/recycle.html Recycling Program]
* [http://transit.metrokc.gov/prog/kids/school.html School Program]
* [http://transit.metrokc.gov/prog/smartcard/smartcard.html SmartCard Project]

Fleet

Metro operates one of the largest bus-only fleets in the country (discounting its short waterfront streetcar, which is temporarily out of service). Bus-only operation results in some interesting operating characteristics of the Metro fleet, most notably a high concentration of articulated buses—over a third of the total and the largest articulated fleet in North America. Metro's use of articulated coaches dates back to 1978, when it was the first large agency in the country to adopt the technology. The other two-thirds are made up of mostly Gillig Phantom coaches: 395 40-foot (3200-3594), 15 35-foot (3185-3199; the latter two, 3198 and 3199, are used for special/disabled services), and 95 30-foot (1100-1194) buses. The 100 low-floor 40 foots (3600-3699) were built by New Flyer and are used mostly on routes within the Seattle city limits.

Metro also maintains a large fleet of electric trolley buses (ETBs). The ETBs prove useful both as zero-emission vehicles, and as vehicles well adapted to Seattle's hilly terrain. Until 2005, this was the largest ETB fleet in the country, including 236 dual-mode Breda "tunnel buses." In 2002, Metro replaced its 100 AMG trolleys with new Gillig Phantom shells. The drive train of the AMG coaches was retained with new electronics, saving approximately $200,000 per coach. Metro is now rebuilding 59 of the now retired Breda dual-mode coaches, converting them to electric-only operation and refurbishing them to replace aging MAN articulated ETBs. The rebuild includes new Kiepe current collection equipment, new interior upholstery, a completely new driver's compartment, and new ADA-compliant signage.

The agency pioneered technologies in widespread use today. In 1979, the AMG trolleys were ordered with some of the first wheelchair lifts in the nation, promising a completely new level of independence for disabled residents. Early lifts were severely flawed, but by the mid 1980s the lifts were generally reliable and were ordered on all new buses. With the retirement of the 1400-series buses in 1999, the entire fleet became wheelchair-accessible—again, the first fleet its size to do so. Strangely, the agency was reluctant to adopt low-floor buses, not buying any until 2003.

Metro operates the largest fleet of articulated hybrid buses in the country, the fleet of 214 New Flyer DE60LFs it purchased to replace the Bredas. (Sound Transit bought an additional 21 similar buses.) Metro's hybrids were purchased to run in the Downtown Seattle Transit Tunnel, where they will operate together with light rail vehicles beginning in 2009. In the tunnel, the hybrid buses use electric traction to 15 mph; after 15 mph, traction is a combination of electric and diesel, operating in a quieter, low-emission mode. On May 16, 2007, Metro awarded its biggest contract ever to New Flyer for the purchase of 715 more 60-foot hybrid buses. [ New Flyer Receives Order for Up To 715 Buses From King County Metro Totaling Up To US $514 Million [http://www.newflyer.com/index/news-app/story.47 newflyer.com] ]

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) conducted a one-year comparative study between conventional diesel and GM hybrid-powered buses operating on a typical King County drive cycle. Results showed that the GM-hybrid powered buses lowered fuel consumption by 23%; NOxby 18%; carbon monoxide (CO) by 60%; and total hydrocarbon (THC) by 56% when compared to conventional diesel buses.

In addition, like Golden Gate Transit and SamTrans in the Bay Area of California (and unlike most transit agencies), almost all of Metro's fleet has highback non-reclining seating as opposed to lowback seating that is used by most other transit agencies on local routes. These buses operate on both local and express routes.

* at time of fleet purchase

References

External links

* [http://transit.metrokc.gov/ Metro Transit]
* [http://www.historylink.org/essays/output.cfm?file_id=2702 Seattle Tunnel on History Link]
* [http://transit.metrokc.gov/oltools/tracker.html Metro Tracker Applications]
* [http://www.mybus.org mybus.org]
* [http://www.busmonster.com Bus Monster]
* [http://transit.metrokc.gov/prog/smartcard/smartcard.html Central Puget Sound Regional Fare Coordination]
* [http://transit.metrokc.gov/am/vehicles/smartbus/smartbus.html Metro/Sound Transit Smart Bus Project]
* [http://www.nrel.gov/vehiclesandfuels/fleettest/pdfs/40585.pdf Comparative study between Diesel and GM Hybrid bus fleets operating in Seattle (King County)]

ee also

*Sound Transit
*Community Transit (Snohomish County)
*Pierce Transit
* [http://transit.metrokc.gov/tops/oto/water_taxi.html Elliott Bay Water Taxi]