[Transit] Route 47

[Wes Mills]

I think Jim also agreed a few days ago; I got stuck with a cold so didn't get to finishing this yet.

I'm going to finish a draft letter tonight; this route is small but seems important, especially as part of overall advocating for transit to be accessible to as many people as we can.

Wes

On Wed, Dec 20, 2023, at 13:51, Katie Wilson wrote:
> Anyone else think TRU should write a letter??
> 
> 
>> On Dec 15, 2023, at 7:48 PM, Wes Mills <wesmills at wesmills.com> wrote:
>> 
>> I have a letter I wrote for myself to councilmembers Dembowski and Zahilay, but haven’t yet sent.  I think it would be a good idea, if TRU is game for it.  I know another community group—but I never found out which one—put up flyers along the closed bus stops of the 47 (I don’t know for sure if Metro did or didn’t) and that’s how a friend of mine who just moved from there found out their bus wasn’t coming back.
>> 
>> This is the report I linked to, for those who don’t want to browse Twitter: https://kingcountymetro.blog/2023/12/14/madison-street-area-bus-service-change-project-phase-2-progress-report/
>> 
>> What I would use to make a letter (and I’ll kick out a draft this weekend if at least one other person thinks we should give this a go):
>> 
>> The three big reasons in support of the 47 I know of:
>>  • It’s the only all-day, all-week Seattle bus route that hasn’t been restored from pandemic suspensions, and it should be running while we debate whether or not to keep it.
>>  • The 47 is, quite literally, on the side of a hill and getting to or from destinations along it involves walking either a moderately steep or very steep hill.
>>  • There are no more than a handful of detached houses on that route; the entire route is the kind of mixed density we say we want across the whole city (including two multi-building, multi-story condo complexes).  If we don’t serve this by transit—*electrified* transit, I might add, since the 47 is a trolley route—what are we doing?
>> In the end, I don’t think it’s fair for Metro to pit a survey about the 47 against “or, do you want more frequency on these other routes that don’t go to the same place as the 47” or to leave it to community feedback on a route that the community hasn’t been able to ride in four years.  Even the restoration plan would only be 11 hours a day, but my philosophy is get a route on the map and we can push to expand frequency and span later.
>> 
>> Wes
>> 
>> On Fri, Dec 15, 2023, at 19:09, Katie Wilson wrote:
>>> Hi all,
>>> 
>>> I haven’t been paying close attention so only learned about this survey from Wes’s tweet: https://twitter.com/oowm/status/1735778121079759214
>>> 
>>> I know we have a new member who depended on the 47 and now has to drive to work. Maybe we should write a letter or something?
>>> 
>>> Katie
>>> 
>>> Katie Wilson
>>> General Secretary
>>> Transit Riders Union
>>> https://transitriders.org
>>> 206-781-7204
>>> 
>>> *The Transit Riders Union is a democratic organization of working and poor **people, including students, seniors, and people with disabilities, taking control over our own lives, and building up the power we **need to change society for the good of humanity and of the planet. We will **fight to preserve, expand, and improve the public transportation system in **Seattle and beyond, so that every human being has access to safe, **affordable, and reliable public transit.*
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>> 
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