[Transit] Termination of Bus 20 Route

Mon Jul 8 15:34:57 PDT 2024

Thank you all for the thoughtful responses. I replied to Jim Little and said we might be able to reinforce their message with a letter from TRU. If anyone wants to draft something up, please do! I can try to get the GC to approve at our meeting tomorrow, or we can wait for the MM next week.

I also suggested we might be able to help with an action alert, especially if they have contact info for all the people who signed their petition— getting a bunch of those people to send a form email could help get some more attention.

Katie

> On Jul 8, 2024, at 2:44 PM, Doug Trumm <dmtrumm at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> I think deleting Route 20 sets a bad precedent even if it's relatively top of the list if you absolutely had to cut in Seattle. As the letter mentions, it leaves a pretty significant swath in the Latona corridor that will have no bus route within a half-mile walk, made worse by the I-5 chasm obstructing the walkshed of the bus routes to the east. A bus route within a half-mile of every residential block is a bar the agency could be able to clear, especially in Seattle, given the population density. Maybe we could live with losing Route 20 (although Stephen Fesler did make a pretty good argument for keeping it <https://www.theurbanist.org/2023/01/31/metro-unveils-lynnwood-link-bus-restructure-concepts-in-an-austerity-redux/>), but what bus routes would be next? Is Metro managing decline or serious about ridership growth and improving service?
> 
> Stephen also argues the agency's service guidelines are not being followed and outmoded anyway <https://www.theurbanist.org/2023/08/26/op-ed-metros-alarming-latest-bus-restructures-illustrate-the-need-for-reform/> to allow such cuts. They should require the agency to offer some sort of coverage in this proposed service gap. Even if Route 20 is underperforming by Seattle standards, it'd be a pretty good performing route next to some in the burbs.
> 
> All in all, I'd be in support of signing on to the letter or adapting a similar version to signal our opposition to Metro's managed decline approach. Metro might think this cut makes sense in their equity framework, but it betrays a lack of vision to solve for their shortage of labor/service hours and make it so no one has to suffer such a severe cut.
> 
> -Doug
> 
> On Sun, Jul 7, 2024 at 1:53 PM Wes Mills <wesmills at wesmills.com <mailto:wesmills at wesmills.com>> wrote:
>> That’s the same thing I’ve heard from Metro people.  Apparently the south end of the 20, past Northgate, is sparsely ridden and has been sparsely ridden as far back as it being the 26.  So in our current era of “not enough drivers”, Metro can’t swing it.
>> 
>> I’m one of the people who is cheesed off about us cutting service, especially since we seem to keep cutting bus service in, around, and through Northgate when we do a train station opening.  Essentially the ask is “do you want the 61” (the Lake City Fred Meyer to Greenwood Fred Meyer via Northgate route that we should have gotten at the Northgate Link opening) or “do you want the 20."
>> 
>> I wish we would keep the 20 on the route map so we could add frequency later, which would induce people to ride it more.  But Metro seems unwilling or unable to do that.
>> 
>> I’ll read over their letter when I get home tonight.  Are they asking us to sign on as well?
>> 
>> On Sun, Jul 7, 2024, at 11:52, Dave Schuldt wrote:
>>> Low ridership at least on the south end from what I’ve seen.  Some of the service can be covered by the 45 & 62 with a longer walk.
>>> 
>>> Dave Schuldt
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>>> On Jul 7, 2024, at 11:35 AM, Katie Wilson <katie at transitriders.org <mailto:katie at transitriders.org>> wrote:
>>>> 
>>>> Just in. Any thoughts?
>>>> 
>>>>> Begin forwarded message:
>>>>> 
>>>>> From: James W Little <littlejamesw at hey.com <mailto:littlejamesw at hey.com>>
>>>>> Subject: Termination of Bus 20 Route
>>>>> Date: July 6, 2024 at 11:48:44 PM PDT
>>>>> To: contact at transitriders.org <mailto:contact at transitriders.org>
>>>>> 
>>>>> Hello TRU,
>>>>> 
>>>>> I'm one of several neighbors who are dismayed that KC Metro is cancelling the #20 Bus Route and not continuing service to the south half of the route from Northgate to U-District west of I-5 through Licton Springs, Green Lake and East Wallingford.  We've reached out to Seattle City Council Members and King County Council Members without any resolution.  We've contacted KC Metro leadership and requested a meeting but they've not responded to our request.  Our last hurrah is to contact KC Executive Dow Constantine in hopes that he can reverse the harm that will result if this bus service is not replaced.  HERE <https://docs.google.com/document/d/1BzdGNi9TF6f2T31YdYudq9mbAIHcQJcbMFLx9VvPjQo/edit?usp=sharing> is our draft letter to Constantine.  We would appreciate any suggestions that you might have on our letter or on strategy.  
>>>>> 
>>>>> Thank you,
>>>>> 
>>>>> Jim Little
>>>>> Neighbors Helping To Save Local Bus Service
>>>> 
>>>> 
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