New bus route planned

A new mid-day hourly shuttle service from Golden Gardens to Fremont is slated to begin in the fall and Metropolitan King County Council member Larry Phillips is eager to take the credit.

After an abortive hearing last winter in which over 100 people loudly rejected a plan to split Route 17 to serve both 32nd Avenue and Seaview Avenues, all has been quiet on the Ballard bus planning front.

Suddenly last week, the County Council that oversees Metro Transit service, approved a September 2008 transit program that contained only one change inside the City of Seattle, Route 46 would be changed during midday hours to wend its way from Golden Gardens, to Shilshole via Seaview Avenue to 54th and onto Market Street. It then would travel Leary Way and end up making a loop in downtown Fremont and back to Ballard and Golden Gardens.

"I pushed it through and I got it done . . . after people didn't like the other service for Seaview Avenue," said Phillips last week. "We got it by trimming some other routes."

Metro is constrained in the number of hours service may be increased to a formula devised early this decade. Generally only by trimming service on one route can another be expanded.

In this case, Metro is proposing to delate the last inbound trip - after midnight - on Route 275, which serves Loyal Heights, Sunset Hill, downtown Ballard, downtown Seattle, Richmond Beach and Shoreline. Other trims wil be made to Routes 402, Shoreline and Richmond Beach; Route 885 serving Magnolia, Discovery Park and downtown and a Northgate, Wallingford and downtown line, Route 707.

The number of passengers affected would be around 100 losing some service, said council staff member Chris Arkills, while 125 would gain service.

Seaview folks have complained about a lack of service since a route was eliminated after a massive cut in Metro revenue was brought on by a tax-cutting Initiative 695 by Tim Eyman in 2000.

"Some new money was authorized in the "Transit Now" initiative," said Phillips, but "everyone in the county is asking for additional service.

He said citizens should support additional service by Sound Transit because "every bit of service they provide frees-up bus service for redistribution in Seattle."

The Golden Gardens to Fremont route change, adding 1,785 hours of service, will operate generally from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Route 46 now provides peat-period service from Golden Gardens and the University of Washington campus via Ballard and Wallingford.

Some have noted the proposed change was done without consultation with people in Ballard and Fremont.

Phillips said he just wanted to get the service for people in the Golden Gardens, Seaview area as he had promised in earlier hearings.

Jack Mayne may be reached at 783.1244 or jmayne@robinsonnews.com