Eastside Residents Voice Concern Over RapidRide Bus Proposal

David Harger knows most people in his neighborhood on Education Hill in Redmond don't use Metro bus service as often as his family does. Even so, Harger said he is worried that proposed changes to Route 221 as part of Metro's new RapidRide program will make it more difficult for his neighbors who are transit-dependent to get around.

"I'm not opposing it (RapidRide)," Harger said. "But I don't want to lose the service we already have."

Harger was one of about 40 Eastside residents who attended a King County public hearing Tuesday evening in Mercer Island to learn about the proposed changes and share their concerns with the Metropolitan King County Council.

Metro has proposed that nine bus routes be eliminated and 13 routes be revised to avoid overlapping service with the RapidRide B Line. The new RapidRide route is scheduled to begin in October and will run from the Bellevue Transit Center to the Redmond Transit Center.

RapidRide is a new Metro program with routes that are designed to feature faster, more frequent service with fewer stops. Victor Obesbo, Metro's service development manager, said the RapidRide B line is the centerpiece of proposed service changes that are intended to increase efficiency and reduce costs on the Eastside.

"It's really in the context of a difficult time for Metro with respect to overall financial status, but also a time of opportunity," Obesbo said. "I think that overall the benefit for Eastside transit riders (from RapidRide) is significant, and that we will have a better transit network as a result that will attract new riders."

But Metro officials acknowledged the changes would have trade-offs for some riders. Some people who use routes that currently do not require a transfer, such as Route 230 along Northup Way, would need to switch buses.

David Hull, Metro's supervisor for service planning, said the B Line's frequent service should make transfers "very painless." During peak hours, RapidRide buses are scheduled to serve stops every 10 minutes; the frequency drops to every 15 minutes during non-peak hours.

"It's a different way to travel, but all the areas are still covered," Hull said.

Bellevue resident Sue DeGioia said she is concerned about how the changes will affect her adult son, who uses the bus to get to work and has special needs. With the proposed route changes, DeGioia said her son would end up walking farther to get on a bus that would take him from his home on Main Street to work at Trader Joe's on Northeast 20th Street.

DeGioia said she likes the idea of faster service but worries about how the changes could impact the safety of transit-reliant people like her son.

"By taking the 233 away, it throws (his routine)," DeGioia said. "The elderly, the people who have special needs—they do need stops in between."

Councilman Larry Phillips (District 4) said the council will take all the public comments into account before it takes action on the RapidRide proposal, which he said should happen sometime in May or June.

"It's not a done deal, and the public comments are always very helpful to us," he said.

Editor's note: Caitlin Moran is editor of Redmond Patch.