Transit buses will continue to use Third Avenue as a priority corridor when the transit tunnel opens next month.
The decision was made based on "the outstanding success in moving buses quickly and efficiently through downtown," said Mayor Greg Nickels.
The decision to continue bus service on Third Avenue during peak hours will allow Metro Transit to reorganize surface bus routes and balance transit traffic across downtown. "By every measure, using Third Avenue for buses has been a very smart move," said Nickels. "With tunnel work coming to an end, this is a tremendous opportunity to improve transit service downtown and help people get where they are going quickly and efficiently. It is one more step toward becoming the most climate-friendly city in the country."
The transit tunnel is on schedule to reopen on Monday, Sept. 24. Eighteen bus routes are moving into the tunnel, and Metro is reorganizing other bus routes on surface streets to further improve mobility through downtown. Several bus routes are moving from First, Second, Fourth and Fifth Avenues to Third Avenue to take advantage of transit-priority operations. New stops are being added on Columbia and Seneca Streets to help buses move more efficiently between downtown streets and the Alaskan Way Viaduct.
A recent report by Metro monitoring transit performance during the Downtown Seattle Transit Tunnel closure confirms that operating Third Avenue as a transit-priority corridor during peak commute hours (6-9 a.m. and 3-6:30 p.m.) is keeping traffic moving better throughout the downtown core. For that reason motorists will continue to have unlimited access to Third Avenue between the hours of 9 a.m. and 3 p.m., evenings, nights and on weekends. The report released last week found recent bus travel times on downtown surface streets improved by 26 percent since September 2005.
Participation in programs supporting alternatives to driving alone has increased as well. During the same time period, more than 6,700 people and 150 businesses have joined Flexcar, and 1,650 downtown employees have registered at Rideshare Online to join vanpools and carpools.
