It was standing room only last week when more than 100 people crammed into the Ballard Senior Center to tell county transit officials they don't like the idea of splitting bus Route 17 to serve both 32nd and Seaview avenues.

The change would divide the midday and evening service at Market and 54th Street and reduce service on 32nd.

Instead of all trips traveling on 32nd every 30 minutes, every other Route 17 trip would be on Seaview and serve each street every hour between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. and 7 and 9 p.m.

Express and local service on 32nd during peak hours would not change on Route 17, and Route 46 would continue to serve Seaview during peak hours. There would be no changes on the weekends, or before 9 a.m. and after 9 p.m. for users on 32nd.

If approved, the new schedule would take effect in September.

Victor Obeso, manager for Metro's transit service department, suggested some Route 17 riders would be able to use Route 18 as an alternative, which operates a half-mile east of 32nd on 24th and runs about every 20 minutes during the day.

Metro is making the proposal to "improve service on Seaview Avenue Northwest, which currently has only morning and afternoon peak-hour service from Route 46."

"We think we do have some good reasons for making this proposal," said Obeso.

The split is a good solution because it costs Metro nothing and at the same time maintains service during peak hours for both streets, he said.

Seaview Avenue and Golden Gardens Park is currently provided with only peak-period transit service during weekdays. There are three runs in the early morning and four in the afternoon.

There is no service between 8:15 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. and buses don't come that way at all on the weekends.

Residents from both areas are not happy about the proposal. Many said it felt like Metro was pitting neighborhoods against each other.

Seaview residents said were upset they still wouldn't be served on the weekends and people living near 32nd said it doesn't make sense for Metro to reduce bus routes in a growing neighborhood.

Members of a Seaview coalition that have lobbied the county for more transit hours said weekend service is especially vital during the summer to serve two high-use facilities, Golden Gardens beach and the Shilshole Marina, which has more than 300 liveaboards and 1,500 recreational boat slips.

Route 86 used to run every 30 minutes along Seaview to Golden Gardens and then to downtown Ballard and beyond. The route was cancelled in 2000 after voters approved Initiative 695, which cut the cost of automobile-license tabs and reduced Metro's operating revenue by one third.

As a result, Metro cut its poorer performing routes like 86, which averaged only about two riders per hour. Sales tax increases, staff reductions and a fare increase helped Metro recover some of its losses, but it's still not enough to restore all the services that had been cut.

Cost is still the problem. Several people said Metro should just extend other frequent routes that serve Ballard and 32nd, like the 44, 48 and 18.

Obeso said those options were considered, but there just isn't enough money to add more service hours or a new route.

New service coming online in the next few years from the "Transit Now" initiative will boost some major routes along 24th and 15th, but this proposal is a way to bring some additional hours to Seaview now, said Obeso.

Metro ridership has increased by 15 percent in the last three years, carrying an additional 55,000 passengers each weekday. Transit Now only plans to grow the system by 20 percent in the next decade.

And while ridership in Seattle has grown, there's still three times more demand in east King County, said Obeso.

"That's a lot of riders coming to our system," Obeso said. "We have a tremendous overflow in response to ridership today. We have to make some tradeoffs and we have to make some choices about where we put that service."

But the resources just aren't there to make everyone happy, he said.

"That's really the crux of the issue." Obeso said. "There's way more demand for transit service in Ballard today. The result is that we are asking a neighborhood to see a reduction in service so a neighborhood nearby can see a slight increase in service."

Metro will take public comment until Feb.8 and then a decision will be made to either do nothing or split the route. It's possible a vote by the full King County Council will be needed as well as approval from executive Ron Sims.

King County Councilman Larry Phillips said there was an "honest effort" to explore other options, but the system is "tapped out," in terms of funding right now.

"We will go back and double our efforts to see how we can handle this issue," said Phillips. "We are not trying to pit neighbor against neighbor. We have some resource issues."

Share your thoughts with Metro by Feb. 8 by calling 684-1142, or 684-1146.

Rebekah Schilperoort can be reached at 783-1244 or rebekahs@robinsonnews.com. Jack Mayne contributed to this report.