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Revision as of 09:26, 11 January 2025 by SounderBruce (talk | contribs) (previous routes)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff) Future bus network in the Seattle area| Stride | |
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| Overview | |
| Owner | Sound Transit |
| Area served | Seattle metropolitan area |
| Transit type | Bus rapid transit |
| Number of lines | 3 |
| Number of stations | 25 |
| Operation | |
| Operation will start | 2028 (S1 Line and S3 Line) 2029 (S2 Line) |
| Number of vehicles | Articulated and double-decker buses |
| Headway | 10–15 minutes |
| Technical | |
| System length | 46 miles (74 km) |
Stride is a future bus rapid transit (BRT) service managed by Sound Transit in the Seattle metropolitan area of Washington in the United States. It will comprise three lines that cover 46 miles (74 km) and 25 stations on Interstate 405 and State Route 522 in King and Snohomish counties. The system is primarily intended to serve the Eastside region and will open in 2028 and 2029.
The bus rapid transit system was funded by the Sound Transit 3 ballot measure in 2016. The S1 and S2 lines on Interstate 405 will use median stations in the freeway, accessed from the high-occupancy toll lanes (HOT lanes); the S3 Line will have conventional bus lanes and business access and transit lanes. Stride will use battery electric buses on all three lines, served from a new maintenance facility in Bothell.
History
Predecessors
The Interstate 405 and State Route 522 corridors are served by Sound Transit Express bus routes that were launched in the late 1990s and early 2000s by Sound Transit to provide service between regional hubs. They replaced earlier King County Metro (formerly Metro Transit) bus routes from as early as the 1970s to provide inter-suburban service and bypass Downtown Seattle, the hub of the regional transit network. The first of these was Route 240, an all-day suburban route which launched in 1973 and served a 40-mile (64 km) corridor from Burien to Bothell with intermediate stops at Seattle–Tacoma International Airport, Southcenter Mall, and Bellevue. An express variant, Route 340, connected several park-and-ride lots on Interstate 405 and State Route 599 between Burien and Shoreline; it was the longest route in the Metro system, taking three hours on a round trip.
The south half of Interstate 405 is served by Route 560, which travels from the Westwood Village shopping center in West Seattle to Burien, Seattle–Tacoma International Airport, Renton, and Bellevue. It was launched by Sound Transit in September 2000 and originally continued north to West Seattle Junction until the route was cut in 2013. The north half of Interstate 405, from Bellevue to Lynnwood, is served by Route 535; the route has stops in northern Kirkland and at the University of Washington Bothell campus. The corridor is also served by Route 532, which continues to Everett. Both routes were part of the original Sound Transit Express launch in September 1999; route 535 has all-day service on weekdays and Saturdays, while route 532 is peak-only.
The State Route 522 corridor from Seattle to Kenmore, Bothell, and Woodinville is served by Sound Transit Express route 522, which launched in September 2002. It replaced an earlier route operated by King County Metro, who continue to run a direct route from Kenmore and Bothell to the University of Washington campus in Seattle. Route 522 originally continued into Downtown Seattle until it was truncated to coincide with the opening of Roosevelt station in 2021.
BRT planning
Funding for a bus rapid transit system on Interstate 405 and State Route 522 was included in the Sound Transit 3 package, a major ballot measure to expand Sound Transit services that was passed by voters in November 2016. The Interstate 405 lines would be contingent on completion of high-occupancy toll lanes (HOT lanes) on the south half of the corridor, which was originally scheduled for 2024. The Bellevue–Lynnwood HOT lanes had opened in 2015. The BRT program, later named Stride, was delayed by several years due to a budget realignment during the COVID-19 pandemic and slow construction of the I-405 HOT lanes.
The $2.35 billion budget for the Stride program was approved by the Sound Transit Board in July 2023. The first major project, the three-level Northeast 85th Street interchange and station in Kirkland, began construction in September. The S3 Line on State Route 522 and S1 Line on the south half of Interstate 405 are scheduled to open in 2028; the S2 Line on the north half of Interstate 405 is scheduled to open in 2029.
Lines
Stride is planned to have three lines that cover a total distance of 46 miles (74 km), primarily within the Eastside region in King County and part of neighboring Snohomish County. Buses will operate for 19 hours a days on weekdays and Saturdays and for 17 hours on Sundays; frequencies would range from 10 minutes during peak hours to 15 minutes at other times. The system's 25 stations will include large shelters, off-board fare payment, ticket vending machines, and real-time information screens. Several stations will also have park-and-ride facilities and storage for bicycles.
The S1 Line serves the southern half of the Interstate 405 and State Route 518 corridor; the line begins in Burien and travels through three intermediate stations before reaching its terminus at Bellevue Transit Center. The S2 Line serves the northern half of Interstate 405 from Bellevue to Lynnwood City Center station with five intermediate stations. The S3 Line would follow portions of State Route 523 and State Route 522 around the north side of Lake Washington from Shoreline South/148th station to Bothell; it would stop at twelve intermediate stations. Connections to the Link light rail system will be available on all three lines. The Stride lines are expected to have end-to-end travel times that average 20 minutes faster than existing express bus routes on those corridors.
Operations
The sole operations and maintenance facility for Stride is Bus Base North, located in the Canyon Park neighborhood of Bothell. The 10-acre (4.0 ha) campus is planned to have a two-story bus maintenance building with washing and refueling areas, a two-story garage, and an operations and control center. It has a listed capacity of 120 buses, which will include all Stride buses and some Sound Transit Express buses used in Snohomish County. The Canyon Park site was selected by Sound Transit in 2021 from a pool of thirty candidates. It is scheduled to open in late 2027.
Fleet
Stride is planned to use a fleet of 48 battery electric buses with wireless inductive chargers embedded into the roadway at layover facilities. The inductive chargers, produced by InductEV, are able to deliver 300 kW of electricity; conventional 180kW plug-in chargers will be used at Bus Base North. The S1 and S2 lines on Interstate 405 will use 33 Enviro500EV electric double-decker buses produced by Alexander Dennis at a cost of $73.2 million. The buses have additional seating compared to a conventional model and are similar to double-deckers already used on the northern Interstate 405 corridor. The S3 Line will use 14 articulated buses due to its more frequent stops; the BYD RIDE K11M was selected for a $33.5 million contract in 2023.
References
- "Stride bus rapid transit". Sound Transit. Retrieved January 9, 2025.
- Lane, Bob (September 22, 1974). "Transit is significant suburban improvement". The Seattle Times. p. C3.
- "Bus Links Bothell, Burien". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. May 5, 1973. p. B7.
- Wilson, Marshall (February 18, 1981). "Metro tries to break off Bellevue's love affair with car". The Seattle Times. p. G7.
- Broom, Jack (September 1, 1994). "'Human bus schedule' rides again...and again". The Seattle Times. p. A1. Retrieved January 11, 2025.
- Lindblom, Mike (May 25, 2016). "Renton tired of paying a lot, getting few buses, no light rail from Sound Transit". The Seattle Times. Retrieved January 9, 2025.
- ^ "2018 Service Implementation Plan" (PDF). Sound Transit. December 2017. pp. 135–137, 141–149, 187–191. Retrieved January 9, 2025.
- "Sound Transit Route 560 (with service to SeaTac Airport) changes kick in June 8". West Seattle Herald. January 4, 2013. Retrieved January 9, 2025.
- Slager, Melissa (January 26, 2016). "I-405 tolls are shaving several minutes off bus riders' commutes". The Everett Herald. Retrieved January 9, 2025.
- Singer, Natalie (September 25, 2002). "Commuters along for the (new) ride". The Seattl eTimes. p. B2.
- Lindblom, Mike (September 28, 2021). "Roosevelt light-rail station fuels rapid growth in North Seattle neighborhood". The Seattle Times. Retrieved January 11, 2025.
- Lindblom, Mike (November 14, 2016). "Where Sound Transit 3 projects could speed up or slow down". The Seattle Times. Retrieved January 9, 2025.
- Lee, Jessica (December 25, 2017). "I-405 express toll lanes between Renton and Bellevue are on their way". The Seattle Times. Retrieved January 9, 2025.
- Lindblom, Mike; Baruchman, Michelle (August 15, 2021). "Sound Transit faces a $6.5 billion shortfall. Here's what it might do". The Seattle Times. Retrieved January 9, 2025.
- ^ "Sound Transit sets baseline budget, schedule for Stride Bus Rapid Transit" (Press release). Sound Transit. July 27, 2023. Retrieved January 9, 2025.
- "Sound Transit, WSDOT mark start of Kirkland interchange/BRT project". Seattle Daily Journal of Commerce. September 22, 2023. Retrieved January 9, 2025.
- ^ "2024 Annual Program Review Report" (PDF). Sound Transit. October 2024. pp. 27, 66, 76–77, 88. Retrieved January 9, 2025.
- ^ "Sound Transit Motion No. M2024-22" (PDF). Sound Transit. May 9, 2024. Retrieved January 9, 2025.
- ^ "Stride bus rapid transit: Frequently asked questions" (PDF). Sound Transit. July 2023. Retrieved January 9, 2025.
- ^ "I-405 Bus Rapid Transit SEPA Environmental Checklist" (PDF). Sound Transit. September 2020. pp. 9–10. Retrieved January 9, 2025.
- "SR 522/NE 145th BRT: Frequently Asked Questions" (PDF). Sound Transit. May 2018. Retrieved January 9, 2025.
- "Stride bus rapid transit online open house". Sound Transit. February 2023. Archived from the original on February 28, 2023. Retrieved January 9, 2025.
- "BRT Program: Stride BRT Program Update and Start-Up Activities" (PDF). Sound Transit. July 15, 2022. pp. 4–7, 10–12. Retrieved January 9, 2025.
- Lindblom, Mike (May 15, 2023). "Lake Forest Park neighbors denounce bus-lane plan that removes trees". The Seattle Times. Retrieved January 9, 2025.
- ^ Minnick, Benjamin (August 30, 2021). "Sound Transit picks Canyon Park as the site for $290M bus base". Seattle Daily Journal of Commerce. Retrieved January 9, 2025.
- "Supercharged – Battery electric buses will power the Stride Program". The Platform. Sound Transit. June 13, 2024. Retrieved January 9, 2025.
- Didion, Alex (March 5, 2024). "Double-decker buses with wireless charging capabilities coming to Sound Transit". KING 5 News. Retrieved January 9, 2025.
- ^ "Sound Transit Motion No. M2023-65 Staff Report" (PDF). Sound Transit. August 2023. pp. 1–3. Retrieved January 9, 2025.
- ^ "Stride BRT Fleet Procurement: M2023-65 + M2023-66" (PDF). Sound Transit. August 10, 2023. pp. 4–8. Retrieved January 9, 2025.
- "Sound Transit orders 33 Alexander Dennis Enviro500EV electric double deckers with next-generation technology for Stride BRT" (Press release). Alexander Dennis. February 12, 2024. Retrieved January 9, 2025.
External links
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