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RapidRide E Line

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E Line
RapidRide E Line bus on 3rd Avenue in Downtown Seattle
Overview
SystemRapidRide
OperatorKing County Metro
GarageNorth Base
Central Base
VehicleNew Flyer articulated buses[1]
New Flyer XDE60
Began serviceFebruary 15, 2014
PredecessorsRoute 359, 358X
Route
LocaleKing County
StartAurora Village Transit Center, Shoreline
ViaAurora Avenue N
3rd Ave
EndPioneer Square, Downtown Seattle
Length12.5 miles (20.1 km)
Service
FrequencyPeak: 5-12 minutes
Off-peak: 10-15 minutes
Early morning & night: 24-60 minutes
Weekend frequency15 minutes (most times)
Journey time1 hour, 2 minutes
Operates4:30 am-3:00 am
Ridership15,800 (weekday average, spring 2015)[2]
TimetableE Line timetable
MapE Line map
Route diagram
Swift Blue Line to Everett
Aurora Village
Transit Center
 N 200th St
N 192nd St
(Shoreline Park & Ride)
 N 185th St
N 180th St
N 175th St
N 170th St
N 165th St
N 160th St
N 155th St
N 152nd St
N 145th St
N 135th St
N 130th St
N 125th St
N 115th St
N 105th St
N 100th St
N 95th St
N 90th St
N 85th St
N 80th St
N 76th St
N 72nd St
N 65th St
N 46th St
Aurora Bridge over
Lake Washington Ship Canal
 Lynn St
Galer St
Harrison St
Denny Way
5th Ave
to Ballard
 Bell St
to South Lake Union
 Virginia St
1 Line
to Northgate
Pike St
(Westlake station)
Seneca St
(Symphony station)
 Columbia St
to West Seattle | to Burien
Yesler Way
(Pioneer Square station)
 3rd Ave S
1 Line
to Angle Lake via Airport
Key
station
northbound only station
southbound only station
stop
northbound only stop
southbound only stop
This diagram:
← D Line  {{{system_nav}}}  F Line →

The RapidRide E Line is one of eight RapidRide lines (limited-stop routes with some bus rapid transit features) operated by King County Metro in King County, Washington. The E Line began service on February 15, 2014,[3] running from Aurora Village Transit Center in Shoreline to Pioneer Square in Downtown Seattle. The line runs primarily on Aurora Avenue North (State Route 99) and 3rd Avenue. The line's northern terminus connects to the Swift Blue Line operated by Community Transit, which continues north on State Route 99 to Everett Station.

History

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Bus service to Aurora Village began in 1979, with the extension of Metro Transit's route 6 to the Aurora Village Shopping Center in Shoreline, on the King–Snohomish county line.[4] The Aurora Village Transit Center, the route's current terminal, opened in the shopping center's south parking lot in March 1985. Additional service was added with route 359, an express variation of route 6.[5]

Aurora Bridge shooting

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On November 27, 1998, Mark McLaughlin, the driver of a southbound bus on route 359, was shot and killed by passenger Silas Garfield Cool as the bus was entering the Aurora Bridge. The passenger then shot himself as the bus careened off the bridge and landed on an apartment building in the Fremont neighborhood, over which the bridge passes before it crosses the Fremont Cut of the Lake Washington Ship Canal. McLaughlin, the attacker, and one other bus passenger died in the crash, and 32 passengers were injured.[6]

The Amalgamated Transit Union organized a memorial service for McLaughlin at KeyArena on December 8. The service was preceded by a procession of buses, including Metro buses and other operators from around the Pacific Northwest, including from British Columbia.[7] King County Metro honors McLaughlin yearly on the Friday after Thanksgiving, when buses pull over and briefly pause service in his memory.[8]

1999–2013: Route 358X

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Route 358 bus on the Aurora Bridge in 2007

In response to the incident and the general unsavory reputation the route had experienced even prior to the incident,[citation needed] route 359 was retired and replaced three months later by route 358. The new route 358 also replaced portions of routes 6 and 360, which were also retired.[9] In 2005, Metro began installing "crowns" atop bus shelters on Aurora Avenue to commemorate the installation of transit signal priority at intersections and other service improvements for route 358.[10]

Safety issues persisted on the corridor; in 2011, drivers on route 358 wrote up 333 "security incident reports",[11] leading the Seattle Weekly to give the route the title of "Most Dangerous Bus Route in Seattle"[12] After route 358 was replaced by the RapidRide E Line, security cameras were installed on all RapidRide buses and lighting was improved at stations, in part to address this problem.

2013–present: RapidRide development

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In early 2013 King County Metro began construction on new enhanced bus stops, new bus stations and making upgrades to traffic signals along Aurora Ave N.[13] Service on the RapidRide E Line was scheduled to start in Fall 2013 but the opening was delayed until February 15, 2014, to give crews more time to finish construction.[14][self-published source]

E Line buses (right) and Swift Blue Line (left)at Aurora Village Transit Center in 2014

The only change made to the routing during the conversion to RapidRide was in Green Lake. Route 358 exited Highway 99 to serve stops on Linden Ave N, but a new bus stop on Aurora Ave N allows southbound buses to stay on the highway (northbound buses must still deviate).[15][self-published source]

King County Metro planned to begin service on the RapidRide E Line in September 2013, but the opening was pushed back several months to February 2014 due to delays in construction.[14]

Before its conversion to RapidRide, route 358 carried 11,730 passengers per weekday on average. After the introduction of the E Line, ridership increased to 15,800 riders per weekday in spring 2015, the most of any Metro bus route.[2][16] In 2023, the E Line carried 3.7 million total passengers.[17]

Service

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Headways[18]
Time Monday-Friday Weekend/Holidays
4:30 am – 6:00 am 25 20
6:00 am – 9:45 am 5-10 (inbound)
12 (outbound)		 12
9:45 am – 4:00 pm 10 12
4:00 pm – 6:15 pm 5-10 (outbound)
12 (inbound)		 15
6:15 pm – 8:00 pm 12 15
8:00 pm – 11:00 pm 20 20
11:00 pm – 12:30 am 30 30
12:30 am – 3:00 am 60 60

References

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  1. ^ "King County Metro Transit's Bus Rapid Transit System". May 4, 2009. Retrieved June 21, 2015.
  2. ^ a b 2015 Service Guidelines Report (PDF). King County Metro. October 2015. p. A-22. Retrieved December 11, 2015.
  3. ^ "RapidRide". King County Metro Transit. Retrieved March 30, 2009.
  4. ^ Copeland, Joe (August 27, 1979). "The changing county transit". The Everett Herald. p. A10. Retrieved March 22, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. ^ Aweeka, Charles (April 3, 1985). "New transit center boon to Aurora Village". The Seattle Times. p. H2.
  6. ^ McRoberts, Patrick (December 3, 1998). "Metro bus plunges off Seattle's Aurora Bridge after driver is shot on November 27, 1998". HistoryLink. Retrieved January 19, 2025.
  7. ^ Broom, Jack; Clarridge, Christine (December 8, 1998). "Bus drivers honor one of their own -- Memorial For Mark Mclaughlin". The Seattle Times. Retrieved January 19, 2025.
  8. ^ Porterfield, Elaine (November 23, 2022). "King County Metro to pause bus service Nov. 25 to honor transit operator Mark McLaughlin". Metro Matters. King County Metro. Retrieved January 19, 2025.
  9. ^ Schaefer, David (February 5, 1999). "Metro adds routes, buses tomorrow". The Seattle Times. p. B2. Retrieved January 19, 2025.
  10. ^ "Metro 'crowns' Aurora bus stops" (Press release). King County Metro. January 12, 2005. Archived from the original on May 29, 2010. Retrieved January 31, 2025.
  11. ^ Humbert, Jon (February 2, 2012). "Recent attacks have Metro riders worried about bus safety". Retrieved August 25, 2014.
  12. ^ Conklin, Ellis E. (February 1, 2012). "Route 358 Is the Most Dangerous Bus Route In Seattle". Seattle Weekly. Retrieved August 25, 2014.
  13. ^ "Metro preps for the arrival of the RapidRide E Line along Aurora Avenue North". King County Metro. June 27, 2013. Retrieved September 6, 2014.
  14. ^ a b Nourish, Bruce (March 18, 2013). "Metro Delaying RapidRide E & F". Seattle Transit Blog. Retrieved August 25, 2014.
  15. ^ Lawson, David (February 7, 2014). "Metro and ST Service Changes: Feb. 15". Seattle Transit Blog. Retrieved September 6, 2014.
  16. ^ Lindblom, Mike (July 7, 2014). "RapidRide use is way up". The Seattle Times. Archived from the original on July 14, 2014.
  17. ^ King County Metro [@KingCountyMetro] (February 15, 2024). "Fast, frequent and reliable connections for the past 10 years and counting. Thanks for riding RapidRide E Line, connecting communities and riders from Downtown Seattle to Shoreline and beyond!" (Tweet). Retrieved February 28, 2024 – via Twitter.
  18. ^ "RapidRide E Line Schedule". Retrieved April 2, 2014.
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