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RapidRide G Line

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G Line
A King County Metro RapidRide bus operating on the G Line along Madison Street
Overview
SystemRapidRide
OperatorKing County Metro
GarageRyerson Base
Began serviceSeptember 14, 2024[1]
Route
LocaleSeattle, Washington
StartDowntown Seattle
ViaMadison Street
EndMartin Luther King Jr. Way in Madison Valley
Length2.1 mi (3.4 km)
Stops21
Route diagram
1st Ave
(Ferries, Streetcar, Water Taxi)
3rd Ave
(Link 1 Line, C, D, E, & H lines)
 5th Ave
8th Ave
Terry Ave
Boylston Ave
(Streetcar)
 E Union St
17th Ave
22nd Ave
24th Ave E
Martin Luther King, Jr. Way E
This diagram:
← F Line  {{{system_nav}}}  H Line →

The RapidRide G Line is a RapidRide bus service in Seattle, Washington, operated by King County Metro on Madison Street between Downtown Seattle and Madison Valley. It uses five-door articulated buses to serve a mix of side and center platforms at its 21 stations. The line opened for service on September 14, 2024, and cost $133.4 million to construct; it features several sections with bus lanes and transit signal priority.

Route

The G Line travels 2.5 miles (4.0 km) between 1st Avenue in Downtown Seattle and Martin Luther King Jr. Way in Madison Valley on Madison Street.[2][3] The line has 2.8 miles (4.5 km) of dedicated transit lanes[1] and 1.14 miles (1.83 km) of mixed-traffic business access and transit lanes.[4]: 18  The project included the reconstruction of 36 intersections to upgrade traffic signals and 50 blocks of refurbished sidewalks.[5]

The route begins near Colman Dock, the city's ferry terminal, at a station on 1st Avenue.[2] This station was planned to be shared with a future Seattle Streetcar extension. Within Downtown Seattle, buses travel eastbound on Spring Street and westbound on Madison Street in transit lanes, stopping near the Symphony light rail station at 3rd Avenue and the Seattle Central Library at 5th Avenue. The route crosses over Interstate 5 into First Hill, where the two directions merge after 9th Avenue onto Madison, continuing to run in center transit-only lanes. The G Line crosses Broadway, with a station connecting to the First Hill Streetcar, and passes the campus of Seattle University before transitioning to mixed traffic east of 15th Avenue. The route continues into Madison Valley, serving several curbside stations, before terminating at Martin Luther King Jr. Way near the Washington Park Arboretum.[4]: 8–11 

Stops and stations

The G Line serves 21 total stops on its route, including 10 stops in each direction and the western terminal near Colman Dock.[4]: 8  Stations are approximately 60 feet (18 m) long and feature off-board fare payment (including ticket vending machines), raised platforms for level boarding, branded shelters, real-time arrival information, and other features.[4]: 10 [6]

Station[4]: 8–9  Layout Notes
1st Avenue Side platform Western terminus, shared with future Seattle Streetcar project. Connection to Colman Dock (Washington State Ferries), King County Water Taxi, and Kitsap Fast Ferries.
3rd Avenue Side platforms Connections to Link 1 Line and RapidRide C, D, E, and H Lines.
5th Avenue Side platforms
8th Avenue Center platform (Westbound)
Side platform (Eastbound)
Terry Avenue Center platform
Summit Avenue/
Boylston Avenue 		Center platform Connection to First Hill Streetcar
12th Avenue/
13th Avenue/
Union Street 		Center platform
17th Avenue Side platforms
22nd Avenue Side platforms Connection to future 23rd Ave RapidRide Line
24th Avenue Side platforms Connection to future 23rd Ave RapidRide Line
27th Avenue/
Martin Luther King Jr. Way 		Side platforms Eastern terminus

Service

The G Line, internally designated as Route 677, runs 23 hours per day with a headway of 6 minutes on weekdays and 15 minutes during weekends, and weekday mornings and evenings.[7][4]: 14  It has the highest frequency of any bus route in the King County Metro system.[8] Travel times from Downtown Seattle to Madison Valley are projected to improve from 16 minutes to 10 minutes with the G Line.[9] The line is projected to carry 12,000 to 18,000 daily passengers.[10]

Fleet

The G Line is operated by 60-foot-long (18 m), articulated, hybrid buses with low floors and doors on both sides. Plans to purchase new trolleybuses for this line were dropped in March 2019[11] after New Flyer Industries stated that the desired model would not be available in a single vehicle.[12] Metro was unable to find another North American manufacturer willing to build articulated trolleybuses that could handle the very steep grades on the westernmost portion of the line (18–19%).[11]

The New Flxyer XDE60 buses have a total of five doors, three on the right and two on the left, for boarding at stations in the center and side of the roadway.[2][4]: 14 

Funding

The G Line project is expected to cost $120 million, and will be funded by a mix of sources.[13] Funding will be provided by a grant from the Federal Transit Administration (FTA), the 2015 Move Seattle levy, and the 2016 Sound Transit 3 ballot measure.[14][15][16] The FTA awarded a $59.9 million Small Starts grant to the city government for the project in April 2021.[17]

History

The Madison Street corridor was identified as a bus rapid transit candidate in the 2012 Transit Master Plan, adopted by the city of Seattle with input from King County Metro.[18] While other routes were given feasibility studies for streetcars, as part of a new municipal system, Madison Street was considered too steep to support rail transit.[19] The Madison Street corridor, from Downtown Seattle to Madison Park, was historically served by cable car service from 1890 until 1940, when they were scrapped and replaced with motor buses and trolleybuses on modern-day routes 11 and 12.[19][20]

A design concept for the service was first presented for public comment in 2014, featuring two options for the eastern terminus, at 23rd Avenue or Martin Luther King Jr Way (MLK Way). A public survey was conducted and found higher support for the MLK Way terminus, as well as preferences for station locations and transfers to other transit routes.[21] In February 2016, the Seattle City Council approved a locally preferred alternative for the project and endorsed it to pursue federal funding.[22]

Residents of a condominium building on the line opposed the construction of a traction power substation that would be needed for the trolleybuses, citing possible health risks from exposure to electromagnetic fields.[23] Portions of properties along the route were acquired for construction of wider sidewalks and platforms, including the patio space of queer bar Pony.[24]

As of 2017, construction on the project was planned to begin in mid-2018, with the line scheduled to open in 2019.[13] However, it was later reported that uncertainty around federal funding was expected to delay construction.[25] Reflecting those delays and following an FTA review, in March 2020 the projected opening date was pushed back to 2023.[26] A further delay to 2024 and a budget increase to $133.4 million was announced in August 2020 due to an updated consultant review amid potential impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.[10]

A groundbreaking ceremony was held on September 30, 2021, with Federal Transit Administrator Nuria Fernandez in attendance.[27] Construction on Madison Street began in October 2021.[28] A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held on August 29, 2024, to mark the completion of construction.[29] The G Line opened on September 14, 2024, with a community celebration;[8] several routes in the area also changed to connect with the line.[1][30]

The first days of service included issues with real-time arrival signs at stations, the curb-activated doors on buses, and signal priority issues.[31] Three of the line's center platform stations opened with temporary steel plates in the busway due to construction defects that left the platforms too low for level boarding. A total of 25 shelters at stations are also planned to be rebuilt due to frame and paint issues.[32]

References

  1. ^ a b c "RapidRide G Line and Madison Street area bus changes". King County Metro. Retrieved May 1, 2024.
  2. ^ a b c Deshais, Nicholas (September 13, 2024). "Seattle neighborhoods get 6-minute bus service with RapidRide G Line". The Seattle Times. Retrieved September 14, 2024.
  3. ^ "Fact Sheet: Madison Corridor Bus Rapid Transit Study" (PDF). Seattle Department of Transportation. March 2015. Archived from the original (PDF) on February 17, 2017. Retrieved February 22, 2017.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g Madison Corridor BRT Study Final Report (PDF) (Report). Seattle Department of Transportation. February 2016. Archived from the original (PDF) on August 2, 2016. Retrieved February 22, 2017.
  5. ^ Switzer, Jeff (August 1, 2024). "Coming this fall: New RapidRide G Line and more Metro bus service". King County Metro. Retrieved August 29, 2024.
  6. ^ "Madison by bus or car". Madison Street Bus Rapid Transit Online Open House. Seattle Department of Transportation. March 2017. Archived from the original on March 8, 2017. Retrieved March 8, 2017.
  7. ^ "Ordinance Proposed No. 2024-0053.2: Madison Street Area Public Transportation Service Changes for King County" (PDF). King County Council. March 26, 2024. pp. 93–95. Retrieved March 27, 2024.
  8. ^ a b "Communities celebrates opening of new King County Metro RapidRide line". KING 5 News. September 14, 2024. Retrieved September 14, 2024.
  9. ^ Lindblom, Mike (November 16, 2015). "Showdown brewing over bus lanes on Madison". The Seattle Times. p. B1. Retrieved February 22, 2017.
  10. ^ a b Groover, Heidi (August 12, 2020). "Promised Madison bus line will open later than expected". The Seattle Times. Retrieved August 12, 2020.
  11. ^ a b "Trolleynews [regular news section]". Trolleybus Magazine. Vol. 55, no. 345. UK: National Trolleybus Association. May–June 2019. p. 117. ISSN 0266-7452.
  12. ^ Lindblom, Mike (August 27, 2018). "An uphill battle to get electric trolleybuses on Madison RapidRide route". The Seattle Times. Retrieved September 21, 2019.
  13. ^ a b "Madison Street Bus Rapid Transit". Seattle Department of Transportation. Retrieved February 22, 2017.
  14. ^ "Madison Street Bus Rapid Transit Open House" (PDF). Seattle Department of Transportation. August 2016. p. 14. Archived from the original (PDF) on February 24, 2017. Retrieved February 22, 2017.
  15. ^ Lindblom, Mike (November 9, 2015). "Move Seattle passage means $930M to hit the streets; repaving, school zones first". The Seattle Times. p. B1. Retrieved February 22, 2017.
  16. ^ Lindblom, Mike (November 14, 2016). "Where Sound Transit 3 projects could speed up or slow down". The Seattle Times. Retrieved February 22, 2017.
  17. ^ Sanders, Al (April 5, 2021). "Major Funding Milestone Achieved – Seattle Receives $59.9 Million in Federal Funding to Construct Madison Bus Rapid Transit—RapidRide G Line". Metro Matters. King County Metro. Retrieved April 6, 2021.
  18. ^ "Chapter 3: Corridors" (PDF). Seattle Transit Master Plan (Report). Seattle Department of Transportation. April 2012. p. 3-9. Archived from the original (PDF) on February 21, 2017. Retrieved February 22, 2017.
  19. ^ a b Lindblom, Mike (November 12, 2012). "Seattle to spend up to $10 million to study new streetcar lines". The Seattle Times. Retrieved February 22, 2017.
  20. ^ Duncan, Don (November 28, 1982). "The end of a line: Cable cars historically clattered up and hurtled down Seattle's hills". The Seattle Times. p. A2.
  21. ^ Nelson\Nygaard (March 2015). "Madison Street Corridor Bus Rapid Transit Study: Survey Summary Report" (PDF). Seattle Department of Transportation. p. 2-1. Archived from the original (PDF) on February 20, 2017. Retrieved February 22, 2017.
  22. ^ "City of Seattle Resolution 31647". Office of the City Clerk of Seattle. Retrieved February 22, 2017.
  23. ^ Nash, Daniel (February 27, 2017). "As Madison BRT hits next design milestone, residents beg and bargain over bus stop locations". Madison Park Times. Seattle. Retrieved February 28, 2017.
  24. ^ Carder, Justin (March 27, 2024). "It has been anything but 'rapid' but RapidRide G bus transit project is now lined up for end of summer start". Capitol Hill Seattle Blog. Retrieved August 29, 2024.
  25. ^ Giordano, Lizz (December 1, 2017). "2018 Brings a Slight Increase to SDOT's Budget". Seattle Transit Blog. Retrieved December 1, 2017.
  26. ^ "Madison St BRT – RapidRide G Line: Downtown Seattle to First Hill to Madison Valley". Seattle Department of Transportation. March 2, 2020. Archived from the original on July 6, 2020. Retrieved July 14, 2020.
  27. ^ Lindblom, Mike (September 30, 2021). "Construction of Seattle's Madison Street RapidRide bus line begins soon". The Seattle Times. Retrieved September 30, 2021.
  28. ^ Lindblom, Mike (October 22, 2021). "Madison Street merchants brace for disruption as RapidRide construction looms". The Seattle Times. Retrieved October 25, 2021.
  29. ^ Bancroft, Ethan (August 29, 2024). "RapidRide G Line Construction Complete – Bus Service Begins September 14 on a Transformed Madison Street". SDOT Blog. Seattle Department of Transportation. Retrieved August 29, 2024.
  30. ^ Switzer, Jeff (February 8, 2024). "Proposed Metro bus network upgrades would launch this year for RapidRide G Line, Lynnwood Link". Metro Matters. King County Metro. Retrieved February 12, 2024.
  31. ^ Carder, Justin (September 17, 2024). "RapidRide G arrives with ambitious public transit goals — and plenty of hiccups over Madison's new buses, stops, signs, and signals". Capitol Hill Seattle Blog. Retrieved October 20, 2024.
  32. ^ Deshais, Nicholas (October 7, 2024). "Platforms and shelters improperly built on new Capitol Hill RapidRide". The Seattle Times. Retrieved October 20, 2024.
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