Recently on Page 2: Island Transit, Boeing Access Road, and Metro 1985

Those of you who follow us on channels like Twitter or Facebook may not be aware of Page 2, our reader-powered community section.  If you haven’t been reading Page 2, below are a few recent highlights.

First, the indefatigable Joe Konzlar has been doggedly pursuing the saga of Island Transit, where local officials are debating whether or not to charge fares for the first time.  Here’s a bit from his latest post:

One thing worth noting is that it’s now 21 April and no final decision has been made even to keep the County Connectors going.   Island County Commissioner Jill Johnson (Republican) is really attempting to force the beginning of public hearings on the service change with more passion and vigor than Island County Commissioner Rick Hannold’s (Republican) pontificating bordering on rambling about the need for a fare.

One should note that come Friday will be 67 days before the possible end of this service.  Sixty seven days.  Yet it seems Island Transit Board has been timid since knowing there was a crisis in November.

Back on this side of the Sound, Mike Orr went deep on the pros and cons of Boeing Access Road station, which was deferred from the original LINK alignment but is back in the news again.  Here’s an excerpt:

The 150 goes from Kent to Southcenter to downtown passing very near BAR Station. Metro has so far been unwilling to truncate it at Rainier Beach Station. Would Tukwila support truncating it at BAR Station? Southcenter-Westlake travel time on the 150 is 38 minutes at 5pm, 31 minutes at 9pm. Transferring to Link would take around 45 minutes (10 minutes bus, 30 minutes train, 5 minutes transfer). Aleksandra Culver has outlined how Metro could improve South King County’s network by extending the 164 and 180 to Rainier Beach Station to replace the 150.  This could be modified to BAR Station, and would give 10-minute combined frequency between Kent Station and BAR.

Finally, GuyOnBeaconHill unearthed maps and schedules of Route 15 and 18 from 1985, giving us a picture of what transit service was like on the West side of town 30 years ago (and putting RapidRide C and D in perspective):

In 1985, the 15 and 18 followed identical routes from approximately Harbor Island to just north of the Ballard Bridge. Together, they provided local service on 1st Avenue South in SODO and operated through downtown Seattle on 1st Avenue to the Seattle Center and Ballard. Midday headways on both routes was 40 minutes, which provided service every 20 minutes for Interbay, downtown and SODO; but Alki, Fauntleroy, 15th Avenue NW and 24th Avenue NW only saw a bus every 40 minutes. Today, most of those corridors get headways of 15 minutes or less.

All this and much more on Page 2.  If you’re interested in contributing, sign up for an account.

Bonus Feature: Latest Comments

While we’re going deep on STB features, it seems like a good time to mention a new feature on the site: latest comments.  It does just what it says on the tin: displays all comments, in reverse chronological order, across all STB threads.  You can bookmark the page or find it by clicking on the “talk bubble” icons in the “Stay in Touch” area of the sidebar.