Metro responds to bus stop complaints on 15th Ave.

After fielding bus questions at last month’s general meeting of the Maple Leaf Community Council, King County Councilman Bob Ferguson emailed to say changes are coming to bus stops on 15th Avenue Northeast.

When buses returned to 15th in April, half the stops had been removed.

Ferguson writes:

I was pleased that we had two King County Metro representatives in attendance at the meeting to take public comment regarding Metro bus route changes in the Maple Leaf neighborhood.  As a result of this public comment, I recently received this email from Metro, which I would like to share with you.

His forwarded email quotes Metro as saying: “After reviewing all the comments we received from the public, we have made a few changes to the plan.”

But it doesn’t look like the changes involve adding more stops, just moving them.

Northbound 15th Ave NE between NE 80th St and NE 90th St – After more review of the bus stop spacing plan for this area, Metro would like to close the gap between the stops at NE 88th St and NE 95th St.  We are proposing to do this by relocating the stops at NE 82nd St and NE 88th St to NE 85th St and NE 90th St, respectively. Route 373 would stop at NE 90th St. The stops are planned to be relocated on May 14.

Southbound 15th Ave NE at NE 107th St – This stop was closed in early 2010.  The bus stop did not comply with traffic standards in its old location, however, we are currently evaluating the site to determine if a suitable location exists that meets standards and will reopen the stop if one is found.  The northbound bus stop at NE 106th St will remain closed.

Metro repeats its rationale for axing stops: “The removal of closely spaced bus stops along the corridor will improve schedule reliability, reduce fuel consumption and emissions, and reduce Metro’s operating cost.”

More information can be found at Metro’s site here.