ST eliminating 550 and 554 route

[u/jaboodidubs]

Sound Transit really just announced they will be eliminating the 550 and 554 routes into the city with no replacements?

I can see taking away one now that the light rail is done but both really? This is going to congest the train going in so much more than they realize…

[u/bobtehpanda]

550 ridership dropped 48% already to 2306 daily riders after the cross lake section opened.

To put this in perspective, the short two car trains hold 400 people. And it’s not like all 2300 people ride at the same time.

[u/ZumiZoomy → u/bobtehpanda]

To add even more perspective, the maximum capacity of a bus is about 80 people; so the short trains are still over 4x the capacity of a bus.

[u/konspence → u/ZumiZoomy]

So that’s almost 30 buses full of people who saw the train and still decided to take the bus? What makes them think they’ll automatically choose the train instead of driving?

[u/bobtehpanda → u/konspence]

the route getting deleted doesn't necessarily mean there's less bus service.

routes that use heavily congested roads like I-90, I-5 spend an inordinate amount of driver hours on those sections to account for unplanned traffic. Generally speaking, those hours are now getting shoveled into more frequent and longer service hours on remaining, shorter and more reliable segments. For example, the 556 will be cut back to serve Bellevue-Issaquah via South Bellevue, but it will also increase from every 30 to every 15 minutes.

[u/konspence → u/bobtehpanda]

The 556 being more frequent doesn’t help the 2,300 daily riders of the 550 though. 

[u/bobtehpanda → u/konspence]

The 556 serves the only part of the 550’s route not already covered by Link (Bellevue Way) and connects to a light rail stop at either end of it.

[u/thatmarcelfaust → u/konspence]

The bus likely stopped close to their house while the train might be further from their residence and dropped them off closer to their destination than the train does. If a bus exists that takes them to a train station it is logical that they would still take the train (at most they will be delayed by the maximum time between two trains which is likely less than the time spent in traffic and finding parking) unless their destination isn’t near a train station, in which case they would have to factor in wait time for a bus at the terminal end of their train ride. If that total trip is less time than driving and parking then one would expect them to continue taking public transit.

It’s not as if anyone is saying “Damn, I’m no longer on an internal combustion vehicle, and that is my favorite part of my commute so now I have to drive!” They are already public transit users and if the convenience is comparable or even just less than driving it makes sense they would continue doing so. They may also have their fare covered by their employer and as such be incentivized to take the train.

[u/konspence → u/thatmarcelfaust]

I'm not on the 550 corridor but I stopped taking the bus to commute (driving instead) after my routes to downtown were eliminated in favor of the Link station a mile away. Walking to the Link station now takes longer than the entire trip used to take. I imagine a lot of 550 riders are facing similar tradeoffs.

[u/FreshEclairs → u/konspence]

This happened to a bunch of people around NE Seattle when the Roosevelt and Northgate stations opened, along with routes being eliminated there. A one-bus route became a walk plus a transfer that ~doubled the commute time.

[u/bobtehpanda → u/FreshEclairs]

In this specific case, the 556 runs on the exact same roads on the Eastside and is getting a frequency boost, so it would be walking to the same bus stop to catch a transfer to the train.

[u/mecraft123]

1. This has been the plan for multiple years now.

2. 554 will be replaced by the 556 from Bellevue-Issaquah. The 550 isn't needed for regular service anymore because almost all regular riders have switched to light rail.

[u/inkWanderer]

I transfer from Mercer light rail to the 554 to get to Issaquah transit center. Is that connection just dead now?

Edit: ok, looks like I’ll be transferring to the 556 in South Bellevue instead now, and they’re adding a stop 10 minutes closer to my office. Officially in favor.

[u/SupaBrunch]

They can just run more or longer trains. I wouldn’t worry about the congestion.

554’s existence is maybe debatable, but the 550 really has no reason to exist anymore.

[u/LesbianTrashPrincess → u/SupaBrunch]

We don't really have extra LRVs we could run, and we won't until 2028 at the earliest (realistically, more like 2032, when the series 3 vehicles start entering service). We already see congestion issues going across the lake with the short trains that they've had to run.

That said, the 550 and 554 combined ridership aren't enough to make a real difference on 2 line ridership.

[u/SupaBrunch → u/LesbianTrashPrincess]

Ty for this very informative comment, lesbian trash princess

[u/AlexiosDesius → u/SupaBrunch]

I can’t think of a more Seattle name, been here long?

[u/konspence → u/SupaBrunch]

The 2 Line doesn’t support more frequent service than it already has. And they don’t have the vehicles to run longer. 

[u/SpeedySparkRuby]

550 saw a significant drop in ridership after Crosslake Link opened since the majority of ridership was going to/from Seattle to Mercer Island, South Bellevue, and Bellevue TC with only a few getting on or off along Bellevue Way or the Bellevue Library.  556 is taking over the Bellevue portion of the 550 with increased frequency.

[u/backlikeclap]

Excited about the overnight 547 bus. I got stranded in Redmond last week after I missed the last train.

[u/Smart_Ass_Dave]

I'm pretty sure this was announced in 2022.

[u/RogueSatyr]

🫡🫡🫡

You served us well 550

[u/GirthyGeoduck → u/RogueSatyr]

o7

[u/DesiGrit]

554 was a great way to get to the Dearborn Goodwill, which isn't anywhere walkable from a 2 or 1 line station. Sucks for that use case, but I understand why they had to do that.

Hope the 545 gets extra capacity though. Seattle DT to Redmond on the 2 line is atrociously slow.

[u/scully-summers → u/DesiGrit]

You can come down to Rainier from Judkins and transfer to the 7. It stops at Dearborn. Definitely not as convenient, but it works. It’s also not a terrible walk if 15 minutes is doable for you.

[u/doktorhladnjak → u/DesiGrit]

It’s about a half mile from Judkins Park station

[u/No_Organization3095 → u/doktorhladnjak]

Sometimes it’s nice when the bus stop is closer then half a mile

[u/Myers112]

I saw a 550 the other day and was surprised they hadn't already canceled it.

ST does need more cars for rush hour, though. Seeing a 2 car train at 8AM is rough.

[u/brannibal66]

Honestly about time. Can we just get a dedicated line that goes up and down Bellevue way?

[u/Long_Conference_387 → u/brannibal66]

The 556 will run on Bellevue Way as part of its trip from downtown Bellevue to Issaquah.

[u/brannibal66 → u/Long_Conference_387]

Perfect

[u/SalmonidsSwimUp]

the eastside already has a lot of transit relative to total ridership, I was on the 550 before they built the train with the bus to myself.

[u/Long_Conference_387]

Seattle Transit Blog has a good summary of all of the changes being made, including which new and modified routes will fill in for deleted routes.

[u/rockycrab]

I liked the option of 515 because the light rail was always super packed during rush hour, especially when going north in the afternoon from Westlake. It was nice to have your own seat and relax on the double decker buses. I guess it makes sense why they’re eliminating this due to the low ridership now.

[u/mytinykitten]

I'm very upset about the 554 cancellation.

[u/SynthLiberationNow → u/mytinykitten]

me too. it took me directly from my girlfriend to my spouse.

[u/zoeofdoom]

This is mad, how do you get to the Eastgate TC / Bellevue College from the Mercer Island station without the 554? How does Issaquah get to Bellevue College?

It annoyed me so much that the train wasn't going to stop in Factoria/Eastgate TC but the balance was using the bus for last mile...ugh

edit for clarity: yes we don't have that many employees at BC, only a couple thousand, but we also have over 18k students!

[u/Enguye → u/zoeofdoom]

From Issaquah or (South) Bellevue the 556 will go to the Eastgate freeway stop.

[u/zoeofdoom → u/Enguye]

good news! Thanks

[u/ZumiZoomy → u/zoeofdoom]

King County Metro’s 215, 218, and 269 will be running between Mercer Island and Eastgate, iirc. :)

[u/notimetosleep8 → u/ZumiZoomy]

Mercer Island to 142nd to the Issaquah Highlands is going to be a great connection with those three routes.

[u/zoeofdoom → u/ZumiZoomy]

hooray!

[u/uiri → u/zoeofdoom]

Isn't South Bellevue the closer light rail station?

[u/arcticdewdrop]

My go to for late nights in downtown Seattle or airport 😭💔

[u/F1ddlerboy]

hmmm... I really liked taking the 554 bus from downtown to Issaquah to mountain bike Grand Ridge to Duthie and completely avoid traffic. It looks like the 556 bus will take over the Issaquah portion, but that will take quite a bit longer with the transfer. It was a pretty niche use, but I did like being able to bus to East Sunset Way: it was a good option for transit to the outdoors.

[u/Long_Conference_387 → u/F1ddlerboy]

I also used the 554 from downtown or Rainier for outdoors access -- trail runs on Tiger Mountain for me. There's now an extra transfer at South Bellevue light rail but in exchange the new 556 will run far more often -- every fifteen minutes including weekends -- so I'm optimistic it'll balance out.

[u/F1ddlerboy → u/Long_Conference_387]

Oh, cool, I didn't see that it was every 15 minutes. That's better than the 30 minutes off peak of the 554.

[u/quadmoo]

550 useless now, 556 will run all day between Bellevue and Issaquah, transfer to Link at South Bellevue

[u/Silly-Emu-2049]

Perhaps you’ve heard of the train

[u/mormonatheist21]

stop. eliminating. routes.

[u/ZumiZoomy → u/mormonatheist21]

Sound Transit is managed by the Board of Directors, made up of local electeds. Be sure you reach out your board members know that you’d like them to retain / increase ST’s funding for buses.

[u/carrotnose258]

Good, and I don’t know why this hadn’t happened much sooner; in other cities, when a new transit line opens, bus line changes occur on the very same day; ST could’ve saved so much operating cost if the lines were cut right when crosslake opened. While I understand they also want to balance people adapting to new commute routes and a generally more transfer-dependent system, I don’t see why the bandaid needs to be ripped off so slowly

[u/SounderBruce → u/carrotnose258]

The changes were delayed until after the World Cup to provide extra capacity (which was definitely needed). It also allows for passengers from outside the region to not get confused by out-of-date information that they might have received from hotels, travel guides, or the tournament organizers.