UVTN plan for 23rd-24th Ave corridor
Reading through the transit plan to figure out where our neighborhood lands in the Urban Village Transit Network (UVTN) strategy, I was pleased to see that for the North/South connections we actually end up in the 2007 plan!
From: http://www.cityofseattle.net/transportation/transitnetwork.htm (page 59), we’re item #15! Phase 1 – 2007, baby! I’m super glad we’re right directly between the UW hub and the McClellen LRT hub. 
Here’s the most important part of the Phase 1 map (click for the whole thing in PDF):
This is great, most particularly because of the cool new QoS work they’re focusing on in the targeted corridors:
- Frequency – At most 15–minute service intervals
- Span of Service – They run the high frequency service for lots of hours (at least 6am-6pm, potentially as late as midnight depending on the line!)
- Reliability – Bus is running on time (ie – No more than 1–3 mins late… not 3 buses that could be connected by tow-lines to save on fuel, followed by 40 minutes of no buses).
- Passenger Loading – Buses 86–100% of rated capacity, not packed like sardines (which makes the bus late due to time spent loading/unloading at each stop).
I’m also excited that they’re considering express bus service on this corridor too. I’ve always found it frustrating that >50% of my travel time from the house to work is spend on the 3 miles up to Montlake, while the other 40–50% is spent waiting for and then riding the 545 express bus the other 10 miles out to Overlake. The 48 bus makes too many stops, which makes it late. There should be a “only stops at key points” express route on this corridor. I’m holding out hope we may someday see this.
