Metro Connects
Service Quality Investments
What will it take?
Work with partners to make significant speed and reliability improvements. Rely on, consider incentives for, collaborate with, and communicate transparently with local jurisdictions to identify new projects. Combine Metro and city resources to seek federal and state funding. Seek local jurisdictions’ assistance in planning and securing transit-only right-of-way and changing traffic management practices. Leverage investments with additional partner and grant funding to complete a network of infrastructure that keeps transit riders moving. Support improvements such as new bus-only lanes, transit priority features, upgraded signals, new transit signal priority, and rechannelized roadways. Speed and reliability projects can incorporate investments with partners to improve safety, reliability, the customer experience, and transit-oriented communities. Projects could include passenger amenities and safer access by walking, biking, and rolling.
Plan early for speed and reliability improvements. Align planning efforts with Metro’s six-year capital improvement program, the Service Guidelines, and Metro Connects. Make transit speed and reliability improvements on corridors where congestion levels are high. Develop a countywide plan for bus lanes and corridor prioritization. Improve speed and reliability at congested “hot spots” countywide. Manage headways so service comes at consistent and reliable intervals, reducing customer wait times. Work with partners to improve incident response options that keep buses moving through delays, such as installation of temporary bus-only lanes. Pursue grant funding opportunities.
Pursue improvements to make boarding faster and easier. Read more in the next section, “Boarding and Fares.”
In partnerships with others, invest in large regional projects that would benefit transit. Metro will maintain an inventory of candidate projects, including new transit pathways and service connections, major crossings, and transit bottlenecks.
Build on Metro’s existing intelligent transportation systems architecture. These will support the management of vehicles on the road to make service faster and more reliable, and customer information tools that would make Metro system easier to use.
Support security and enforcement around transit priority features. Bus-only lanes, busways, high-occupancy vehicle lanes, and roadway features that keep buses moving require enforcement to be effective.
King County Metro Long Range Plan
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