This coming Saturday you might notice some changes to your bus route. Metro is changing some routes and bus stops to about two dozen routes, including some from Ballard. “The downtown changes are designed to keep people moving during the long-term construction along the Seattle waterfront and SODO area,” the press release states.
Here are the highlights of the February changes for bus riders in the Ballard area:
• In downtown Seattle, there are bus routes shifting from First Avenue to Third Avenue; from Third Avenue to Second/Fourth avenues; and new bus stop locations on Third Avenue for several routes. This affects local routes traveling into downtown, including the routes 15, 18, and 81;
• Northbound trips on Route 16 will leave downtown Seattle from new bus stops near the Colman Ferry Dock on Alaskan Way;
• There are schedule changes for Route 46; and
• Route 99 will loop to travel north on First Avenue and south on Alaskan Way in Seattle, and buses will no longer be “wrapped” to look like the old waterfront streetcars.
![](https://www.myballard.com/wp-content/uploads/2024-My-Ballard-Tile-Ad-Troop-100.png")
Take effect.
Thank you.
So their normally crappy service will be upgraded to simple sh*tty. Think I’ll drive, thank you.
Y’all do know that the 99 and 16 don’t come anywhere near Ballard, right?
Are the Express routes for 15 & 18 included in the shift to 3rd Ave?
Yes
I believe that it will be the same stops on 3rd that Route 17 stops at…will be nice to have those buses all in one place when commuting home to Ballard and Market in the evening.
Route 28 stops along Third Avenue have been shifted. Wouldn’t it be more convenient for Ballard passengers if routes 15, 17, 18 and 28 all stopped at the same downtown locations?
Re East Ballard rider’s comments about Rt 28 sharing with other Ballard routes: Here’s a solution to your dilemma and also an explanation. A lot of the Ballard, Fremont & Phinney buses share the stops at 4th & Jackson Island and at 3rd & Virginia. At both you can get the locals & expresses of the 15, 18, 26 & 28, plus the 17E. At 3rd & Virginia, you can get all those plus the 5 local & express & the 358. (I’m just mentioning the routes that are w/in a walk/short transfer of East Ballard). For the in-between stops downtown, the routes are split to avoid over-crowding at the stops. They are split essentially into routes with common destinations of downtown Ballard via the Ballard Bridge vs Dexter & Fremont via the Fremont Bridge (or Aurora for expresses). The 28 is paired with the 26 because together these local routes give service every 15 minutes to Fremont via Dexter. They’re now paired (at most stops) with the 5s and 358s because among them they serve spots near Fremont, Phinney, parts of Green Lake, Aurora, Greenwood. So that’s the rationale. We just happen to live between the more northwestern routes and the north central routes. Your best trick as an E. Ballardite if you’re not aiming for a specific trip is to know the shared stops at the edge of downtown (esp 3rd & Virginia). Or in middle of downtown, be ready to make a run for whatever bus seems to be coming along first. Good luck!