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]] Metro Transit, or '''Metro''' for short, is the Public Transit authority of King County, Washington , a division of the King County Department of Transportation. Based in Seattle, Washington , it was founded in 1972 , and began operations on January 1 , 1973 . It can trace its roots to Seattle Transit, founded in 1939 , and Overlake Transit Service, founded in 1927 . As of 2004 , it operated 1,363 Bus es on 235 routes. Its annual ridership in 2003 was 100 million, making it the ninth largest bus operator in the nation. OPERATIONS Metro was established in 1972 as a combination of Seattle Transit and suburban authorities. The agency was independent until 1994, when a popular vote merged it with King County government. Until 1996, the region consistently voted not to fund rapid-transit projects, rejecting proposed light-rail systems in 1968 and 1972. Today, Metro operates bus service in partnership with Sound Transit , which was established by a 1996 vote to provide regional bus and rail service. Metro operates one of the largest bus-only fleets in the country (discounting its short and are used mostly on routes within the Seattle city limits. Metro also maintains a large fleet of Electric Trolley Buses (ETBs). The ETBs prove useful both as zero-emission vehicles, and as vehicles well adapted to Seattle's Hilly Terrain . Until 2005, this was the largest ETB fleet in the country, including 236 dual-mode Breda "tunnel buses." In 2002, Metro replaced its 100 AMG trolleys with new Gillig Phantom shells. The drive train of the AMG coaches was retained with new electronics, saving approximately $200,000 per coach. Metro is now rebuilding 29 of the now retired Breda dual-mode coaches, converting them to electric-only operation and refurbishing them to replace aging MAN articulated ETBs. The rebuild includes new Kiepe current collection equipment, new interior upholstery, a completely new driver's compartment, and new ADA -compliant signage. The agency pioneered technologies in widespread use today. In 1979, the AMG trolleys were ordered with some of the first Wheelchair lifts in the nation, promising a completely new level of independence for Disabled residents. Early lifts were severely flawed, but by the mid 1980s the lifts were generally reliable and were ordered on all new buses. With the retirement of the 1400-series buses in 1999, the entire fleet became wheelchair-accessible—again, the first fleet its size to do so. Strangely, the agency was reluctant to adopt Low-floor buses, not buying any until 2003. Collaborating with several local jurisdictions, Metro was also an early experimenter with transit signal priority (TSP), a system to extend Green Lights to allow buses to get through. The system can boost average speeds as much as 10%, and is in use on several of the city's busiest corridors, including Aurora Avenue N. , Rainier Avenue S., and 15th Avenue N.W. Metro operates the largest fleet of articulated Hybrid Bus es in the country, the fleet of 214 New Flyer DE60LFs it purchased to replace the Bredas. ( Sound Transit bought an additional 21 similar buses.) Metro's hybrids were purchased to run in the Downtown Seattle Transit Tunnel , where they will operate together with Light Rail vehicles beginning in 2009. In the tunnel, the hybrid buses use electric traction to 15 mph; after 15 mph, traction is a combination of electric and diesel, operating in a quieter, low-emission mode. Fleet
ROUTES AND SERVICE Metro combines service patterns typical of city and suburban bus networks. The city network, descended in large part from the Seattle Transit system of converted streetcar routes, is arranged in a hub-and-spoke pattern centered on . The in-city routes with the highest ridership are the 7, traveling from downtown Seattle through the International District and Rainier Valley ; the 36, traveling from downtown Seattle through the International District to Beacon Hill ; the 43 and 49 (the latter of which was formerly the northern portion of route 7), traveling through Capitol Hill to the University District; the 44, a crosstown route connecting the University District and Ballard ; the 48, a very long crosstown route connecting most parts of east and north Seattle to the Central District and Rainier Beach , and the 3 and 4, connecting downtown to Queen Anne , First Hill , the Central District , and Madrona . However, because of the bus-only nature of the system, there are many other heavily used routes. The suburban system is more numerically organized. Roughly speaking, areas south of the city from Burien and Des Moines through Renton and Maple Valley are served by routes numbered from 101 to 197. Areas east of the city from Renton to Bothell are served by routes numbered from 200 to 291. Areas north of the city from Bothell to Shoreline are served by routes numbered from 301 to 372. Numbers in the 400s are reserved for Community Transit ( Snohomish County ) commuter routes serving Seattle; numbers in the 500s are used by Sound Transit 's Regional Express system, save for Pierce Transit 's routes 500 ( Federal Way - Tacoma ) and 501 (Federal Way- Milton -Tacoma). Major all-day Metro routes in the suburbs include the 120, connecting Seattle and Burien; the 174 and 194, connecting Seattle, Sea-Tac Airport , and Federal Way; the 150, connecting Seattle, Southcenter , Kent , and Auburn ; the 101 and 106, connecting Seattle and Renton; the 255, connecting Seattle and Kirkland ; the 230 and 253, connecting Bellevue , Crossroads, and Redmond ; the 271, connecting Issaquah , Bellevue, and the University District; the 347 and 348, connecting Northgate and North City ; and the 358, operating up Aurora Avenue N. to Shoreline. RIDE FREE ZONE ]] The ''ride free zone'' is a portion of Downtown Seattle where there is no charge to ride the bus. The ride free zone operates between the hours of 6 a.m. and 7 p.m. The ride free area extends from the north at Battery St. to S. Jackson St. on the south, and east at 6th Avenue to the waterfront on the west. The waterfront streetcar (Metro Route 99) and Metro routes 116, 118 and 119 are not included in the Ride Free area. Although bicycles can usually be loaded or unloaded at any bus zone at any time, they are only allowed to be loaded or unloaded at a route's first and last ride free stop. This is a safety policy to reduce the potential of too many cyclists being between buses in heavy downtown traffic. MAJOR FACILITIES Bases Metro operates out of seven bases spread throughout its 2,134-square-mile operating area: Atlantic, Ryerson, Central, East, Bellevue, South, and North. Atlantic, Central, and Ryerson Bases are located close together near Safeco Field South Of Downtown Seattle . East and Bellevue bases are located in north Bellevue . South Base is in Tukwila ; the innovative North Base, built mostly underground in 1989, is in Shoreline . Atlantic Base is unique in that it mostly serves ETBs . Downtown Seattle Transit Tunnel A major Metro operations facility is the Downtown Seattle Transit Tunnel , or DSTT. The DSTT, a 1.3-mile-long, five-station tunnel through the center of downtown Seattle, was completed in 1990 at a cost of $444 million. Planned from the outset to be convertible to Light Rail operation, the tunnel was outfitted with rails and overhead trolley wire. A fleet of 235 dual-propulsion buses were produced by Breda of Italy , powered by electric traction in the tunnel, and diesel on city streets. Mode changes occurred at the north and south portals. The tunnel suffered some significant problems in operation, as the Breda buses proved morbidly overweight and exceedingly unreliable. The original plan to have up to 600 dual-powered buses using the tunnel never materialized; the 235 Breda buses were the only buses to use the tunnel until Metro acquired its hybrid fleet in 2005. Following the Sound Transit vote in 1996, planners discovered the original rails in the tunnel were not adequately insulated, requiring complete replacement for light rail. The tunnel is closed for up to 2 years as of September of 2005 to replace the rails, lower the track bed for modern ADA-compliant Light Rail Cars , and complete a stub tunnel for a future LINK Light Rail extension to the north. ONGOING PROJECTS Significant projects include a regional smart card initiative, rehabilitiation of several transit bases, and the exploration of BRT in a north-south corridor north of downtown. INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY/INTELLIGENT TRANSPORTATION SYSTEMS Metro could be criticized for its lack of Smart Card fare collection and automated stop announcements. In 1998 the fleet was updated with RFID tags that reported to battery-powered RFID locators located at some stops. Metro is currently in the process of replacing the system as part of a system-wide radio update. Metro does use Traffic Signal Priority along some major arterials, utilizing the bus RFID tags. The extent of Metro's ITS available for customers has been limited to two projects: First, an early project by the called Bus Monster provided the same service using the same data. This project was not officially endorsed by Metro. A second pilot project provided bus information displays along a city arterial. Metro discontinued the project in 2005, citing the cost of maintenance and technical problems. EXTERNAL LINKS
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