Next Trip – October 15th – “Ride the 200”

TheOctober trip will be pretty easy since it will be riding our Route 200. Why ride the 200 again? Because the routing has changed quite significantly in the last few months and there is a good chance it will change again in the spring, with the addition of a swing through the Swedish Hospital campus whichcurrently not served directly by any Metro or Sound Transit route. So it’s time to see the 200’s improvements and the possible future improvements.

As most of you know, the 200 previously started out at the Community Center, had numerous stops downtown on Front St and Gilman Blvd, serviced the Issaquah Transit Center, traveled via Lake Dr and SE 56th(for Lowe’s and Costco), then pulled into the Fred Meyer parking lot for one last stop by the Fred Meyer store. The bus turned around at that location and reversed the route but traveled south on Front St to 2nd Ave SE, past the High School and back to the Community Center.

Thecurrent routing is the same until you get to the Fred Meyer section; the 200 now passes that shopping center on SE Black Nugget Rd (there is a stop on Black Nugget for Fred Meyer) and continues along Highlands Dr NE to the Highlands Park & Ride. This now gives the 200 riders access to the Highlands from downtown Issaquah, Monday to Friday, for FREE. That’s correct: the fare on the 200 is still free!

Since the ride is short (27 minutes from the first to the last stop), let’s meet at the bus stop on Front St in front of the music store/Chicago Pastrami at 10:50am October 15th. We’ll be at the Highlands Park & Ride by 11:23am, where we can find a restaurant for lunch (any suggestions?) or you can do some shopping if you prefer. Suggested return departure time would be 12:54pm from the Highlands Park & Ride with an ETA to the Metro stop in front of the Eagles on Front St at about 1:20pm.

Past Trip – Milepost 31& the Viaduct Replacement Tour

Six hearty souls participated in last month’s trip to Pioneer Square to view the Viaduct Replacement construction project and the visitor’s center, Milepost 31. I say “hearty” because the skies opened up and the wind blew just as we were starting on the outdoor portion of the walking tour! There we are standing on the “viewing platform” (actually the chopped off end of the viaduct) in our construction safety vests, jackets, hats, hoods, and boots:

As is typical for Seattle weather, the sun came out just as we were heading back to the visitor’s center! Even though the weather was not perfect, we still enjoyed the outing and learned a lot about a construction project of this size and scope. Once completed and operating, it will change the face of the Seattle Waterfront and will hopefully be a positive change to the transportation system in downtown Seattle.

If you have any questions about this trip or have suggestions for future trips, contact Dave .