(Image: King County Metro)
The restart of fare enforcement wasn’t the only big change for King County Metro this month. Metro says it is also rolling out a new “Advanced Service Management” strategy to improve service and eliminate “bus bunching” on the new RapidRide G line:
The key change is moving from scheduled service (meaning buses aimed to arrive at set times on a clock) to more evenly spaced or headway-based services (meaning buses arrive a set number of minutes apart). Reliability means regularly spaced bus service (that is, less “bus bunching”), reducing gaps between buses and ensuring that any issues that could lead to delays are identified and resolved quickly.
Metro says it developed its Advanced Service Management approach in a pilot last year on the RapidRide A and RapidRide F lines where “riders experienced smoother and more reliable service.”
The approach requires a complicated system to be better coordinated but the results can be pretty straightforward. “This coordination allows the buses to speed up or slow down to better maintain headways and prevent bunching,” Metro says.
RapidRide G riders can be the final judge. The new management system went into action on the line Monday.
The new 2.5-mile RapidRide G route averaged more than 4,100 trips a day on weekdays this fall, doubling jumping higher from the boarding totals reported in the line’s first month of service in September as it overcame launch hiccups and construction issues. This spring, Metro was able to increase weekend service on the line thanks to sales tax funds from the 2020 voter-approved Seattle Transit Measure. UPDATE: Thanks to a reader for catching an issue with Metro’s reporting for partial month service periods: “Wanted to offer a small correction: The ridership of the G didn’t double from September to October, it only ran for half of September but the dashboard isn’t that smart so it just averages the number over the whole month. The actual September weekday ridership was 3800ish”
In February, average weekday boardings on the line rose above 5,000 per day. The line has also settled in at above 80% “headway adherence,” or, how closely its coaches are matching the published arrival schedule for each stop.
Source: Metro Ridership Dashboard
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Hopefully this means it’ll be more reliable past 9pm!
when will the stops be fixed and not have steel plates on the road?
Good. Bus bunching drives me crazy as a rider. This is how they should’ve done it from the start with the G Line.
It’s been nice to have the option to take the G Line up to the top of the hill when I’m on my bike and too tired to ride uphill. However, the experience of having more than one bike on board is not great. The way bikes are required to attach to the bus creates cinch points making it awkward to walk through the bus or attach/release a bike. The experience (and maybe even capacity) could benefit from a re-design of how the bikes are positioned.
Also wondering if regular KC Metro bus lines could also implement “Advanced Service Management”…or is this only possible for Rapid Ride buses?
I hope the new management system will reduce the “bus bunching” that has been an unwelcome feature for the G Ride. I must confess that even though the route is only 2.5 miles long, the traffic conditions along the route and in its downtown loop will continue to have an impact on its regularity.
This is great news! And what I thought it was supposed to be all along, lol. Glad to hear it’ll get more reliable, every time I’ve tried taking it I’ve found the time predictions have been off & I’ve waited over 5 minutes on more than 1 occasion…
Twice the G sailed right past a stop while I was standing there clearly waiting in the middle of the stop on the correct side with a paid fare. Get these drivers some glasses.