Join for The Urbanist’s RapidRide G Line Opening Celebration

The Urbanist is hosting an opening day celebration for the RapidRide G Line, which commences service on Saturday. The celebration is from 5:00pm to 7:30pm September 14 at Stoup Capitol Hill, which is just north of line’s Madison Street and Broadway stop. We’d love for you to join us.

The G Line will take over for Routes 11 and 12 along Madison Street between Downtown Seattle and Madison Valley, offering both increased frequency and significantly quicker trips for riders along the corridor. With the service change on September 14, King County Metro is restructuring bus routes in the area to feed the new rapid line, with some neighboring routes seeing frequency cuts. Thanks to pressure from advocates, Metro’s restructure revived Route 47, as a Summit Avenue tail of the revised Route 3.

For most of the day, the G Line will offer 6-minute frequencies. Frequencies decrease sharply to every 15 minutes after 7pm and on Sundays.

The RapidRide G will mostly operate in its own dedicated bus lanes, including the most congested segments downtown and around I-5. Through First Hill and Capitol Hill, buses will run along the center traffic lane, separating them from any other vehicles turning right, and riders will board from brand new stations in the median of Madison Street, mirroring stations along Jackson Street used by the First Hill Streetcar.

With buses stopping both along the curb and at the center medians, King County Metro is adding a fleet of special diesel hybrid electric buses with five sets of doors — three on the right and two on the left. The new fleet also includes a new feature for Seattle: interior bike racks at the back of the bus.

The G Line will be the first RapidRide line in Seattle to meet bus rapid transit standards for speed and quality of service. Transit riders will definitely want to try it out and mark the occasion.

Beyond a mere transit rebrand, SDOT noted the following project highlights:

• Built/replaced 3.8 miles of sidewalks 
• Completed 9.1 lane-miles of concrete roadway and 2.3 lane-miles of new asphalt overlay.
• Added 1.4 miles of dedicated transit lanes
• Built 21 new RapidRide stops; 10 paired stops in each direction and one on First Avenue
• Built 4 new center-running stations between 7th and 13th Avenues
• Installed 5 new traffic signals and upgraded 36 existing signals 
• Planted 108 new trees throughout the project area (some final tree planting will be done this fall) 

Unlike more extravagant recent light rail openings, the G Line opening will be light on pomp and circumstance. Politicians already got their speeches out of the way at an August 29 ribbon-cutting ceremony, and the buses won’t need to wait for their speechmaking to end. Service on the G Line will start early in the morning on September 14. Metro is offering a small business pass that pledges discounts at local businesses along the G Line. Italian Family Pizza’s new walk-up window at 1028 Madison Street will be offering free slices from 2-5pm. So grab a free slice on your way over to our gathering.

Stoup Capitol Hill (formerly Optimism Brewing) is a spacious all-ages brewery with a variety of beers, seltzers, N/A drinks, snacks, a food truck, and a small play area for kids. The event is free, but please RSVP so we know how many to expect.

Seattle Gears Up to Launch Madison’s RapidRide G on September 14