Transit Alert – Ride transit to weekend holiday activities & the Seahawks game; Metro operates a Sunday schedule on Tuesday, 12/25; text your stop ID to 62550

King County, Washington sent this bulletin at 12/21/2018 03:01 PM PST

On Christmas day, Tuesday, December 25, Metro operates a Sunday schedule and Sunday fares apply. If your bus does not normally operate on Sunday, it will not operate on Tuesday.

Metro offices, including the Customer Information phone line, and Lost and Found and Pass Sales counters, are closed on Tuesday, December 25. The Customer Information Office at (206) 553-3000 will reopen on Wednesday, December 26.

Some King County area transit service will be affected by weekend holiday activities and Seahawks football.

Transit reroute start and end times, routing, and other details may be subject to change.  Use regularly published timetables, allow plenty of travel time and expect possible delays.

Even when it is affected by crowds, traffic, construction, temporary reroutes or delays, riding transit and Link Light rail are still a great ways to get around our community and to most local events and activities, where there is usually congestion and limited parking.

New Ride2 on-demand first/last mile service
On Monday, Metro launched Ride2 West Seattle – a pilot project that offers on-demand first and last mile service to and from the Water Taxi at Seacrest Dock and Metro buses at the Alaska Junction. The Ride2 Transit app is part of a package of new services including additional Water Taxi sailings, shuttles, and parking options during the Viaduct closure.  The service is available Monday through Friday, 5:00-9:30 AM and 2:30- 7:00 PM.

Text for departures
At - or on your way to - your stop, text your transit stop ID to 62550 to find out when the next transit service is scheduled or predicted at your stop.

Holiday Highlights
Holiday reduced weekday & UW reduction schedules
Through Monday, December 31, reduced weekday and UW reduction schedules are in effect during the end-of-year holiday weeks.

On days with reduced weekday schedules, some commuter trips do not operate, and other routes have individual trips canceled. Canceled trips are marked with an “H” indicate in the timetables.

UW reductions affect selected weekday trips on routes 167, 197, 271 and 277. Canceled trips are marked on the timetable with a “D” indicate.

Complete information can be found on Metro’s holiday and reduced service page.

Downtown Bellevue - holiday traffic reroutes 
Metro routes 240, 246 and 271 are rerouted through Monday, December 24, in downtown Bellevue to help mitigate service delays due to heavy congestion associated with shopping activity and the Snowflake Lane display.

Sunday
Seahawks Game – 5:20 PM kick-off
Link light rail and most transit routes that serve downtown Seattle go to within a few blocks of CenturyLink Field, or connect with routes that do.

Expect possible transit service delays in the downtown Seattle, Pioneer Square, stadium and SODO areas due to traffic, crowds and congestion near CenturyLink Field

Metro Route 21 will be rerouted off of 1st Av S between S Holgate St and Edgar Martinez Dr S, about three hours before the start - and continue until about one hour after the end - of major stadium events. Start and end times may vary. 

Other holiday transit service notes
Besides Metro’s Sunday schedule operation on Christmas day,

Heading into the new year
On New Year’s Eve, Monday, December 31, from 7:00 PM until January 1 at 4:00 AM, Metro and the City of Seattle will provide free rides on all regular bus routes, as well as Access, DART and streetcar service.  Do not tap your ORCA card or pay a fare on New Year’s Eve on these services.  Several Seattle area Metro bus routes will also have extra buses added to the existing schedule where needed to help mitigate crowded buses to or from for New Year festivities

Regular Sunday fares are required on all service on Tuesday, New Year’s Day, after 4:00 AM. Transit will operate a Sunday schedule on New Year’s Day.

While a regular Weekday fare is required on all Sound Transit regional express bus (including that operated by Metro) and Link light rail service on New Year’s Eve, extra buses will be added where needed to help mitigate crowding on Metro-operated ST routes 550 and 554, and Link will operate an extra hour until 2:00 AM from the downtown transit tunnel, with the last train from Angle Lake at 1:00 AM, and the last train from University of Washington Station at 2:00 AM.    

On deck Alaskan Way Viaduct Closure
Visit the Get Ready page for updates about 2019 transit service revisions. New Ride2 service has been added as a transit option in West Seattle. Twelve routes will be rerouted once the viaduct closes adding extra time to your trip. See the route maps on the Get Ready website for complete information.

Construction
Known construction-related impacts to transit service are posted in Metro’s online Service Advisories table and sent to Transit Alert subscribers.  It’s a good idea to sign up for Transit Alerts or otherwise check for a service advisory before you travel.

Additional information
Visit Metro’s website for complete information about Metro and regional transportation services.

See Metro’s Service Advisories page for information about revised Metro bus service, routing and stops for most planned events

Sign up for Transit Alerts or check for a service advisory before you travel.

Use Metro’s online or mobile regional Puget Sound Trip Planner to plan your travel, and for information about bus stops, schedules, predicted times at stops and other information.

Use Metro’s text for departures tool. Text your transit stop ID to 62550 to find out when the next transit service is scheduled or predicted at your stop.

Visit the King County Water Taxi site for information about regular and holiday Water Taxi operation

Visit the Community Transit, Pierce Transit, Sound Transit or Washington State Ferries websites for information about services provided by Metro’s regional transit partners.

For non-transit traffic or other local updates, check media sources, follow @seattledot or visit

or other relevant sites. 

Thank you for riding and for using Metro’s services.