The G Line travels 2.5 miles (4.0 km) between 1st Avenue in Downtown Seattle and Martin Luther King Jr. Way in Madison Valley on Madison Street.[2][3] The line has 2.8 miles (4.5 km) of dedicated transit lanes[1] and 1.14 miles (1.83 km) of mixed-traffic business access and transit lanes.[4]: 18 The project included the reconstruction of 36 intersections to upgrade traffic signals and 50 blocks of refurbished sidewalks.[5]
The route begins near Colman Dock, the city's ferry terminal, at a station on 1st Avenue.[2] This station was planned to be shared with a future Seattle Streetcar extension. Within Downtown Seattle, buses travel eastbound on Spring Street and westbound on Madison Street in transit lanes, stopping near the Symphony light rail station at 3rd Avenue and the Seattle Central Library at 5th Avenue. The route crosses over Interstate 5 into First Hill, where the two directions merge after 9th Avenue onto Madison, continuing to run in center transit-only lanes. The G Line crosses Broadway, with a station connecting to the First Hill Streetcar, and passes the campus of Seattle University before transitioning to mixed traffic east of 15th Avenue. The route continues into Madison Valley, serving several curbside stations, before terminating at Martin Luther King Jr. Way near the Washington Park Arboretum.[4]: 8–11
Stops and stations
The G Line serves 21 total stops on its route, including 10 stops in each direction and the western terminal near Colman Dock.[4]: 8 Stations are approximately 60 feet (18 m) long and feature off-board fare payment (including ticket vending machines), raised platforms for level boarding, branded shelters, real-time arrival information, and other features.[4]: 10 [6]
The G Line, internally designated as Route 677, runs 23 hours per day with a headway of 6 minutes on weekdays and 15 minutes during weekends, and weekday mornings and evenings.[7][4]: 14 It has the highest frequency of any bus route in the King County Metro system.[8] Travel times from Downtown Seattle to Madison Valley are projected to improve from 16 minutes to 10 minutes with the G Line.[9] The line is projected to carry 12,000 to 18,000 daily passengers.[10]
Fleet
The G Line is operated by 60-foot-long (18 m), articulated, hybrid buses with low floors and doors on both sides. Plans to purchase new trolleybuses for this line were dropped in March 2019[11] after New Flyer Industries stated that the desired model would not be available in a single vehicle.[12] Metro was unable to find another North American manufacturer willing to build articulated trolleybuses that could handle the very steep grades on the westernmost portion of the line (18–19%).[11]
The New Flxyer XDE60 buses have a total of five doors, three on the right and two on the left, for boarding at stations in the center and side of the roadway.[2][4]: 14
Funding
The G Line project is expected to cost $120 million, and will be funded by a mix of sources.[13] Funding will be provided by a grant from the Federal Transit Administration (FTA), the 2015 Move Seattle levy, and the 2016 Sound Transit 3 ballot measure.[14][15][16] The FTA awarded a $59.9 million Small Starts grant to the city government for the project in April 2021.[17]
History
The Madison Street corridor was identified as a bus rapid transit candidate in the 2012 Transit Master Plan, adopted by the city of Seattle with input from King County Metro.[18] While other routes were given feasibility studies for streetcars, as part of a new municipal system, Madison Street was considered too steep to support rail transit.[19] The Madison Street corridor, from Downtown Seattle to Madison Park, was historically served by cable car service from 1890 until 1940, when they were scrapped and replaced with motor buses and trolleybuses on modern-day routes 11 and 12.[19][20]
A design concept for the service was first presented for public comment in 2014, featuring two options for the eastern terminus, at 23rd Avenue or Martin Luther King Jr Way (MLK Way). A public survey was conducted and found higher support for the MLK Way terminus, as well as preferences for station locations and transfers to other transit routes.[21] In February 2016, the Seattle City Council approved a locally preferred alternative for the project and endorsed it to pursue federal funding.[22]
Residents of a condominium building on the line opposed the construction of a traction power substation that would be needed for the trolleybuses, citing possible health risks from exposure to electromagnetic fields.[23] Portions of properties along the route were acquired for construction of wider sidewalks and platforms, including the patio space of queer bar Pony.[24]
As of 2017, construction on the project was planned to begin in mid-2018, with the line scheduled to open in 2019.[13] However, it was later reported that uncertainty around federal funding was expected to delay construction.[25] Reflecting those delays and following an FTA review, in March 2020 the projected opening date was pushed back to 2023.[26] A further delay to 2024 and a budget increase to $133.4 million was announced in August 2020 due to an updated consultant review amid potential impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.[10]
A groundbreaking ceremony was held on September 30, 2021, with Federal Transit Administrator Nuria Fernandez in attendance.[27] Construction on Madison Street began in October 2021.[28] A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held on August 29, 2024, to mark the completion of construction.[29] The G Line opened on September 14, 2024, with a community celebration;[8] several routes in the area also changed to connect with the line.[1][30]
The first days of service included issues with real-time arrival signs at stations, the curb-activated doors on buses, and signal priority issues.[31] Three of the line's center platform stations opened with temporary steel plates in the busway due to construction defects that left the platforms too low for level boarding. A total of 25 shelters at stations are also planned to be rebuilt due to frame and paint issues.[32]
^"Madison by bus or car". Madison Street Bus Rapid Transit Online Open House. Seattle Department of Transportation. March 2017. Archived from the original on March 8, 2017. Retrieved March 8, 2017.
^"Chapter 3: Corridors"(PDF). Seattle Transit Master Plan (Report). Seattle Department of Transportation. April 2012. p. 3-9. Archived from the original(PDF) on February 21, 2017. Retrieved February 22, 2017.
^Duncan, Don (November 28, 1982). "The end of a line: Cable cars historically clattered up and hurtled down Seattle's hills". The Seattle Times. p. A2.
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