Over half of Seattle Transit Measure (STM) revenue is used to pay for more bus trips in Seattle, on top of what King County Metro provides. This means buses come more often, at more times of the day and night, reducing wait times at bus stops and making transferring between routes faster.
Overall, STM creates a better experience for people traveling around Seattle by bus. Transit service investments are a major way we are making progress toward the Seattle Transportation Plan’s vision of a frequent and reliable transit system that runs all day, every day.
How has the STM invested in transit service?
STM investment has made buses come more frequently:
STM focuses on creating consistent, frequent bus schedules throughout the day. This often means adding more bus service in the middle of the day to match the frequent service offered during morning and afternoon peak commute times.
- C Line, E Line, H Line: increased mid-day frequencies from 15/12-min to 10-min
- Routes 14, 40: increased mid-day frequencies from 20/30-min to 15-min
- Route 60: increased all day frequencies from 15-min to 12-min
- Routes 1, 107: increased all day frequencies from 30-min to 15-min
STM aims to make buses on the weekend come just as frequently as they do on weekdays. This is key to achieving a 7 day per week transit network that everyone can rely on, no matter when they need to ride the bus.
- Routes 60, 106, 107: increased all day frequencies from 30-min to 15-min
- H Line, Route 8: increased all day frequencies from 20-min to 15-min
- Route 7: increased all day frequences from 15-min to 12-min
- Route 36: extended 10-min service earlier, to begin at 6am
- Route 125: added new 30-min service on Sundays
STM helps extend frequent bus service into the evening to support an all-day transit network. This means ensuring every route has buses coming at least every 30 minutes through midnight, and then adding even more frequent service on top of that.
- H Line: added 15-min service through midnight, seven days per week
- Route 107: extended 15-min frequencies through 10pm on weekends
- Routes 1, 50, 106, 125: increased evening frequencies from 45-60-min to 30-min on weekdays
- Routes 11, 49: increased evening frequencies from 30-min to 20-min on weekdays
How do we decide where to invest in more transit service with STM funds?
We prioritize adding more transit service in Seattle by investing STM dollars to:
- Support SDOT’s Frequent Transit Network goals, which are goals for how often different bus routes run
- Improve transit service on bus routes that serve high equity priority areas
- Improve transit service on days and at times when people who rely on the bus depend on it the most