I’m on a mission to ride every King County Metro route. In today’s episode, I’m riding the brand new Route 215. It travels from the Sound Transit Link Mercer Island Station to Issaquah Highlands Park and Ride via Eastgate Park and Ride, with every third train continuing on to Snoqualmie and North Bend.
The route replaced the 208 and although this new route doesn’t stop in Downtown Issaquah any longer, it does stop at the Highlands and now has a connection to Link. Plus, it now has Sunday Service!!
Whether you like to go outlet mall shopping, go hiking out in nature, or like to foam over old trains, this route has something for everyone.
#transit #urbanism #urbanplanning #bus #kingcountymetro #publictransport #tierlist #seattle #washington #travel #lightrail #link
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One of the strangest things about this service change is that the 215 short turn trips are nearly identical to the 218, with the exception of using a different bay at Issaquah highlands. Surely either all the trips could be called 215 or all the short turn trips could be called 218? It seems like a strange outcome that only exists to keep the familiar route 218 number for commuters.
I’m taking this route in the opposite direction today, and the frequency is every 90 minutes. Much less desirable than 30. Video will be up in October.
Make it go to Rattle Snake Lake and will have a year round hiker biker bus.
I like to ride kcm 215 like Emma from soniapanda animation and then I will put lily noisemakers like china railway hxd3d
I noticed that the 215 trips that go to North Bend don't use artics, they instead use gillig buses. I rode this route on labor day! I caught it at the highlands and rode it to Mercer Island, I have a video. I do think the 215 is an improvement over the old 208. If Metro were to have double deckers, the 215 would be a candidate! That and the 101/102, 150, and more freeway routez.
Yeah 215, you deserve a A tier
The best part of the 215: Sunday service
The worst part of the 215: Pretty much everything else. The span of service is shorter, the frequencies on the Snoq/NB segment aren’t any better, the deviation to Iss Highlands P&R adds too much time, and combined with the 554 being deleted, it’s much more annoying to get to Seattle. I was much more willing to sit on the 208 through Downtown Issaquah when it felt like the long deviation was useful. With the 218, 269, and 556 already going to Iss Highlands P&R, the cons of the 215 going there don’t outweigh the pros for me.
The one seat ride from Snoq/NB to a Link connection is great, but I still much prefer the 554 connection.
Glad you were able to ride this one. I can see why they use Gilligs and not artics for the North Bend runs.
Frequencies are not good I think if they get rid of the Snoqualmie portion and stick on I-90 to North Bend it could be every 30 minutes
Yo, J-Man! Inspired by you I've been doing urban forays via mass transit. It doesn't hurt that gas is so expensive. But I've recently done forays to a few cities that I've never visited before, all via Link, RapidRide, and fast ferry. Had some good food, good coffee, and enjoyed the exploration.
You should ride the updated 269! it deserves a rerank on the tier list, given how much it's changed