'Emergency Snow Network' Plan Put Into Service in Seattle

"Monday is the first commute day that King County Metro Transit has implemented its 'Emergency Snow Network,' which reduced the usual 237 routes to just 60 high-ridership, low-slope bus corridors [pdf]," reports Mike Lindbloom.

"Overall trips are about 40 percent of normal, on routes that normally carry 65 percent of Metro’s ridership of just more than 400,000 boardings per day, the agency says. That means many commuters on local routes, for instance in steep areas like Queen Anne Hill, often walk to busier routes," adds Linblom.

The city's Emergency Snow Network plan was created after a December 2008 storm. At the time, the city "treated the roads with sand, not salt, and Metro improvised by cutting service in half."

"At one point, 200 buses were abandoned on streets and Metro estimated a $1.5 million loss for damage and worker overtime."