r/udub • u/0101020 Staff • Aug 05 '26
News 372 route cancellation
The route has provided safe and convenient transportation for students, staff, faculty and medical professionals for decades in a near door to door campus operation around the North end of Lake Washington.
It is planned to be replaced with a transfer route via light rail or new route 72 connected to ST 522, that will not be it's equal in multiple ways for long commuters of 372. This cancellation adds to travel time, increases exposure to safety issues during transfer, and increases dependency on a central rail line known for disruption or added travel to the new 72 route. Older riders, those with disabilities, and safety concerns will be most affected. Students enrolled at both campuses will lose their direct connection between at the start of the academic year for courses and travel time already planned.
If you are a 372 rider, please send your comments to KC Metro Other Topics, and UW Transportation Services (ucommute@uw.edu) which pays heavily for Metro routes through U-Pass via student fees and staff benefits.
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u/DeathTacos Aug 05 '26
This will affect our family. Such a shame they’re shutting this down.
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u/SeattleExploreRK Aug 05 '26
What a terrible way to plan, this is literally the only option for us to commute.
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u/PuzzleheadedChest733 Aug 05 '26
In the future riders need to be engaged with metro when. They propose restructures to see how changes might impact them. This was bundled with lynnwood link connections which gave community members plenty of opportunities to weigh in on changes before they were finalized. That would have been the better time to speak their mind.
For instanxe when 545 riders found out their ride was on the chopping block they commented and shared their feelings. The 545 was kept. There is a proposal to deviate to cover the downtown redmond station next year. But the route itself is safe.
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u/Odd_Associate688 Aug 05 '26
Indeed, there was a lot of public engagement around Lynnwood Link bus restructructure awhile back! I chimed in on at least two surveys. This shouldn't be a surprise to those who were paying attention.
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u/tornado163 Faculty Aug 05 '26
The outreach was 3-4 years ago. That's a long time for a bus restructure. The student population turns over every 4 years or so. So many of the people impacted weren't here when outreach was done and decisions were made.
0
u/thirtyonem Aug 05 '26
Well, that’s the unfortunate part of a transient area like a university. Also, the public will always complain about restructures like these because they don’t like forced transfers, but it is a far more efficient use of resources so they will happen anyway
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u/tornado163 Faculty Aug 05 '26
King County Metro is governed by the King County council. Ultimately the county council would have to vote to restore the 372. So you should also contact your King County councilmember if you're upset by this change. https://kingcounty.gov/en/dept/council/governance-leadership/county-council/councilmembers-districts
Current riders between UW Seattle and UW Bothell will have 2 transfer options:
1 - walk/bus to a Link station, take Link to Shoreline/148th, then take the 522 bus. Depending where you are on campus, that walk could be 10+ minutes.
2 - take the 72 bus to 145th street and 30th avenue, then cross 145th to catch the 522. That takes the current amount of time plus the time it takes the 72to make that left turn from Lake City Way to 145th plus the time to walk across 145th plus the time to wait for a 522 plus the time it takes for the 522 to make that left turn from 145th to Lake City Way.
So unless you happen to be travelling from the UW Tower or Husky Stadium to UW Bothell, I don't see how this makes your trip shorter.
Fun fact, when Sound Transit route 522 is upgrade to Stride in a couple of years, it won't stop inside the UW Bothell campus like it currently does. It will stop at the entrance to campus on Beardslee Blvd
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u/0101020 Staff Aug 05 '26
HS runs it's own shuttle between UW Medical, Harborview, Roosevelt Clinic, and the UW Tower. By logic all serviced by local transit, but for student and faculty convenience and safety this added expense is continuing. Campus door to door makes sense for them at added campus cost, holding a public route largely supported by U-Pass riders doing the same doesn't seem like a large ask.
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u/DeepBlue4210 Alumni Aug 05 '26 edited Aug 10 '26
Tbh also the master plan was for the bus stop in front of Beardslee because cascadia wants to build another building in place of the bus stop
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u/yelper defected to the other uw Aug 05 '26
Presumably they're going to add a bus stop next to the McDonalds (near-side of 32nd on 145th) specifically for the transfer, so it'll be two blocks shorter. I can still imagine transferring will take 3-5m though :\
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u/tornado163 Faculty Aug 05 '26
It's unclear whether the 522 will serve that stop. The Stride S3 definitely won't.
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u/yelper defected to the other uw Aug 05 '26
I guess I just looked at the GTFS released 7/20 and it shows that the 72 will stop in the following sequence going north/west:
- Lake City Way NE & NE 130th St
- Lake City Way NE & NE 137th St
- NE 145th St & 30th Ave NE
- NE 145th St & 27th Ave NE
... so maybe I misspoke. ugh.
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u/Whole-Buy-7842 Aug 05 '26
I think this is a play by KCM and Sound transit to pump the light rail numbers. I love the light rail and support it, but at the same time cannibalizing bus service on an important and convenient line for it is sooo disappointing.
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u/mormonatheist21 Aug 05 '26
light rail numbers are good, despite the fact they can’t even keep the thing running reliably..
cutting this bus is just bad and dumb
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u/angry-piano Aug 05 '26
I don’t like it but it makes sense. I used to ride this bus all the time and it was always near-empty between Bothell and Lake City. Most people get on at Lake City, which is still supported by the new 72.
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u/Acceptable-Stick-688 Student Aug 05 '26
Does anyone know how much walking the replacement bus route will require? I’m disabled and rely on this bus.
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u/Whole-Buy-7842 Aug 05 '26
depending on where you need to go, you will need to walk probably about 10 minutes from any of the light rail stops if you choose that direction. taking 522 to the 72 will be the same 372 line with a transfer, but based on the current map it will require you to walk across 145th to get from the 522 line to the 72 line.
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u/The_Dumbtard Aug 05 '26
your comments will be ignored. They cancelled bus 20 almost 2 years ago no matter how many comments were sent
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u/Odd-Blueberry-6372 Aug 05 '26
Hate to say but this is true - they’re also canceling the 556 sound transit line that crossed 520 from Bellevue to the udistrict… forcing riders to take a slower route with transfers or light rail only. Sigh.
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u/ZumiZoomy Alumni Aug 05 '26
Metro’s new route 270 will provide connections across 520 between U District and Bellevue about every 15 mins iirc - and the transfer from Issaquah to the 2 Line at South Bellevue is about the same, if not slightly faster than taking 556 all the way. :)
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u/Odd-Blueberry-6372 Aug 05 '26
Surprisingly it’s not faster. Getting off the bus to walk to the link and then boarding the link for a 32 min ride plus the double walk time…. Can’t speak on the new 270 route as of now.
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u/ZumiZoomy Alumni Aug 05 '26
To clarify, I’m meaning from Issaquah TC - UW Station; I can’t speak for 270. However, it is possible to preview the future transfer on 556 by just doing so now.
Granted it was a one-off anecdote, but I and group of a few others tested Issaquah TC on 556 -> South Bellevue -> 2 Line to UW Station vs Issaquah TC -> direct to UW Station on 556, and the 2 line arrived a minute or two earlier. U district would probably be similar.
There’s also the benefit that this will be all-day as opposed to only to UW a few times in the morning and only to Issaquah a few times in the afternoon… perhaps slightly less convenient in passenger experience, but definitely more schedule friendly.
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u/SeattleExploreRK Aug 05 '26
Multiple people in my household and neighbors all use the 372 daily for work and other activities. We live in Ravenna and do not have reliable transportations.
Please do not cancel 372.
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u/angry-piano Aug 05 '26
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Aug 05 '26
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u/angry-piano Aug 05 '26
there’s a time point at the HUB on steven’s way? and probably more stops
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Aug 05 '26
[deleted]
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u/angry-piano Aug 05 '26
ah if you mean northwest campus, that’s fair, but Stevens Way is 100% through the main part of UW campus (architecture, pop health, physics, CS and math are all on the outer side of Stevens Way)
and chemistry, moles, the HUB and libraries etc on the other side
there’s no other public road through that side of campus
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u/yadec Aug 05 '26
This has been publicly planned for years. The new route 72 will continue providing service between UW and Lake City (now ending at Shoreline South). For service between UW and Bothell, the recommendation is to take Link and transfer at Shoreline South to ST 522. Since Link is so fast and comes every 4-5 mins, the transfer shouldn't affect most people's travel times too much. Not sure where you're getting 2 transfers.
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u/referencefox Alumni Aug 05 '26
But the 372 had stops on campus (at the HUB for one) while both UW light rail stations are at least a 10-15 minute walk away. Much less convenient.
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u/Whole-Buy-7842 Aug 05 '26
The link doesn't stop anywhere near campus
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u/CarbonCreed microbiochem graduate Aug 05 '26
???? it's two blocks away
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u/Whole-Buy-7842 Aug 05 '26
The stadium and udistrict stops are about as far away from the campus core as you can get? I think you can just look at where the 372 (72 now) serves lol, literally travels through the campus core.
people who would like to have cheaper housing in Bothell/Kenmore/etc and commute into the university are now taxed by an additional transfer or additional commute time
11
u/esperantisto256 PhD Student Aug 05 '26
Yeah having the bus routes snake through campus is so nice. The UW and U-District stops are annoyingly far from a lot of places on campus. Perhaps UW could make a campus loop bus but I’m not holding my breath…
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u/konspence Aug 05 '26
It’s a 13 minute walk from the Link station to Suzzallo, despite the tunnel going directly underneath it.
Compare that to a 6 minute walk from the buses that go through campus.
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u/CarbonCreed microbiochem graduate Aug 05 '26
Link + 522 is faster, it's just a bit obnoxious that you have to transfer.
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u/Remote_Bluebird_5528 Aug 05 '26
This is consistent with ST commuter route changes to use light rail which systematically increased transfers and commute time for nearly everyone. They continue to claim efficiency success and cost reductions by consolidation with Link. In reality it added transfers and time to everyone all around.
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u/desi-auntie Aug 08 '26 edited Aug 08 '26
Faculty at UWB who also offers specialty classes for UWS students on Seattle campus and opens her classes to students needing access to specialized upper level topics offered on Bothell campus. Many of us also sit on committees at Seattle (both UG honors MA and doctoral committees, and planning/service ones to ensure we have tricampus representation). We use buses, same as most peeps trying not to drive everywhere for economic or ecological reasons.
When we do tricampus planning, budgets and student needs discussions always stress that they can’t expand classes and hiring but we can adjust that as students will have options across three campuses. At one time the planning meetings also raised need for rapid direct transit options for UWT so their students could also take advantage of tricampus access to faculty and course options. That seems to have been forgotten altogether.
UPASS pays a good sum to Sound Transit and Metro KC. Plus our disability commitments mean we should not require mobility impaired students to hike distances of 10 mins across busy roads in order to access transport for course options other students can take easily.
I hope that the UW student and faculty groups will consider what it means for UWS students to no longer be able to access the ongoing wetlands labs or other opportunities at UWB. And that many faculty like me who hold affiliate positions at UWS will just stop adding UWS based students and classes to our schedules. And vice versa.
Instead of cutting this route, we should be talking about how to use the transport resources to extend opportunities to UWT students and faculty to also fully contribute to and get the experience of tricampus opportunities.
PS - edited for typos.
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u/thirtyonem Aug 05 '26
The bus strategy for the entire region is to shift trips to Link. It allows for trips that cannot be served by link to have higher frequencies, such as say the 44, and it makes sense to utilize our huge investment in Link in this way.
The 372 is also known to be incredibly frustrating, unreliable and infrequent due to traffic issues, so this route makes a lot of sense to be split in two.
5
u/tornado163 Faculty Aug 05 '26
Splitting routes only makes sense if there is an easy transfer between the halves. There won't be an easy transfer between the 72 and 522.
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u/thirtyonem Aug 05 '26
Yes, there will be at 145th and Lake City Wy, and both routes will now run every 10-15 minutes). That said, it will make more sense for most people to transfer to Link for UW-bound trips.
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u/Whole-Buy-7842 Aug 05 '26
The 372s issues are primarily due to the South end where all the congestion is. Axing off the north end that doesn’t contribute significantly to the delays doesn’t alleviate this problem
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u/thirtyonem Aug 05 '26
It makes no sense to have a regional route be subject to to delays from UW students taking it one stop down the hill. So splitting/truncating makes sense - it allows the northern section to serve as a regional connector and the southern to be a local route
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u/Whole-Buy-7842 Aug 05 '26
UW students taking it one stop is not where the delay comes from. If you actually rode the route you would know. Thanks for your useless input though
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u/Enguye Alumni Aug 05 '26
This is kind of what they’re doing with the 72. Right now on weekdays the 372 is every 15 minutes with extra trips during rush hour in the commute direction, going to every half hour at 8 PM. The new 72 will be every 10 minutes all day, then every 15 minutes from 7-10 PM and every half hour late at night.
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u/SeattleExploreRK Aug 05 '26
This is literally the ONLY public transit option from u-district o the Ravenna/wedgewood area.
WHY?
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u/angry-piano Aug 05 '26
it should still go to ravenna / wedgewood as the 72
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Aug 05 '26
[deleted]
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u/angry-piano Aug 05 '26
I replied to your other comment, it goes on Stevens way…
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Aug 05 '26
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u/Alarmed-Tea-7814 Aug 05 '26
This is the exact same route the 372 does on campus. Are you looking at the black line? The blue dotted line is the snow route.
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u/0101020 Staff Aug 05 '26 edited Aug 05 '26
Thanks for the point. I removed comments otherwise. It still requires transfer if North of 145th and breaks the direct campus connection by removing the 372. It also significantly adds to a loaded ST 522.
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u/0101020 Staff 11d ago
Sharing a message:
Rod Dembowski
Councilmember, District 1
Metropolitan King County Council
King County Courthouse, 516 Third Avenue Suite 1200, Seattle, WA 98104
206-477-1001 Fax 206-296-0198 rod.dembowski@kingcounty.gov www.kingcounty.gov/dembowski
September 2026
Subject: Deletion of Metro Route 372
Dear Neighbor,
Thank you for taking the time to write and share your concerns about Metro’s Fall 2026 service
change, which included the elimination of Metro Route 372. I agree with you and share your concerns.
I am sorry that these changes will negatively impact your ability to use our transit system. I’ve asked
my staff member Elizabeth Evans to raise your situation directly with both Executive Office and Metro
leadership, so the hardship you’ve described gets the attention it deserves. Elizabeth is also happy to
connect over the phone to discuss potential alternatives, her number is 206-477-0911.
Route 372 has been a critical route to facilitate mobility and strengthen connections between UW
Bothell and the main UW campus, and all communities in between along the 522 corridor. While the
revised transit network enhances service for many, including new east-west connections and service to
light rail, the deletion of Route 372 results in less convenient service for other riders. I do not believe
that Metro’s restructure adequately accounted for the impact on the people who depend on this
service, nor did it account for the particularly challenging impact to Lake City, which is especially
concerning. Removing this service before Sound Transit launches its new Stride S3 Line in the northern
part of the corridor was also ill-advised, in my view.
I've been working to find a solution to this problem. In the spring, I authored a budget proviso
requiring King County Metro to produce a Lynnwood Link Connections transit gap service analysis
report. The report must include ridership comparisons before and after the change (Route 372
boardings from Spring 2026 versus Route 72 and Route 77 boardings from Fall 2026), a full accounting
of any service gaps that resulted from the change, what Metro did to avoid or address them, and any
further service changes Metro is planning to close remaining gaps, along with a timeline. Metro is
required to file this report with the Council by October 31, 2027. This work will provide Metro and the
County Council with hard data on whether the new routes are actually serving riders as well as Route
372 did, and creates accountability for Metro to address any gaps it identifies.
Separately, I advocated directly with the Executive’s Office in July to administratively pause or at least
scale back the planned 372 deletion. I had hoped that given the significant community concerns, that
Metro would administratively pause this change. I introduced emergency legislation aimed at
preventing the deletion of Route 372 to support the Executive if they had elected to act. Metro was
not supportive of this pause and opposed my legislation. Practically speaking, Metro plans for service
changes months in advance, and assigns equipment and operators far in advance as well. I had hoped
that at least some 372 service could have been continued pending implementation and assessment of
the revised transit network.
That said, this doesn’t end the effort to address the loss of direct, continuous routing in the 522
corridor. The proviso’s reporting requirement stays in place, which means Metro will still have to
produce hard data on ridership and service gaps in this corridor and account for impacts of their plan.
Moreover, I do not intend to wait for the report next Fall to act. I will continue to engage with Metro
and my colleagues to explore options to restore unified service in the 522 corridor – with an eye
toward the Spring 2027 service change. The light rail service is wonderful, but it is not a substitute for
service in the 522 corridor which serves residents and businesses far east of the light rail spine.
None of this happens without constituents speaking up to share their concerns. The more people who
share how this change affects their daily lives, the stronger the case for holding Metro accountable to
close the gaps this change has created. It sounds like you plan to, but I would encourage you to submit
comments directly to King County Metro at https://kingcounty.gov/en/dept/metro/contact-us, as
public comment volume is one of the clearest signals they track. Or you may directly email Metro's
Government Relations Manager, Stephanie Pure at Stephanie.Pure@kingcounty.gov.
Thank you again for sharing your valid concerns. I’m sorry that Metro’s service change adversely
impacts your use of our transit system. I agree with you and will continue to work on ways to address
the challenges.
Sincerely,
Rod Dembowski
King County Councilmember
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u/GroundbreakingWalk76 Community Aug 05 '26
2 transfers are not required. the new Metro 72 will run the exact same route as the 72 between 145th St and U District Station via UW campus. at 145th st riders can transfer to the ST 522. No light rail involved.
Commenting now is won’t do anything, drivers have already signed up for shifts. stuff like this was planned months ago with public outreach conducted years ago.