Route 41 was an express bus route operated by King County Metro in Seattle, Washington, United States. It connected Lake City and Northgate to Downtown Seattle, with non-stop service on Interstate 5 south of Northgate Transit Center.
The route was created in 1970 by the city-run Seattle Transit System as the 41 Blue Streak, the first in a series of express bus services in North Seattle using the Interstate 5 express lanes. It was transferred to Metro in 1973 and dropped the "Blue Streak" branding in 1978.
Route 41 was moved to the downtown transit tunnel in 1991, and expanded into an all-day route in 2002. It became one of the busiest routes operated by King County Metro, with over 10,000 daily riders. The service was moved out of the downtown tunnel in 2019 and was retired on October 2, 2021, with the opening of Link light rail service to Northgate.
Route
Route 41 began in the Chinatown–International District neighborhood at the south end of Downtown Seattle, serving a pair of stops near International District/Chinatown station and King Street Station. The bus route traveled through Downtown Seattle on 3rd Avenue, the main transit corridor for the city, and turned east onto Olive Way near the Westlake Center. Inbound buses ran on Union Street, while outbound buses used Olive Way to reach Interstate 5, with northbound access to a direct ramp on Howell Street to the express lanes during certain times of the day. Route 41 traveled non-stop on Interstate 5 for to the Northgate Transit Center, a major bus station in North Seattle near the Northgate Mall; buses stopped at bays 2 and 5 for northbound and southbound trips, respectively. From the transit center, route 41 continued north on 5th Avenue Northeast past the Northgate Mall, and turned east onto Northeast 125th Street in Pinehurst. Buses make local stops through the mostly residential area, which gives way to the Lake City commercial center. Route 41 then turned north onto Lake City Way and terminated at Northeast 130th Street.
Route 41 ran at a frequency of 6 minutes during peak hours on weekdays, and 15 to 20 minutes at other times. Some trips were truncated to Northgate instead of serving Lake City. In spring 2015, Metro estimated that 10,000 daily riders used route 41 on weekdays.
Connections
Route 41 was the trunk service for North Seattle, connecting with local buses at Northgate Transit Center and in Lake City.
History
Blue Streak
The construction and completion of Interstate 5 through North Seattle spurred considerable suburban development in the 1950s. Northgate and Lake City were annexed into the city of Seattle in 1954, and the city-run Seattle Transit System expanded bus service into the area. The new service included a shuttle that ran at a significant loss for several years before being cancelled in the late 1950s. A second attempt at serving the north end with bus service was launched in 1963, with existing routes extended north towards Northgate and Lake City later that year.
Increasing congestion on Interstate 5 and declining bus ridership led city officials to propose a rapid transit service using the freeway's reversible express lanes. In 1966, the federal government approved planning of an express bus service, named "Blue Streak" by Seattle Transit, that would use the express lanes between Northeast 110th Street and Cherry Street in Downtown Seattle.
The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) awarded $1.03 million (equivalent to $ in dollars) in January 1968 to Seattle Transit to develop the Blue Streak project, but the launch was delayed by a shortage in suitable buses. In May, HUD awarded a further $2.39 million (equivalent to $ in dollars) to purchase 70 diesel buses, which were delivered in November.
The continued financial problems with Seattle Transit put the Blue Streak program in jeopardy, leading to calls to suspend the program before it launched. Service was originally slated to begin in 1968, and delays led to the federal government establishing a deadline in early 1969 for a city decision on whether to move forward. A park and ride lot in Northgate was secured in August 1969, settling the demands of the federal government. The United States Department of Transportation approved $2 million (equivalent to $ in dollars) in operating funds for Blue Streak in January 1970, providing two-thirds of the system's operating budget for the first two years of service.