A cartoon image of Route 8 driving across seattle with the space needle and downtown buildings visible

Route 8 is Late. Join Us to Fix That!

Route 8 is one of Seattle’s busiest buses (it has the most riders per service hour!) but it is the least reliable bus in Seattle. With so much traffic on Denny Way, Route 8 is slower than walking. We raced it last summer and won dancing, cha-cha sliding, and jumping rope faster than the bus. For decades riders have dubbed the 8 the Late (“L8”) and Tacocat sang F U #8 in 2014.

There’s no excuse for a bus to be late 70% of the time and slower than walking. Luckily, the solution is clear, simple, and cheap: paint a bus lane. Bus lanes are proven to increase reliability, speed up buses, and move more people. The city needs to act now to make it easier to get around.

Tell Seattle: Fix the L8!

Seattle’s Route 8 bus is one of the highest ridership routes in the network. Because it’s relatively short and less frequent than others, it has the most riders per service hour in our entire bus system. It’s the only east-west bus between Downtown and the Ship Canal and connects almost all of Seattle’s densest neighborhoods like Lower Queen Anne/Uptown, Belltown, South Lake Union, Capitol Hill, Madison Valley, and the Central District. Every day, over 6,000 riders rely on Route 8 for commuting, errands, and fun despite the fact that it’s always late!

During PM rush hour, eastbound Route 8 buses are normally delayed over 30 minutes by the time they reach Capitol Hill (just 2 miles from the 8’s start!). This can turn a 2 mile trip into an hour long endeavor leaving thousands of riders high and dry. But Route 8 isn’t just late at rush hour. On weekends and at night, it’s late over 30% of the time!

We can fix this! The majority of Route 8’s problems are on Denny Way in South Lake Union where the bus has to share the road with cars queueing to get to I-5. Let’s free the bus from the congestion and build a bus lane!

We’re calling on the Seattle Department of Transportation and King County Metro to build two way bus lanes on Denny Way. This keeps I-5 traffic out of the 8’s way and entices the drivers traveling within central Seattle to hop on transit.

Seattle’s voter approved 2024 Transportation Levy specifically funded transit improvements for Route 8 on Denny Way. Tell the city to prioritize transit and build a bus lane!

You can help! Email city and county officials to make this happen!

Take Action!

Send an email

Want to get more involved? Join our campaign here!

On Bluesky @FixTheL8
Contact: fixthel8@gmail.com
Logo: Francesca Oaksford

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