Originally Posted by
Toshbaf
Before, the bus to the airport was faster than the current train due to a more direct routing rather than snaking through neighborhoods that are not between the airport and downtown but rather southeast of downtown Seattle. Since the train is eventually supposed to go to Federal Way, it should have been on a direct path to the airport.
The bus with limited stops, yes, IIRC it was quicker than Light Rail. The other one, IIRC, a tad longer, and don't recall frequencies of either.
As for the circuitous route, well, the route goes where people live and not the largely industrial area where the bus goes @:-) It's part of Seattle's plan to serve its citizens, not a point to point route. I'd love a point to point, as I normally only transit in Seattle (not because it's not a great city to visit), alas ....
As an aside, Dallas did something similar with Orange Line to DFW:
Dallas Area "Rapid" Transit has about a dozen suburbs in the partnership and Irving is one of the largest ones, so they made quite a detour to keep them on board. When I lived in Dallas I recall people who worked in Las Colinas (the ritzy part of Irving where lots of businesses are located) complained about how much longer it took on rail over discontinued buses. Of course the people of non Las Colinas parts of Irving, the working people much more likely to use the service got shafted, as the line is nowhere near them and are stuck with low frequency buses.