King County Metro route 71 'Wedgwood / UW Station'

71 Wedgwood / UW Station

Service Area

Wedgwood, Ravenna, U District

Termini

Wedgwood (85th St and 35th Ave)
University of Washington Station
International District / Chinatown Tunnel Station (historic)

Operations

Atlantic Base
Central Base

Vehicles

Flyer D900
MAN SG 310

Breda ADPB 350

Gillig Phantom

NFI DE60LF

NFI DE60LFR

Orion VII

Branches

71 Wedgwood
71 U District
71 Downtown
71X Downtown
71X Wedgwood

Latest Route Map

Local and Express Route Map to Downtown

I-5 Express Peak Directional Route Map (EX)

I-5/45th(ER) and Eastlake Express Route Map (EL)

71 Wedgwood / UW Station was a bus route operated by King County Metro in Seattle.

Route Details

This north-south route ran between Wedgwood and the University District. Service ran from 7 AM to 9:30 PM on weekdays and Saturdays.^[1]

Northbound trips depart University of Washington Station west on NE Pacific Street, north on University Way NE, east on NE 65th St, north on 50th Ave NE, west on NE 75th St, north on 40th Ave NE, and west on NE 85th St to 35th Ave NE.

Southbound trips depart NE 85th St to 40th Ave NE, east on NE 75th St, south on 55th Ave NE, west on NE 65th St, south on 15th Ave and University Way NE and east on NE Pacific Street to University of Washington Station.

Frequency

Branch	Weekdays						Saturday
Branch	AM Peak	Midday	PM Peak	Early PM	Late PM	Overnight	Early AM	Morning	Afternoon	Early PM	Late PM	Overnight
71 U District	30	30	30	30	30	N/A	N/A	30	30	30	30	N/A
71 Wedgwood	30	30	30	30	30	N/A	N/A	30	30	30	30	N/A

Route History

Route 71 is derived from the first North Seattle branch of the historic route 7, which was originally part of a streetcar network^[2] before the Seattle Transit System took over in the 1940s^[3] and turned it into a trolleybus route.

The route ran as an electric trolleybus, but as Seattle began to mass-retire their trolleybus network in the 1960s, the Wedgwood area became motorized and trolley wires were removed north of NE 45th St.^[4]^[5] When the route was motorized, it was expanded to cover more of Wedgwoods streets to create the routing that buses run on today.^[6]

On January 1978, the three north Seattle branches of route 7 were split into their own routes, including the 71.^[7] The routes all connected with each other in their runs. An old "blue streak" express service branch of the 71 was made into the 71X.

The 76 was created 5 years later to supplement peak express service to the Wedgwood area.^[8], but the 71X still remained, running all day while the 71 local and 76 express ran during peak.

In September 1990, the 71 became one of the first to operate in the Downtown Seattle Transit Tunnel,^[9] and ran on Breda dual-mode buses out of Atlantic Base.

The route transferred to running on hybrid buses when the transit tunnel closed for 2 years in 2005.^[10] It then returned to the tunnel using hybrid buses from Central Base when the tunnel re-opened in 2007.^[11]

Before 2016, the 71 ran all day half-hourly weekday and weekend service to Downtown, along with the 72 and 73. It ran from 5 AM to 1 AM on weekdays, and 6 AM to 12 AM on weekends.^[12]

The local route (since its beginning) ran from Wedgwood to U District, then to Downtown via Campus Parkway, Eastlake and Fairview Ave, and would enter the transit tunnel if it was open.

Frequency

Branch

Weekdays

Saturday

Sunday

Early AM

AM Peak

Midday

PM Peak

Early PM

Late PM

Early AM

Morning

Afternoon

Early PM

Late PM

Morning

Afternoon

Early PM

Late PM

71X
Downtown

30

N/A

30

N/A

30

71X
Wedgwood

30

N/A

30

N/A

30

Branch	Weekdays	Saturday
Branch	Midday	Midday
71 Downtown	30	30
71 Wedgwood	30	30

71 Express

The 71 had multiple express variants that ran throughout weekdays and weekends.

The 71X ran to Downtown Seattle on weekday mornings via NE 42nd St and I-5 express lanes (EX) to the DSTT, and in the afternoons ran via Eastlake Ave E, and ran express until Stewart St (EL), then entering the DSTT.

The 71X ran to Wedgwood on weekday mornings via I-5, NE 45th St, and Roosevelt Way (southbound to Campus Pkwy)(ER), and in afternoons via I-5 express lanes to NE 42nd St to Campus Pkwy (EX).^[13]

Cont'd History

Route 71 was shortened from Downtown Seattle to U District in March 2016, with the opening of the University of Washington Link station,^[14] and the 71X was deleted. The local version lost Sunday service but 30 minute frequencies to U District remained. The peak-only 76 remained, with added service span.

The route was suspended in September 2020 due to COVID 19^[15] and was permanently deleted with the opening of Northgate Station in 2021.^[16] The 79 was created to replace coverage in the Wedgwood area.