King County Metro route 72 'Lake City / Downtown Seattle'

72 Lake City / Downtown Seattle

Service Area

Lake City, Ravenna, U District, Eastlake, Downtown

Termini

Lake City (Lake City Way NE and NE 130 St)
International District / Chinatown Tunnel Station

Operations

Atlantic Base
Central Base

Vehicles

Flyer D900
MAN SG 310

Breda ADPB 350

Gillig Phantom

NFI DE60LF

NFI DE60LFR

Branches

72 Downtown
72 Lake City
72X Downtown
72X Lake City

Local and Express Route Map

I-5 Express Peak Directional Route Map (EX)

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

72 Lake City / Downtown Seattle was a bus route operated by King County Metro in Seattle.

Route Details

The 72 was a tunnel route that ran alongside routes 71 and 73. It ran half hourly service from 5 AM to 1 AM on weekdays, and hourly service from 6 AM to 12 AM on weekends.^[1]

The local route travels via Lake City Way NE, NE 80th St, University Way NE, Campus Pkwy, Eastlake/Fairview Ave E, and Virginia/Stewart to enter the Downtown Seattle Transit Tunnel. It only runs during the AM and PM peak periods on all days of the week.

Frequency

Branch	Weekdays						Saturday					Sunday
Branch	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
72X Downtown	N/A	30	30	30	30	N/A	N/A	30	30	30	N/A	60	60	60	60
72X Lake City	N/A	30	30	30	30	N/A	N/A	30	30	30	N/A	60	60	60	60

Branch	Weekdays		Saturday		Sunday
Branch	Early AM	Late PM	Early AM	Early/Late PM	Late PM
72 Downtown	30	30-60	30	30-60	N/A
72 Lake City	30	30	30	30-60	60

72 Express

The 72 had multiple express variants that ran throughout weekdays and weekends.^[1]

Route Details

The 72X 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 72X ran to Lake City 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).^[2]

Route Stops

The 72X made no stops between Campus Parkway and Convention Place Station except for the I-5 express lane routing, at NE 40 St/7 Av NE.

Route History

Route 72 is derived from the last North Seattle branch of the historic route 7, which was created as a new branch by Seattle Transit System when Seattle expanded their city limits to NE 145th St.^[3]

On January 1978, the three north Seattle branches of route 7 were split into their own routes, including the 72.^[4] The routes all connected with each other in their runs. An old "blue streak" express service branch of the 72 was made into the 72X.

The 79 was created 5 years later to supplement peak express service on the Lake City / U District / Downtown corridor^[5], allowing the 72X schedule to serve local during peak hours, and other routes such as the 372 to serve local off peak. The 79 was deleted before the 72X was.

In September 1990, the 72 became one of the first to operate in the Downtown Seattle Transit Tunnel,^[6] 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.^[7] It then returned to the tunnel using hybrid buses from Central Base when the tunnel re-opened in 2007.^[8]

Route 72 was deleted in March 2016, with the opening of the University of Washington Link station.^[9] The Central Link, and various Lake City / Roosevelt corridor routes were provided as alternatives.