King County Metro Transit today announced that bus ridership is up 6 percent for the first three months of this year, exceeding all expectations. “The ridership trends made Metro the fastest growing large bus system in the nation last year,” reads the press release. (Goes to show how badly we need a mass transit system.) Meanwhile, the Ballard News-Tribune reports that a new bus route is coming to Ballard and Fremont: route 46 will change during midday hours to service Golden Gardens all the way through to Stone Way in Fremont.