RapidRide route most likely 15th Ave.

Back in January, Metro Transit asked Ballard residents for their suggestions on where the new RapidRide buses should run: up 15th Ave. or 24th Ave. And now it looks like 15th may be the route.

At last night’s Ballard District Council meeting, Craig Benjamin, who is on the RapidRide advisory panel, gave an update on the bus service that will start running in 2012. He said that Metro mailed out 56,000 surveys, expecting to get the normal 1% or 2% returned. In this case, 5% of people responded, which he said is a phenomenal response. Of those surveys, 65% said that they prefer the buses to run up 15th to the 35% who would like the bus route up 24th. (See the map here.) None of this is set in stone. Benjamin says that Metro will not base their decision on the surveys alone, but “feel free to assume” the bus will take 15th. He will have more details in a month.

The D Line to Ballard will operate on major arterial streets: 3rd Ave. in downtown and Belltown; 1st Ave., Queen Anne Ave., Mercer St. and W Mercer Place in Uptown; and Elliott Avenue W and 15th Avenue W in Interbay. It will replace Metro routes 15 and 18 on these streets.