I lived in Ballard for five years. If I drove to and from the office, even at rush hour, it was probably a 30-minute commute. It was 45-60 minutes by bus most d

I lived in Ballard for five years. If I drove to and from the office, even at rush hour, it was probably a 30-minute commute. It was 45-60 minutes by bus most days, and far less comfortable, because route 40 is one of the busiest on the network (or was at the time), and would often get stuck in traffic. This is despite every-7-minute service and dedicated bus lanes. Seattle might have some of the best bus service in the US, but bus transit is objectively worse than rail transit on a separated grade. (And on this point, one of Sound Transit's worst decisions was building at-grade light rail, which essentially turns Link into a streetcar for substantial portions of its route.)