Dept. of Transportation
Metro Transit Division

King Street Center
201 S Jackson St
Seattle, WA 98104
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Trip Planner Tips - Accessibility options

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What's included:
When you specify an accessible trip or ask for closest stops, service, or schedule information at a location, your results include:

  • Buses and Sounder trains that are either lift-equipped or low-floor with a ramp; and
  • Stops that meet federal operational standards for lift or ramp deployment.

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What's not included:
Accessible trip plans and location information from the Trip Planner do not include details on accessibility features (such as curb ramps) or obstacles (such as steep hills, but see the next paragraph about downtown Seattle) for the path of travel between the bus stop and your origin or destination. For trip plans that include transfers, the Trip Planner does not have such information for the path of travel between bus stops used in the transfer. At major transit facilities, such as permanent park and rides and Transit Centers, the path between stops is accessible.

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Grade on downtown Seattle streets:
For locations in the Seattle core, detailed walking instructions include information about grade. To see detailed walking instructions, click on the underlined walking distance shown in the results of your request. If any portion of the walk is on a street grade of more than 6%, you will see the phrase "on a significant grade" for that section of the walk. Grade information is available between Galer Street and Holgate Street, from Fifteenth Avenue to Elliott Bay. For information about alternate paths that avoid hills in the immediate downtown Seattle central business district, you may want to look at the Accessible Downtown Seattle Map.

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Lift or ramp clearance at stops:
You can see information about the clearance in front of a deployed lift or ramp at King County bus stops used by Metro Transit routes, but not at stops in other counties. Clicking on the name of any bus stop included in your trip brings up detailed information about the stop. For King County stops, a stop described as "Fully accessible" has at least four feet of clearance. If there is less clearance, but the lift or ramp can still be deployed, the clearance in feet is given. If the lift or ramp can't be deployed, the stop is shown as "not accessible."

If you see the blue international wheelchair symbol at a stop, it means that there is at least four feet of clearance beyond the deployed lift or ramp. If you use a power mobility device you will likely need to use a stop with this much clearance. The lift or ramp can be used at any stop as long as it can be deployed without damage.

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Who can use a lift or ramp:
Anyone can ask to use the lift or ramp. You do not have to use a wheelchair, scooter, or other mobility aid to use the lift or ramp.

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For more information:
For more details on accessible service using Metro, see Metro Online's Accessible section. For other agencies, please see the contact information in Who's Who.

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