King County Metro 311 runs weekday commuters between the Eastside and downtown in the morning and home in the evening.
Like Sound Transit Express route 512, which we featured last week, the 311 operates mainly on freeways—so it only makes a handful of stops before entering downtown. But unlike the 512, it runs along a whole lot of them, starting on State Route 522 from Woodinville, moving to Interstate 405 through Totem Lake, then onto State Route 520 to pick up passengers in Clyde Hill and Medina. It makes one last stop in Montlake before heading downtown on Interstate 5.
It’s not a bus for people working something far outside the nine-to-five. It runs from 5:12 a.m. to 8:33 a.m. weekday mornings and 3:16 to 6:40 p.m. weekday evenings—best-case scenario, it gets someone to work and maybe a happy hour before ending its run. But it gets commuters from the beginning of its run at the Woodinville park and ride to Fifth Avenue and Jackson Street in about an hour.
We’ve found six notable homes along the route.
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