Seattle City Wire

King County has introduced a new online tool designed to provide access to information most often sought by its Metro riders.

The Dash is an online interactive tool that provides current information on ridership impact, rider use mask, buses at capacity and missed stops King County reported in a press release. The Dash is located in the Metro’s Accountability Center. While not designed as a real-time tool, I tis designed to improve transparency along with accountability on four of the most asked questions by Washington passengers, partners and stakeholders.

Data displayed includes ridership impact where users can see which of the routes are most heavily utilized, how many people are taking advantage of Metro services and the changers in ridership on a yearly basis. Mask use offers stats on compliance and capacity allows people to see the capacity by route and time period. The county currently only allows 75% occupancy because of social distancing standards which makes information on the new impact that much more important.

The press release also reported there is information on missed stops and percentage of trips in which drivers bypassed stops due to occupancy.

“King County Metro is committed to providing mobility for all, but that does not just mean providing the mobility services themselves, but also the information that will empower the public to use them,” Terry White, Metro’s general manager said, the press release reported. “At Metro, we value transparency and continuous improvement, and recognized the interconnectedness between the two. We’re pleased that The Dash will help move us forward on both of those fronts, and help the public be better informed about our services.”

The Dash is not intended for Metro officials identify and rank priorities that may come up. It makes decisions based on safety, sustainability and equity that are supported by data rather than guided by it.