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RapidRide C Line

bus rapid transit route in Seattle, Washington

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General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionDec 14, 2025
Entity authorityQ18156865
Source-derived summary

The C Line is one of eight RapidRide lines (routes with some bus rapid transit features) operated by King County Metro in King County, Washington. The C Line began service on September 29, 2012, running between downtown Seattle, West Seattle, Fauntleroy and the Westwood Village Shopping Center in the Westwood neighborhood. The line runs mainly via Westlake Avenue, 3rd Avenue, Washington State Route 99, the West Seattle Bridge, California Avenue and Fauntleroy Way.

History

This corridor was previously served by King County Metro routes 54 and 54 Express, which carried a combined average of 4,650 riders on weekdays during the last month in service. Since the implementation of RapidRide on the corridor, ridership has grown 79 percent and the C Line served an average of 8,300 riders on weekdays in spring 2015.

The C Line originally interlined with the D Line, which continued north from downtown to Lower Queen Anne, Interbay, and Ballard. The two routes were uncoupled during a service change on March 26, 2016, and the C Line was moved onto Westlake Avenue to terminate in South Lake Union, sharing several stops with the South Lake Union Streetcar.

The C Line originally accessed downtown via State Route 99 and the Alaskan Way Viaduct, using the Seneca Street and Columbia Street ramps. The viaduct closed on January 11, 2019, and the route was moved to a new alignment in SoDo using the SODO Busway and 4th Avenue. A new C Line stop serving the waterfront, at Alaskan Way and South Jackson Street, opened in February 2022.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “RapidRide C Line” as bus rapid transit route in Seattle, Washington. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around RapidRide, Line and rapid.

Editorial reviewA concise reference frame for defining the subject, testing terminology and identifying the institution closest to the evidence. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—2012, 2015, 2016, 2019—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with RapidRide, Line and rapid providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “RapidRide C Line”, the useful work is to connect “bus rapid transit route in Seattle, Washington” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Dec 14, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q18156865. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 2012, 2015, 2016 and 2019.

Critical limits

Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

Best used for
  • Subject orientation
  • Search vocabulary
  • Locating named sources
Verify next

The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “RapidRide C Line”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow RapidRide C Line primary sources, RapidRide C Line archive and RapidRide research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “RapidRide C Line”?
  2. What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
  3. Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
Subject index

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from RapidRide C Line” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.