Saturday was the first day of business for King County Metro's new RapidRide E Line, with service from downtown Seattle to Aurora Village. Because I'm a transit nerd, and because I've taken most of the other RapidRide lines on their first days of operation*, I rode the line from the beginning to the end on Saturday morning.

Honestly, there's not much new with the E Line. It's the 358 with fewer stops and newer buses (and, as Seattlish pointed out last week, hopefully less racism). The ride Saturday was fast and direct, but Seattle's sad attempt at bus rapid transit doesn't involve dedicated lanes, so when traffic on Aurora gets bad during the week, RapidRide buses will be stuck in traffic, just like everyone else.

There are some factors that King County Metro has gotten right about RapidRide: They're finally putting up big, bright monitors showing arrival times downtown, the fancy bus stops remind commuters that there are transit options out there, and the increased frequency at least increases your chances of getting stuck in traffic sooner than you did with the 358. But until we start getting real transit solutions, our bus "rapid" transit line will continue to be a joke.

* If you're looking for my other accounts:
• A Line
• B Line
• C and D Lines.