SEATTLE AVENUE

Hear Ye! Hear Ye! Great news for urban-hearted IT folk who work at the main Microsoft campus: The Connector is at your service!

 This pilot program which started September 24th buses employees from five neighborhoods to the main campus in Redmond.

The 14 coaches (7 full size, 7 mid size) of course have wi-fi and power jacks at each seat and transport up to 1000 riders per day. Best of all The Connector is free and available to all full-time MS employees. Morning pick-ups are between 6:20 and 9:30 a.m. Evening departures are between 4:30 and 7:30 p.m.

The sleek, stylish coaches operate these routes:

• Queen Anne-Belltown 
• First Hill-Capitol Hill
• Mill Creek-Bothell
• Issaquah-South Sammamish
• Snoqualmie-Issaquah

Because of these Connector coaches we can expect:

• 20,000 fewer cars per month and 240,000 fewer cars per year on the road which means elimination of approximately 800 vehicle trips and 32,200 miles of travel each day.
• Elimination of approximately 3,800 tons of carbon emissions annually.
• A convenient, comfortable, and productive option for commuting to MS.

Having said that, Microsoft will have nearly 1400 employees in Seattle as it leases about 126,000 square feet of office space in South Lake Union that will include space for up to 150 employees who want to avoid that Redmond commute. Microsoft also announced two other new work locations in the Pioneer Square area.