Dept. of Transportation
Metro Transit Division

King Street Center
201 S Jackson St
Seattle, WA 98104
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Trip Planner Tips - Entering dates and times

Enter dates and times in these specific formats:

For dates, use numbers for the month, date, and year. Use the "/" mark between the numbers, and do not add any spaces. Examples:

  • Right: October 31, 2008 = 10/31/08
  • Right: December 25, 2008 = 12/25/08
  • Right: January 12, 2008 = 1/12/08
  • Wrong: 31/10/08, 12-25-08, 1 / 12 / 08

For times, use numbers for hours and minutes, and indicate AM or PM. Be sure to leave a space between the minutes and the AM or PM. Examples:

  • Right: Ten to two in the afternoon = 1:50 PM
  • Right: Morning at a quarter past six = 6:15 AM
  • Right: Noon = 12:00 PM
  • Right: Midnight = 12:00 AM
  • Wrong: 1200AM, 14:40 PM, 1440 hours (military time)

Note: The Trip Planner treats times as absolute. If you enter a departure time, the Trip Planner will not start your trip before that time. If you enter an arrival time, the Trip Planner will not offer trips that arrive after that.

In addition, it adds walking time to the time you enter for arrivals or departures. If your starting stop is some distance from your starting location, the Trip Planner assumes you will leave the location at the time you enter and allows walking time to the stop. Example: You live four blocks from the stop, and you know that your bus stops there at 8:00 AM. If you say "depart at" 8:00 AM, the Trip Planner will not start the trip on the 8:00 AM bus, but on a later one if possible. It allows a few minutes for you to reach the stop.

Similarly, if you say you want to arrive at a location at 9:00 AM, and the bus stops a few blocks away at 8:59 AM, the Trip Planner won't use that bus trip, but an earlier one, if possible.

If an exact arrival or departure time is not important, you can adjust the time ahead or back to see if the results will work for you.

Some users have difficulty entering dates and times if Javascript is not enabled in their browsers. You can tell if your browser doesn't have Javascript entabled by checking for this line at the top of the Metro Online home page: "If you are reading this, you do not have JavaScript enabled."

If you don't want to enable Javascript, use the main Trip Planner instead of Metro Online's home page. Enable Javascript in your browser's Options or Preferences screen.