With ridership nearly 7 percent higher than this time last year, Metro Transit is adding two new bus routes and more service on 20 routes throughout King County, as it kicks off its September service change beginning Sept. 20. This includes some changes for the Northshore area.

“We’ve listened to riders, cities and businesses and are pleased to have these improvements hit the road as ridership continues to climb and more service is needed,” said King County Executive Ron Sims. “So many more people are taking the bus here in King County that Metro is among the fastest growing large transit agencies in the nation.”

Metro’s ridership has recently climbed to about 400,000 boardings each weekday, and is expected to increase this fall. Most of the additional service for the September service change is funded through the voter-approved Transit Now initiative, and includes several partnerships with local cities and businesses.

For local bus riders, the changes include:

• New Route 244 replaces temporary Route 644, and has extended routing from Kenmore to Overlake, via Juanita, Kingsgate, Redmond and the Microsoft Corp. campus.

• There are minor schedule adjustments for routes 306 and 312.

Also, in response to requests from the cycling community, Metro will launch a demonstration project that allows bicycles to be loaded and unloaded on buses at any stop in the Downtown Seattle Transit Tunnel — not just the first and last tunnel stations.

Bus riders can find all the September changes detailed in the Special Rider Alert, which is online at HYPERLINK “http://www.kingcounty.gov/metro” www.kingcounty.gov/metro.