It’s day 2 for Amazon workers heading back to the office five days a week, and one of the areas already seeing the effects of all the foot traffic is Seattle’s South Lake Union neighborhood. Companies like Rubinstein Bagels tell KIRO 7 that Monday may have been one of the busier days they’ve had in a while.
“And even this morning we had more people come in and be open than we’ve had in a while.” I come in and get their pre-cooked breakfast,” said Brinn Jury with Rubinstein Bagels.
KIRO 7 crews also saw numerous restaurants and other businesses packed with people, most of whom were Amazon employees. The judges say the foot traffic they’ve seen over the past two days is something many businesses have been waiting for.
“But now that everyone is coming back to the office five days a week, we are all really looking forward to all that traffic coming in and helping to boost sales,” said the jury.
While businesses want that foot traffic, it can come at a price, and that price means a lot more traffic on the road.
“We have a few who live in Shoreline and one of them takes public transportation and the other one drives and they’re nervous about the traffic,” the jury said.
Bob Pishue of INRIX, a company that analyzes traffic data across the country, says traffic congestion in the Seattle area increased 9% by 2024, meaning more people were stuck in traffic for longer periods of time. He says that while this will be more noticeable in major metropolitan areas like Seattle, the ripple effects of more people returning to office work will be felt throughout Western Washington.
“And if two lanes are gone on I-5 during morning traffic due to a collision or something else, that really has ripple effects on the entire transportation network from Everett to Tacoma,” Pishue said.
Pishue says that while the headache of bumper-to-bumper traffic is never fun, seeing more people in the world is a sign of better things to come.
“This means that more goods are delivered per freight and that more deliveries take place. More semi-trucks… and so on,” Pishue said.
