New round of service cuts announced for Sound Transit and Pierce Transit

Link light rail will be reduced to 20-minute frequencies

Last updated: April 7, 2020.

Beginning on Monday, Sound Transit and Pierce Transit will be among the agencies to cut back their service further in response to low ridership, staffing shortages, and cost-saving measures. King County Metro is bucking the trend by restoring some of its service that was cut in the initial reductions last week, primarily trips for essential trips.

This rundown of affected services will be updated throughout the week as other announcements come in. All agencies in the ORCA system have stopped collecting fares except for Washington State Ferries, and most are requiring riders to use the rear door(s) if they are able to.

Sound Transit

Link light rail service will be reduced to frequencies of every 20 minutes at all hours, and comes with a posted schedule. Tacoma Link will continue to have normal service and headways.

The following ST Express routes have been entirely cancelled:

• Route 541 (UW - Overlake)
• Route 544 (SLU - Overlake)
• Route 555 (Issaquah - Northgate)
• Route 556 (Issaquah - Northgate)
• Route 567 (Kent - Overlake)
• Route 580 (Lakewood - Puyallup)
• Route 586 (UW Seattle - Tacoma)
• Route 592 (Seattle - DuPont)
• Route 595 (Seattle - Gig Harbor)
• Route 596 (Sumner - Bonney Lake)

All other routes operated by Pierce Transit will run at reduced schedules that are similar to normal Sunday frequencies with enhancements to preserve span of service. All routes operated by King County Metro will have reduced service except for Route 554, which will only have two cut trips. Routes operated by Community Transit will not change from the current reduced schedules.

Overall ridership on Sound Transit services has dropped by 85 percent. The existing cuts to Sounder service will remain, with only two daily round trips on the North Line and eight daily round trips on the South Line.

Pierce Transit

Pierce Transit will switch to a modified Sunday schedule for the entire week, as ridership is down 64 percent from March 2019. The normal Sunday schedules will be used on weekends, while a few changes will be made for weekdays:

• Routes 1, 3, and 500 will have extended morning and evening trips, and additional frequency during peak hours
• Route 400: Limited trips (as it does not run on Sundays)

The following routes are suspended until further notice:

• Route 13 (N 30th Street)
• Route 63 (NE Tacoma Express)
• Route 102 (Gig Harbor Express)
• Route 425 (Puyallup Connector)
• Route 497 (Lakeland Hills)
• JBLM Connector

An updated version of the systemwide schedule book is available on Pierce Transit's website.

King County Metro

Metro will be restoring service on core routes to places with food, medicine, and key public facilities. The remaining network will be slimmed down to focus on 115 core routes in the county, with 37% fewer buses and 19% fewer service trips than a typical weekday. Metro estimates that ridership has fallen by 70 percent, and 25 percent of its operations employees are unable to work.

The following routes will have 2 or fewer trips cut:

• RapidRide A Line, 22, 60, 63, 64, 71, 73, 105, 106, 118, 119, 128, 131, 148, 164, 166, 168, 193, 221, 269, 303, 309, 331, 345, 348, 554, 628 (Snoqualmie Community Shuttle), 631 (Burien Community Shuttle), 901, 903, 906, 908, 914, 916

The following routes will have reduced frequency and span of service:

• RapidRide B, C, D, E and F lines, and routes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 21, 24, 26, 27, 28, 31, 32, 33, 36, 40, 41, 43, 44, 45, 48, 49, 50, 62, 65, 67, 70, 75, 101, 107, 120, 124, 132, 150, 153, 156, 169, 180, 181, 182, 183, 187, 204, 225, 226, 230, 231, 239, 240, 241, 245, 249, 250, 255, 271, 346, 347, 372, 373, ST Express routes 522, 542, 545, 550, route 635 (Des Moines Community Shuttle), 915, 917, Water Taxi West Seattle and Vashon routes, First Hill Streetcar, Link light rail

The following routes are suspended until further notice:

• 5X, 9, 15, 17, 18, 19, 21X, 29, 37, 47, 55, 56, 57, 74, 76, 77, 78, 102, 111, 113, 114, 116, 121, 122, 123, 125, 143, 154, 157, 158, 159, 167, 177, 178, 179, 186, 190, 192, 200, 208, 212, 214, 216, 217, 218, 219, 224, 232, 237, 246, 252, 257, 268, 301, 304, 308, 311, 312, 316, 330, 342, 355, 541, 555, 556, 630 (Mercer Island Community Shuttle), 773, 775, 823, 824, 886, 887, 888, 889, 891, 892, 893, 894, 895, 907, 910, 913, 930, 931, 952, 980, 981, 982, 984, 986, 987, 988, 989, 994, 995
• Black Diamond/Enumclaw Community Ride, Shoreline/Lake Forest Park Community Ride, Normandy Park Community Ride, Sammamish Community Ride, Juanita Area Community Ride, Bothell/Woodinville Community Ride, Via to Transit, South Lake Union Streetcar

The King County Water Taxi will have service only on the West Seattle route with six round-trip sailings. There will be no service on shuttle routes 773 and 775.

The First Hill Streetcar will have a frequency of 15 minutes on Mondays and Saturdays, with no change to Sunday and holiday schedules.

Community Transit

Community Transit has not announced further cuts, but the agency is preparing contingency plans for later use. The plans range from using Saturday service levels for weekdays to a full shutdown if it becomes necessary.

Bus ridership on Community Transit is down 71 percent overall, with commuter routes down 92 percent.

At the request of drivers, Community Transit is now providing them with gloves, masks, and hand sanitizer where possible.

Everett Transit

Everett Transit has updated its emergency service schedule to suspend all Sunday trips and require back-door boarding. Paratransit customers will be able to request a face mask when they board.

Kitsap Transit

Kitsap Transit began its service reductions on Wednesday, April 1, cutting 30 percent of its normal service.

The following routes are suspended:

• Route 22 (Gateway Express)
• Route 81 (Annapolis Commuter)
• Route 91 (Kingston -Bainbridge)
  Route 92 (Kingston - Suquamish)
• Route 229 (Trenton Commuter)
• Route 234 (Kitsap Mall - Bangor)
• Route 333 (Silverdale - Bainbridge)
• Route 338 (Gateway - Bainbridge Express)

The existing cuts to ferry service will remain in place, along with the 46-passenger limit. Worker-driver buses will be capped at 22 passengers, with buses on standby to pick up overflow passengers.

Intercity Transit

April 7: Intercity Transit will transition to advanced reservations only beginning on Monday, April 13. Riders will need to call or email the reservations office and make them 2 to 5 days in advance with no same-day reservations. Regular buses will be replaced with smaller vehicles, and transit facilities will be closed.

April 4: Intercity Transit has begun reducing its evening service on weekdays, with most routes making their last trip before 8:00 p.m.

Affected routes: 12, 13, 41, 48, 62A, 62B, 65, 66, 68, 94

Skagit Transit

Skagit Transit will reduce its weekday service to Saturday schedules beginning on Monday, April 6. The following changes will be made:

• Route 90X will have three daily round trips
• Routes 205 and 206 will have hourly departures
• Route 300 will operate every 2 hours
• Routes 409, 513, and 750 are suspended until further notice

On Sundays, Skagit Transit is using a modified version of the normal schedule, with the addition of the above changes.

Whatcom Transportation Authority

WTA has limited its buses to 12 passengers per vehicle (or 15 if there are family members riding together). Leftover riders can board "trailer" buses that will follow trips on high-ridership routes.