Observations from the 2 Line’s regular weekday rhythm

View of downtown Bellevue skyline, crossing I-405

Link's 2 Line had a blockbuster opening last weekend, drawing huge crowds and crush-loads that may not be seen again for some time. On Monday morning, I went out to observe the first weekday of regular service after the opening hype had subsided. I started my journey around 9am at South Bellevue Station (SBS), headed north, got off at Spring District, and made a return trip with a stop at Bellevue Downtown Station (BDS).

South Bellevue - East Main

Prior to the starter line's opening, Mike Lindblom at the Seattle Times indicated ($) that the parking utilization at SBS garage was just a meager 50 cars. I'm not sure if this was an official count or an estimate but that figure seemed low compared to my own anecdotal observations as a regular 550 commuter. Nonetheless, I administered a non-scientific but quasi-rigorous count on Monday morning and tallied around 150-200 vehicles, an objective jump from pre-Link utilization.

A small handful of riders (not visible) between South Bellevue and East Main

Multiple Sound Transit customer support staff members were out at South Bellevue, probably more than was needed, given the small handful of boardings at SBS. My train departed from the station's east platform. My opening day trip, on the other hand, left out of the west platform and traveled on the southbound tracks until the crossover just south of East Main. Given the current 10-minute headways, the long distance between SBS and the crossover is unlikely to pose any operational issue, but SBS's temporary status as a line terminus means half the trips will feel like they're running on the wrong" tracks for a bit.

As expected, ridership activity at East Main Station was relatively sparse. This is one of the least accessible stations along the line: station access is limited to 112th Ave SE, from which the residential neighborhood of Surrey Downs is virtually inaccessible. All that remains is a pedestrian access point on top of the downtown tunnel's south portal and an emergency-only access gate at SE 4th St.

Some of the neighborhood's residents who more virulently opposed the East Link routing might consider such insulation a victory, but it is the future generations of neighborhood residents who will undoubtedly suffer the most. Until access to Surrey Downs is reconsidered, the station's area TOD may be responsible for most of the ridership catchment in the medium-term horizon.

Downtown Bellevue

The most notable observation from the ride through the downtown tunnel was how slow it was. The curvature is not as sharp as the infamous University Street-Westlake curve, but the speeds certainly felt similar. I'm not sure if this is a temporary slow zone or permanent feature but it provokes questions about how different travel times really would have been with the at-grade alternatives downtown.

Speeds aside, there was also a conspicuous absence of cellular service in the tunnel. Former STB writer Oran pointed this out on X, to which Sound Transit responded that details for Wi-Fi access" is still in the works. I assume they meant cell service (which is different than wi-fi), something that Sound Transit's own website says is planned for the 2 Line tunnels." That said, the tunnel is such a short segment that it is unlikely to be a critical priority anytime soon.

Not surprisingly, Bellevue Downtown Station (BDS) featured the most ridership activity, with several boardings by what appeared to be either Meta or Microsoft workers heading east to their respective employment sites. There is a decent amount of high-rise and high-density housing within walking distance of BDS. What will be interesting to examine is any changes in B Line ridership just to see how much of the market was poached by Link.

BDS station plaza

I also noticed that the BDS station plaza only has two ticket vending machines (TVMs). This is likely to be a commuter-heavy station so my guess is that most riders will use pre-paid ORCA cards or passes. However, I can imagine a future scenario where large events at nearby Meydenbauer Center might attract a surge of non-regular riders jostling for a fare purchase.

Wilburton - Spring District

Activity at Wilburton Station was expectedly barren. Aside from a small amount of housing on the north side of Lake Bellevue and to the east, the surrounding land use is highly auto-oriented, including a Whole Foods, Chick-Fil-A, medical facilities, and auto dealerships to the south. The Eastrail bridge over NE 8th, although structurally complete, is not slated to open until June so pedestrian and bicycle connectivity around the station is hampered for the time being.

I had my kids in tow so I cut my trip short at Spring District. I counted about four passengers alighting the train and heading toward the Meta campus. The Spring District isn't fully built out yet: the completed projects sit largely to the south of the station but the pandemic greatly slowed retail and office occupancy. How the starter line and its eventual connection to the 1 Line will accelerate things remains to be seen.

Concluding Thoughts

It's hard to make any definitive conclusions about the starter line based on a small sample of observations. That said, the 2 Line's operational rhythms and activity seemed largely on par with what one might expect. My guess is that we've still yet to reach the steady state of ridership: post-opening hype will slowly wane but a regular passenger market will crescendo in its place.

Lindblom also reported a modified ridership forecast of 4,000 to 5,700 daily boardings, down from the 6,000 that was initially broadcast. Given the temporary status of the 2 Line's detached operations, I'm not sure it matters much except to build up new transit ridership markets that haven't been seen before on the Eastside. At any rate, ridership reporting should start coming online in a matter of months.

Operationally, the pre-revenue simulated service seems to have done its job. Based on my constant checking of real-time arrival signs and OneBusAway, trains were running fairly close to their advertised 10-minute headways. I did notice slightly longer dwell times at some stations even in the grade-separated sections, seemingly unrelated to any boarding/alighting activity. Whether these were an operational feature or bug wasn't clear.

Overall, Sound Transit is doing what it needs to do to get the ball rolling on the Eastside ST2 projects. Anyone with the expectation that the starter line should feature regularly crowded trains is only fooling themselves. A longer-term outlook warrants looking at the 2 Line opening as one event in a long series of incremental system expansions. Indeed, the next two years will be exciting: Lynnwood in August, the downtown Redmond extension early next year, the I-90 crossing late next year, and Federal Way in 2026.