Ridership Patterns for Sound Transit Routes 542 and 545
Sound Transit operates two express routes between Redmond and Seattle. Route 542 travels inbound from Redmond Transit Center to the University District. Route 545 travels inbound from Bear Creek P&R to downtown Seattle. To celebrate the downtown Redmond Link extension opening on Saturday, this article takes a look at the ridership patterns for the Sound Transit Express routes that currently serve Redmond. These stats are from before the extension opening.
Route 542Sound Transit Route 542 travels between Redmond Transit Center and University District, primarily on SR 520. In March 2025, Route 542 had 1,256 average weekday boardings.
Average Route 542 Weekday Boarding and Alighting Counts: March 2024 to September 2024. Inbound" is toward the University District; Outbound" is toward Redmond Transit Center. Click the plot to view at full-resolution in a new tab.Route 542 has decent all day ridership in both directions. The route has two dominant ridership patterns:
- Passengers traveling from Redmond Transit Center to the University District in the morning and returning in the afternoon.
- Passengers traveling from the University District to SR 520 & NE 40th St in the morning and returning in the afternoon. This stop is located adjacent to Redmond Technology station in the center of the Microsoft campus.
Similar to the B Line, there are not many riders using Route 542 between downtown Redmond and the offices near SR 520 & NE 40th St.
Route 545Sound Transit Route 545 travels inbound from Bear Creek Park & Ride to downtown Seattle, via SR 520. In March 2025, Route 545 was the busiest ST Express route with 5,428 average weekday boardings.
Average Route 545 Weekday Boarding and Alighting Counts: March 2024 to September 2024. Inbound" is toward downtown Seattle; Outbound" is toward Bear Creek P&R. Click the plot to view at full-resolution in a new tab.Route 545 trips are busy all day. The Redmond-to-Seattle and Seattle-to-Microsoft ridership patterns seen on Route 542 are also present for Route 545. In addition:
- The Clyde Hill/Yarrow Point and Evergreen Point freeway stops have moderate ridership. Passengers from Totem Lake or Kirkland may transfer between routes 255 and 545 at these stops for traveling to and from downtown Seattle.
- Route 545 has strong midday ridership in both directions.
- Similar to Route 542, there are few passengers taking Route 545 between downtown Redmond and Microsoft.
While the Blog does not have stop-level ridership data for these routes on Saturday or Sunday, the overall ridership counts show the impact of commuter trips. In March 2025, Route 542 had 621 average boardings on Saturday (49% of weekday), and and 337 on Sunday (27%). Route 545 had 1,704 passengers on Saturday (31% of weekday) and 1,076 on Sunday (20%). These counts are from Sound Transit's Ridership Tracker. The significant decrease in ridership on the weekends further speaks to how dominant commuter ridership is during the week. Weekend ridership is also hurt by the lower frequency on each route. Both routes run every 30 minutes on the weekends, compared to every 20 minutes during the week for Route 542 and every 10-15 minutes during the week for Route 545.
Looking AheadRoutes 542 and 545 remain unchanged with the two new Redmond Link stations. When the full 2 Line opens in 2026 (or maybe December 2025), Sound Transit will restructure its ST Express network. Sound Transit intends to share its initial restructure proposal next month, in June 2025.
A 2024 draft restructure proposal from Metro included changes to Sound Transit routes in King County. This plan gives us some insight into what ST may propose next month. In the draft plan, Route 545 was replaced by Route 544. Route 544 was planned as a peak-only route between South Lake Union and Overlake Village, via SR 520 & NE 40th St and SR 520 & NE 51st St (Microsoft's campus). To make up for the shorter Route 544, Route 542 would be extended to Bear Creek P&R. Additionally, Route 542 would run every 10-15 minutes during the day, an improvement over it's current 20 minute frequency.