Fall 2026 Service Change: Pierce County and South King County

Pierce Transit Route 500 and Sound Transit Route 574 at Federal Way Downtown station.

Starting August 29, King County Metro, Sound Transit, and Pierce Transit will be making changes to bus routes in south King County and Pierce County. Most of these changes are in response to the Federal Link Link Extension that opened in December 2025. Service changes in east and north King County will be discussed in future articles.

Across this sub-region, the biggest change is Sound Transit's Route 574. Route 574 will be truncated at Federal Way Downtown station (instead of SeaTac) and will now run every 15 minutes. At the southern end of the route, the stop at Lakewood Transit Center will be replaced by a stop at Lakewood station.

New Route 574 map (Sound Transit)

Routes throughout south King and Pierce Counties will be adjusted in a few weeks. See full list of changes below, or skip to Burien and SeaTac, Kent and Des Moines, Auburn and Federal Way, Pierce County, or Night-Owl changes.

Burien and SeaTac

Route 121 will be partially restored to provide eight peak hour trips (four AM and four PM) between Burien Transit Center and downtown Seattle. This route will take just 37 minutes compared to 53 minutes on the H Line.

Route 121 map (Metro)

Route 156 will have a slightly revised routing on its trips between Southcenter and Kent Des Moines station. The route will no longer serve the McMicken Heights loop (dashed blue line on the map). The route will also have expanded service, running from 4am to 11pm on weekdays and 4:30am to 11pm on weekends.

Route 156 map (Metro)

DART Route 631 will now have weekend service. The route will operate the same schedule on Saturday and Sunday as it does during the week.

Kent and Des Moines

Route 164 is a new route that will replace the southern half of the current Route 165. Route 164 will run every 15 minutes during the day, every day. Some of the route's northbound trips will continue to Route 166. Route 166 replaces the northern segment of Route 165. Buses will run every 15 minutes during peak hours and every 30 minutes during the rest of the day. Every southbound trip will continue to Route 164.

Route 164 and Route 166 map (Metro)

Route 168 will have a few additional trips added to provide 15 minute frequency during peak hours.

Auburn and Federal Way

Route 181 will have improved weekday frequency and addition trips that run until midnight.

Route 182 will have earlier and later trips each day and will now be through-routed with Route 187.

Route 183 will add service on Sunday and run earlier and later on weekdays and Saturday.

Route 187 will be adjusted to run on 320th St and Hoyt Rd in both directions. The route will through-run with Route 182.

Route 187 map (Metro)

DART Route 902 is a new route that will replace DART Route 901. Route 902 has a DART service area in Mirror Lake. Every Route 902 trip will continue to/from a Route 903 trip. DART Route 903 offers a southern route via SW Campus Dr back to Federal Way Downtown station. Route 903 will have increased frequency with trips running every 30 minutes.

Route 902 Map (Metro)

King County Metro is introducing two new Metro Flex pilot areas in Federal Way and Auburn. The Federal Way area is anchored at Federal Way Downtown station while the Auburn area is set near Auburn station and transit center.

Federal Way and Auburn Metro Flex zones (Metro)Pierce County

Pierce Transit's network is relatively stable for this restructure. Route 11 is getting a new northbound trip at 2pm on weekdays and several other trip times have been adjusted to accommodate the new trip. Route 212 will have a new southbound trip on Sundays at 7:08pm. Pierce Transit is also adding a new westbound trip to Route 214 on Sundays at 8:44am. The agency is also adjusting the schedules for an assortment of routes to improve reliability and reduce transfer times. Sound Transit is removing routes 580 and 586 in Pierce County.

Night-Owl

South King and Pierce Counties have two big changes in overnight service. The A Line will now run every 30 minutes between midnight and 4am. Sound Transit is replacing Route 570 with Route 597. Route 597 will provide night-owl service every 30 minutes between Lakewood and Seattle, via Tacoma Dome and SeaTac.

Route 597 Map (Sound Transit)