Ride Metro FREE on New Year’s Eve

Space Needle Fireworks Show 2011
Photo by Shannon Kringen / flickr

This week has needed some good news on transit, and King County Metro is providing it:

From 4 am on New Year's Eve to 4 am New Year's Day, riding King County Metro will be free!

Metro will be running on its Sunday schedule, but extra trips will be added on routes 1, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 14, 24, 32, 36, 40, 41, 62, 65, 70, 101, 106, 120, 124, 150, 255, RapidRide A, B, C, D and E Lines, and ST 550, ST 554. Thanks to the September route restructure (with funding from SDoT), there is already a substantially-more-robust night owl bus network.

Both Seattle Streetcars will be running until 1 am that night, and will also be free, running every 15-18 minutes. But walking will likely be faster than the SLUS in the post-midnight crowd, and there will be others needing that ride and the limited space.

Link Light Rail will be running an extended schedule that night, with trains departing Angle Lake Station every half hour from midnight to 1:30 am and departing UW Station every half hour from midnight to 2 am. Fares will still apply.

The Tacoma Link streetcar will run until ca. 1:00 am, and is always free.

Sounder will serve the Seahawks' regular season finale the afternoon of New Year's Eve, and then will not be in service on New Year's Day.

The Seattle Center Monorail will close down at 11:15 pm in preparation for the traditional pyrotechnic show from atop the Space Needle, and re-open approximately 12:20 am, and then run until 1 am. It isn't free either, and it still only takes cash. ORCA and bankcard acceptance is in the works, but still months away, at least. The integration of the monorail into the public transit fare system may be the most exciting transit story to look forward to in 2018.

Stay safe through the holidays. If you are going to partake of mind-altering substances, leave the driving to someone you trust.