Welcome to $3.50 fares on some Link rides

Fare list posted at SeaTac Airport Station
photo by author

Those of you who have been riding Link Light Rail lately may have noticed some changes to the signage at each station, in preparation for the opening of University District, Roosevelt, and Northgate Stations on October 2. Among other changes, each station has a list of fares specific for trips from that station to each of the other stations, now including the three new stations, grouped by fare amount.

Two of the new trip pairings will charge a new top fare of $3.50:

• Northgate to SeaTac Airport
• Northgate to Angle Lake

The full new fare chart can be found here.

Listing all station pairings by fare, from north to south, would look like this:

$2.25

• Northgate to Roosevelt
• Roosevelt to U-District
• Roosevelt to UW
• U-District to UW
• UW to Capitol Hill
• Capitol Hill to Downtown (Westlake, University Street, Pioneer Square, and International District / Chinatown Stations)
• Capitol Hill to (baseball) Stadium
• Capitol Hill to SODO
• Downtown stations to Downtown stations
• Downtown to Stadium
• Downtown to SODO
• Downtown to Beacon Hill
• Stadium to SODO
• Stadium to Beacon Hill
• Stadium to Mt. Baker
• Stadium to Columbia City
• SODO to Beacon Hill
• SODO to Mt. Baker
• SODO to Columbia City
• Beacon Hill to Mt. Baker
• Beacon Hill to Columbia City
• Mt. Baker to Columbia City
• Mt. Baker to Othello
• Columbia City to Othello
• Columbia City to Rainier Beach
• Othello to Rainier Beach
• Tukwila International Blvd to SeaTac Airport
• SeaTac Airport to Angle Lake

$2.50

• Northgate to U-District
• Northgate to UW
• Northgate to Capitol Hill
• Roosevelt to Capitol Hill
• Roosevelt to Downtown
• Roosevelt to Stadium
• U-District to Capitol Hill
• U-District to Downtown
• U-District to Stadium
• U-District to SODO
• UW to Downtown
• UW to Stadium
• UW to SODO
• UW to Beacon Hill
• UW to Mt. Baker
• Capitol Hill to Beacon Hill
• Capitol Hill to Mt. Baker
• Capitol Hill to Columbia City
• Capitol Hill to Othello
• Downtown to Mt. Baker
• Downtown to Columbia City
• Downtown to Othello
• Downtown to Rainier Beach
• Stadium to Othello
• Stadium to Rainier Beach
• SODO to Othello
• SODO to Rainier Beach
• Beacon Hill to Othello
• Beacon Hill to Rainier Beach
• Mt. Baker to Rainier Beach
• Columbia City to Tukwila International Blvd
• Othello to Tukwila International Blvd
• Rainier Beach to Tukwila International Blvd
• Rainier Beach to SeaTac Airport
• Tukwila International Blvd to Angle Lake

$2.75

• Northgate to Downtown
• Northgate to Stadium
• Northgate to SODO
• Northgate to Beacon Hill
• Northgate to Mt. Baker
• Roosevelt to SODO
• Roosevelt to Beacon Hill
• Roosevelt to Mt. Baker
• Roosevelt to Columbia City
• Roosevelt to Othello
• U-District to Beacon Hill
• U-District to Mt. Baker
• U-District to Columbia City
• U-District to Othello
• U-District to Rainier Beach
• UW to Columbia City
• UW to Othello
• UW to Rainier Beach
• Capitol Hill to Rainier Beach
• Stadium to Tukwila International Blvd
• SODO to Tukwila International Boulevard
• SODO to SeaTac Airport
• Beacon Hill to Tukwila International Blvd
• Beacon Hill to SeaTac Airport
• Mt. Baker to Tukwila International Blvd
• Mt. Baker to SeaTac Airport
• Columbia City to SeaTac Airport
• Columbia City to Angle Lake
• Othello to SeaTac Airport
• Othello to Angle Lake
• Rainier Beach to Angle Lake

$3.00

• Northgate to Columbia City
• Northgate to Othello
• Northgate to Rainier Beach
• Roosevelt to Rainier Beach
• UW to Tukwila International Blvd
• Capitol Hill to Tukwila International Blvd
• Capitol Hill to SeaTac Airport
• Capitol Hill to Angle Lake
• Downtown to Tukwila International Blvd
• Downtown to SeaTac Airport
• Downtown to Angle Lake
• Stadium to SeaTac Airport
• Stadium to Angle Lake
• SODO to Angle Lake
• Beacon Hill to Angle Lake
• Mt. Baker to Angle Lake

$3.25

• Northgate to Tukwila International Blvd
• Roosevelt to Tukwila International Blvd
• Roosevelt to SeaTac Airport
• Roosevelt to Angle Lake
• U-District to Tukwila International Blvd
• U-District to SeaTac Airport
• U-District to Angle Lake
• UW to SeaTac Airport
• UW to Angle Lake

$3.50

• Northgate to SeaTac Airport
• Northgate to Angle Lake

Reduced fares will remain flat for each payer category. All trips for seniors (65+) and riders with qualifying disabilities who have obtained a Regional Reduced Fare Permit will continue to be $1.00. Trips for youth (6-18) with a youth ORCA card and trips for qualifying low-income riders with an ORCA LIFT card will continue to be $1.50. Children 5 and under ride free with a fare-paying adult. These reduced fares cover all trips on Link Light Rail, ST Express, King County Metro buses, the Seattle Streetcars, Everett Transit, and Kitsap Transit buses. Free ORCA transfers among these services are good for 2 hours.

The new top fare for a Link-only day pass will be $7.00, but if you want it to be for riding the whole length of the line all day, you can only get it paying with a TransitGo ticket on your smart phone (a great way to avoid the queue at the ticket machines), or by purchasing the pass at one of the terminal stations (Angle Lake at the south end or Northgate at the north end). The downside of TransitGo is that the tickets and passes are not transferable among agencies or services. A regional day pass covering $3.50 of fare on each service accepting ORCA (excluding Washington State Ferries) is available to be loaded onto your ORCA card at any ORCA vending machine, for $8.00. A regional day pass covering $1.75 of fare on each service accepting ORCA (excluding Washington State Ferries) is available for $4.00 on an RRFP, ORCA LIFT card, or youth ORCA card.

With Metro fares now $2.75, Sound Transit may be leaving fare revenue on the table, in a time when it is searching couches for savings and preparing to value-engineer stations down to the bare bones. The number of station pairings charging $2.25 (45 out of the total of 171 pairings) is much larger than those with $3.50 trips (2 pairings). Raising all those trips to $2.50, while leaving the other fares alone (or maybe even capping fares at the maximum fare for ST Express at the same time) ought to help bring fare recovery back up toward ST's goal of 50% on light rail, while still being below Metro's fare for short-to-medium-length trips.

Some may have consternation that some Link Light Rail fares are higher than the flat regular fare now charged on ST Express, for trips of any length, $3.25. Others have long had consternation that the fare is higher than Metro's for various similar trips, such as downtown to Tukwila International Boulevard, which costs $2.75 on Metro route 124 and $3.00 on Link. Still others would like Link to be free, as it was during the early days of the pandemic, so ... long ... ago.