2 Line Trip Report

Bellevue Downtown Station, from the pre-opening preview ride in April

Here's my experience riding the 2 Line Starter Line for my regular trip from Seattle to Lake Hills. I've been doing this trip once or twice a month since 2022 to visit an elderly relative in an adult family home (AFH). The endpoint is near 164th & Main, a single-family area southeast of Crossroads. I grew up a mile from here, and now my relative is spending their last years here. This trip is typical for anyone living east of Crossroads going to Seattle without a car, or for people going to any AFH or outlying business/service not on a frequent bus arterial.

In the lists below I compare my travel times before Link, with Link in June, with Link in July, and speculation about the full 2 Line. The most variable part is the bus routes in east Bellevue (221, 226, 245, B) - different routes are better in different phases and directions - so I've put those route numbers in boldface.

Before Link

Eastbound I took the 226 to 164th & NE 8th to avoid an uphill walk from 156th. Westbound I walked to 156th because there were more buses per hour.

Eastbound:

• 30-45 minutes: ST Express 550 (5th & Union - Bellevue TC)
• 5-30 minutes: wait for bus
• 40 minutes: Metro Route 226 (Bellevue TC - 164th & NE 8th)
• 10 minutes: walk to 164th & NE 1st
• TOTAL TRAVEL TIME: 1 hour 40 minutes (worst case: 2 hours)

Westbound:

• 13 minutes: walk downhill to 156th & NE 1st (not counting initial wait)
• 5 minutes: Metro Route 226 or 245 (NE 1st - NE 10th/Crossroads)
• 5-10 minutes: cross street(s) and wait for bus
• 10 minutes: RapidRide B (Crossroads - Bellevue TC)
• 5-30 minutes: wait for bus
• 30-45 minutes: ST Express 550 (Bellevue TC - 9th & Pike)
• TOTAL TRAVEL TIME: 1 hour 33 minutes (worst case: 1 hour 48 minutes)

This left me fuming at having to sit in the 226 for 40 minutes meandering across all of Bellevue. How can it possibly take 40 minutes to get from one side of Bellevue to the other? The straight-line distance is comparable to the 48 between UW station and Mount Baker station. The old 226 I rode in the 80s took 20 minutes. The 48 takes 23 minutes.

With the 2 Line - June

This was mid-June on a Saturday at 2pm, two months after the 2 Line started. I took the 221 both ways because it goes right to my destination and stops at Overlake Village station.

Eastbound:

• 20 minutes: ST Express 550 (5th & Union - South Bellevue)
• 3 minutes: walk from street stop to station (northern elevator)
• 6 minutes: wait for train
• 17 minutes: Link 2 Line (South Bellevue - Overlake Village)
• 3 minutes: walk uphill to Overlake Village station bus stop"
• 5 minutes: wait for bus
• 10 minutes: Metro Route 221 (152nd & NE 36th - 164th & NE 1st)
• TOTAL TRAVEL TIME: 1 hour 14 minutes

Westbound:

• 11 minutes: Metro Route 221 (164th & NE 1st - 152nd & NE 31st)
• 3 minutes: walk to Overlake Village station platform
• 7 minutes: wait for train
• 17 minutes: Link 2 Line (Overlake Village - South Bellevue)
• 2 minutes: walk to westbound bus bays inside station (actually about 1.5 minutes)
• 6 minutes: wait for bus
• 34 minutes: ST Express 550 (South Bellevue - 9th & Pike)
• TOTAL TRAVEL TIME: 1 hour 25 minutes

With the 2 Line - July

This was on a Monday at 2pm, about a month after the previous trip. This time I would have had a 30 minute wait for the 221 - and walk uphill and stand in the hot sun because there's no bench or shade at the stop that serves" Overlake Village station - so instead I went to Redmond Tech station and took the 245. This was a better transfer because it was at a RapidRide station on with a bench and shelter and a shorter flat walk. The eastbound 245 stop is on 156th; the westbound stop is inside the station bus bays.

Eastbound:

• 28 minutes: ST Express 550 (5th & Union - South Bellevue)
• 2 minutes: walk from street to station platform via escalator
• 0 minutes: wait for train
• 22 minutes: Link 2 Line (South Bellevue - Redmond Tech)
• 6 minutes: walk to bus stop
• 9 minutes: wait for bus
• 17 minutes: Metro Route 245 (Redmond Tech - 156th & NE 1st)
• 17 minutes: walk uphill
• TOTAL TRAVEL TIME: 1 hour 44 minutes

This trip would typically be shorter because: (A) I was unfamiliar with Redmond Tech station so it took me time to find the way out and find the bus bay; (B) the 245 was in PM peak congestion, and; (C) the 245 driver missed my stop so I had to get off at the next one.

Westbound:

• 13 minutes: walk downhill to 156th (not counting initial wait)
• 13 minutes: Metro Route 245 (NE 1st - NE 40th)
• 2 minutes: walk to Redmond Tech Station platform
• 2 minutes: wait for train
• 18 minutes: Link 2 Line (Redmond Tech - South Bellevue)
• 2 minutes: walk to bus bays (actually 1.5 mins via escalator)
• 11 minutes: wait for bus
• 22 minutes: ST Express 550 (South Bellevue - 9th & Pike)
• TOTAL TRAVEL TIME: 1 hour 23 minutes

Full 2 Line + East Link Restructure

There's no existing route comparable to the future 226 so I'll have to guess its travel time. It will move fully to 164th (my destination), and its eastern end will be extended from Eastgate to South Bellevue station. This gives me two alternatives:

Future trip via restructured Metro Route 245:

• 39 minutes: Link 2 Line (Westlake - Redmond Tech)
• 2 minutes: transfer walk
• 5-15 minutes: wait for bus (weekday daytime)
• 10-17 minutes: Metro Route 245 (NE 40th - NE 1st)
• 13-15 minutes: walk up/downhill
• TOTAL TRAVEL TIME: 1 hour 9 minutes to 1 hour 28 minutes

Future trip via restructured Metro Route 226:

• 17 minutes: Link 2 Line (Westlake - South Bellevue)
• 2 minutes: transfer walk
• 5-25 minutes: wait for bus
• 20 minutes: Metro Route 226 (South Bellevue - 164th & NE 1st)
• TOTAL TRAVEL TIME: 44 minutes to 64 minutes

This 226 alternative is the shortest of all if my estimate is correct, and would give a travel time under an hour or close to it. The tradeoff is I wouldn't be able to take Link across Bellevue; I'd miss 7 stations.

Results

The 2 Line Starter Line shrank my travel time from almost 2 hours to less than 1 1/2 hours each way. It narrows the wide range of uncertainty in the travel time, and gives me more choices of routes in eastern Bellevue. The full 2 Line will turn a 3-seat ride into a 2-seat ride and may get it under an hour.

There are a lot more details I could tell you: how the 221, 226, and future 223 switch in different phases between 148th, 156th, and 164th, and why that caused me to choose different routes in different phases. There will be Metro Flex in East Link restructure from Overlake Village station to east of Crossroads where I grew up, but it won't go far enough south for my trip. If I tried to describe all those permutations to somebody unfamiliar with the area, it would make your head spin.

North-South RapidRide (Corridor 1099: B+226)

If the north-south RapidRide is implemented in the 2040s (Corridor 1999: B+226), it would replace both my 226 alternative" and my 245 alternative" in the East Link Restructure. From South Bellevue station it would be like the 226 but on 156th instead of 164th, so it would be further from my destination but more frequent. From Redmond Tech station it would be like the 245, so it would just be more frequent. Finally I could say goodbye to 30-60 minute routes.

We don't know what routes will be around it. In the Metro Connects 2050 network, the route on 164th would be the 2030", which is like the current 226 but extended south from Eastgate to Newport Hills. I'd have to ride it from Bellevue Downtown like in my Before Link" scenario, which would leave me fuming again. A 3096" would do another variation of the current 226 from Overlake Village station. A 2999 Express" would go from, oh my god, Overlake Village station to West Lake Sammamish Parkway, Issaquah, and Maple Valley.

Notes on Ridership

I counted the Link riders in my car. The first trip there were 13. The second trip, 6. The third trip, 6. The fourth trip, 15. So ridership was still light in June and July.

The 245 dwarfed the 2 Line in ridership. On Monday, both directions in Crossroads were in the PM peak. On the 245, 5+ people got on at every stop between Redmond Tech and Main Street. One group of ten or fifteen schoolchildren got on. Even the 221, which I think of as a lowly coverage route, had some ten people on a Saturday in just the two-mile segment I traveled.

So these are the kinds of trips people in eastern Bellevue experience.