Most read & commented STB posts of 2024

Kicking off a banner year for transit openings region-wide, King County Councilmember Claudia Balducci spoke during the opening ceremony of the 2 Line Starter Line in April. Photo by Nathan Dickey.

This year saw a handful of new writers join STB's staff and a few excellent serial posts sparking good discussion. In the transit world, we saw the opening of the RapidRide G Line, the Link 2 Line Starter Line, the Lynnwood Link Extension, bus restructures in King and Snohomish Counties, and continued rebound in ridership from the lows of 2020. Let's look back at the Top 10 Most Read (by pageviews) and Most Commented posts of 2024.

Most Read (Top 10, descending order):

• #1: Lynnwood Link Opening Ceremonies (July 20). Nathan Dickey reviewed Sound Transit's plans for the opening of the Lynnwood Link Extension and associated capacity limitations posed by the lack of access to OMF-East.
• #2: No More RapidRide (March 3). Mike Orr discussed Stephen Fesler's case against RapidRide projects.
• #3: Ballard Link Extension: 4th Ave Shallow is Dead, Long Live 5th Ave Diagonal (November 16). Nathan Dickey reviewed presentations by Sound Transit staff and an independent consultant detailing the construction complexities associated with building a new Link station near the CID.
• #4: Busway for SeaTac Airport (November 30). Martin Pagel reviewed the Port of Seattle's plans for a busway at SeaTac instead of the previously planned people mover.
• #5: First Look at WSLE's High Bridge (August 15). Nathan Dickey reviewed Sound Transit's presentation to the Seattle Design Commission regarding its proposed high bridge over the Duwamish Waterway. This predated the realization WSLE (as designed) may cost upwards of $7B.
• #6: State Must Reform Sound Transit (December 13). Martin Pagel discussed Trevor Reed's petition to reform Sound Transit's leadership and capabilities.
• #7: West Seattle by Bus instead of Light Rail (June 7). Martin Pagel proposed significant improvements to bus service throughout West Seattle as a way to improve transit access rather than building WSLE.
• #8: Lynnwood Link Begins Simulated Service (July 8). Nathan Dickey provided an update on service testing and preparatory changes to service maps on Link trains.
• #9: Observations from the 2 Line's regular weekday rhythm (May 1). Sherwin Lee rode the 2 Line Starter Line a week after its grand opening weekend and commented on its early regular" ridership.
• #10: First Month of the 2 Line (June 14). Nathan Dickey reviewed the first drop of monthly ridership data for the 2 Line Starter Line.

Most Commented (Top 10, excluding Open Threads):

• #1: Observations from the 2 Line's regular weekday rhythm by Sherwin Lee (231 comments). One of our most-read pieces, conversation topics centered on ridership patterns and land use around the Starter Line.
• #2: Stride S1 Line Updates: TIBS Reroute, Renton Station Swap, and More by Wesley Lin (215 comments). Commentary focused on construction woes, routing, and station walksheds.
• #3: Lynnwood Link Festivities by Nathan Dickey (191 comments). Commentators shared their experience with the opening night festivities.
• #4: West Seattle Link Costs Keep Climbing by Nathan Dickey (185 comments). Conversations focused on cost escalations, funding mechanisms, the FEIS results, and unstudied alternatives.
• #5: First Week by Mike Orr (179 comments). Mike asked folks to chime in on their experience with the major transit restructures and opening of RapidRide G; the commentariat replied.
• #6: A sneak peek at the 2 Line's South Bellevue Station by Sherwin Lee (174 comments). Commentary focused on station design, 2 Line routing, and expectations prior to the line's opening.
• #7: Regional Transit after Federal Way Link by Ross Bleakney (171 comments). Commentators responded well to Ross' proposal for a robust bus network leveraging the Federal Way Link extension's planned opening in 2026.
• #8: West Seattle by Bus instead of Light Rail by Martin Pagel (168 comments). One of our most-read articles, the comments section had a lively discussion of the merits of Martin's proposal.
• #9: No More RapidRide by Mike Orr (154 comments). Another one of our most-read articles, the commentariat hotly debated the value of RapidRide-scale corridor projects.
• #10: State Must Reform Sound Transit by Martin Pagel (151 comments). #7 on our most-read list, comments discussed different points made by Martin and in Trevor Reed's Op-Ed.

The top ten Open Threads garnered 150-300 comments, the result of an active and unique comment community bringing healthy discussion to the Blog.