Vinyl Seats are Coming to All Link Trains

On Monday, Sound Transit announced seats on all Link trains will be upgraded to use vinyl inserts instead of the current cloth covers. This change comes following feedback the agency received during a pilot of these seats in 2024. The vinyl inserts are similar to the vinyl seats that King County Metro first started using in its fleet in 2011.

Cloth seat (left) next to a vinyl seat (right) on a Series 2 LRV (Sound Transit)

During the pilot, Sound Transit solicited rider input on the cleanliness, comfort, appearance, and overall satisfaction of the vinyl seats vs the cloth seats. The vinyl seats ranked higher in every category. Additionally, maintenance data showed the vinyl seats are more durable and easier to clean.

Sound Transit is using the seat replacement process to update how priority seating is labelled. Priority seating is for riders with disabilities and senior citizens.These seats will now feature an embroidered ADA logo on the seat back to make them easier to identify.

Over the next few months, the new vinyl seats will be installed on all Link trains.

An example of the ADA logo on a seat back (Sound Transit)

Edit, January 14, 1:17 PM: A Sound Transit representative has shared some additional details with us. The accessibility icons will be embroidered directly onto the vinyl, sort of like a sports jersey". Also, while the vinyl seats tested in the pilot program were lightly textured blue, the seats being installed across the Link fleet will feature a triangle and hexagon pattern, shown below:

The new vinyl seats being installed across the Link fleet will feature a pattern not used on the seats used in the pilot program (Sound Transit).