Spring 2026 Service Change

Eastbound 2 Line train in Bellevue.

In just 7 days, the Link 2 Line will carry its first passengers across Lake Washington. The long awaited and heavily anticipated opening will cause a cascade of changes across the region's bus network. Many of these changes will be implemented this Fall, but some will start on March 28. Below is an outline of all Spring 2026 route changes for King County Metro, Sound Transit, Community Transit, Pierce Transit, and Intercity Transit.

King County Metro

Starting March 28, Metro is implementing Phase 4 of the East Link Connections route restructure. The remaining route changes will be implemented in the Fall. The full slate of East Link Connection route revisions was outlined in a previous post. The agency's South Link Connections route restructure will also be implemented in the Fall. In addition to the changes listed below, several other routes have minor schedule adjustments or bay changes at transit center.

Metro will begin all door boarding on all routes on March 28. Most of the Metro fleet has ORCA readers at each door, so riders are expected to tap in when they board (with an ORCA card or credit card). Passengers paying with cash should still use the front door.

• C Line will start a long term re-route due to the SW Barton St repaving project. Outbound trips will now stop on SW Trenton St between between 35th Ave SW and 25th Ave SW, instead of on SW Barton St. Trips to downtown Seattle will now start at a new stop on the northwest corner of 25th Ave SW & SW Barton St.
• Route 8 will be revised to deviate from MLK Way S to 23rd Ave S between E Yesler Way and S Massachusetts St. The route will share stops with Route 48 on 23rd Ave and will stop directly outside Judkins Park station.
• Route 21 will start a long term re-route due to the SW Barton St repaving project. Outbound trips will stop on SW Trenton St, instead of SW Barton St. Trips to downtown Seattle will now start at a new stop on the northwest corner of 25th Ave SW & SW Barton St.
• Route 31 will have a new stop added to the end of the route in Magnolia at W McGraw St & 31st Ave W.
• Route 48s northbound schedule after 10pm will be adjusted to run a combined 15-minute frequency with Route 8 from Mount Baker Transit Center.
• Route 75 will start a long term re-route due to the construction of a roundabout at NE 125th St & Roosevelt Way NE. Between NE Northgate Way and NE 125th St, Route 75 will run on NE Northgate Way, Pinehurst Way NE and 15th Ave NE and stop at the same stops served by Route 348.
• Route 79 will lose a few early morning and evening trips and gain a few trips during peak hours that align with Ekstein Middle School bell-times.
• Route 156 will be extended to Kent Des Moines Link station.
• Route 181 will now have service between 6am - 11pm on both Saturday and Sunday.
• Route 182 will now have service between 5am - 10:15pm on weekdays and between 7am - 9:15pm on weekends.
• Route 183 will now have 30 minutes southbound frequency between 5am and 7am on weekdays, thanks to four new southbound trips. 12 new trips on Saturday will provide 30-minute service between 6pm and 9pm. The route will also be adjusted to stop at Star Lake station.
• Route 187 will now have service between 7am - 9:15pm on weekends.
• Route 223 will be updated to have 20 minute mid-day frequency thanks to eight additional weekday trips.
• Route 224 will have a revised path to better serve the growing employment at Redmond Ridge Corporate Center.
• Route 225 will now serve Overlake station instead of Redmond Technology station. The new path will have stops on 148th Ave NE and NE 36th St. The route's frequency will increase to every 30 minutes (from 60 min).
• Route 240 will be updated to have 15 minute frequency between 5am and 9pm on weekdays.
• Route 250 will now serve Avondale Road and Bear Creek Park and Ride on every trip (instead of every other trip).
• Route 903 will now run between 5am - 9:30pm.
• Route 930 will have a new deviation zone in Kingsgate between 124th Ave NE to the west, NE 132nd St to the south, 132nd Ave NE to the east, and NE 144th St and NE 143rd St to the north.
• Water Taxi will begin the summer schedule on April 11.

Sound Transit

On March 28, Sound Transit will start service on the Link 2 Line and begin running their first ever night-owl ST Express route. In addition to the changes listed below, several other routes have minor schedule adjustments or bay changes at transit center.

• 1 Line will no longer run trips between Federal Way and Beacon Hill at the end of the day. The last northbound train will leave Federal Way at 11:48pm on weekdays.
• 2 Line will begin running the full route between Downtown Redmond and Lynnwood City Center.
• Route 510 will now run every 15 minutes in the morning and every 20 minutes in the afternoon.
• Route 515 will now run every 15 minutes.
• Route 545 will no longer stop at Olive Way & Boren Ave.
• Route 570 will begin running each night between downtown Seattle and SeaTac airport, with via SODO and Tukwila International Blvd station.
• S Line trips 1507 and 1520 will be extended from Tacoma to Lakewood.

Community Transit

Starting March 28, Community Transit will be adjusting some routes based on ridership and to provide improved early morning and late night service.

• Swift Blue Line will have two new southbound trips on Sunday that depart Everett Station at 5:40am and 10:20pm.
• Swift Green Line will have a new last trip on Sunday night that starts the route around 9:20pm in each direction. One trip between 1pm and 2pm on Sunday has been removed.
• Route 101s last southbound trip on weekday evenings will now depart from Mariner P&R at 11pm.
• Route 102 trips from Edmonds station will now leave a few minutes later to align with the updated Sounder schedule.
• Route 117 will have minor schedule adjustments to better align with the ferry schedule and Route 103.
• Routes 201 and 202 will now have an earlier first trip on Saturday and Sunday. On Saturday, the first northbound Route 202 trip will depart Lynnwood City Center at 5:44am and the second trip will depart at 6:14am (instead of 6:34am). On Sunday, the first northbound Route 202 trip will depart Lynnwood City Center at 6:14am. The 7:04am trip will now run as Roue 201 instead of Route 202.
• Route 904s last southbound trip in the morning will now depart Marysville at 8:44am (instead of 9:17am).

Pierce Transit

Starting March 29, Pierce Transit is extending the Stream Community Line to downtown Tacoma and adding new trips on routes 1 and 3. Various other routes will have minor schedule adjustments.

The in addition to the routes listed below, the following routes have minor schedule changes: 2, 4, 11, 41, 45, 54, 55, 202, 206, 400, 402, 409, 497.

• Stream Community Line will be extended to downtown Tacoma with new stops at Pacific Avenue & 14^th Street, Pacific Avenue & 19^th Street, and at Commerce Street Station.
• Route 1 will have 8 new northbound and 10 new southbound trips on weekdays.
• Route 3 will have 9 new northbound and 10 new southbound trips on weekdays.

Intercity Transit

Intercity Transit is redesigning it's entire network on May 3, 2026. Maps and schedules are available here. A future article will cover the redesign in more detail.