ST Express 2026 Restructure Approved
The Sound Transit Board just voted to pass the ST Express 2026 restructure, which will be implemented this fall. There are little or no changes from the last proposal. The vote was unanimous.
Until then the ST Express routes will remain unchanged, even though Crosslake Link will open in two days and Federal Way Link opened last December. ST says this is to provide resiliency" through the World Cup period. I take this to mean if Link breaks down or gets overcrowded during the World Cup, these routes will remain as a backup, and the routes are widely known so residents can help visitors find them and tell them when they run.
There was extensive public testimony at the beginning of the board meeting, though most of it wasn't about ST Express. The meeting livestream should be on ST's YouTube channel within a couple days. I listened to bits of the testimony: most of what I heard was advocating for ST3 Link extensions not to be dropped, and there were a few ST Express comments.
We have reservations about parts of the restructure, missed opportunities for further restructuring, and the way public input was handled. The online survey had no text field to suggest changes to other routes or other alternatives for these routes. I sent my feedback in an email to ST, but most people wouldn't think of that or get around to it or realize other changes were even possible.
More below the fold.
In the Eastside, ST's major change is a new 556 replacing the current 550, 554, and 556. It will run run every 15 minutes daytime from the Issaquah Highlands P&R to Bellevue Transit Center, serving local stops on Gilman Blvd and Bellevue Way. This is good, as it will improve connectivity between Issaquah and Bellevue, and between Issaquah and Seattle (via a transfer at South Bellevue station to Link): 15 minutes is better than half-hourly. Metro also plans additional 15-minute express service between the Issaquah Highlands and Mercer Island station (bypassing central Issaquah).
Also in the Eastside, routes 542 and 545 will not change. 10-minute express service on the 545 between Redmond and downtown Seattle seems excessive with Link running in parallel. I'd rather see all or some of the 545's hours shifted to route 542 between Redmond and UW, and to other routes.
In the south end, ST keeps the 577, 578, 590, 592, and 594 unchanged, to mitigate Link's longer travel time to Federal Way. The 574 will increase to every 15 minutes daytime, and will terminate at Federal Way Downtown station and Lakewood (Sounder) station. It will no longer serve SeaTac or the Lakewood Transit Center. I'd like to see the 594 and perhaps the 590 and 592 add a Federal Way stop, delete or reduce the 577, and truncate the 578 at Federal Way. That could potentially serve more people more frequently and use bus capacity more efficiently. And Lakewood Town Center would be better than Lakewood station because it's closer to more pedestrian destinations and homes. But ST said no, so it's not happening.
In Seattle, Route 522 from Woodinville will switch from Roosevelt station to Shoreline South station to prefigure the upcoming Stride S3. This will lose service in Lake City, and make the connection worse between Lake City and Roosevelt, and Lake City and Northshore cities. Future Metro route 77 will backfill service between 125th and Roosevelt station, but the stop will be further away from the center of Lake City. With Metro's 372 going away, getting from Lake City to Kenmore will require a transit at 145th, and the stops will probably not be as close to each other as they could be, or people may even end up backtracking to Shoreline south station and back (or not riding transit at all).
There are other changes in Snohomish County and elsewhere.
ST will add three new night owl routes from Everett, Redmond, and Lakewood to downtown Seattle. While these are overall good, they serve the suburbs but bypass southeast Seattle, Capitol Hill, and most of north Seattle. ST says Metro provides night owls there, but will there be timed transfers? ST could extend the expresses to Capitol Hill station, since the nightlife there is a regionwide draw and where a large chunk of the night owl ridership comes from. But it didn't.
STB's Alex Kvenvolden proposed an alternative showing how adding 10 minutes of travel time to ST Express routes could bring in a lot more trip pairs from more areas and higher frequency, benefiting passengers overall.
So that's your ST Express for the next few years.