Link Ridership Soars 46% After Crosslake Connection Opening

Ridership from the 2 Line has pushed Link to be the busiest light rail system in the United States in April 2026.

Sound Transit's Link light rail system continues to break its own ridership records. After the highly-anticipated Crosslake Connection opening at the end of March, system-wide ridership jumped 46% to 4,675,216 passengers in April 2026. This equates to an average 155,840 boardings across the 1 Line, 2 Line, and T Line every day. Since the pandemic, Link ridership has increased significantly. Seattle's growing population and growing light rail network have boosted Link's ridership above pre-pandemic levels. The following Link extension projects have opened in the past five years.

• October 2021: Northgate extension (1 Line)
• September 2023: Hilltop Extension (T Line)
• April 2024: East Link Starter Line (2 Line)
• August 2024: Lynnwood City Center extension (1 Line)
• May 2025: Downtown Redmond extension (2 Line)
• December 2025: Federal Way Downtown extension (1 Line)
• March 2026: Crosslake Connection (2 Line)

Average daily Link ridership since August 2003.

Sound Transit has not shared the ridership breakdown by line, but it's safe to say the 2 Line is pulling its weight. Several ST Express buses have lost ridership due to the 2 Line, but their lower ridership is more than recovered by the increase in Link boardings.

For the first time in its 23 year history, Link is the busiest light rail in the United States. In recent years, the top spot has alternated between the light rail systems in Los Angeles, Boston, and San Diego. Link has trailed as the distant 4th busiest system, until now. While Link is classified as light rail, it is more of a hybrid system. North of downtown Seattle, the tracks are entirely grade separated and several sections use deep bore tunnels to slash travel times by providing a direct route between stations.

Monthly ridership for the 10 busiest light rail networks in the United States, over the past 10 years. Link ridership is shown by the thicker blue line.

While Link is the busiest light rail system, there were 10 busier heavy or commuter rail network around the country in April 2026. These include: New York City's MTA (203M boardings in April 2026), Washington DC's Metro (18M), Chicago's CTA (11M), Boston's MBTA (9.3M), Long Island Rail Road (8.6M), Metro-North Commuter Railroad (6.3M), Philadelphia's SEPTA (5.8M), NYC's PATH (5.7M), San Francisco's BART (5.7M), and New Jersey Transit (4.9M).

All ridership data referenced in this article is from the Federal Transit Administration.