Seattle Transit Blog

2025 General Election: Local Transit & Streets: Land Use & Housing: Commentary & Miscellaneous: This is an Open Thread. Is there a bottleneck on your bus ride? Is your local stop a step too far? Let us know! Our inbox is open to reader proposals for spot improvements and other opportunities for advocacy.

This is part 3 of a 3-part series. Over the past two days, we've discussed the hazardous conditions of MLK Way and outlined a few possible changes the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) and Sound Transit could implement to improve safety for everyone. To recap, the potential improvements discussed included minor and major changes. The ... Continue reading "Dangerous By Design: Candidate Perspectives on MLK Way"

This is part 2 of a 3-part series. Martin Luther King Jr Way South is a dangerous street for everyone. As discussed in Part 1, the 2,772 crashes since 2009 prove that something needs to change. Both the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) and Sound Transit have made changes to MLK Way in attempts to ... Continue reading "Dangerous By Design: Potential Improvements for MLK Way"

This is part 1 of a 3-part series. Every time I find myself using Martin Luther King Jr Way S (MLK Way) to travel somewhere, I know I'm in for an adventure. Regardless of the mode of transportation, MLK Way is not an easy street to use. When driving, I have to contend with other ... Continue reading "Dangerous By Design: MLK Way's Current Conditions"

Pros and cons of fare-free transit. (Transit Tangents) Free parking is always an illusion. The tax break behind it. (Urban3) With free transit it's obvious taxpayers are paying for the buses and trains. With free parking, people just imagine there's no cost to provide it. Early News Roundup items are below the fold. Monday-Wednesday will ... Continue reading "Sunday Movies: Free Transit & Parking"

The following is our set of endorsements for the 2025 General Election. We didn't weigh in on every race. We focused on transit-related issues with candidates representing parts (or all) of Seattle. Feel free to comment on other races. Keep the discussion about the candidates and not other transit issues. Mayor: Katie Wilson. While Bruce ... Continue reading "Seattle Transit Blog 2025 Endorsements"

This is an Open Thread.

Link is starting a monthly maintenance program, with the first batch of work Tuesday-Thursday night. Here's an excerpt from the press release: Yes, that means a 3-seat ride from the airport or Angle Lake to Othello or anywhere north of it. (1) Take Metro RapidRide A to Tukwila International Blvd station, (2) transfer to the ... Continue reading "Link Monthly Maintenance"

This month, Sound Transit finally presented its first proposal for Sound Transit Express bus service in 2026. The upshot? Good news if you were worried about your fast bus to Seattle going away. The situation for a large portion of riders (including nearly all south sound riders) will be essentially the status quo, at least ... Continue reading "ST Express: How 10 minutes could expand your travel options"

Chicago is a vibrant city, not a crime-ravaged third-world hellhole. (CityNerd) Ray rides several L lines and checks out the station areas. This is an open thread.

WSDOT completed the SR 167 master plan in 2023 for the next couple decades outlining the freeway expansion. Albeit focusing on single occupancy vehicles throughput, the plan did outline constructing toll lanes, building direct access ramps, and running proposed BRT route for the corridor. While this was a study without funding it might still become ... Continue reading "SR-167 BRT"

Local Transit News: Other Transportation: Land Use & Housing: This is an Open Thread.

Pinehurst Station is scheduled to open sometime in 2026. When it does, Metro will run buses to it from nearby neighborhoods like Lake City and Bitter Lake, saving riders a lot of time on trips that involve Link. As part of the Lynnwood Link restructure Metro has proposed the following: Most of what is on ... Continue reading "Better Bus Service to Pinehurst Station"

King County Metro Route 75 travels inbound from Northgate station to the University District, primarily on NE 125th Street and Sand Point Way NE. Outbound trips travel in the reverse direction. In August 2025, Route 75 had 3,393 average weekday boardings. In the plots shown below, the inbound trip is cut off as Route 75 ... Continue reading "Ridership Patterns for King County Metro Route 75"

Holiday service Monday, October 13: Metro, Sound Transit, Community Transit, Pierce Transit, Seattle Streetcars, Vashon and West Seattle water taxis, and the Washington State Ferries are on regular Monday schedule for Columbus Day/Indigenous People's Day. This is the day to ride Sounder, water taxis, or peak expresses if your work schedule doesn't usually allow it. ... Continue reading "Sunday Movie: Melbourne"

Tonight, 6-8pm: Seattle Neighborhood Greenways is hosting Community Crossroads" atEl Centro de la Razain Beacon Hill. The event will feature a panel discussion and community engagement opportunities considering the future of Seattle's most dangerous corridors, including Aurora Ave N, MLK Jr. Way S., and streets in South Park. The PSRC is taking input on its ... Continue reading "Midweek Roundup: Community Crossroads"

Sound Transit released its 2026 service plan proposal with an ST Express restructure and survey for feedback until November 7th. Last week ST previewed the changes in a Rider Experience and Operations Committee report, and STB commentators wasted no time in starting to comment on them. Ryan Packer at The Urbanist did an analysis the ... Continue reading "ST Express 2026 restructure"

Sound Transit has shared the initial 2026 Service Plan proposal for next fall (a year from now). This article looks at the new night owl express service in the proposal. The next article will address the other ST Express route restructures. Three new ST Express routes would run every night between midnight and 5am, when ... Continue reading "Sound Transit Proposes Night Owl Service"

Judkins Park Link station is scheduled to open with the full East Link Extension in Spring 2026. While Judkins Park station will be an incredible resource for Seattle residents in the Central District and Southeast Seattle, the station's location in the middle of I-90 is less than ideal. The east station entrance on 23rd Ave ... Continue reading "Judkins Park Station Access Improvements"

Bob (bobco85) ranks every Link station on its access to a regional bicycle trail. His focus is on biking and regional trails, so he doesn't mention some smaller trails and parks that are withing pedestrian range, like Cowen/Ravenna Park a few blocks from Roosevelt Station. We covered the Des Moines Creek Trail in a Friday ... Continue reading "Sunday Movie: Trails Near Link"

In the latest installment of uneasiness around ST3, Bruce Harrell rejected the idea ($) of jettisoning West Seattle or Ballard from the plan to balance the books. I would expect nothing less from the Mayor of Seattle. He also proposed another advisory group and some regulatory reforms. No doubt, regulatory reforms would help. But it's ... Continue reading "We Are Here Because No One Will Make A Decision"

To celebrate the Week Without Driving, Mayor Harrell and the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) planned to remove a bus-only lane in Capitol Hill. On Tuesday, Ryan Packer reported the Union Street bus-only lane at the intersection of E Madison St, E Union St, and 12th Ave will be removed. This announcement was followed by ... Continue reading "Friday Roundtable: Union Street Bus Lane"

Sound Transit Route 522 travels inbound from Woodinville to Roosevelt station, primarily via SR-522. This express service has stops in Bothell, Kenmore and Lake City. Outbound trips travel in the reverse direction. In June 2025, Route 522 had 2,318 average weekday boardings. Average Ridership Per Trip The plots below show the average weekday ridership by ... Continue reading "Ridership Patterns for Sound Transit Route 522"

Next Wednesday, October 8, 6-8pm: Seattle Neighborhood Greenways is hosting Community Crossroads" at El Centro de la Raza in Beacon Hill. The event will feature a panel discussion and community engagement opportunities considering the future of Seattle's most dangerous corridors, including Aurora Ave N, MLK Jr. Way S., and streets in South Park. The Puget ... Continue reading "Midweek Roundup: traditional system"

King County Metro Route 5 travels inbound from Shoreline Community College to downtown Seattle, primarily on Greenwood Ave N and Phinney Ave N. Outbound trips travel in the reverse direction. In August 2025, Route 5 had 4,926 average weekday boardings. In the plots shown below, the inbound trip is cut off as Route 5 is ... Continue reading "Ridership Patterns for King County Metro Route 5"

CityNerd on the Pike Place and Pike Street pedestrianizations, interviewed by Kenji Lopez-Alt. (CityNerd) Why Americans don't walk to school anymore. It's about the sidewalks. (Evan Edinger) This is an open thread.

The 5th annual Week Without Driving is next week, from September 29 to October 5. Started by Seattle-based disability advocate Anna Zivarts in 2021, Week Without Driving has since grown to national level. Last year, local events were organized by 520 groups in all 50 states. On the surface, the goal of the campaign sounds ... Continue reading "Friday Roundtable: Week Without Driving"

Local Transit News: Other Transportation: Land Use & Housing: Commentary & Miscellaneous: This is an Open Thread.

Copenhagen's automated metro has been running for 20 years. (dronthego) It has 4 lines, each running every 3-6 minutes and operating 24/7. Ridership is an average of 344,000 per day. Two lines combine downtown for 1.5 minute frequency. Agency promo page. A train ride from Halifax to Montreal on VIA rail. Worse than Amtrak in ... Continue reading "Sunday Movie: Copenhagen & Canadian Maritimes"

Yesterday marked the 25th anniversary of Sounder, Sound Transit's commuter rail service. On the morning of September 18, 2000, the first Sounder trip departed a temporary station in Tacoma and headed towards King Street Station in Seattle. Along the way, the train stopped in Sumner and Auburn. A second trip ran later in the morning, ... Continue reading "Friday Roundtable: Sounder Turns 25"

Local Transit News: Other Transportation: Land Use & Housing: Commentary & Miscellaneous: This is an Open Thread.

CityNerd looks at South Lake Union, its walkability and bicycle lanes, the notoriously unreliable route 8, the wide stroads, and Big Tech's hidden motives for colonizing" downtown areas. How are the Sunday Movies going? Do you like the mix of topics and creators? Are there other topics or creators we've missed that you'd like to ... Continue reading "Sunday Movie: SLU and the L8"

Sound Transit is in the early stages of building Stride 3, a new bus rapid transit service. It will run along SR-522 and Northeast 145th Street between Bothell and Shoreline South/148th Station. Additional right-of-way will be added along parts of the corridor to allow the buses to avoid congestion. One of the more controversial areas ... Continue reading "Fixing Stride 3"

Excerpts from the 1975 novel Ecotopia by Ernest Callenbach. Twenty years earlier in 1955, California, Oregon, and Washington seceded from the US to form a sustainable environmentalist utopia. Since then there has been a cold war and little contact between the US and Ecotopia. Now an American journalist goes to Ecotopia to report on its ... Continue reading "Friday Roundtable: Ecotopia Transit"

I was going to Uwajimaya on September 4th for a routine shopping trip. I got off a 14 bus at Union Station, when right in front of me was a sign for a Sound Transit board meeting. So I went inside to see it. I thought it was the full board meeting (and the signs ... Continue reading "ST Rider Experience Meeting 9/4"

Local Transit News: Land Use & Housing: Other Transportation Commentary & Miscellaneous: Upcoming Events: Tomorrow, Sept. 11, 5:30pm: Transit candidate Meet & Greet hosted by Seattle Subway. RVSP here. Thursday, Sept. 18, 5:30: Meet and Greet with King County Councilmember Claudia Balducci hosted by The Urbanist and Seattle Subway. RSVP here. This is an Open ... Continue reading "Midweek Roundup: historic test"

By KIAN NAEEMI The Harborview Medical Center area is a bottleneck afflicted with crushing traffic. Multiple roads funnel traffic east into James Street, where traffic then struggles onto I-5. At the same time, bus routes 3 and 4 are trying to serve the same kind of trip on those roads, getting people to the Link ... Continue reading "Speeding Up Routes 3 and 4"

For the first time in history, a light rail vehicle has crossed a floating bridge under its own power. Just before midnight Monday evening, Link vehicle 219 traveled between Mercer Island station and Judkins Park station via the Homer M. Hadley Memorial Bridge. Unlike the tow test in May, the vehicle in yesterday's test was ... Continue reading "Sound Transit Completes Live Wire Test on Floating Bridge"

Was hyperloop a scam? The Cascadia high-speed rail study compared hyperloop to other modes. (CityNerd) The Vegas Loop, which does exist, is unbelievably impractical and gets few riders. Ray rides it and compares it to Las Vegas's other transit. (CityNerd) Ray will be be in Seattle at Town Hall November 5th. Livestream tickets are available; ... Continue reading "Sunday Boring Movies"

Over the past two decades, the City of Seattle, Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT), Port of Seattle, Friends of Waterfront Park, Downtown Seattle Association, Seattle Center, King County Metro, numerous community groups, and thousand of Seattle residents have contributed to redesigning and rebuilding Seattle's waterfront. Years of debates, discussions, proposals, votes ($), and construction ... Continue reading "Friday Roundtable: Waterfront Park Grand Opening"

The next 18 months may be the most important period of Sound Transit history as it tries to close a $30-40 billion program gap (The Urbanist). Additional coverage by the Seattle Times ($). Mayor Harrell thinks a new technical advisory group and regulatory reforms will get the job done with no program cuts or new ... Continue reading "Midweek Roundup: mid-life overhaul"

Biking the new Seattle waterfront and East Marginal Way with Greg Spotts, former SDOT director. (Best Side Cycling) Biking the Vancouver Seawall Trail. (City Beautiful) It goes 28 km (17 miles) around Stanley Park, around False Creek, and along the Kitsilano shore to several beaches. This is an open thread.

The Fall Service Change is upon us and most of the transit agencies in Puget Sound have updates to their network. These changes will take effect over the next few weeks, starting as soon as tomorrow, August 30. These agencies include King County Metro, Sound Transit, Community Transit, Pierce Transit, Everett Transit, and Intercity Transit. ... Continue reading "Fall 2025 Service Change"

This morning, Sound Transit announced the official opening day of the Federal Way Link Extension, which will extend the 1 Line to three new stations beyond its current terminus at Angle Lake. An opening ceremony will be held across the extension on Saturday, December 6, 2025, kicking off full 1 Line service to the new ... Continue reading "Federal Way Link to open on Dec. 6"

Local Transit & Land Use: National News: Commentary & Miscellaneous: This is an Open Thread.

The Link 1 Line runs between Angle Lake in SeaTac and Lynnwood via Tukwila, Seattle, Shoreline, and Mountlake Terrace. In May 2025, the 1 Line had 105,586 average weekday boardings. The 1 Line initially opened in July 2009 and ran between downtown Seattle (Westlake) and Tukwila. Since then, it has expanded north to the University ... Continue reading "Ridership Patterns for Link 1 Line"

California high-speed rail is good, is well under construction, is likely to survive federal grant loss, and could be improved with a conventional-speed interim extension. (Alan Fisher) Los Angeles has big rail and BRT expansion plans. (Nick Andert (nandert) via RMTransit) In June we covered the LAX metro station and the K line in Los ... Continue reading "Sunday Movies: CAHSR & Los Angeles Expansion"

Last week, Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) crews installed the first Freight and Bus (FAB) lane in Seattle on 4th Ave S. The new lane runs northbound from S Walker St to under the Edgar Martinez Dr S overpass. Metro routes 131 and 132 serve stops along this segment of 4th Ave S. The bus ... Continue reading "Friday Roundtable: FAB Lane in SODO"

Recent Transportation Headlines at The Urbanist: Other Transportation: Land Use & Housing: Commentary & Miscellaneous: This is an Open Thread.

Last May, SDOT released a new fact sheet on its Harrison and Mercer Transit Access project, spanning the blue line in the map above. It's at 30% design, and construction can begin as early as" 2026 (although since the May update, that has slipped to 2027). The plan is for, more or less, the usual ... Continue reading "Bus Improvements on Harrison, but Will There be Buses?"