Seattle Transit Blog

After nearly two months of various council deliberations and public commentary, the Seattle Transit Measure is officially heading to voters in this year's November General Election. This measure proposes to renew funding for boosted transit service in Seattle, first enacted in 2014 (and reduced in 2020) for 10 years. Mayor Wilson's proposal in June faced ... Continue reading "Seattle Transit Measure renewal headed to voters in November"

Why have two downtown lots have remained empty for over a decade? The story of the Seattle Times lot and the Pioneer Square Station lot. (Build Core) Housing price dynamics in the US, UK, and New Zealand. (Patrick Boyle) This is an open thread.

Link will have a few maintenance reductions in late July and early August. On Sunday July 26 all day, the Crosslake part of the 2 Line will be replaced by shuttle buses between South Bellevue and International District. The shuttle will run approximately every 10-15 minutes. The 1 Line will run every 8 minutes from ... Continue reading "Friday Roundtable: Link Reductions July-August"

A Seattle city committee voted on a slate of amendments to the Seattle Transit Measure (STM) levy renewal Mayor Wilson proposed. The meeting video has the proceedings. It's three and a half hours long, and parts of it were confusing to me. I watched the debates and votes on 6 of the 22 amendments. This ... Continue reading "Seattle Transit Amendments Results"

PubliCola interviewed Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson: Part 1 and Part 2. Cascade PBS sat down with Tacoma Mayor Anders Ibsen, also at 6 months into his first term. Transit & Streets: Land Use & Housing: Other: This is an Open Thread.

By OLIVER CHEN Living in Seattle, I've come to appreciate the humble bus. I find riding the bus much more pleasant than driving through the city (and certainly much better than circling for parking!). Sitting alongside my fellow Seattleites makes me feel like a participant in the ebb and flow of the city rather than ... Continue reading "Mapping King County Metro Ridership"

Deadly stroad crosswalks are unique to the US. (Safe By Design) How LA Metro accidentally made itself fare-free. (Alex Davis) Musical interlude: Walking in LA. I can take a Bus Downtown (You Can Walk Downtown). This is an open thread.

This Monday, July 13, Seattle City Council is holding public hearings on the Seattle Transit Measure, Mayor Katie Wilson's proposed renewal of funding for more frequent, reliable bus service across Seattle. Councilmembers are considering a long list of potential amendments to the proposed measure. Some proposed amendments would cut funding, shorten the measure, and slow ... Continue reading "Action Alert: Stand Up for Seattle Transit"

Sound Transit has unveiled their initial proposal for the 2027 service plan. These changes are relatively minor compared to the Fall 2026 service changes that will take effect in August. This proposal includes changes for routes 510, 512, 532, 535, 545, 560, and Link. Routes 510 and 512 In Everett, early-morning Route 510 trips and ... Continue reading "Friday Roundtable: Sound Transit's 2027 Service Plan Proposal"

At 6:47 this morning, Sound Transit issued an ominous alert stating 1 Line and 2 Line trains are experiencing delays until further notice due to power issue near University of Washington Station". Less than 10 minutes later, Link service between Northgate, Stadium, and Judkins Park Station was suspended due to the power issue, with shuttle ... Continue reading "Link disrupted due to power issues near UW Station"

Over the past four weeks, Seattle hosted six World Cup matches featuring teams from eight different countries. Fans from around the world traveled to Seattle to cheer on their team and enjoy the Pacific Northwest. Seattle stepped up to the challenge of hosting 750,000 visitors by implementing temporary changes to make their experiences as wonderful ... Continue reading "Seattle won the World Cup, what did we learn?"

Transit & Streets Land Use & Housing This is an Open Thread.

Look out Seattle! World Cup fever has reached its peak. The final World Cup game in Seattle is today at 5pm at Seattle Stadium (Lumen Field). The US Men's team will be playing against Belgium in the Round of 16. The stadium itself will be busy, along with various watch parties around the city. Expect ... Continue reading "How to get around Seattle today"

A Golden Gardens Direct ride from the beach to central Ballard, partly with a view of the bike trail and its linear woods. (Scooby Doo and the Goblin King) This is the real-time trip block by block, so if you find it too slow you can go into Settings -> Playback Speed and speed it ... Continue reading "Sunday Movies: Golden Gardens & Duvall"

Holiday service announcements: Metro holiday service with Sound Transit, streetcars, and the King County water taxis. Sound Transit, Community Transit, Pierce Transit, Everett Transit, Kitsap Transit, Monorail, Washington State Ferries announcements. Trailhead Direct (choose route from Routes menu; holiday section is in top right). Below is a breakdown by day. If something is critical to ... Continue reading "Friday Roundtable: July 4 Weekend Service"

Reminder: most transit agencies will be running Sunday/holiday service this Friday, July 3, in observation of Independence Day. Check your local agency's service alerts. Reminder: To ensure there is enough space on trains, bikes and scooters are not allowed on trains on World Cup match days. There are matches today (July 1) and next Monday ... Continue reading "Midweek Roundup: Transit Champions"

Since the Lynnwood Link Extension opened in August 2024, Community Transit has overhauled its network. The two Link stations in Snohomish County have allowed the agency to invest more service hours in local routes than ever before. This investment comes at the cost the Commuter routes, which the agency has truncated and rebranded as Express. ... Continue reading "Community Transit Ridership Jumped 24% After Lynnwood Link Restructure"

Vancouver BC chose a Skytrain extension in the eastern Surrey-Langley suburbs over a competing surface light rail (LRT) proposal with a different L-shaped route. The video discusses the tradeoffs between the two, how to build an elevated rail extension, and the socioeconomic factors for the station cachement areas in both alternatives. (The B1M) This is ... Continue reading "Sunday Movie: Surrey-Langley Skytrain"

Reminders: To ensure there is enough space on trains, bikes and scooters are not allowed on trains on World Cup match days. Local: Further Afield: This is an Open Thread.

On Friday, Sound Transit and King County Metro carried over 500,000 passengers on trains, buses, and boats throughout Puget Sound. Both Link and the King County Water Taxi set a new one-day ridership records of 280,000 and 9,483 boardings, respectively. Friday was a busy day in Seattle. Communities around the City hosted Juneteenth celebrations. The ... Continue reading "Seattle Scores Record Transit Ridership"

Leaders from King County and Seattle met at Golden Gardens Park Monday morning to inaugurate a new shuttle service direct to Golden Gardens Park. Golden Gardens Direct" will provide a direct connection between Market Street in central Ballard to the park on Seaview Ave NW. Buses will run every 30 minutes every day from 11 ... Continue reading "Golden Gardens Direct shuttle starts Saturday"

What are Barcelona superblocks (superilles) really like? What do they look like, how many people use them, and what do they do in them? Here's an overview: By CityFixer. Seattle is briefly mentioned at 9:30-9:41. Some shorts on the superblocks: (1) Streetfilms overview, (2) a zen garden like effect with flat rock seats, (3) the ... Continue reading "Sunday Movie: Barcelona Superblocks"

Borrowing a phrase from Kirk Hovenkotter (Executive Director of Transportation Choices Coalition), today's Roundtable is about tourist use of Seattle's mass transit system. On Monday, Seattle held its first FIFA Men's World Cup match at Seattle Stadium" (Lumen Field). Sound Transit, King County Metro, Community Transit, and Pierce Transit each boosted transit service to get ... Continue reading "Friday Roundtable: the world is riding Seattle transit"

Earlier this week, Sound Transit shared the per-station breakdown of Link's record-breaking ridership in April 2026. The two new stations, Judkins Park and Mercer Island had 2,130 and 1,723 average weekday boardings, respectively. Ridership at these stations will increase over the next year as travel patterns change. Additionally, Metro and Sound Transit will restructure their ... Continue reading "Early Look at Crosslake Connection's Record-Breaking Ridership"

Community Transit has transformed its network over the past few years. Since its founding in 1976, Community Transit (CT) has operated a mix of local routes in Snohomish County and commuter routes to Seattle and other significant employment centers. Following Sound Transit's Link extension to Lynnwood in August 2024, CT deleted all but one of ... Continue reading "Community Transit Express Route Ridership Data"

Reminders: Seattle is hosting 5 more FIFA World Cup games over coming weeks. Keep an eye on your transit agency's service alerts and be aware there may be crowds at unusual times. Bikes and scooters are banned from Link trains on game days. This Friday, June 19, is Juneteenth, and Seattle hosting a match between ... Continue reading "Midweek Roundup: Summer of Soccer'"

Reece Martin (RMTransit) resurfaces with a discussion with Dr Jonathan English on how process issues affect the quality of transit projects. They call it engineering issues" vs phone call issues". Engineering issues are straightforward technical problems, like building Link on a floating bridge or a tunnel in dubious soil. Phone call issues are those where ... Continue reading "Bonus Movie: Process"

Three videos by J-Man Explores. Riding all the Community Transit Swift lines in one day, with the history of each transit corridor. Swift is the limited-stop BRT in Snohomish County, 13-30 miles north of Seattle, serving Lynnwood and Everett and surrounding cities. Transfers from Link light rail are at Shoreline North/185th station and Lynnwood City ... Continue reading "Sunday Movies: All Swift Lines & Rural Puget Sound"

On Friday afternoon, Community Transit Route 424 made its final trip from Seattle to the City of Snohomish. This marks the end of Community Transit's Commuter bus service to Seattle. When Community Transit was created in 1976, the agency operated just seven local bus routes. Within the first year, the system grew to 15 local ... Continue reading "Community Transit ran its last bus to Seattle"

Visiting Bainbridge Island will be a bit easier on Saturdays this summer thanks to a new free shuttle operated by Kitsap Transit. The route will operate on Saturdays between June 13 and September 12 (except July 4) from 11am to 7pm. Route 385 will be timed with the Bainbridge-Seattle ferry and run in a small ... Continue reading "Friday Roundtable: Free Downtown Bainbridge Shuttle"

The 2026 Men's World Cup kicks off today with a match between Mexico and South Africa in Mexico City. Seattle is hosting six games over the next five weeks. To ensure everyone can easily get where they need to go, transit agencies across Puget Sound are running extra services on match days. Seattle Each match ... Continue reading "Transit to World Cup Events"

Reminder: The FIFA World Cup starts tomorrow and the first match in Seattle is Monday, June 15, at noon. Plan for busy buses, trains, roadways, and lots of tourists. SDOT has travel tips. Metro has an SEA26 transit guide. Community Transit offers ways to Ride to Summer Fun. Pierce Transit is running a Fan Zone ... Continue reading "Midweek Roundup: Why, Robot"

On June 3, 2026, the Move All Seattle Sustainably (MASS) Coalition delivered a letter to the Seattle City Council supporting Mayor Wilson's proposal for the 2026 Seattle Transit Measure. Seattle Transit Blog, a proud member of the MASS Coalition, is reprinting the letter to broaden the Coalition's message for better transit service. The original letter ... Continue reading "MASS Coalition's priorities for the 2026 STM"

Last week, Mayor Wilson has unveiled her proposal for the next Seattle Transit Measure (STM) that will replace the current measure when it expires in 2027. The STM is an additional tax in Seattle that is used to fund more bus service and various transit programs. Wilson is proposing a 0.3% sales tax for the ... Continue reading "Seattle Transit Measure Renewal 2026"

Riding the oldest subway cars in the world. They're 1950s cars in the Buenos Aires Metro on Line B. (Trains are Awesome) Honorable mention to the Muni Metro F Line with a variety of vintage streetcars from the 1950s and earlier. I rode a few early 20th century international ones and found them bumpy, but ... Continue reading "Sunday Movie: Oldest Trains"

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, ... Continue reading "Link Ridership Soars 46% After Crosslake Connection Opening"

On Tuesday evening, a driver managed to drive their car on the light rail tracks from MLK Way & Walden St to Mount Baker station. The 70-year-old driver was not injured but was taken to the hospital as a precaution. 1 Line trains were replaced with shuttle buses between SODO and Othello station while Sound ... Continue reading "Driver Blocks Trains On Elevated Tracks at Mount Baker Station"

Local News: Further Afield: This is an Open Thread. Uncivil comments will be moderated.

On Monday, the newest Sounder cars made their debut on an S Line trip from Seattle to Lakewood. These new trains, three passenger cab cars and eight coach cars, were built by Alstom and delivered to Sound Transit in 2022. The new trains feature a new bike rack design, more power outlets and USB ports, ... Continue reading "Sound Transit Rolls Out New Sounder Trains"

How big an apartment can you rent in a city's most walkable neighborhood without a car, for the same cost as a 1000 square-foot rental in its most typical suburb with a car? Ray Delahanty answers that for the 26 largest metro areas in the US. Seattle is at 6:23. (CityNerd) Q&A about the tradeoffs ... Continue reading "Sunday Movies: With and Without a Car"

When Sound Transit opened the Crosslake Connection in March 2026, over 200,000 people went for a ride on the first day. Since then, the 2 Line has carried thousands of passengers between Seattle and the Eastside everyday. Many of these passengers are new transit riders who used to drive across Lake Washington, while others switched ... Continue reading "Friday Roundtable: Crosslake Connection's Impact on ST Express Ridership"

Update: The resolution passed with some of the amendments. Analysis at end of article. The Sound Transit board meets today at 1:30-5:00 to revise the ST3 system plan to reduce costs. The meeting page has links to the agenda, resolution, amendments, reports, and information on how to view the meeting and give public testimony in ... Continue reading "ST Board Meets to Postpone ST3 Projects"

On Wednesday, Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson unveiled an amendment to the Sound Transit 3 realignment plan that would keep the Graham St infill station on track to open in 2031. The ST3 realignment plan was proposed by Board Chair Dave Somers in early May as a means of aligning the agency's future Link extensions with ... Continue reading "Wilson, Zahilay, and Mosqueda Propose Plan to Save Graham St Station"

Service Alerts: Local Headlines: Further Afield: Events: This is an Open Thread.

In light of the recent news that Graham Street Station is set to be deferred yet again, I thought it would be worth considering if there may be a better way forward. Despite the early promises of the Enterprise Initiative, we are heading towards a future where a key Link Station is deferred indefinitely yet ... Continue reading "Graham Street Station and the Failure of the Enterprise Initiative"

Sound Transit boardmember Dan Strauss is proposing three amendments to the ST3 system plan update on Thursday. The full list of amendments is expected Tuesday, and it sounds like there will be a lot of them. Strauss is a Seattle City Councilmember for northwest Seattle. His amendments are: To me, #1 is consistent with our ... Continue reading "Strauss ST3 Amendments"

Why it's illegal to walk to the World Cup Final in New Jersey. Hint: It's not just highways and chain-link fences. (Evan Edinger) What if we removed the Lexington Avenue subway line in Manhattan? How many car lanes would we need to allow all existing passengers to drive? (CityNerd) In other news, on Friday afternoon ... Continue reading "Movies: Walking to the World Cup & Removing a Subway"

Seattle Parks & Recreation's annual Bicycle Weekends program returns this summer starting tomorrow, May 23. This summer, Lake Washington Blvd (LWB) will be closed to non-local car traffic every weekend until Labor Day between Seward Park and Mount Baker Beach. This includes holidays (May 25, July 3, and September 7), but excludes August 1-2 due ... Continue reading "Friday Roundtable: Lake Washington Boulevard Car-free Weekends 2026"

During the pandemic, fares were suspended on a number of transit agencies in Washington State including Metro and Sound Transit for public health reasons. While transit was free for part of 2020, Metro and Sound Transit suspended fare enforcement until Spring 2025 and Fall 2023 respectively. On Seattle's buses and trains (and Snohomish's, Spokane's, and ... Continue reading "The Status of Fare Evasion in Washington State"

Local News: This is an Open Thread. Uncivil comments will be moderated.