Seattle Transit Blog

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?"

A tale of two cities. Redmond city planning led to massive TOD around Downtown Redmond and Overlake Village stations, and expedited the Link planning. (Yet Another Urbanist) Kemper Freeman's war on transit. (Yet Another Urbanist) This is an open thread.

Pike Place Market's car-free pilot was recently extended until Spring 2026. During this time the Market will create a comprehensive street management plan that will take effect before the FIFA World Cup in June. We don't know what the final plan will be, but it may result in Pike Place becoming the third pedestrian street ... Continue reading "Friday Roundtable: Pedestrian Streets in Seattle"

Upcoming Link Disruptions:- Several sporadic periods of reduced evening service for construction of Pinehurst Station- Downtown tunnel (Westlake to SODO) will be closed Saturday, August 23, from morning to 1pm, for East Link testing. Shuttle buses will run every 10-15 minutes. Local Transit News: Commentary & Miscellaneous: This is an Open Thread. Contact us if ... Continue reading "Midweek Roundup: light rail culture"

The first ever bus routes. (The Tim Traveler) Hint: They're in France and have to do with Blaise Pascal. Three good things about Metro buses and ST Express by a visitor. (Trains are Awesome) The London Underground has express services. (Ontario Traffic Man via RMTransit) This is an open thread.

Seattle has a long history with rail public transit. This map was drawn by Harry Foesig and published in Leslie Blanchard's 1968 book, The Street Railway Era in Seattle: a Chronicle of Six Decades. Despite the map depicting Seattle 129 years ago, many of the routes shown are still served by Metro routes today. STB ... Continue reading "Friday Roundtable: Seattle Street Railways in 1896"

The Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) is wrapping up two projects in Pioneer Square that will make traveling in the area easier for everyone. SDOT is hosting a celebration during the Pioneer Square Art Walk today from 5-7pm at 3rd Ave S & S Main St. SDOT's 3rd Ave S & S Main St project ... Continue reading "SDOT Project Completion Celebration in Pioneer Square"

Elections Headlines: Transit & Streets: Land Use & Housing: Commentary & Miscellaneous: Selected election results (1st drop; 8pm, Aug. 5): This is an Open Thread.

Pike Place Market with cars in 2022, and without cars in 2025. (Juan Rodriguez) Cars were removed from Pike Place in April due to a building construction project blocking a lane. They were supposed to return this month but Mayor Harrell extended the ban to spring 2026. The city is taking advantage of this temporary ... Continue reading "Sunday Movie: Pike Place Market With and Without Cars"

One of the most significant transit gaps in Seattle is on Boren Ave between Jackson Street and Denny Way. Boren Ave is aligned with the downtown grid and runs through the heart of First Hill. The avenue is unique as it is the only road connects South Lake Union (SLU), First Hill, and Little Saigon. ... Continue reading "Friday Roundtable: Boren Ave Route Idea"

On Monday, King County Metro announced fares will increase on September 1, 2025, for multiple Metro services and for the Seattle Streetcar, which is owned by SDOT but operated by Metro. From the announcement: The new adult $3 fare brings the price of riding Metro buses, Metro Flex and Seattle Streetcar in alignment with Sound ... Continue reading "Metro and Seattle Streetcar fares increasing on Sept. 1"

Local Transit & Streets: Other Transportation: Commentary & Miscellaneous: This is an Open Thread.

Livability in Melbourne, Australia. (CityNerd) The Seattle waterfront streetcars in 1982-2005 came from Melbourne. When an Australian friend who'd grown up in Melbourne visited, I took him on the streetcar. It really reminded him of his childhood. The current Melbourne streetcars ave a green-and-yellow style that looks like a Metro bus on rails. And they're ... Continue reading "Movies: Melbourne & Auckland"

The Bellevue Arts Fair is this weekend if you're looking for something to do. It's a large free annual festival of artists' booths and other artsy activities. It started Friday and continues Saturday 10am-7pm, and Sunday 11am-6pm. Here's a map with the event locations. The fair started in 1948, and has been running annually my ... Continue reading "Bellevue Arts Fair"

The annual Seafair Festival Weekend is next week on August 1-3 at Genesee Park. Festivities include an air show, hydroplane races, and a classic car show. Event organizers are encouraging attendees to use public transportation. For most people, the Link 1 Line will be the best option. The closest station is Columbia City. Route 106 ... Continue reading "Friday Roundtable: Seafair Festival Weekend Transit"

Elections 2025: Ballots are out for the August 5 Primary Election. Guides & Endorsements: WA Voters' Guide (official), The Urbanist, Transportation for Washington, Progressive Voters Guide, The Stranger, The Seattle Times ($), Real Change. In Seattle, the City Council is looking to codify deference to district representatives regarding issues in their district, which would make ... Continue reading "Midweek Roundup: transit to avoid traffic"