Seattle Transit Blog

The Seattle Times ($), Trains Magazine, and The Urbanist are reporting that Amtrak is rearranging cars from its national fleet to restore service to Amtrak Cascades over the course of this week. This is in response to Amtrak's sudden recall of Horizon rail cars nationwide last week which severely impacted Cascades service. Amtrak is ferrying ... Continue reading "Amtrak Cascades service recovering this week"

The Transit Riders Union alerted us to important legislation in Olympia that could use your help. The Urbanist covered this bill earlier in the legislative process, which seeks to improve service on Amtrak Cascades. To achieve these goals, WSDOT would likely implement upgrades described in the most recent service development plan. The following is largely ... Continue reading "Action Alert: Sign in Pro" for Amtrak Cascades bill by Tuesday 3pm"

Accessory dwelling units (ADUs) can help ease the housing shortage and give people a wider choice of housing types and locations. (City Beautiful) Service changes at several transit agencies started yesterday. This is an open thread.

On March 13, Sound Transit staff recommended the East Marginal Way location for the Boeing Access Road infill station rather than the originally planned location between I-5 and Sounder tracks next to the South Boeing Access Road overpass. Sound Transit held an open house in late February and reviewed both possible locations with the community. ... Continue reading "Future Boeing Access Road Station moves to East Marginal Way"

Angle Lake station on the Link 1 Line is closed due to a power outage. Trains are still running between SeaTac and Lynnwood. Peak hour trains are running every 10 minutes this morning instead of 8 minutes. This may affect future peak periods. Sound Transit has been sending several alerts since Wednesday evening. One of ... Continue reading "Angle Lake Station Closed"

This morning, Trains magazine reported Amtrak has removed the Horizon car fleet from all service indefinitely due to the discovery of severe corrosion on several cars. From Trains: In a statement issued at 9 a.m. today (March 26, 2025), the [Amtrak] said, We discovered corrosion in several Horizon railcars and, while working with the manufacturer, ... Continue reading "Amtrak Cascades Service Severely Reduced"

45 daysuntil theDowntown Redmond Link Extension opens on May 10. Spring Service Change: Several transit agencies are updating service patterns this weekend. Metro is also restarting fare enforcement on March 31. Local Transit & Streets: Other Transportation: Commentary & Miscellaneous: Events:Sound Transit is hosting anotherSouth Downtown HubOpen House next Wednesday, April 2 from 5-7pmatUnion Station. ... Continue reading "Midweek Roundup: Wig Wag"

Yesterday, Sound Transit announced the Preferred Candidate for its next Chief Executive Officer, previously only identified as Candidate C, is none other than Dow Constantine. The Sound Transit Board of Directors will vote this Thursday, March 27, to confirm the appointment. Constantine, currently the elected Executive of King County, is expected to take over the ... Continue reading "Dow Constantine is Sound Transit's Preferred Candidate" for CEO"

King County Metro Route 62 travels inbound from Sand Point to downtown Seattle, via Roosevelt, Green Lake, Wallingford, Fremont, and South Lake Union. Outbound trips travel in the reverse direction. In February 2025, Route 62 had 7,015 average weekday boardings. As shown by the solid red line on the map, the northern terminus for Route ... Continue reading "Ridership Patterns for King County Metro Route 62"

Munich is building a second downtown tunnel for its S-Bahn (regional rail) network, to open in 2035. Here's a map and summary. Deutche Bahn chose to build it when ridership in the first tunnel reached 800,000 and trains were running every 2 minutes. The second tunnel has 5 stations instead of 10, at the same ... Continue reading "Sunday Movie: Munich's DSTT2"

As Sound Transit continues to grow the Link light rail system and works to establish a state of better repair" for its existing infrastructure, more impacts to its critical trunks of transit service are expected. Ongoing and upcoming work expected to impact service includes replacement of rail clips at Wilburton Station, construction at the upcoming ... Continue reading "Link Disruptions: Spring 2025"

King County Metro's RapidRide B Line travels inbound from Redmond to Bellevue via Overlake and Crossroads. Outbound trips travel in the reverse direction. In January 2025, the B Line had 4,531 average weekday boardings. The data shown in the plots below were collected between March and September 2024. Sound Transit's Link 2 Line started operating ... Continue reading "Ridership Patterns for RapidRide B Line"

On March 4, 2025, the King County Council voted to pass King County Metro's East Link Connections bus restructure. This restructure is based around the upcoming openings of Sound Transit's Downtown Redmond Link Extension and East Link Extension. Overall, Metro is introducing 8 new routes, revising 16 routes, and deleting 20 routes. Many of the ... Continue reading "East Link Connections"

Countdown: 52 daysuntil theDowntown Redmond Link Extension opens (May 10). Local Transit & Streets: Land Use & Housing: Commentary & Miscellaneous: Events:Sound Transit is hosting anotherSouth Downtown HubOpen House onApril 2 from 5-7pmatUnion Station. Light Rail Disruptions:Sound Transit wants your input on recent disruptions to Link 1 Line service. Looking ahead, 1 Line trains will ... Continue reading "Midweek Roundup: Ups and Downs"

Spring is in the air, and with it, changes in transit service across the Puget Sound region. King County Metro (March 29) The most substantive changes in Metro's service change are reshuffling of Seattle Transit Measure funded service hours. There are also bus routes in Federal Way and Redmond moving into nearby light rail stations, ... Continue reading "Spring 2025 Service Changes"

With Link running mostly north to south, what's the best way to serve neighborhoods to the west and east of the line? The highways (I-5, SR-99...) run north/south, too, and Seattle's hills get in the way. Gondola technology might be a good way to address this issue. Gondolas' ultra-high frequency speeds up transfers, and grade ... Continue reading "SLU to Capitol Hill Gondola"

The biggest electric ferry in the world, built in Australia for use in Buenos Aires, Argentina. (ABC Australia) This is an open thread.

Countdown: 59 daysuntil theDowntown Redmond Link Extension opens. Open House: Sound Transit is hosting another South Downtown Hub Open House on April 2 from 5-7pm at Union Station. Light Rail Disruptions: Link 1 Line service in Downtown Seattle will be significantly disrupted from April 14 to April 23 according to a recent Passenger Impact Program ... Continue reading "Midweek Roundup: 151 Million Trips"

During a special meeting of the Sound Transit Board of Directors' Executive Committee this evening, the committee recommended Candidate C" for the role of Chief Executive Officer of Sound Transit. The leadership position has been vacant since Julie Timm departed last January, with the role filled by interim CEO Goran Sparrman. Sparrman's tenure as interim ... Continue reading "Sound Transit CEO selection proceeds in secret"

Currently most bus lines on the eastside are radiating from the Bellevue Transit Center. With the growth of Bellevue College and with the city's efforts to make the campus more transit friendly, Metro is planning to add more lines which serve the college. Why not make Bellevue College a secondary southeast hub and connect it ... Continue reading "Bellevue College Transit Hub with Gondola"

Why it takes so long to build transit, studies edition. (RMTransit) This is an open thread.

Two reports on the causes of Link's many unplanned outages ($) were released on Thursday, as Mike Lindblom at the Seattle Times writes. One report is by engineering consultant HNTB; the other is a Sound Transit internal review. The reports identify 432 hours (10 workweeks) of unplanned 1 Line disruptions, delays, and shutdowns between January ... Continue reading "The Reasons Behind Link Outages"

King County Metro route 160 travels inbound from Auburn Transit Center to Renton Transit Center, via Kent and Benson Hill. Outbound trips travel in the reverse direction. In January 2025, Route 160 had 5,050 average weekday boardings. Average Ridership Per Trip The plots below show the average weekday ridership by stop in each direction, color-coded ... Continue reading "Ridership Patterns for King County Metro Route 160"

66 daysuntil theDowntown Redmond Link Extension opens. Transportation: Land Use & Housing: Commentary & Miscellaneous: This is an Open Thread.

At last week's Sound Transit Board meeting, Sound Transit's West Seattle project manager Brad Owen showed the extend of the guideway from the SODO station along the Spokane viaduct, across Highway 99 to the Duwamish bridge. He explained that rather than pouring its concrete deck in place, they plan to use precast segments. That will ... Continue reading "SODO guideway construction"

A tale of two cities: Utrecht and Fake London (Ontario, Canada). (Not Just Bikes) Both were walkable streetcar towns before cars, both went in a car-oriented direction in the mid 20th century. But in the 1990s Utrecht changed course and is now a walkers'/bikers'/transit riders' paradise. London is still a hellhole of car-dependent design and ... Continue reading "Sunday Movies: Utrecht & Cable-Stayed Bridges"

Originally around 2013, the Ballard Link Extension was envisioned as an at-grade alternative. Transit advocates and others pushed for complete grade separation for faster speed and reliability. Sound Transit extended the ST3 a decade and convinced the other sub areas to help fund a second transit tunnel. Unfortunately the preferred Ballard Link Extension has faced ... Continue reading "Ballard Light Rail At-Grade"

As Issaquah continues to grow, traffic has become a challenge. With I-90 running through the city and with major elevation differences between west and east, the few arteries are getting clogged. Now the city is considering another I-90 crossing. Would that address the problem? Or would it be better to increase transit options such as ... Continue reading "Issaquah Gondola"

Note: the site recently experienced downtime due to a clerical error, and is slowly coming back online. Apologies for the inconvenience. - Management. 73 daysuntil theDowntown Redmond Link Extension opens. Sounder Alert: Sound Transit sent an alert yesterday that the N Line is cancelled until tomorrow evening (2/27) due to a mudslide. ST spokespeople said ... Continue reading "Midweek Roundup: State of the City"

King County Metro's RapidRide F Line travels inbound (westbound) from Renton to Burien, via the Westfield Southcenter mall and Tukwila International Boulevard Station. Outbound (eastbound) trips travel in the reverse direction. In October 2024, the F Line had 5,107 average weekday boardings. Average Ridership Per Trip The plots below show the average weekday ridership by ... Continue reading "Ridership Patterns for RapidRide F Line"

Bogota is upgrading three of its high-quality TransMilenio BRT lines to an elevated metro line. (TheB1M) It's expected to open in 2028, with 1 million daily passengers. Here's a map: The metro line will follow the light blue, dark blue, and green lines from the western edge to the northeast edge. A second line was ... Continue reading "Sunday Movies: Upgrading BRT to Rail"

As planned late last year, Link service has been disrupted for several weekends this winter as Sound Transit works to complete several projects requiring closure of track in Downtown and the U-District. The final planned disruption was scheduled for this weekend (February 21 to 23) as a contingency weekend in case work completed the previous ... Continue reading "Weekend Link Disruptions Extended"

The Seattle Times recently reported that the Board selected 5 candidates for consideration from 60 applicants. After Julie Timm left, Goran Sparrman stepped in as Interim CEO, but he plans to retire on May 15th. A year ago, Sound Transit hired Terri Mestas to lead its construction projects. What would be expected from the next ... Continue reading "Sound Transit CEO Selection"

80 days until the Downtown Redmond Link Extension opens. Transit & Streets: Land Use & Housing: Commentary & Miscellaneous: This is an Open Thread. Are you interested in contributing to the Blog? Contact us.

The Rainier Valley line has been plagued by pedestrian and car accidents since it opened. The Sound Transit Board asked staff to develop a safety plan not only for Rainier Valley but also for other at-grade Link segments in SODO, on the Eastside (2 Line), and along Sounder (Lakewood). While some improvements have already been ... Continue reading "At-Grade Crossing Plan"

Why living near a freeway is bad for your health. (CityNerd) At 15:25 he mentions the Seattle Comprehensive Plan and the Roosevelt neighborhood. Trolley buses are better than battery buses. (Alan Fisher) This is an open thread.

King County Metro's Route 44 travels inbound from Ballard to UW Station via Wallingford and the University District. Outbound trips travel in the reverse direction. In October 2024, Route 44 had 6,663 average weekday boardings. Average Ridership Per Trip The plots below show the average weekday ridership by stop in each direction, color-coded by time ... Continue reading "Ridership Patterns for King County Metro Route 44"

The Father of Parking Reform UCLA Professor Donald Shoup (1938-2025), author of The High Cost of Free Parking, Parking and the City, and numerous articles, passed on Friday, February 7, at the age of 86. Donald Shoup was widely considered the the father of parking reform" (Bloomberg CityLab). StreetsblogNYC gathered tributes to the man known ... Continue reading "Midweek Roundup: Donald Shoup (1938-2025)"

It has been several months since the RapidRide G Line opened. Along with the new bus line - arguably the region's first BRT line - there was a restructure in the area. To get an idea of how effective the new bus line and restructure was, I decided to look into the ridership data. Route ... Continue reading "Early Assessment of RapidRide G and Restructure"

An Issaquah-Ellensburg bus route would fill a hole in the transit network between Western and Eastern Washington. (The Transit Bandit) There's already an Ellensburg-Cle Elum connector, so a new route could have a timed transfer in Cle Elum to North Bend and the Issaquah transfer hub. This is an open thread.

The Tacoma Dome Link Extension will add 10 miles of elevated light rail from Federal Way to Tacoma Dome. There will be four light rail stations at South Federal Way, Fife, East Tacoma/Portland Ave and Tacoma Dome. The comment period for the Draft Environmental Impact Statement is open until next Monday, February 10. Most of ... Continue reading "Tacoma Dome Link Extension Draft EIS"

On January 25th the West Seattle Rethink the Link group invited the public to a forum to learn about the West Seattle Link Extension, and to discuss the pros and cons of bringing light rail vs increasing bus services in West Seattle. Martin Pagel from STB was one of the panelists to offer technical details, ... Continue reading "West Seattle Link Forum"

Transit & Streets: Land Use & Housing: Other News & Commentary: This is an Open Thread. Interested in lending your voice to the Blog?Contact us.

This morning, the Seattle Times ($) reported Metro is testing thicker, intrusion-proof" barriers to protect bus operators from attacks. The barriers will replace the safety partitions" Metro built in-house and installed across its bus fleet in September 2020 to protect drivers during the COVID-19 pandemic. As the Seattle Times notes, the use safety barriers for ... Continue reading "Metro testing beefier barriers to protect bus operators"

Sound Transit has opened an Online Open House" and public survey sharing updates on the Graham Street Station project, one of three infill station projects included in ST3. This latest online open house and survey closes on Friday, February 7. For an in-person experience, Sound Transit is hosting a public workshop tonight (5pm to 7pm) ... Continue reading "Narrowing the Options for Graham Street Station"

10 US transit project openings in 2025. (Transit Tangents) This was published December 31. A voice from Texas. Navigating Houston on only public transit. (Transit Tangents) The amazing transit comeback of Los Angeles. (Climate and Transit) This is an open thread.