Seattle Transit Blog

The highly anticipated full East Link extension will open this Saturday, March 28, finally connecting the Eastside to Seattle and the rest of the metro area. Two new stations will open at the same time, Judkins Park and Mercer Island stations. The Mercer Island light rail station, located in the median of I-90 just north ... Continue reading "Mercer Island Station"

Sound Transit's 2 Line light rail service will carry it's first passengers across Lake Washington in just a few days. Puget Sound residents have long envisioned a passenger rail connection between Seattle and the Eastside. In 1968 and 1970, voters failed to approve Forward Thrust rapid transit propositions. Less than a decade later, work began ... Continue reading "Crosslake Connection: 50 Years in the Making"

Downtown Redmond's walkable urbanism in the Link station area is transit-oriented development (TOD) done right. (Yet Another Urbanist, August 2025) If you go to Downtown Redmond station, there's a trail along the Link track that continues west beyond the terminus. Walk three blocks west to an outdoor art exhibit inspired by a former railroad depot. ... Continue reading "Sunday Movie: Downtown Redmond Urbanism & Floating Bridge Rail"

In just 7 days, the Link 2 Line will carry its first passengers across Lake Washington. The long awaited and heavily anticipated opening will cause a cascade of changes across the region's bus network. Many of these changes will be implemented this Fall, but some will start on March 28. Below is an outline of ... Continue reading "Spring 2026 Service Change"

Ten years ago yesterday, March 19, the University Link Extension opened to the public. The extension utilized a new 3.15 mile twin bore tunnel from the north end of the Downtown Seattle Transit Tunnel (DSTT) to the University of Washington, via Capitol Hill. U Link was arguably the first subway-like section on the 1 Line ... Continue reading "Friday Roundtable: University Link Turns 10"

Sound Transit finally addressed their severe budget shortfalls at the March 18 Board Retreat. The transit agency looked at three different approaches to build ST3. All three approaches investigated involve heavy truncations with some lines being completely eliminated. Overview of Approaches Project Approach 1 Approach 2 Approach 3 Ballard Truncate to Seattle Centerw/o SLU Truncate ... Continue reading "ST3 Truncations"

Reminders & Updates: Local Transit: Land Use & Commentary: This is an Open Thread. Comments may discuss any topic related to transit or land use. Uncivil comments will be moderated.

Judkins Park Link station will open with the full East Link Extension on March 28. 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 two entrances to Judkins Park station are quite ... Continue reading "Judkins Park Station Access Guide"

US vs European zoning. (City Beautiful) This is an open thread.

Sound Transit's arduous journey building the 2 Line will finally conclude two weeks from today with the opening of the Crosslake Connection" between Seattle and Bellevue. On March 28, along with beginning regular operations of the world's first (and only) electrified floating railway, two new Link stations will open: Judkins Park and Mercer Island. Like ... Continue reading "Link 2 Line Crosslake Connection" opening celebrations"

Cherry blossom season typically heralds the end of winter, and it returns this weekend. The U-District Cherry Blossom Festival starts today with special events now through March 29. While the groves at the University of Washington's campus in Seattle are the most popular destination for blossom-seekers, The Seattle Times ($) offered five alternative urban cherry ... Continue reading "Friday Roundtable: cherry blossom season"

Stride 3 BRT will be the new avenue-running BRT on SR 522 (Bothell Way) from Seattle/Shoreline via Lake Forest Park and Kenmore to Bothell. The bus will run every 10 to 15 minutes and stop at 14 stations. This article will continue the Stride 3 BRT discussion with the eastern half of the route with ... Continue reading "Stride 3 BRT Part 2: Kenmore, Bothell, and I-405"

Reminders & Updates: Local News: Other News and Commentary: This is an Open Thread. Comments may relate to any transit or land use oriented topic. Uncivil comments will be moderated.

On February 26, Sound Transit announced the ground-breaking of Stride 3 BRT construction. Stride 3 BRT will be a new avenue running BRT on SR 522 (Bothell Way) from Seattle/Shoreline via Lake Forest Park and Kenmore to Bothell. The Stride 3 will connect the north Lake Washington corridor to the regional rail spine. The bus ... Continue reading "Stride 3 BRT Part 1: Seattle, Lake Forest Park, and Kenmore"

London vs Berlin transit. Which is better? (Evan Edinger) Top 15 highest-ridership cities in the US, Canada, and Mexico. (CityNerd) This is an open thread.

Over two series of articles in 2011 and 2024-2026, Seattle Transit Blog has shared detailed breakdowns of the ridership patterns for dozens of routes across King County Metro, Sound Transit, and Community Transit. Puget Sound is fortunate to have an extensive transit network but Seattle Transit Blog cannot cover every route. Instead, we have built ... Continue reading "Seattle Transit Ridership Dashboard"

Over the past few months, the Wilson Transition Committee has met with thousands of Seattlities to better understand what the residents of Seattle want to see from the Wilson administration. The full report outlines recommendations in eight areas: Housing Affordability & Community Needs, Economic Development & Workers' Rights, Transportation & Environment, Arts, Culture, & Creative ... Continue reading "Friday Roundtable: Wilson Transition Committee Recommendations"

This is part three of a three-part series investigating city-funded bus service in Seattle. Part 1 covered the Seattle Transportation Benefit District (STBD) from 2014 to early 2020. Part 2 covered its successor, the Seattle Transit Measure (STM) from 2020 to present. This article looks to the future of the STM and its 2026 renewal. ... Continue reading "Seattle Transit Measure: Renewal and a Course for More Frequent Transit"

Reminder: late-night Link service reductions in North Seattle are ongoing for construction of Pinehurst Station and Sound Transit's Monthly Maintenance program. Transportation: Land Use & Other Commentary: This is an Open Thread.

For most transit agencies in the United States the largest constraint to providing more service is funding. In Seattle, that luckily has not been a constraint in recent years. Instead, our transit agencies have struggled to operate the amount of service voters have funded. Before the pandemic, King County Metro could not deliver the amount ... Continue reading "Metro Operator Shortage to End Next Year"

It has been over a year since Metro restructured the buses because of the Lynnwood Link Extension. We now know not only the monthly ridership of the routes but also more advanced data like the ridership per service hour from 2024 and 2025 . This is an analysis of those changes as well as a ... Continue reading "Lynnwood Link Metro Bus Restructure Analysis"

Two videos partly related to Friday's Pedestrianize the Ave" article. The biggest opposition to congestion pricing and pedestrianizing streets comes before they're implemented, then they open and often become big successes. The Hill of Hysteria. (CityNerd) Deliveries by cargo bike. With illustrations in color. (Urban Mobility Explained) This is an open thread.

Sound Transit's monthly maintenance program is continuing in March with several service reductions over the next few weeks. Reduced Frequency Starting at 11pm tonight, 1 Line trains will run every 20 minutes. The reduced frequency is to allow single-tracking trains between Rainier Beach station and Tukwila International Blvd Station. The 1 Line will resume its ... Continue reading "Upcoming Link Maintenance: March 2026"

University Way NE (The Ave") is the historic main street near the University of Washington campus in Seattle. The street is lined with dozens of shops, restaurants, and bars that cater to thousands of UW students and the nearby community. In 2021, the U District Link station opened one block west of The Ave between ... Continue reading "Friday Roundtable: Pedestrianize The Ave"

This is part two of a three-part series investigating city-funded bus service in Seattle. Part 1 covered the Seattle Transportation Benefit District (STBD) from 2014 to early 2020. This article covers its successor, named the Seattle Transit Measure (STM) from 2020 to present day. By early 2020, the STBD had transformed Seattle into a truly ... Continue reading "Seattle Transit Measure: Performance Since Passed (2020 to Now)"

In 2015, Mayor Ed Murray's administration unveiled what would become the 2015 Levy to Move Seattle. It included a goal to Provide 72% of Seattle residents with 10-minute all-day transit service within a 10-minute walk of their homes" by 2025 dubbed the Very Frequent Transit Network". Using Seattle Transportation Benefit District (STBD) funding, access to ... Continue reading "What Happened to the Very Frequent Transit Network?"

New post on Page 2: Renton's Transit Center Moves Toward I-405. If you're a reader and interested in lending your perspective on transit and land use in the region, contact us. This is an Open Thread.

As part of its 2026 Service Plan, Sound Transit is proposing a new overnight bus service in the corridor of the Link 1 and 2 Lines. These routes would also continue to Everett, Tacoma, and Lakewood. These services will specifically operate during the night after Link stops running, and end shortly before Link begins again ... Continue reading "Current and proposed overnight service along the Link 1 Line"

Open payments or Tap to Pay" started today. Several transit agencies' bus and rail readers including Sound Transit and Metro now accept not only ORCA cards but also credit cards and digital wallets (pay by phone). Open payments raise the risk that if you have both an ORCA card and credit cards or debit cards ... Continue reading "Tap to Pay Starts"

The exciting launch of the Lynnwood Link Extension added four new stations connecting Northgate up to Lynnwood City Center. The future Pinehurst (previously NE 130th St) infill station is under construction and expected to open mid-2026. This article will discuss the station itself, bus stops, the new bus Route 77, bike lanes to the station, ... Continue reading "Lynnwood Infill Stations: Pinehurst and potentially 220th St SW"

About Here and Sightline Institute partnered to produce a video discussing how elevators in the US and Canada cost nearly three times as much to build and maintain compared to peer cities which makes it much more difficult to build small apartments. Legislators in Washington are trying again to fix it, but it's an uphill ... Continue reading "Sunday Movie: North America's Elevator Problem"

Update (Feb 21, 3:30pm): Crosslake 2 Line simulated service has resumed. Following a power outage between Bel-Red station and Downtown Redmond station that started on Thursday, Sound Transit has decided to suspend simulated service on the full 2 Line until further notice. As of this morning, 2 Line trains will operate between South Bellevue station ... Continue reading "Crosslake Simulated Service Suspended Indefinitely (Update: Service has resumed)"

On Thursday, Sound Transit CEO Dow Constantine announced Tap to Pay will launch across the ORCA system on February 23, 2026. Tap to Pay, also known as open payments, will allow passengers to tap a credit/debit card on the ORCA reader to pay the fare. Digital credit/debit cards are also supported using Apple Pay, Google ... Continue reading "Friday Roundtable: ORCA Tap to Pay Begins on Monday"

The Seattle Transit Measure (STM) is a 0.15% sales tax that raises $50 million each year to boost bus service and make transit safer, faster, and more accessible in the City of Seattle. Originally passed in 2014 as the Seattle Transportation Benefit District (STBD), it was renewed and renamed in 2020 as the STM. The ... Continue reading "Seattle Transit Measure: History as the STBD (2014 to 2020)"

Headlines: WA Legislative Short Session Updates: Commentary: This is an Open Thread. Civil comments may discuss any transportation or land use topic. Uncivil comments will be removed.

The full build out of Sound Transit 2 coming close after the December 6 opening of Federal Way Link Extension and the upcoming March 2026 full East Link. This article will go over the a map of transit times and have a brief recap of what ST2 will accomplish. Above is the Sound Transit Future ... Continue reading "Sound Transit 2 Travel Times and Recap"

While Mexico City's population keeps growing (currently at 23 million), it has become the city with the worst traffic and one of the most polluted cities in the world. To address these challenges, the city has invested in a mostly carbon-free multi-modal transit system consisting of the Metro subway, MetroBus BRT, trolley and regular bus ... Continue reading "Learn from Mexico City: Multi-modal network"

Amtrak recently held an exclusive first look ceremony" at their new Airo trainsets coming to certain routes nationwide over the next few years. Today's videos review the new trains, which are coming to our very own Amtrak Cascades route first. The new trains are expected to roll out later this year. The New York Times ... Continue reading "Sunday Movie: Amtrak's new trains"

The first scheduled Link 2 Line train departed International District/Chinatown station (CID) this morning, marking the start of full 2 Line simulated service - a key final step before the 2 Line's full opening on March 28. For the next six weeks, passengers will be allowed on the trains between CID and Lynnwood, and between ... Continue reading "2 Line Simulated Service Begins"

An excellent new essay on HistoryLink explains the history of Community Transit (CT), the public transit authority of Snohomish County. The essay divides CT's history into seven chapters: After the jump is a recent episode of CT's ongoing series That Transit Show" highlighting CT's maintenance workers and facilities. This is an Open Thread.

Route 60 travels inbound from Westwood Village to Capitol Hill via White Center, South Park, Georgetown, Beacon Hill, the International District, and First Hill. Outbound trips travel in the reverse direction. In November 2025, Route 60 had 5,976 average weekday boardings. Average Ridership Per Trip The plots below show the average weekday ridership by stop ... Continue reading "Ridership Patterns for King County Metro Route 60"

Massive gridlock and transit reroutes today as the Seahawks celebrate their second Super Bowl win; here's how to take transit to the victory parade. If you're local and want to go, strongly consider riding a bike instead. Sound Transit's monthly maintenance program ended 1 Line service between Mount Baker and TIBS early last night (Feb. ... Continue reading "Midweek Roundup: Seahawks Victory Parade"

Earlier today, Sound Transit announced the full 2 Line will begin simulated service on Saturday, February 14. During this final testing stage, passengers will be allowed on 2 Line trains between Downtown Redmond and South Bellevue stations, and between International District/Chinatown (CID) to Lynnwood City Center stations. Simulated service will run between February 14 and ... Continue reading "Full 2 Line Simulated Service Begins Saturday"

Metro is studying improvements for Route 60. https://kingcountymetro.blog/2026/01/16/metro-studying-transit-improvements-on-route-60/ The goal of the improvements is to reduce bus travel times by 10-15% during peak commute times. Most of the improvements involve bus stop rebalancing along with some short bus lanes at congested intersections. Take the survey (ends February 20) here: https://kcit.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_6mmKfN7IdybRE7Y The survey will also about ... Continue reading "Route 60 Improvements"

On Sunday, the Seattle Seahawks won the Super Bowl by defeating the New England Patriots 29-13. To celebrate their victory, there will be a parade this Wednesday, February 11, with official celebrations starting at Lumen field at 10am. Regular transit riders should plan ahead as many bus routes will be rerouted to avoid the parade. ... Continue reading "Take transit to the Seahawks' victory parade"

This week, sharp-eyed Link riders (including STB's Michael Smith and Seattle City Councilmember Alexis Mercedes Rinck) noticed new signposts installed on Link stations platforms across Seattle. The signposts are located along the textured safety tiles at the edge of station platforms near the first between-car barrier, and apparently-finished signposts feature an orange flag with a ... Continue reading "Signs for two-car Link trains return to Seattle"

The history of Gasworks Park. (Fourth Place) Even if you've heard some of the history you probably don't know all of it. From downtown Portland to Mt Hood by MAX and bus routes. (Climate and Transit) I made a similar trip to Grouse Mountain in British Columbia in the 90s. From downtown Vancouver I took ... Continue reading "Sunday Movies: Gasworks Park & Mt Hood"

On March 28 the full 2 Line will open with Crosslake service. The next nationwide No Kings march is on the same day. Having both at the same time raises logistical issues like overcrowded trains in the Crosslake segment and downtown street closures. It's worth thinking through the implications of this early. Hopefully Sound Transit ... Continue reading "2 Line and No Kings"

In January, the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) announced the RapidRide J project reached a significant milestone: completion of the Eastlake water main replacement. It may seem odd for a transit project to be celebrating utility work, but this is a great example of how city departments can work together to improve the built environment. ... Continue reading "Friday Roundtable: RapidRide J Project Update"