Seattle Transit Blog

Transit Updates: Local News: Other News, Opinion, and Miscellaneous: This is an Open Thread.

The big restructure continues in its fourth day. We still want to hear how Link ridership is doing in the morning and afternoon peaks, how much crowding there is. How are the dozens of restructured bus routes in Snohomish and King Counties doing? How is Lynnwood City Center station holding up re crowding? Is Northgate ... Continue reading "First Week, Part 2"

WSDOT opened the SR 520 direct-access ramps to Montlake on Monday, allowing buses between UW and the Eastside to jump the queue at the Montlake Blvd exit. I dropped by to watch them work in the afternoon and, though traffic was relatively light on a Monday, buses and HOV 3+ vehicles were staying on the ... Continue reading "Montlake's direct-access ramps are open"

It's the first weekday commute after the big restructure. How is service today? Is ridership any different? Is the G reliable? How crowded is Link? Is anyone using the 515? The express routes to SLU? How are the Link feeders doing? And new routes like the 61? Do you have a better experience going to ... Continue reading "First Week"

Community Transit partnered with famed travel writer Rick Steves to create a series of four neat videos highlighting travel destinations in Snohomish County made more accessible with yesterday's major restructure. Check them out!

Widespread bus restructures begin today (September 14) on King County Metro, Sound Transit, and Community Transit around the new Lynnwood Link extension and RapidRide G line. On Monday the long-awaited bus ramps on highway 520 open in Montlake. Pierce Transit and Everett Transit had minor changes earlier this month. September 14, 11am - 3pm: King ... Continue reading "Big Bus Restructures Begin"

Metro and Sound Transit will restructure bus routes in the north end on September 14, 2024 (two weeks after the opening of Lynnwood Link). The changes will occur at the same time as the changes surrounding RapidRide G which is why Metro is listing them on the same service change page. Here is a list ... Continue reading "Metro and ST Restructure for Lynnwood Link"

Countdowns:RapidRide G& restructures (Saturday! Sept. 14) RapidRide G Opening Celebrations: September 14, 11am - 3pm: King County Metro is hosting a RapidRide G opening day celebration on 19th Avenue between Madison & Pine. Enjoy refreshments & entertainment, grab SWAG, & sign up for an ORCA card". September 14, 5pm - 7:30pm: The Urbanist is hosting ... Continue reading "Midweek Roundup - Open Thread 65"

King County Metro's RapidRide G, Seattle's first center-running bus rapid transit (BRT) line, will start running this Saturday, September 14. The route features 24/7 service with all-door buses enabling boarding on both sides allowing transit riders to access the new center stations, bus only lanes, transit signal priority, and off-board payment with ORCA card readers ... Continue reading "RapidRide G and Bus Restructures"

This is an Open Thread.

Edit, September 10, 7pm: the original article has been updated to correct errors and clarify statements with input from Sound Transit. We regret the errors. Sound Transit's Stride S1 Line, the bus rapid transit (BRT) project approved under ST3 to connect Bellevue to Burien via South Renton in 2028, has been updated over the last ... Continue reading "Stride S1 Line Updates: TIBS Reroute, Renton Station Swap, and More"

Ahead of the opening of the Lynnwood Link Extension, HNTB offered to participate in an interview with the Seattle Transit Blog discussing their work on the project. HNTB is an employee-owned infrastructure design firm with offices in downtown Seattle, Bellevue, and many other cities nationwide. They provided engineering design and construction oversight of the Lynnwood ... Continue reading "HNTB on Lynnwood Link"

Countdowns:RapidRide G& restructures (Sept. 14) Lynnwood Link Opening Roundup: Lynnwood Link Opens to Huge Crowds and Night Markets New Sound Transit light rail stations draw big crowds for first trips (Seattle Times, $) Video: What it's like to ride the new Lynnwood light rail train (Seattle Times, $) How Cities in Lynnwood Link's Path Prepared ... Continue reading "Midweek Roundup - Open Thread 64"

In this video Reece Martin (RMTransit) talks about the rail network in Germany's northwestern megaopolis along the Rhine and Ruhr rivers, which is similar in size and population to the Los Angeles region. The region is split into two comprehensive transit districts, and this video focuses on the northern one. A later video will look ... Continue reading "Rhine-Ruhr Railways"

Thanks to Sam for referring this video to us. The STB staff are collecting their thoughts on the opening, working on other articles, dealing with illness, and preparing for the bus restructures September 14th. So there may not be another article for a couple days. How is Link ridership this weekend? This is an open ... Continue reading "Sunday Movie: Lynnwood Link Looking East"

Tomorrow, Sound Transit will officially open the Lynnwood Link Extension, the latest northward expansion of the Link 1 Line. Approved by voters in 2008 in the Sound Transit 2 ballot measure, the expansion opens four new stations along 8.7 miles of (mostly) elevated track between Northgate and Lynnwood. From extending north from Northgate, the new ... Continue reading "Lynnwood Link Festivities"

On Wednesday, Sound Transit invited members of the media for a preview ride of the Lynnwood Link extension. The extension officially opens on Friday, when Lynnwood will officially inherit the mantle of Link's northern terminus from Northgate. The completion of Lynnwood Link represents a major milestone in ST2 expansion. The other points of ST2 expansion, ... Continue reading "A sneak peek into Lynnwood Link"

Countdowns:Lynnwood Link(FRIDAY! 11am);RapidRide G& restructures (Sept. 14) Perspectives on the Lynnwood Link Extension: South Shoreline Light Rail Brings Suburban Retrofit with Thousands of Homes Shoreline North Station Sees New Urban Connection Form Mountlake Terrace's Town Center Slowly Emerges Ahead of Light Rail Lynnwood light rail is opening. Here's what you'll find at 4 new stations ... Continue reading "Midweek Roundup - Lynnwood Link Edition"

Commenter Lazarus pointed out that Sound Transit has released 2 Line (East Link Starter Line) ridership figures on its dashboard. Although there is no direct filter for a drill-down to just the 2 Line, one can multi-select the East Link stations by holding CTRL (on a PC) or (on a Mac). Four incomplete months ... Continue reading "An early scan of 2 Line ridership"

A 5-minute drone (sUAS) flyover of the Federal Way Link Extension construction progress in May, southward from Angle Lake to Federal Way. Some observations with timestamps: 0:02: The path of the SR-509 Completion Project, one of two highway expansion projects in the region, is visible as something that could be mistaken for a riverbed. 1:05: ... Continue reading "Sunday Double Feature: Federal Way Link Flyover & Transit Decarbonization"

King County Corridor 1052, a potential rapidride conversion of Route 181 currently travels from Federal Way via Auburn Station to Green River College. With the introduction of Federal Way Link extension as well as I-5 freeway access additions, Route 181 speed improvements as a RapidRide will connect Auburn and Green River College closer to Seattle ... Continue reading "RapidRide Corridor 1052 (Route 181)"

King County Metro Corridor 1056, a potential RapidRide conversion of Route 165 - traveling between Kent Des Moines Station, Downtown Kent, and Green River College - was set as Tier 3 priority corridor for future RapidRide expansion. In this post we'll review the proposed route alignment, planned improvements, and expected ridership. Alignment The existing Route ... Continue reading "RapidRide Corridor 1056 (Route 165)"

Countdowns:Lynnwood Link (Aug. 30, 11am);RapidRide G & restructures (Sept. 14) Transit Updates: Get ready for your first light rail moment, Lynnwood. Sound Transit plans meet cute for transit newbies Ride the bus to the Evergreen State Fair in Monroe, Aug. 22-27 and Aug. 29 - Sept. 2. Pierce Transit will change schedules on all 27 ... Continue reading "Midweek Roundup - Open Thread 63"

Sound Transit has approved a new elevator for SeaTac east of Tukwila International Boulevard in Motion No. M2024-43. In a presentation to the Board's Rider and Operations Committee (pdf) on July 18, Sound Transit staff outlined how the existing elevator experienced frequent outages and requires bus bridges to accommodate passengers to and from Angle Lake ... Continue reading "Sound Transit Elevator & Escalator Service Going Up"

The Transit Bandit rides all seven transit modes available in Seattle: water taxi, BRT (RapidRide), streetcar, bus (regular), monorail, light rail (Link), and heavy rail (Sounder). City Beautiful did the same in just over three hours back in 2021 - how fast can the Bandit do it? This is an Open Thread.

On July 18, the Seattle Design Commission met with Sound Transit to review its proposed design (pdf) for the West Seattle Link Extensions high bridge over the Duwamish and its landing at Pigeon Point. Although the cable-stayed bridge might end up being the most visually impressive component of the project, Sound Transit also expects to ... Continue reading "Reshaping Pigeon Point"

On July 18, the Seattle Design Commission met with Sound Transit to review its proposed design (pdf) for the West Seattle Link Extensions high bridge over the Duwamish and its landing at Pigeon Point. Although the cable-stayed bridge design had been spotted at a station planning open house event earlier this year, this meeting and ... Continue reading "First Look at WSLE's High Bridge"

Countdowns:Lynnwood Link (Aug. 30, 11am);RapidRide G & restructures (Sept. 14) Transit Updates: South Lake Union Streetcar service suspended while crews address power issues Long-awaited Snoqualmie Valley weekend bus service to begin Saturday, Aug. 17 Transportation Alternatives: Coming to Seattle streets: It's not a bike, and it's not a scooter (Seattle Times, $) WEST SEATTLE SCENE: ... Continue reading "Midweek Roundup - Open Thread 62"

And: Is high-speed rail hitting the fast track in the near future? An audio interview by the 1A radio show. We'll have more podcasts in the future, as in our zeal for videos we've overlooked the growing number of audio-only episodes. I'm not sure yet whether they'll be on Sunday or Wednesday or in a ... Continue reading "Sunday Movie & Podcast: Underpasses & HSR"

With the full Link 2 Line across Lake Washington expected to open in the next year or two, King County Metro is considering how to best reroute the the roughly-parallel RapidRide B Line. A potential merger of Metro Route 271 and a portion of the B Line, also known as RapidRide Candidate Corridor 3101 + ... Continue reading "RapidRide Corridor 3101 + 1028 (RapidRide B + 271)"

With the full Link 2 Line across Lake Washington expected to open in the next year or two, King County Metro is considering how to best reroute the the roughly-parallel RapidRide B Line. With RapidRide Candidate Corridor 1999, recently set as a Tier 3 priority line, King County Metro proposes a new north-south RapidRide between ... Continue reading "RapidRide Corridor 1999 (RapidRide B + 226)"

Countdowns:Lynnwood Link (Aug. 30, 11am);RapidRide G & restructures (Sept. 14) Transit Updates: Ryan Packer via Twitter: Metro has started training runs for the RapidRide G Metro: Coming this fall: New RapidRide G Line and more Metro bus service Sound Transit: How to Ride and Transfer - Lynnwood Link Edition Community Transit: Six-year plan will guide ... Continue reading "Midweek Roundup - Open Thread 61"

Here's my experience riding the 2 Line Starter Line for my regular trip from Seattle to Lake Hills. I've been doing this trip once or twice a month since 2022 to visit an elderly relative in an adult family home (AFH). The endpoint is near 164th & Main, a single-family area southeast of Crossroads. I ... Continue reading "2 Line Trip Report"

By WILLIAM CONDON This week focuses on the Overlake/Crossroads area in eastern Bellevue/southern Redmond. Today William Condon discusses the bridges over 520. Tuesday we'll review current conditions. Thursday and Friday will look at the proposal to split RapidRide B into two longer lines. The Overlake neighborhood at the border of Bellevue and Redmond is divided ... Continue reading "The Five Bridges of Overlake"

Seattle: Picture of a Young City", 1976, a collection of vintage video clips by the Seattle Engineering Department. This is an open thread.

SDOT is in the early stages of planning on 130th North between the freeway and Aurora. They are further along with the planning east of there. While it is likely too late to add BAT lanes in that project (or even prevent the loss of a queue jump) we can add BAT lanes where they ... Continue reading "Add Bus Lanes not Bike Lanes on 130th"

This week is all RapidRide as we review the Candidate Corridors analyzed in Metro's recently published RapidRide Prioritization Plan. King County Metro Corridor 1049, a potential RapidRide conversion of Route 150, was recently set as a Tier 1 priority corridor, expected to be constructed before 2039 after the current RapidRide projects are finished. Route 150 ... Continue reading "RapidRide Corridor 1049 (Route 150)"

Countdowns:Lynnwood Link (Aug. 30, 11am);RapidRide G & restructures (Sept. 14) Transit Updates: On Sunday, Ross noticed Sound Transit has updated the format of its System Performance Tracker. East Link is not yet included in the regular reporting. New MetroFlex on-demand transit service officially launches in South Park and Delridge. STB coverage here. Improving access to ... Continue reading "Midweek Roundup - Open Thread 60"

This week is all RapidRide as we review the Candidate Corridors analyzed in Metro's recently published RapidRide Prioritization Plan. King County Metro Corridor 1064B, a potential RapidRide conversion of Route 36 - traveling between Othello, Beacon Hill, Jackson Street, and Downtown Seattle - was recently set as a Tier 1 priority corridor for future RapidRide ... Continue reading "RapidRide Corridor 1064B (Route 36)"

This week is all RapidRide as we review the Candidate Corridors analyzed in Metro's recently published RapidRide Prioritization Plan. King County Metro Corridor 1993, a potential RapidRide conversion of Route 40 - traveling between Northgate, Ballard, Fremont, SLU, and Downtown Seattle - was recently set as a Tier 2 priority corridor for future RapidRide expansion. ... Continue reading "RapidRide Corridor 1993 (Route 40)"

RMTransit explores how the space between transit stops (stop spacing") is a careful balance between convenience and speed. Oh The Urbanity! looks at transit-oriented development (TOD") in Montreal and discusses the promises and perils that come with this style of dense construction. This is an Open Thread.

Metro's presentation of its new RapidRide Prioritization Plan revealed plans to resume work on RapidRide K and R. The Urbanist pointed out that King County Metro Route 7 was originally supposed to be replaced with RapidRide R by 2021 in the Levy to Move Seattle, but the project was delayed to 2024 and eventually put ... Continue reading "Work Resumes on RapidRide R"

Countdowns:Lynnwood Link (Aug. 30, 11am);RapidRide G & restructures (Sept. 14) Transit Updates: Eastgate stop added back to Trailhead Direct starting Saturday, July 20 Sound Transit Doubling Sounder North Service This Fall with Four Runs/Day First weeks of new sailings, King County Water Taxi sees jump in ridership New Community Transit routes for Seattle commuters Sound ... Continue reading "News Roundup - Open Thread 59"

Following major cuts to RapidRide expansions due to budget constraints posed by the pandemic, the King County Council asked Metro in 2021 to, among other things, produce a RapidRide prioritization plan" by the middle of this year. Metro published its plan on June 28, in which it chooses the next RapidRide lines to build as ... Continue reading "RapidRide Future and Prioritization"

The impacts of Project 2025 on transportation and cities. (CityNerd)The most improved transit cities in the US. Spoiler: Seattle is #1. (CityNerd)

On Thursday, Sound Transit staff presented the plan for Lynnwood Link Extension's opening ceremonies to the Board's Rider Experience and Operations Committee. At 11am on Friday, August 30, Sound Transit will hold a ribbon cutting to formally open the Lynnwood Link Extension of the 1 Line. Like the opening ceremony of the 2 Line, the ... Continue reading "Lynnwood Link Opening Ceremonies"

King County Metro has announced that it is adding a new zone for Metro Flex, its on-demand microtransit service, in Delridge and South Park. Service in the new zone starts Monday, July 22nd. Metro Flex is a service offered by King County Metro that lets users book rides on-demand within a certain zone. Riders use ... Continue reading "Metro expanding Flex service to South Park and Delridge"

Countdowns:Lynnwood Link (Aug. 30);RapidRide Gand bus restructures (Sept. 14) Transit Updates: Community Transit Plans Swift Gold Line' Bus to Arlington Community Transit is hosting in-person outreach discussing the September 14 service change. Update on Stride BRT station names King Street Station Sounder amenities open house 2024 Transportation Levy includes connecting the Missing Link via Leary ... Continue reading "Midweek Roundup - Open Thread 58"