Photo by Oran A few weeks back, I decided to exercise my freedom in going into the office more than I needed to and commuted downtown on a Friday. The first thing I noticed was how much emptier my usual bus was. Of course, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that Friday ridership is down relative to the other days of the week, although none of the local transit agencies publicly report this kind of breakdown. Many employers now operate a hybrid working mode, with workers in-office some days of the week, and at home the others. The problem is that “hybrid” is a spectrum: some companies don’t requir ..read more

Seattle’s bus network used to be focused on bringing people to work downtown. As our city grew, it spread its wings across First Hill, Capitol Hill, Fremont, and the Eastside. Though Amazon was earlier in the middle of downtown, it now occupies South Lake Union (SLU) and Bellevue. While a one-seat bus ride to downtown used to be the norm, once you have more destinations to cover, it becomes more important to develop a network of interconnecting lines. Besides the frequency on the lines, the connecting points between the lines determine how easy or time-consuming the transfer is. We built trans ..read more

Yesterday, I had the chance to join members of the press in a media tour of South Bellevue Station, which will open for Link operations in just a matter of weeks when the East Link Starter Line begins service. As things currently stand, the ELSL will open to the public on April 27th, while the full extension across I-90 is still tentatively set for 2025. At South Bellevue, the accompanying park-and-ride garage has been open for more than two years and the station itself has been finished for quite for time. However, only recently was tile replacement completed on the platform, which was necess ..read more

It’s been a couple weeks, so the roundup is longer than usual. Today, a total solar eclipse will pass over much of the central and eastern United States. Countdown Clocks: April 27, 11:02am: First East Link Starter Line Train from South Bellevue Station. Discover the 2 Line. August 30, 10am(?): Lynnwood Link Extension (1 Line). No schedule for first train yet. Some neat aerial photos from ST’s drone photographer Ken Lambert on X (formerly Twitter): https://x.com/SeaTimesFotoKen/status/1776001156394762448 Local News: Sound Transit hired Terri Mestas, most recently head of LAX’s nearly-complete ..read more

As part of the work surrounding 130th Station in north Seattle, SDOT has started making plans in the area. While this initial work has focused on the area east of the station, this is a proposal for changes to the west. The goal is to improve pedestrian, biking and transit connections to the station. Station Background 130th Station is designed primarily to connect riders from the east and west (Lake City and Bitter Lake). There will be some who walk and ride to the station, but I expect the vast majority to arrive by bus. The crossing bus route will also connect riders in the north end (for o ..read more

The Swift Orange Line BRT launched on Saturday. I tried it out Sunday afternoon with my friend in north Lynnwood, who lives northwest of Ash Way P&R. The Orange Line is a limited-stop east-west bus route between Edmonds College, Highway 99, Lynnwood city center, Alderwood Mall, Ash Way P&R, Mill Creek, and McClollum Park. It runs every 10-12 minutes weekdays, and every 20 minutes weekends and evenings. Swift is Snohomish County’s version of BRT, running frequently on arterials RapidRide, but stopping only every mile like Link, some ST Express routes (512, 550), or the upcoming Stream B ..read more

South Link Connections project map. Credit: King County Metro King County Metro has started the first phase of South Link Connections, which will be used to determine how Metro bus should be changed upon the launch of the Federal Way Link Extension, which is anticipated to be in 2026. This phase is mainly a needs assessment, where Metro listens to feedback from riders, or potential riders, about how they use transit service, and what changes might benefit them. After the feedback period is over for phase 1, Metro will consider the feedback and use it to develop service concepts for phase 2. Th ..read more

King County Metro, Sound Transit, and Community Transit start their semi-annual service changes today, Saturday March 30. Pierce Transit’s changes start tomorrow, Sunday March 31. Stephen Fesler at The Urbanist has a detailed list of the changes. The agencies have their own lists, linked at the beginning of each section. I won’t repeat all the details but instead focus on higher-level trends. King County Metro Metro changes start Saturday, March 30. Seattle is reallocating its Seattle Transit Measure (STM) levy investment to different routes to better match the city’s goals. The winners are Ra ..read more

Community Transit ridership increased 23% in 2023. A third of total riders were on the Swift Blue and Green lines. Apply to the one of Seattle’s transportation advisory boards by April 15 if interested. What’s happening with the 520 reconstruction project in Portage Bay. Efforts to lid I-5 in more of downtown Seattle continue. Activists have been working on this since 2010. One concept would lid from Madison Street to Thomas Street, aka the library to Seattle Center. How WSDOT designs maps to show event and road-closure congestion bottlenecks throughout the state on busy summer weekends. Natio ..read more

Three buses currently serve the east side of Green Lake: The 20, 45 and 62. As soon as Link gets to Lynnwood, the 20 will go away. There are aspects of the 20 that should be adopted by the other routes. However, this will require the help of the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT). Here are the things that SDOT and Metro can do to significantly improve transit in the area: 62 The 62 was created with the U-Link restructure. It replaced part of what was then the 16. I don’t have a link for the route but you can see it on Oran’s old map (it went from Northgate to downtown via Aurora and G ..read more