The new Sound Transit schedule, effective February 6th, is out.  Highlights:

  • Routes 564 and 565 replaced by the 566, Auburn-Overlake.
  • Route 582 replaced by more service on the 578, which will now provide extensive “Sounder shadow” service and replace trips to Federal Way by the 194.
  • More trips on 554, 574, 577, 592.
  • Route changes on the 560.

35 Replies to “New ST Schedule is out”

    1. I don’t think I’ve ever actually seen a “schedule adjustment” that was less service. Can you point to any?

      2. The 7X and 34X say a “schedule adjustment” resulting in fewer trips. I believe the 7X was cut from 8 to 5 morning trips, and the 34X was cut from 5 to 3 morning trips.

  2. 574 increases are good. They need every half hour service at night though, once an hour is not a feasible option for most travelers.

  3. With the added service and new times, Route 574 is now a viable option for me. I can now get home in a reasonable timeframe for those times I can’t make the last Sounder out of Tukwila.

  4. Its intresting that metro is not operating the primary service inbetween federal way and Seattle anymore, same goes for federal way to the airport. I also have to wonder how the weekend 577 will go over, since it has a shorter span of service and a lot less frequency than the former 194.

    1. One wonders how long Metro will continue Seattle-Bellevue, Seattle-Kirkland, and Seattle-Issaquah routes. It’s schizophrenic that some are ST and some are Metro.

      1. Technically its all Metro, as metro is a subcontractor for ST. Is what will be intresting to see in the coming years is if ST dosent bring their operations either in-house, or put them out for open bid for anyone to bid on.

        IMO when ST started up, they took over the well used express services not only to free up funds for partnering agencys but probally to help make their numbers look good from the onset (I.e. 226 seattle-bellevue, 59x Lakewood/Tacoma/Seattle). Did save some bacon during the post I-695 hit though.

    1. Looks like the late night service to Puyallup just got a whole lot better with the 578. Getting to Bonney Lake might be a problem though.

    2. Found these (don’t know what’s in store for Pierce’s next service change):

      * 408 Sumner/Bonney Lake (daily)
      * 496 Sumner/Bonney Lake (weekday Sounder shuttle)

      From Sumner, catch the 409 to Puyallup

    3. it got the ax in favor of the 578. Take a 408 or 496 from Bonney lake to Sumner. Intresting part about the 578 is that it’s one of the few ST routes atleast on the south end of things to serve non ST facilities. I’ve noticed that ST routes tend to only serve ST facilites. And of course we have an ST faciltiy that will now not be served by any ST route (South Hill P&R) with the termination of the 564.

      1. Non-ST facilities? Federal Way TC, Auburn Station, Sumner Station, Puyallup Station? Those are all ST facilities. Even part of Tacoma Dome was paid for by Sound Transit.

      2. Well, not the Dome. That was built long before ST existed. ST supplied more parking because it’s a decent place for a commuter parking, helps with event traffic and doubles as shuttle point to downtown (free parking and free streetcar, what more excuse do you need to get in the car and drive down to Tacoma).

      3. The original garage – yes. The new garage on the west side had funding from Sound Transit.

      4. I may be wrong but I think the west garage was totally funded by ST/federal funding. Along with the rest of the improvements in the area.

      5. That actually should have been 582, since it terminated at Bonney Lake P&R. The 564 also terminated at S. Hill TC as well, both decidly non ST facilities.

  6. These services are well needed, but for some workers 8:45 am is when they wake up!

    And these are the high tech and professional people.

    If you want these BRTs and trains to work, it has to be all day, all the time.

    1. Agreed. Maybe I live in a weird bubble…but the Sounder seems to adhere to a ‘Leave it to Beaver’ kind of world where the robot populace has a 8:30am-ish to 5:00pm-ish routine. In my office (hi-tech stuff), there are only a couple of people that do that. Actually, if you arrived to my office at 8am, you would probably be alone most days…and at 7pm things are still bustling. Sounder schedule, you are really irritating.

      1. That’s exactly the opposite of what I do. I work from around 5:30 to 14:00, which means even CT’s commuter routes don’t work for my commute anymore. Early 511s all around.

    2. ….continuing my irritation….Seriously, those first 4 Tacoma departures are for people who live in some sort of alternate universe. 4:55am!? insanity. It seems like you could take at least the first three and rotate them to post 8am departures and serve a huge clientele. I could be wrong, but I don’t know anyone that leaves for work in (what seems like) the middle of the night. Is this a researched trip commute thing by ST, or is it track limitations by BNSF?

      1. Actually I know someone who had to get his work to adjust his schedule as the first Sounder train didn’t get into Seattle early enough for him to get to work on-time. Then again he’s doing support for customers on the East Coast and needs to work their business hours.

      2. Once the Lakewood Sounder Station is opened up, I believe that the capacity will increase substantially. A track bypass in Tacoma is getting started this spring. By separating freight trains and passenger trains, it should allow more room for Sounder trains, and less schedule conflicts between the two.

  7. ST Seatac Airport Service – First arrivals of the morning

    560 from Bellevue 5:45am (Sundays 6:06am)
    560 from West Seattle 4:54am, 5:24am (Sundays 6:13am)
    574 from Lakewood 3:20am, 3:45am, 400am, 415am, 445am, 530am, 604am (almost the same schedule on Sundays.)

    Firs Link arrival from downtown Seattle: 5:59am weekdays and 6:59am Sundays
    ST makes Seatac airport more accessible for start of morning operations from West Seattle, Burien, Renton, Bellevue, Federal Way, Tacoma and Lakewood, than from downtown Seattle and the Rainier Valley. This needs to be fixed.

    1. To be fair though, the first arrival of Link from the Rainier Valley is at 5:11 on weekdays and 6:10 on Sundays.

      1. So will the Tukwilla/Int’l Blvd station (atleast the bus platform) be open 24/7 than? With buses running through there at all hours of the night..

    2. Night Owl service from Tacoma to SeaTac? I can’t believe it. I was impressed when the 174 Night Owl was extended to Federal Way.

      1. It’s more for the Airport employees whom have to be at work 24/7. Its too bad there cant be some funding found to extend the 574 to Downtown Seattle, and add in a few more trips to fill in the overnight gap in service.

  8. As a previous 564/565 commuter from Renton (I have since moved), I am VERY pleased about the service change that eliminates 564/565 and adds 566 to alleviate the crowding. When I was riding this, I usually had to stand along with about a dozen or so other people. Increased service takes care of this problem. It seems that cutting 2 of every 3 peak trips short at Kent makes a lot of sense too, since the new route will sort of coordinate the eastside commute with the south-end Sounder commute. Cutting the route short (nothing south of Auburn) will also help eliminate the lag time. Previously, the 564/565 was SUPPOSED to arrive every 15 minutes at peak, but because the traffic delay was different between the two routes (Puyallup vs. Federal Way), you’d have two buses coming back-to-back (within two or three minutes of each other) every half hour.

    Good move, Sound Transit.

  9. OH MY GOD!

    I currently commute from Lynnwood to Auburn twice a week. The 578 is going to cut 20-30 minutes off my commute each way. I’m excited.

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