Sound Transit’s Link light rail system continues to break its own ridership records. After the highly-anticipated Crosslake Connection opening at the end of March, system-wide ridership jumped 46% to 4,675,216 passengers in April 2026. This equates to an average 155,840 boardings across the 1 Line, 2 Line, and T Line every day. Since the pandemic, Link ridership has increased significantly. Seattle’s growing population and growing light rail network have boosted Link’s ridership above pre-pandemic levels. The following Link extension projects have opened in the past five years.

• October 2021: Northgate extension (1 Line)
• September 2023: Hilltop Extension (T Line)
• April 2024: East Link Starter Line (2 Line)
• August 2024: Lynnwood City Center extension (1 Line)
• May 2025: Downtown Redmond extension (2 Line)
• December 2025: Federal Way Downtown extension (1 Line)
• March 2026: Crosslake Connection (2 Line)

Continue reading “Link Ridership Soars 46% After Crosslake Connection Opening” | 16 comments

Local News:

• Wilson Proposes Doubling Transit Measure to Beef Up Seattle’s Frequent Network (The Urbanist). Also on the SDOT Blog.
• Tap into Seattle summer: ORCA releases limited-time promotional 3-day pass (Metro Matters). This pass has been in the works since last year.
• Kitsap Transit is piloting a new fare-free shuttle in downtown Bainbridge starting June 13 (KT Headways).
• Behind the Scenes of the Limited-Edition SEA26 ORCA Card (Metro Matters).
• Sound Transit Board OKs Major ST3 Update, Casting Ballard into Limbo (The Urbanist); also on PubliCola.
• Supporting an electric future: University Bridge Trolley Pole Replacement Project (Metro Matters).
• Bellevue Set to Expand ‘Supercharger’ Building Incentive Program to More Neighborhoods (The Urbanist).
• U District event canceled, but some businesses deny having been opposed to the two-day “block party” scheduled for last weekend despite signing a petition to cancel it (The Seattle Times, $; free via SPL).
• Coal Creek Trail reveals hidden history of Eastside’s mining towns (The Seattle Times, $; free via SPL).
• What’s next for Federal Way theme park Wild Waves? (The Seattle Times, $).

Continue reading “Midweek Roundup: Tap into Seattle Summer” | 38 comments

How big an apartment can you rent in a city’s most walkable neighborhood without a car, for the same cost as a 1000 square-foot rental in its most typical suburb with a car? Ray Delahanty answers that for the 26 largest metro areas in the US. Seattle is at 6:23. (CityNerd)

Q&A about the tradeoffs of car-free living in Montreal. There are challenges “but they don’t exactly line up with what people think”. (Oh the Urbanity!)

This is an open thread.

84 comments

When Sound Transit opened the Crosslake Connection in March 2026, over 200,000 people went for a ride on the first day. Since then, the 2 Line has carried thousands of passengers between Seattle and the Eastside everyday. Many of these passengers are new transit riders who used to drive across Lake Washington, while others switched to the train from an ST Express bus. Sound Transit’s decision to wait until August to restructure its bus network gives us an opportunity to examine the Crosslake Connection’s impact on ST Express ridership.

The agency has not yet published Link ridership data for March and April, but it has shared ridership data for its ST Express bus routes. Unless otherwise stated, the analysis below is looking at the average weekday ridership in April 2026 (percentages are compared to March 2026).

Crosslake Routes

Route 542’s ridership has remained stable, just a 1% increase to 1,517 passengers. This route is significantly faster than the 2 Line (26 vs 53 minutes) between Redmond and UW, so it is unlikely that many passengers would have switched to the train. Last year, Route 542 had a nearly 18% increase in ridership between March and April.

Sound Transit’s other all-day route on SR-520, Route 545, was impacted by the Crosslake Connection opening. Ridership was down 13.5% in April. Despite this, the route’s 4,281 daily passengers still make it the busiest ST Express route. Route 545 saw a slight increase in ridership between March and April 2025.

Continue reading “Friday Roundtable: Crosslake Connection’s Impact on ST Express Ridership” | 84 comments

Update: The resolution passed with some of the amendments. Analysis at end of article.

The Sound Transit board meets today at 1:30-5:00 to revise the ST3 system plan to reduce costs. The meeting page has links to the agenda, resolution, amendments, reports, and information on how to view the meeting and give public testimony in person or remotely. A video of the meeting will be posted to ST’s YouTube channel within 48 hours after the meeting.

The proposed resolution postpones some ST3 projects to get costs down to the available debt limit. 13 amendments reverse or soften some of the changes. As reported, Dan Strauss proposed focusing on Ballard while deferring the second downtown tunnel. Vice Chair Claudia Balducci proposes studying automation and other cost reduction measures and other details. Another resolution would increase the car rental tax. Each resolution requires a supermajority vote to pass.

This article is to collect comments from the meeting and its outcome.

Continue reading “ST Board Meets to Postpone ST3 Projects” | 214 comments

On Wednesday, Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson unveiled an amendment to the Sound Transit 3 realignment plan that would keep the Graham St infill station on track to open in 2031. The ST3 realignment plan was proposed by Board Chair Dave Somers in early May as a means of aligning the agency’s future Link extensions with the available funding. In the plan, Link extensions to West Seattle, Everett, Tacoma, Issaquah, Kirkland, and the new downtown tunnel would be built first. The extension from Seattle Center to Ballard and the infill stations (Graham St and Boeing Access Rd) would be designed with current funding but construction would be deferred until additional funds are available in the future.

Mayor Wilson teamed up with King County Executive Girmay Zahilay and King County Councilmember Teresa Mosqueda to propose an amendment to Somers’ resolution. The amendment directs Sound Transit to “incorporate $25M in secured federal grant funds for project construction, apply identified cost savings opportunities, and pursue additional local and federal grant opportunities”. In addition, any cost savings from Pinehurst station should be allocated for the Graham St station. As Seattle owns the right-of-way on MLK Way, Wilson is committing that the City will “expedite permitting, resolve ROW-related risks, and support cost reduction efforts”.

Continue reading “Wilson, Zahilay, and Mosqueda Propose Plan to Save Graham St Station” | 37 comments

Service Alerts:

• Sound Transit’s Monthly Maintenance program comes to South King County this week, with Link 1 Line service between Angle Lake and Federal Way being replaced by buses from around 9pm to end of service the nights of May 25 to May 27.
• Dual disruption coming to Link this weekend, May 30-31: buses replace all trains between Capitol Hill and Stadium, and replace the 2 Line between South Bellevue and CID.

Local Headlines:

• Community Transit is retiring its last Seattle route, Route 424, on June 13 (CT News)
• Bellevue Poised to Stop Giving Away Curbside Parking for Free (The Urbanist)
• Seattle Times opinion piece on Vision Zero is dangerously misleading (Seattle Bike Blog)
• Hundreds of happy people ride with Mayor Wilson to open Bicycle Weekends (Seattle Bike Blog). Additional coverage by The Urbanist.
• Op-Ed: South King County Deserves the Light Rail Stations It Was Promised (The Urbanist)
• Dan Strauss Restarts Downtown Tunnel Debate on Eve of ST3 Plan Update (The Urbanist)
• West Coast Cities Turn to Vacancy Taxes to Grapple with Housing Crisis (The Urbanist)
• “City Erased” exhibit at UW’s Gould Hall highlights the buildings destroyed by I-5 (Seattle Now & Then)
• Seattle Advances Zoning Package Spurring Towers, Mass Timber, and Passive House (The Urbanist)
• Seattle Social Housing Developer Acquires First Building (The Urbanist)
• Seattle has the No. 1 big city school district. We should act like it (The Seattle Times, $; free via SPL)
• Seattle is giving out 100 free Seasonal Café permits for Seattle businesses (SDOT Blog)
• $8.4M in Federal funding to enhance transit service during the FIFA World Cup (PSRC)

Continue reading “Midweek Roundup: dual disruption” | 82 comments

In light of the recent news that Graham Street Station is set to be deferred yet again, I thought it would be worth considering if there may be a better way forward. Despite the early promises of the Enterprise Initiative, we are heading towards a future where a key Link Station is deferred indefinitely yet again. This article looks at the most effective and cost-effective alternative for Graham Street station, how it compares to ST’s preferred alternative and ST’s other alternatives, and larger problems in the Enterprise Initiative process and the ST3 decision-making process as a whole that lead to substandard station and alignment decisions and unnecessary costs. This article is an abridged version of a more detailed and technical article on my website.

We have a lot of ground to cover, but our first point to consider will be the Spring 2025 Alternatives Development and Evaluation Technical Memorandum. In this memo, Sound Transit released its preferred alternative for Graham Street, with the option chosen being a center platform on the south side of Graham Street (see below).

Continue reading “Graham Street Station and the Failure of the Enterprise Initiative” | 167 comments