Starting August 29, King County Metro and Sound Transit will be revising routes on the Eastside. These changes are primarily due to the full 2 Line opening in March 2026. Overall, this restructure is focused on reducing redundant service with the 2 Line while improving frequency and reliability. The Fall 2026 restructure also includes routes in south King County and Pierce County, as well as north King County (will be covered in a future article).

See the full list of changes below or skip to: Central (Bellevue), North (Kirkland/Redmond/Bothell/Woodinville), South (Renton/Mercer Island), East (Issaquah/North Bend), or Night-Owl.

Continue reading “Fall 2026 Service Change: East King County” | 23 comments

Transportation:

• SDOT is proposing to scale back Pike Place’s pedestrianization pilot this winter; the Seattle Street Alliance proposes an alternative (The Urbanist).
• Another round of WSLE station area design surveys by SDOT is open, closing on September 8.
• July bike counts obliterated Seattle’s all-time monthly record (Seattle Bike Blog)
• With Ballard Link delayed to sometime between 2042 and 2060, some advocates are calling for ST to reopen consideration of a Ballard stop on the Sounder N Line (The Urbanist)
• How Recent Crossing Improvements Have Lowered Speeds around Judkins Park (WSDOT Blog)
• Denny Way is getting its eastbound bus lane this weekend (SDOT Blog)
• State ferries to recap busiest summer since 2019 and share other updates at virtual community meetings this September (WSDOT)

More headlines after the break.

Continue reading “Midweek Roundup: busiest summer” | 53 comments

Seattle is the opposite of every other US city. (Safety First)

Is urbanism inherently left wing? (Oh the Urbanity!) (Warning: The end contains a Canadian rant on US policies.)

The Alto high-speed rail mentioned in the video will connect Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, Quebec City, Peterborough, and Trois-Rivières at 200 mph. It’s currently in planning. Toronto-Montreal is estimated at 3:07 hours vs 5:30 driving.

Musical interlude: Another One Rides the Bus.

This is an open thread.

77 comments

Correction, 8/12 11:30am: We retract the previous statement about a train derailing and have updated the paragraph below with a comment from Sound Transit. We regret this error.

After someone crashed their car into a barrier and pushed it onto the tracks along MLK Way on Monday evening, a southbound train attempted to use the pocket track at Rainier Beach station to switch to the northbound track. During this process, the train “experienced a split switch at low speed while entering the Henderson Pocket Track and once the switch was inspected, the train moved back out of the pocket under its own power.” Thanks to the quick response from Sound Transit crews, normal 1 Line service resumed about 2 hours after the initial car crash.

Transit & Streets:

• A 16-year-old driver hit and killed a 37-year-old man early Tuesday morning in northwest Seattle. (SPD Blotter)
• Sound Transit’s Rider Experience Committee approved the creation of a program to retrofit 14 Link stations with fare gates. (The Urbanist)
• Amtrak Cascades have a service disruption between Seattle in Portland due to a warehouse fire near the tracks in Portland. (Amtrak Cascades)
• Temporary state-funded Bremerton Fast Ferry sailings will end after August 31. (Kitsap Headways)
• Community Transit Board of Directors approve the 2026-2031 Transit Development Plan. (Community Transit)
• The Office of Planning & Community Development is asking the community for input on land uses near Graham St station via a survey.

Land Use & Housing:

• Seattle City Council passes legislation to ban rental junk fees. (Office of the Mayor)
• UW laundry site at Mount Baker station set to become affordable housing by El Centro de la Raza and Mercy Housing Northwest (Seattle Times, $)
• After years of studies, Seattle continues to study housing at Fort Lawton in Magnolia. (The Urbanist)
• CM Strauss proposes legislation to require RV residents to get permits. (Pubicola)

Site note: We’ve been getting an epidemic of spam comments for the past two days. The new ones apparently use AI to generate a plausible-sounding opinion or repeat a real concern for a few sentences, and then end with a link to an unrelated site. We are working to moderate and prevent such comments. In the meantime, please do not engage with or click on the links in these comments.

This is an open thread. That does not include spam comments.

129 comments

King County Metro has shared an updated high-level design of the RapidRide R Line and is asking the community for feedback. The R Line will travel between Rainier Beach station and downtown Seattle on Rainier Ave when it opens in 2032. First envisioned in the 2015 Levy to Move Seattle, work on this route was paused for a few years due to budget constraints. RapidRide R will replace Route 7, the second busiest bus route in Washington (behind the E Line).

The recent update outlines the expected stop locations and areas of focus for speed and reliability improvements and for transit access improvements (sidewalks, curb ramps, lighting, etc). Throughout the route, reliability improvements have been identified near many intersections. These will likely take the form of transit signal priority.

Segment 1: Downtown to Judkins Park Station

Continue reading “RapidRide R Line Project Update” | 161 comments

Why the DC Streetcar failed. (Climate and Transit)

Why small studio apartments are proliferating. Seattle is mentioned twice. (Stewart Hicks)

Musical interlude: Crazy Downtown by Allan Sherman, 1965.

This is an open thread.

4 comments

The eastern half of Bellevue Transit Center is closed for Stride S1 and S2 construction, so several bus stops are relocated to adjacent streets. The current phase will last until October. Then the western half of the transit center will close until January. Currently three temporary bus stops have been established on adjacent streets:

• Westbound 520 routes: 271, 556. On NE 6th St east of 110th Ave NE, in front of Meydenbauer Center.
• Southbound/eastbound I-90 and local routes: 271, 550, 556, 560, 566. On 110th Ave NE south of NE 6th St. Also arrivals on the 532, 535, and 908 at the end of their route.
• Nortbound 405 and local routes: 249, 532, 535, 908. On 110th Ave NE south of NE 6th Street, in front of the Link station. Also arrivals on the 550 near the end of its route (it makes one more stop at the Bellevue Library).

Sound Transit has a map of the bus stops and routes.

I’m surprised such a major closure at the Eastside’s biggest transit hub hasn’t gotten more publicity and hasn’t been mentioned in the STB comments. People may have encountered it and assumed everyone else knew about it.

I discovered the closure last week when I went to Bellevue Square for the first time since Crosslake Link opened. I intended to transfer from Link to the 550 or 271 if they were coming in a few minutes. But the eastern half of the transit center was fenced off and those stops were relocated. Rather than looking for them and possibly finding they weren’t coming anyway, I walked to the Square. That wouldn’t have been an option if I’d been going several more miles or had only a couple minutes to transfer, so anyone who will be in that situation should determine their temporary stop beforehand or leave several minutes to find it.

The NE 6th Street walkway looks more pleasant than the last time I used it between 108th and 106th, so it seems to have been renovated. After my shopping trip I decided not to walk to the transit center or take the 550 eastbound. Instead I went to the 550 westbound stop at NE 4th & Bellevue Way, which has a shelter to wait at. I took the 550 to South Bellevue station and transferred to Link. In the restructure later this month, the 556 will replace the 550 in that role.

67 comments