Sound Transit Pilots Updated Pet Policy

Posted on by Michael Smith

Sound Transit is piloting an updated pet policy on its buses and trains between now and Spring 2027. During the pilot, pet dogs will be permitted on board if they are leashed, well-behaved, and controlled by their handler. All other pets must remain in an enclosed carrier. As always, service animals are permitted in compliance with the ADA.

Prior to the pilot, dogs and other pets were only allowed on Sound Transit buses and trains in a carrier. In July 2025, the Sound Transit Board approved Motion No. M2025-34, directing the agency to consider updating the rules to allow leashed dogs. This motion was motivated by the opening of Marymoor Village station as part of the Downtown Redmond Link Extension in May 2025. Marymoor Village station is next to Marymoor Park, a 640-arce park which includes a 40-arce off-leash dog area.

The author’s dog on a Link train.
Continue reading “Sound Transit Pilots Updated Pet Policy” | 28 comments

Midweek Roundup: ‘condos’

Posted on by Nathan Dickey

Survey: ORCA wants your opinion on public transit.

News and commentary from the past week or so.

News:

Continue reading “Midweek Roundup: ‘condos’” | 71 comments

How the Federal Way Link Extension Impacted Bus Ridership Patterns

Posted on by Michael Smith
Sound Transit Express buses at Federal Way Transit Center.

In December 2025, Sound Transit welcomed the first passengers aboard the Federal Way Link Extension. The three new stations on the 1 Line provide improved transit connectivity for many south King County residents. An accompanying bus service change in March 2026 improved frequency on many bus routes and adjusted a few bus routes to better connect with the new Link stations. While some routes lost ridership, many other routes welcomed new passengers. Link increased the total number of transit trips in south King County with nearly 10,000 combined weekday boardings at Federal Way, Star Lake, and Kent Des Moines stations.

This article will discuss the stop-level ridership data for select routes in south King County. To minimize the impact of seasonal changes in ridership, the analysis compares data from March-August 2025 with data from March-August 2026. The plots below show average weekday boardings and alightings at each stop, boardings are shown with positive bars, alightings are shown with negative bars. The different colors represent the number of passengers boarding/alighting during that time of day. The data for 2025 is shown as slightly faded. Click on each plot to open it in a new tab.

Continue reading “How the Federal Way Link Extension Impacted Bus Ridership Patterns” | 94 comments

How the Crosslake Connection Impacted Bus Ridership Patterns

Posted on by Michael Smith
Route 550 bus is passed by a 2 Line train on the Homer M. Hadley Memorial Bridge across Lake Washington.

On March 28, Sound Transit opened the much anticipated Crosslake Connection. This rail connection between Seattle and cities on the Eastside promised fast, frequent, and more reliable connectivity across Lake Washington. The Link 2 Line was designed to replace the hundreds of daily bus trips on I-90, freeing up service hours to improve local bus routes. Initially, however, the I-90 bus routes remained intact to offer extra capacity and redundancy during the World Cup. In the five months following the Crosslake Connection opening, passengers could either take the train or bus. Many chose to take the train. In August 2026, the 11 Link stations on the Eastside and Mercer Island accounted for 12,500 boardings each weekday.

This article will discuss the stop-level ridership data for select routes in east King County. To minimize the impact of seasonal changes in ridership, the analysis compares data from March-August 2025 with data from March-August 2026. The plots below show average weekday boardings and alightings at each stop, boardings are shown with positive bars, alightings are shown with negative bars. The different colors represent the number of passengers boarding/alighting during that time of day. The data for 2025 is shown as slightly faded. Click on each plot to open it in a new tab.

Continue reading “How the Crosslake Connection Impacted Bus Ridership Patterns” | 86 comments

Sunday Movie: Ballard Link Controversy

Posted on by Mike Orr

A recap of the Ballard Link controversy that boiled over at the forum Monday. These videos are from three months ago.

Light rail to Ballard shouldn’t be this hard. (The House of Transit)

Why is building transit so expensive anyway? (Yet Another Urbanist)

I’m reaching the end of the video backlog again. Do you have suggestions for other videos or channels to feature?

This is an open thread.

71 comments

Friday Roundtable: Vote Yes on Prop 1 for More Buses!

Posted on by Michael Smith
The Seattle Transit Measure funds additional weekend trips on Route 36 that have caused a significant increase in weekend ridership.

Ballots for the November election have been sent to voters in King County. One item on the ballot for voters in Seattle is Proposition 1: Seattle Transit Measure. This renews and expands the Seattle Transit Measure that is set to expire in early 2027. The 0.3% sales tax is expected to generate $138 million per year that will fund 280,000 bus trips in Seattle each year for 10 years, 100,000 more bus trips than currently funded. It would also fund 22,000 free ORCA cards for low-income, elderly, and families with young children, maintain support for Seattle’s streetcar lines, fund spot improvements to keep buses moving, and help expedite permits and inspections for Link expansion projects in Seattle. Vote Yes to help fund transit in Seattle.

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Route 545 doesn’t save as much time as you think

Posted on by Alex Kvenvolden

Much like route 550 was to Bellevue, route 545 has been Redmond’s workhorse route. Redmond has a diverse set of transit options fanning out in every direction, even before it had the distinction of being a Link terminus. But the main regional service has always been route 545, which connects downtown Redmond to downtown Seattle. However, as with many ST express corridors, route 545 was intended to be an interim service until rail reaches Redmond. Route 545 was always planned on being discontinued with the start of East Link service to Seattle, with the 2 Line taking over the entirety of both routes 545 and 550. The original plan (developed as part of the first iteration of King County Metro’s East Link Connections plan) deleted the 545 and 550, with some of the freed up service hours being used to make the 542 frequent and replace 545 service to Bear Creek P&R. Route 554 (later renumbered 556) was also planned to be moved to Bellevue to fill a gap in service on Bellevue Way left by the removal of route 550. Former riders of these routes either take a more frequent bus to connect the 2 Line, or can just take the 2 Line on its own.

Original all-day service plan to Redmond had just the 2 Line, plus a frequent 542 to connect to UW
Continue reading “Route 545 doesn’t save as much time as you think” | 87 comments

Ballard Link Community Forum

Posted on by Martin Pagel

Dan Strauss invited Sound Transit board members, city officials, and state officials to a Ballard Link Extension (BLE) Community Forum Monday to provide the public with information on the Ballard Link extension plans. The Nordic Museum’s auditorium was packed with residents from Ballard and along the route as well as from the Eastside and even Tacoma. After short opening remarks from the officials, Sound Transit CEO Constantine introduced Brad Owen (acting Chief Delivery Officer, former Los Angeles Metro), Lauren Matthias (who joined the BLE team as Project Director from Vancouver’s Broadway SkyTrain) and Dan Turner (long time BLE Project Manager). Then Dan Strauss took questions from the audience.

While many aspects were discussed, it became clear that Sound Transit does not envision any major changes but is focusing on reducing the cost of the project as envisioned. They are hoping Olympia will enact increasing debt allowance (by borrowing for 75 years instead of 40, which effectively reduces debt burden by $1b) and a better federal funding environment (faster grants).

Continue reading “Ballard Link Community Forum” | 82 comments

Midweek Roundup: clash over Aurora

Posted on by Nathan Dickey

News and commentary from the past week or so.

Survey: Community Transit wants your input on Swift Gold by November 15.

News:

Continue reading “Midweek Roundup: clash over Aurora” | 56 comments

Changing the Zoning for most of Seattle

Posted on by Ross Bleakney

“Neighborhood Residential” (previously called “Single-Family”) is the most common zoning type in Seattle. It makes up about 2/3 of the land zoned for development in the city. This is where we have the greatest potential for improving population density and affordability in Seattle. Here is a proposal for simple changes that could make a huge difference. This zoning type used to be three minimum lot sizes. Now there’s only one: 5,000 square feet. Along with lowering the size limit for new lots, other rules are now a bit more liberal. While these changes are laudable, they are still complicated and aren’t as liberal as what Spokane has. I believe we can do better.

Continue reading “Changing the Zoning for most of Seattle” | 68 comments