At the future Marymoor Village Station this morning, Sound Transit announced the Downtown Redmond Link Extension will open on May 10, 2025. The opening will extend the 2 Line by 3.4 miles from its current terminus at the Redmond Technology Station to Downtown Redmond, with a stop near Marymoor Park south of the intersection of State Route 520 and Redmond Way.
The extension is mostly at-grade along State Route 520, climbing to an aerial alignment terminating in Downtown Redmond. The Marymoor Village Station is at-grade and includes a 1,400-stall parking garage, which the light rail actually passes underneath as it turns west toward Downtown Redmond.
The Downtown Redmond Link Extension will be the first ST3-funded light rail project to open, followed by the Federal Way Link Extension next year. Both extensions had their routes planned under ST2, and before the pandemic and a 6-month concrete truck drivers strike, were expected to open in 2024.
The portions of the East Link Extension Project have been fraught with construction issues, rework, and delays resulting some parts of the extension being ready for service ahead of others. The 2 Line has been operating between South Bellevue Station and Redmond Technology Station since last April. Ridership on the “starter line” has generally met Sound Transit’s prediction of about 6,000 daily boardings.
Meanwhile, construction is still ongoing between the International District/Chinatown Station and South Bellevue Station. This section of track is still expected to open later this year, which will allow the 2 Line to run its full length from Downtown Redmond to Lynnwood via Downtown Bellevue and Downtown Seattle. When the 2 Line begins operating through Seattle, it will double service between Lynnwood and Seattle and alleviate crowding conditions being experienced on northern sections of the 1 Line today.
Side note: This extension has two stations at similar levels of completion, but one station has abundant parking, and the other is very transit-accessible. Ryan Packer posted about their experience getting to the announcement on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/typewriteralley.bsky.social/post/3lgy2evyxck2x
That Ryan Packer post is hilarious. I’d be pissed too if I had to take a bus, then walk 18 mins, then be told that the future of Redmond transportation is still 3.5 months away, and then have to do it all again just to get home. Most of a day wasted, and not much fun either.
But hey! At least it wasn’t raining…..
All of the Link stations in Redmond have abundant parking. At a couple of them you might have to walk a few blocks.
Why they would have the announcement at Marymoor Village is beyond me.
I think Ryan was right: They expected people to drive there.
I’m not up on my Eastside travel patterns – is this extension expected to increase ridership on the 2 line significantly before the cross-lake portion is opened?
I haven’t seen ridership estimates for the extension that don’t assume the full 2 Line is open. However, Downtown Redmond and Bellevue seems like fairly important connection, so I expect ridership to be fairly robust. I’m most curious about weekend summer ridership at the Marymoor Village station, since it’ll offer very close and very high-capacity access to Marymoor Park, which doesn’t have any direct transit connections right now.
With Cirque du Soleil at Marymoor it might see increased traffic the next few months from folks visiting that.
Cirque du Soleil is leaving in March, unfortunately.
They’ve also built a ton of mid rise apartment buildings in Downtown Redmond in recent years and its a traditional historic mixed use downtown with many destinations like restaurants, shops, parks. Should do pretty well.
What’s the role of the Redmond Transit Center when Link opens? I assume buses will shift down there instead or will they try to serve both RTC and Downtown Redmond Link Station?
I’m not expecting much of a bump in ridership until the Lake Washington crossing is opened.
Marymoor will attract some who live in Sammamish or Redmond or points east and want to leave their cars rather than pay for Bellevue parking.
The Redmond Downtown destinations can benefit. Still I don’t see that these destinations attract people arriving from miles away using transit. So that will probably not be significant.
There may be riders coming from new Downtown Redmond housing. But there is housing near the other starter line stations and those boardings have not been much.
I would guess that there will be between 500-1300 new average weekday boardings at the two stations combined. And Redmond Technology will lose 300-500 net boardings due to station switching, countered by new riders who are Redmond residents working nearby. I expect a slight increase primarily in Downtown Bellevue of maybe 200-500 boardings coming home from work. All totaled I think the total 2 Line ridership will grow by 1000-1500 average weekday boardings.
Al, yes, not suggesting it will rival the ridership that will come with the connection to Seattle but I think it will do well compared to the other open East Link stations outside Downtown Bellevue station. These are the only two stations that really have anything walkable and/or destinations around them. The whole 2 line was really built first and foremost to be regional connection to/from Seattle, all local trips are really icing on the cake.
The real question is, “How many riders who are not currently taking the 550 or 560 will be taking Line 2?” Not on day one, of course, but on day one-hundred and twenty-four. On day four-hundred and eighty-one. And especially, on day nine-hundred and three.
That is, will Line 2 be “paying for itself” in increased modal share for transit across the I-90 Bridge two and a half years after its opening? Because if it’s just providing a nicer ride for people who would have taken the bus as a preference — there actually are such people; I’m one of them — or by necessity, it was a poor use of the HOV lanes and four billion dollars.
It’s not like the extra trains required to serve Lynnwood Link actually have to go anywhere south of CID except to reverse.
I’m not predicting that it won’t be serving more people, just that the obvious utility of a transit line between the two CBD’s may not actually be that important to East Siders.
A few very speculative comments about how Redmond may change with full East Link:
1. I think Marymoor will morph into a higher activity park setting. I wouldn’t be surprised if a smaller crowd pro sports team ends up there. Maybe new ethnic festivals and music festivals will end up there.
2. I’m expecting more Redmond hotels. Lumen Field, the Convention Center and Husky Stadium will be easy to reach. There are already several.
3. Some sort of entertainment or nightlife uptick seems inevitable —especially places that thrive on alcohol (brewpubs; wine tasting). Inebriated people can ride the train home easier. I could even see some Woodinville tasting rooms moving to Redmond. It would work well for people staying in Seattle hotels but wanting a destination in suburbia while visiting.
Even though Bellevue has the status as a hub it kind of feels somewhat like an office district. Redmond could become its party time sibling!
@Al S,
“ I wouldn’t be surprised if a smaller crowd pro sports team ends up there.”
That is already happening. The MLC Seattle Orcas are already planning to play there. I was pleased to see Lindblom mention that.
Seattle has 755K people, the central Eastside has around 200K, and both are growing, so more than a hundred people a day will always travel between them, like between San Francisco and Oakland. Look at the cars on the bridges to see the total current circulation. We want to attract some of those drivers. But long-term ridership will increase beyond that because there will be more people, more unique destinations to cross the lake for, and more willingness to use transit as society evolves.
You said, “If it’s just providing a nicer ride for people who have been taking the bus”, that nicer ride in itself will attract more people. Link will run every 8-10 minutes until 10pm every day. The 550 runs every 15 minutes weekdays and Saturdays, and every 30 minutes Sundays and evenings. The 545 is similar but with 30-minute Saturdays. It’s hard to fit those 30-minute pulses into your schedule and do everything you need to do in a day, so there’s latent ridership that will appear when better service starts.
As it becomes easier to get to the Redmond trails and Marymoor Park from Seattle, more people will be interested in doing that. Especially when they see how many independent restaurants downtown Redmond has: more than other cities its size.
A lot of Eastsiders don’t go to Seattle for cultural or fearmongering reasons, but a lot of others do go to Seattle. They aren’t as visible because they aren’t featured in the media as much, and people forget the Eastside has lower-income people and lower-income jobs who disporportionally take transit. (Or would take transit if it were feasible for their trip.)
Link doesn’t just terminate at Bellevue TC like the 550 does, it continues eat to mid Bellevue, east Bellevue, and Redmond. That creates more one-seat ride opportunities, and a longer train segment for train+bus trips. Before Link I had to take the 550 to Bellevue TC and sit on a 226 meandering for 40 minutes to get to Lake Hills. With the full 2 Line I’ll be able to take Link all the way from Seattle to Redmond Tech and transfer there, and the remaining bus won’t meander as much. That will attract more riders from east Bellevue or going to east Bellevue.
A regional rail core takes many years of planning and construction, so all that has to be done before it’s needed, so that it will be there in time. It was planned in the 1960s with Forward Thrust but failed. Now it’s finally happening. When you look at it from that long-term perspective, of course East Link is needed and of course it will attract more people than the current buses. That’s inevitable when you’re connecting two city orbits of hundreds of thousands of people each just ten miles apart.
@Tom Terrific – I would never take a bus to the eastside, but I sure will use the train. When I worked over there years ago, the commute was so miserable that I decided I would not even consider any more jobs on the eastside until the train was done.
I’m hoping to stay where I am for a good long while, but next time I do need to look around, Bellevue and Redmond will be options again.
Of course that’s just one anecdote, but that lake has always been a big psychological barrier for those of us on the west side, and I think the arrival of a fast and comfortable way to cross it will change things.
I would never take a bus to the eastside, but I sure will use the train.
I find that bizarre. When I worked at Downtown Bellevue I definitely took the bus. To fair the bus worked out great for me (there was a bus that went along 125th to Lake City then to the U-District and then to Bellevue). But even now I would probably take the 270 to Downtown Bellevue or one of the other buses to Redmond. It is only trips like Factoria that remain challenging.
One of the more interesting things is that the 550 has deteriorated over the years and ridership has plummeted. It got kicked out of the tunnel and I assume traffic in the HOV lane increased (as folks shifted from the tolled 520). The 550 peaked at 10,800 riders a day in 2016. Now it is less than 5,000. It isn’t alone. The 545 peaked in 2015. The 554 in 2017. But the various Metro routes that will funnel service to East Link (212, 214, 216, etc.) all peaked before the pandemic. Now, of course they carry a small fraction of the ridership they used to (several aren’t even running).
Link is definitely an improvement over most of the buses. The 550 did not run express between the two downtowns even when it ran in the tunnel. I’m not talking about the freeway stops (which Link will continue to make) but the detour to South Bellevue. It will continue to serve that park & ride but the riders that make up the vast majority won’t be significantly delayed because it does. As Mike pointed out, it will also go farther. Not only will places like Wilburton and Spring District get a one-seat ride to Seattle but it will be a fairly fast one as it avoids the congestion in Bellevue. For trips from Downtown Seattle to Microsoft and Downtown Redmond though it isn’t clear if it is much faster than the express buses. It looks like a wash. Likewise the folks in Issaquah will have to transfer. The transfer options look excellent but some will complain.
With East Link being completely isolated (at least for a while) it gives us a chance to see how many trips are taken just within the East Side. (If ST released this data we could figure it out as well but they haven’t done that in years.) Since most of the areas also have bus service that also gives us a chance to compare with current and past bus usage. My prediction: East Link (when it is completed) will be somewhere in between. In other words we will get a lot more riders going across the lake on Link than we currently get on the buses but not nearly as many as we did in 2017.
I don’t want to downplay the importance of projects like East Link. It is definitely important. But if we want to fully recover from the pandemic and get overall ridership like we used to we need to fix the bus system. We need to run the buses more often, they need to be part of a better network and they need to avoid congestion.
@Mars Saxman,
“I would never take a bus to the eastside, but I sure will use the train.”
I have only taken the bus twice on the Eastside, but that was only because my car broke down and I was stranded over there. Otherwise I just drive, but I don’t like driving in the Eastside so I try to avoid going there all together.
The big exception is for my wife. She doesn’t drive, so when she has a mid-day meeting in the Spring District I usually end up driving her. The bus system just doesn’t support quick, mid-day trips very well.
So I look forward to the opening of Full ELE too. Partly because I won’t need to drive my wife over there for mid-day meetings anymore, and partly because I’ll be able to explore the area around Redmond a bit more without dealing with Eastside traffic.
It will just be so much faster and more convenient to get to that side of the lake once Full ELE is open. Can’t wait.
Ross, I think you’re looking at this as someone who has ridden the bus for decades at this point. You don’t see much problem with the bus, whereas others do. The bus isn’t exactly an easy and comfortable experience for a lot of people who are choice riders, compared to you and I who are okay with it. The bus system is intimidating compared to rail as you are having to understand multiple route numbers, what they mean, how often it comes, where do I get off, etc. You can argue that it’s not too dissimilar but to me, there’s still a difference in vibe for ease of information and figuring out the system compared to the buses.
I was actually talking with a lady recently at a networking event who’s a well heeled professional who is excited for East Link to fully open. As she can now when it opens, take her kids to the Eastside to visit family and local museums & parks there. Taking the 550 now isn’t fun if you have to take a stroller like her compared to Link where there are a lot easier places to roll a stroller into on the train.
I mean for me, once East Link opens I can take my retired dad to the Eastside for food stuff (we usually go have pho together or other Asian foods like Thai or Korean as a lunch date for him and I). As him and I can hop on Sounder at Tacoma Dome for the mid morning run and then transfer to the 2 line at CID and then do the same thing in reverse. My dad also has limited mobility (walking with a cane) so trying to get him onto a coach bus would be hard for him without it taking a number to his knees.
Whenever I visit a city with a multi-line subway, I always take the subway because its map is easy to understand and I can carry the whole network in my pocket. Usually I don’t take buses at all, or maybe just one route if the subway doesn’t serve an area (like to the airport or to a certain neighborhood).
With buses it’s harder to figure out which route you want or how frequently it runs, and you fear getting lost somewhere for several hours until the next bus comes.
With just an airport bus route, you can treat it like an extension to the subway, and it’s probably fairly frequent, and clearly goes from the airport to a particular station. But if you try taking general bus routes anywhere, it feels more tricky.
@Zach B
I agree, I think system legibility is hugely important. I think that’s a big part of the reason RapidRide gets a bump in riders: people know where the bus is going and they know the bus will show up at least every 15 minutes all day every day
I know quite a few people who regularly take Link but walk or drive between well-served destinations (15th/Pine to Westlake, for instance) because they don’t understand the bus system.
In a similar vein, I think moving to open payments (credit cards) will have a small but noticeable bump in ridership. People don’t have or don’t carry their ORCA card or just don’t know how to pay at all.
For system legibility, I think it would be very helpful if RapidRide lines showed up on Google Maps (and Apple Maps? if they don’t already) with some way to distinguish them from Link. It’d be nice if we had a way to distinguish between local and frequent buses too, though I don’t think that would make as big of a difference.
If a white person were to say to me that they refuse to ride a public bus, the first thing I would wonder is if they are racist or classist.
Whenever I visit a city with a multi-line subway, I always take the subway because its map is easy to understand and I can carry the whole network in my pocket.
Sure, but it really depends on the city. In a city like New York, Paris or London it makes sense to take the trains. The subway lines are so extensive that only savvy transit riders take the bus. In cities like that more people take the train than the bus. But in most North American cities more people take the bus than the train. You just can’t get around without taking the bus for at least part of the journey.
We live in that kind of city. The trains only cover a small subset of the places where people live or where they want to go. I understand that there are people somehow intimidated by the buses that feel comfortable taking the train. But they represent a tiny subset of the ridership. The vast majority of people will drive if it is convenient to drive and take transit when it is convenient to take transit (regardless of mode). We have seen a major shift in modal use as Link has expanded, but we haven’t seen a major increase in ridership.
Which brings me back to East Link. I live in the north end of Seattle. If I commuted to Downtown Bellevue I would definitely take the bus. I think most people would. Your employer will often pay for your bus pass but they won’t pay the tolls on 520 (and driving through downtown and over I-90 sucks). Unless I could find a carpool option I would take the bus. I might “round the horn” when Link gets here but it really wouldn’t change my world. Same goes for a trip to Microsoft or Downtown Redmond. The buses do a good job (especially during peak).
In contrast, since the 550 sucks (and has sucked for years) I can definitely see how folks will find Link heavenly in comparison. Likewise for people heading to places like Wilburton or the Spring District. But if you are trying to get to Bellevue College, Crossroads or dozens of other places on the East Side I think you will do what you’ve always done. Maybe you take transit, maybe you drive.
Ultimately it gets down to how much it improves the system. For trips that are much better (e. g. Rainier Valley to Downtown Bellevue) people will switch to taking transit. But a lot of those people (like those going from Rainier Valley to Downtown Bellevue) will take the bus for at least part of their journey.
I know quite a few people who regularly take Link but walk or drive between well-served destinations (15th/Pine to Westlake, for instance) because they don’t understand the bus system.
In a similar vein, I think moving to open payments (credit cards) will have a small but noticeable bump in ridership. People don’t have or don’t carry their ORCA card or just don’t know how to pay at all.
I don’t get that. They have smartphones. They somehow manage to navigate the whole “pay with phone” thing but they can’t figure out how to use Google Maps? You don’t need to know the system anymore*. All you need to do is put in the place you want to go and follow the instructions.
Same goes with ORCA cards. It isn’t rocket science. There are websites that explain how it works and how to use it. Hell, there are probably You-Tube videos. I get why someone from out of town wouldn’t want to deal with it. But it is basically a one-time setup. Once you have the card you just put it in your wallet or phone holder. Setting up a phone is more complicated.
*I find it funny that Metro still has paper maps. I like looking at transit maps but mainly because I’m a transit nerd. When I actually want go get from Point A to Point B I just use Google Maps. So simple.
@Ross Bleakney
I don’t think it is overly complicated but it’s a common sentiment I hear. I work with a younger crowd, many of whom live in well-served areas like Greenwood, Roosevelt, or Capitol Hill, many of whom who rarely take the bus because it is easier to just drive.
I think it’s a combination of factors. People need to understand the routing, frequency, and span of a route before they are comfortable taking it regularly. System legibility is one, but I think there are also major issues with frequency/span. Even very productive routes like the 5 or 8 have relatively anemic weekend service.
A few ideas that would cost a lot of service hours. I think these should happen regardless in the long term though, given post-pandemic travel patterns and our growing urban core:
– Consolidate Saturday/Sunday service so there are two schedules: weekday and weekend
– Extend all-day (midday) frequency to at least 8 PM, ideally 9 or 10 PM. A steep frequency cliff at 7 PM is a nonstarter for a lot of trips. You can’t even eat dinner without hitting the frequency wall.
– Consolidate so that “core” routes can run at least 15 minutes all day every day (until the aforementioned 9-10 PM). If it can’t run at 15 minutes all-day, every day, then it should be considered a coverage route.
Some low hanging fruit might be to redesign schedules to display frequency/span more prominently. For an example, see the Sound Transit 2020 Service Implementation Plan, pages 106-107 (I-405 North map and service characteristics):
https://www.soundtransit.org/sites/default/files/documents/2020-service-implementation-plan.pdf
System legibility is one, but I think there are also major issues with frequency/span. Even very productive routes like the 5 or 8 have relatively anemic weekend service.
I agree. I think that is the big issue. This is consistent with all the studies too. As Jarrett Walker put it, having the right marketing, the right logo, an attractive vehicle, a courteous driver, or whatever [e. g. pay-by-phone] can help, but only if the service is useful. Right now our network isn’t that useful.
I agree with your other points as well. There is no reason to have a different schedule on Saturday instead of Sunday. For that matter the schedule should be largely the same every day. The one exception I could see is having a few extra runs during weekday peak and maybe a few extra runs on both Friday and Saturday night. But in general we live in an all-day/everyday/everywhere world. Another factor is that transit is often only as strong as its weakest link. If the bus runs every fifteen minutes getting there but every half hour (or not at all) coming back it is a lot less appealing.
Unfortunately improving things would cost money and/or require restructuring the system. The county has been unwilling to do either and we are stuck with the current mess for now.
“Consolidate Saturday/Sunday service so there are two schedules: weekday and weekend”
The agencies are already moving toward that. The takeaway from the post-covid recovery was that peak-commute ridership is suppressed but weekend ridership is increasing substantially. Some routes have their highest ridership or biggest increase on Saturday or Sunday now.
Link is almost the same Saturday and Sunday; it just starts an hour earlier and ends an hour later on Saturday. Several routes have been filling in Sunday frequency to match Saturday. The Kent 132nd route (164 to GRCC) used to have half-hourly weekday, hourly (?) Saturday, and no Sunday service. Now it’s part of the 165 with half-hourly weekday and Saturday and hourly Sunday. In the Federal Way Link restructure it’s proposed to be the 164 again with half-hourly Saturday and Sunday, and 15-minute weekdays. The Kent KK Road route (168 to Maple Valley) had hourly service but is now half-hourly every day.
It’s not necessary to have identical Saturday-Sunday service or every-day service as long as weekend and Sunday service is approaching 30-minute and eventually 15-minute and is improving.
It should result in a fairly good bump in ELSL ridership.
A lot of tech people live near DT Redmond, and the city itself has become a bit of an attraction over the last 15 years or so.
It is always a good idea to connect a downtown that has growing density, great transit integration, and solid bike/ped infrastructure. Connecting downtown Redmond to downtown Bellevue in the near term will be good in the near term, and should produce a nice bump. But that station will really sing once the 2 Line connects across the lake.
Yeah, I had lunch and saw cirque du soleil out there last weekend and was stunned by the number of residential buildings that appeared to have been built in the last 10 or so years. I almost never make it out that way, but Redmond does seem like it’s happening for sure.
Depending on how the 1/2 line transfer ends up, I could even see myself going out that way once they’re connected up.
In my experience, few people on the Eastside are even aware the train is running. I would guess the very low ridership we’re seeing now will go up by 50% or so when this extension opens.
Ridership will go up a lot more when it goes to Seattle.
Yes, I think they’ll be a big increase in ridership as there’s a lot of people who live in Redmond and work in Bellevue or along the route.
It will be much faster than the B which takes almost an hour. It used to be that the 545 to Seattle from Redmond was faster than the B to Bellevue.
I’m not expecting a major increase. Much of the population lives east of 405 and south of the in-between stations, so they’re less likely to take it to Redmond than people west of 405.
The big jump in ridership will happen when cross-lake service starts. The bridges are a physical and psychological barrier, and the distance is further than just going from Overlake Village to downtown Redmond. There will be a lot of interest in taking Link to/from Seattle from all parts of Bellevue and Redmond. That will spill over into taking Link for intra-Eastside trips too, even among people who don’t take the 2 Line now or with the Redmond extension. The East Link restructure will make the bus network more feeder-oriented and fill in some frequency gaps, making Link an easier or more rational option.
If you’re on the B from Crossroads or 8th going to downtown Redmond, you can transfer to Link at Redmond Tech or remain on the bus. The bus alternative takes 17 minutes, and is the fastest part of the route. Link will be faster, but there’s the 10-minute transfer wait/2-minute walk.
If you’re on the 245 from Bellevue College or Crossroads, it turns west at 70th, so you’ll have to transfer at Redmond Tech to Link or the B or the 542, so you might as well transfer to Link.
Marymoor Village/Marymoor Park may be an early success with the Redmond extension, since existing bus routes don’t really serve it. If you remain on the B to downtown Redmond, then what do you do?
@Mike Orr,
The goal of DRLE isn’t to take riders from RR-B, although it will most certainly do that. The goal is to provide, fast, reliable, congestion free transit between DT Redmond and the places people want to go.
DT Redmond has become a small city. There are a lot of people who actually live there. People who work at the tech centers along the ELSL, and people who want to go to DT Bellevue for various reasons. And the opposite direction too.
So the target market isn’t getting people from Crossroads to transfer to Link. The target market is getting people in places like DT Redmond and Bellevue to go straight to Link in the first place. O transfer, no 2-seat ride. Just the option of a fast, reliable, congestion free 1-seat ride to exactly where they want to go.
And there will be a lot of people who fall into that category.
Redmond Link is only good for 9,000 riders in the pre-WFH ridership model in 2040.
It’s not 2040. Ridership is down everywhere, and more so in prosperous suburbs where service is mostly office commuters. The line only goes to Bellevue rather than Seattle. They’ll do well to add 1,500 riders.
I’ll go out on a limb here and predict SeaTac Airport Station will continue to have more boardings than the entire 2 Line combined, up until the Great Conjunction.
I’m a bit more optimistic. one major advantage of the redmond portion is that it does connect to apartments especially around the downtwon redmond station
I know a new rider on East Side Rail!
My grand daughter lives two blocks from the Downtown Redmond Station and just last week took a job in downtown Bellevue. We are trying to work out the best transit work around till May as there are a few different bus options that play transfers either at Overlake Village vs Redmond Technology against each other. I’d like her to transfer at Technology Center which has better shelter and a coffee shop but the route 221 with the transfer at Overlake is a bit quicker going close to her apartment. It’s odd, I just realized the Rapid Ride B Route more or less stays away from the area of the station in Redmond.
As an aside for years I worked with a group working to build the East lake Sammamish Trail from Issaquah to Redmond. I’m looking forward to seeing the extension of the trail into downtown Redmond as part of the Link project. It will also be interesting to see how many folks will use the trail to bike to the Marymoor Station. And it’s less than a half mile walk to Post Doc Brewing! May can’t come quick enough!
Postdoc Brewing is great, and it is on my list of places to visit more often once DRLE opens.
I’m looking forward to exploring that whole area a little bit more. I just don’t get over that way very often now because I prefer not to drive. But once DRLE opens? I won’t have to drive!
It’s odd, I just realized the Rapid Ride B Route more or less stays away from the area of the station in Redmond.
When East Link goes across the water the B Line will be extended to the station. They basically complement each other (now and in the future) while still connecting at various places. For example at Crossroads you can take the B to Downtown Bellevue. It also goes by Wilburton Station so Crossroads riders will eventually be able to take the B and transfer to Link to get to Seattle.
According to Google the best bet from Downtown Redmond to Bellevue Downtown Bellevue is usually the 250 or B Line, which surprises me. It is a one-seat ride but neither route is particularly fast or direct. I’m surprised it isn’t showing me the 542/545 and Link combination more often. That would be a bit of a walk in the morning but an easy transfer coming back. The 545 is frequent and goes closer to the station (it doesn’t just end at the transit center).
The East Link bus restructure will have all downtown Redmond routes serve the station, but that won’t happen until the full 2 Line opens.
is this extension expected to increase ridership on the 2 line significantly before the cross-lake portion is opened?
Depends on what you mean by “significantly”. I would expect a few hundred, maybe a thousand. I think you’ll see higher ridership initially and then see it go down a bit (as the novelty wears off). It will likely pick up again in the Spring though (one of the advantages of an elevated train is that it makes for a nice outing).
I think there are two main groups of riders — new riders and those switching from the B. I could definitely see some new riders. There are some apartments as well as attractions in both Downtown Redmond and Bellevue. I don’t think the park and ride will attract many riders but you never know. Maybe if they charge to park at a job in Downtown Bellevue. Of course some of those riders would be just switching from a different parking lot (which means it wouldn’t lead to an increase).
You will get some riders switching from the B but probably not a lot. The B has different enough stops that it should continue to do fairly well. It is worth noting that ridership of the B hasn’t gone down much since East Link was added. Obviously anyone close to Downtown Redmond will just walk to Link but the Redmond TC stop only got about 400 riders in the past. The B Line swings way after that which means those riders are likely to just continue to use the B. The bus will continue to complement Link (and not see Link swallow up most of its ridership).
The B takes forever end to end, Link will do Bellevue-Redmond in a fraction of the time. That’s a win for riders. The B will now be used as a feeder to Link and mostly for going to Crossroads area.
The B takes forever end to end, Link will do Bellevue-Redmond in a fraction of the time.
Yes, but that doesn’t contradict anything I wrote. The question was about ridership, not how much time some of the riders will save. The B is the main connection between the two places so it gives us an idea of existing ridership.
As I wrote there will be some new riders (who currently drive) but it seems unlikely it will be in the thousands. I could be wrong, of course. It is one of the few spontaneous East Side trips I see happening (given the urban nature of the two areas) so a couple thousand riders is definitely possible.
The B will now be used as a feeder to Link and mostly for going to Crossroads area.
I think that will largely happen when Link goes across the lake. If you are in Crossroads (for example) you don’t bother with a transfer either direction. I think the B will continue to complement East Link until then — providing one-seat rides to areas that East Link doesn’t cover (like Crossroads).
Light Rail to Redmond sounds great but when is it going to serve Seattle. To take the light rail to Redmond means having to take the bus to Bellevue
@Mm,
There is a target date for the opening of Full ELE, but it is still a ways out, and there is effectively zero float left in the schedule. So ST isn’t releasing the target date yet.
But I’m with you. DRLE will be great, but the really big improvement will be the opening of Full ELE. That will be huge.
Thank you for pointing out that DRLE and FWLE are only this close to opening because the planning and environmental work was funded and started under ST2, well prior to ST3 passing.
The original East Link NEPA record of decision issued by FTA in 2011(!) covered DRLE, even though ST3 didn’t pass until five years later. Sound Transit was able to advance preliminary design and begin securing right of way needs well in advance of receiving final design and construction dollars.
2 Line and Federal Way are the last Link openings we are going to see for a VERY long time.
Sound Transit’s record on completing environmental review and project decisions since ST3 passed is abysmal. We are almost 9 year on since 2016 and they have not completed a single project decision for ST3 deliverables other than the ones that were started under ST2 (and the Joni Earl administration). There has been a lot of staff churn, but really this reflects a lack of decision-making ability at the policy level, which rests at the feet of a very political and dysfunctional board of elected politicians.
Downtown Redmond would have been in ST2 but the construction budget wasn’t large enough for it. Likewise for Federal Way.
When the full 2 Line and Federal Way open, the essential part of the Link network will be done. It’s the “real spine” that improves transit circulation like other cities with a core metro have, and its benefits extend beyond its termini. Even Ballard benefits by having indirect access at U-District and Westlake stations. Think of Ballard-Bellevue trips, Ballard-Capitol Hill, Ballard-southeast Seattle. The same is true beyond Lynnwood and Federal Way, and for Sammamish residents parking at Marymoor Village. With that network in place, it doesn’t matter as much if the other Link extensions/lines get delayed or canceled.
When the full 2 Line and Federal Way open, the essential part of the Link network will be done.
I agree. We will have reached the bulk of the places that Link plans on serving. Many of the remaining places are served just about as well (and sometimes better) via express buses. Speaking of which, when Link gets to Federal Way you will also have all the key bus intercepts. Buses from north of Lynnwood, south of Federal Way and east of Mercer Island will be able to connect very well to the Link network.
We should patent the term “real spine” and use it often, especially when politicians can hear it.
@another engineer,
“…since 2016 and they have not completed a single project decision for ST3 deliverables other than the ones that were started under ST2 (and the Joni Earl administration).…”
I miss that Coug. She ran a tight ship, and under her leadership ST did an excellent job of project delivery. Since then? Not so much.
Pretty much every CEO pick since Joni has been weak in one way or another, and the results really show it. However, I will give Sparrman a pass because he came in as interim CEO and was handed a hot, steaming, bag of caca as soon as he crossed the door. He’s done well since then, but he is still just an interim CEO, on a short leash, and with way too much to deal with.
And I’m not sure Dow will do any better as ST CEO than Rogoff did. I like Dow, but I don’t think he is the right leader for the ST job. Project delivery is not the same as being a politician, and I suspect he will try to get WS Link in the can before everything else melts down around it. And that isn’t a good approach to regional project delivery.
But I suspect West Seattle and Ballard Link are both dead anyhow. Partly because of the mess they are in, and partly because of the chaos at the national level. Given that ST is already in a massive budget hole after COVID-19, any little burble in the federal funding stream will be the death of the project.
And it isn’t just ST that is at funding risk. Other regional transit agencies are also at risk of seeing funding cuts. It’s not a good time for transit.
I’m shocked. I agree with everything Lazarus says in this comment. I would wonder, though, on what he expects the North King Subarea to spend its billions of future tax revenues over the next fifteen years?
Does he expect North King to buy the good burghers of Snohomish County a meandering slow-floor [sic] interurban between Lynnwood and Everett?
Tom,
Last I heard, subarea equity is still in place.
Too bad they could not get the South End Expansion done on time.
I just wanted to say there are some good things about this extension that please me.
1. I like that there are two end stations close to each other — with one being parking focused and one being a suburban downtown focused. This was thanks to visionary people who developed ST2 of which these station concepts were proposed. (This is something that ST3 end station areas in Tacoma, Everett, Issaquah, Kirkland and Ballard aren’t considering.)
2. I like how the buses surround the Downtown Redmond Station on city streets. I’m so glad there isn’t a looping off-street cul-de-sac transit center unintentionally designed to make bus riders dizzy. Of course, directional signage is the final key to making this work well.
3. I like how one of the stations isn’t up against a freeway. Sadly, the other one is — with the addition of a wide fast-moving arterial close by as well further limiting the walkshed.
I agree. I think the “Marymoor Village” is just a fancy name of saying “parking lot”. I think it is good that the Redmond Station is not next to the freeway and doesn’t require a large parking spaces for buses right next to it. The buses serving stations don’t need a “transit center” next to them. They can keep going and layover/turnaround elsewhere.
If I have a quibble it is that it is still a ways from a fair number apartments to the north. I assume there are no plans to ever extend it. It seems like the Redmond Library area would be a good station but it is probably too hard to get there.
“I think the “Marymoor Village” is just a fancy name of saying “parking lot”.”
The park is a half block away and a regional destination. The alignment is actually turning out to be better than many people initially assumed, like with Judkins Park station. ST and Redmond officials should be commended for that. The P&R is a necessary evil per suburban politics, so it’s better that it has a separate station on the outskirts of downtown Redmond rather than being in the center. And the P&R is a nod to Sammamish taxpayers who aren’t getting direct Link service or BRT.
We need more large swaths of open space next to stations! By my count, only 19 of the 39 stations open by the end of 2027 have this feature.
Credit to poncho for knowing in advance which week the announcement was going to happen.
“JANUARY 24, 2025 AT 10:47 AM
An opening date for the Spring 2025 opening of the Downtown Redmond Link Extension will be announced by the end of the month, so within the next week.”
So, poncho, I’m curious, were you also aware of the May 10th opening date when you wrote that, but decided not to divulge it?
I wonder if you’re going to have to advance knowledge on when the full 2 Line might open.
I think there’s going to be more pent up travel demand than people realize. Today, if you live in downtown Redmond and don’t have a car, you simply don’t go to downtown Bellevue at all unless you really have to because it takes so long to get there – even downtown Seattle, via the 545, is arguably quicker. When Link opens up, however, now the travel times start to decrease to point where a car-free person in downtown Redmond might actually consider going to downtown Bellevue for social/entertainment purposes.
It was the same with Capitol Hill a few years back. Until Link opened, people in the U-district didn’t go to Capitol Hill very much because the slog on the 49 took too long. When Link started running, travel times plummetting, and people started going there more often.
I don’t think the effect will be as big with Redmond to Bellevue, but will definitely be measurable, and it’s full effect will take years to materialize, as people start considering the availability of Redmond Link in deciding where to live.
It is surprising how poor the bus service is between Downtown Redmond and Downtown Bellevue. I would have expected some sort of express bus, even if was attached to a different route. Even the 566 ends at Microsoft. I guess that makes sense for the 566 (since it is a peak-only route and peak direction is from Auburn to Bellevue) but you would think ST — that runs express buses to and from all sorts of places — would run some sort of express from Downtown Redmond to Downtown Bellevue. The B connects the two places, but it really has been designed from the very beginning to complement a future East Link line. It is not a direct pathway between the two areas, let alone an express that uses the freeway.
This is another difference between the Capitol Hill situation and Redmond. Metro ran various buses to the Capitol Hill (like the 43 and 49). They were fairly frequent and as fast as they could be. But an express just didn’t make sense. Theoretically you could use the freeway but using the freeway isn’t much faster than running on the surface streets (https://maps.app.goo.gl/ao73mHxW7nRKYtsM8). In contrast it is definitely a fast option between the two East Side centers: https://maps.app.goo.gl/bpFwAWG3FWzXh4zg9.
I suspect one reason why not is that traffic at the 520/405 interchange can get quite bad at times, so any transit route using it would have poor reliability. Combine that with a general lack of service hours – to run a Redmond->Bellevue express route, you’d have to cut service on some other route, and it’s not clear what.
This is where Link shines. Not only is it able to provide more reliable service than a bus can, Link also allows you to connect downtown Redmond to downtown Bellevue in a reasonable travel time, while also providing coverage to areas in between. These intermediate stops mean more ridership, which justifies higher service frequency than would be possible with a bus that only served the endpoints.
There used to be that bus – the 232, running peak-only but both directions between downtown Bellevue and downtown Redmond. It ran every half-hour or so during peak.
Headed to Bellevue, it followed the 545’s path from Redmond TC onto 520, stopped at Overlake TC Freeway Station, and then avoided the worst of the 520-405 interchange by staying on 520 until 112th. Some (or maybe all?) peak-direction trips continued east of Redmond to Duvall. I took it sometimes, and it worked fine – much better than the B.
Unfortunately for me, it never came back after COVID. But then, it wasn’t very full in the non-peak direction.
It looks like there was some attempts at 232 operation as recently as 2023, but might have been cut out due to the driver shortage.
Only a few times per day:
https://kingcounty.gov/~/media/depts/metro/schedules/pdf/09172022/rt-232.pdf
Besides 1) only running a few trips per day, and 2) having to compete with the 566 during those limited hours it ran, the 232 also suffered a third problem – the bus came all the way from Duvall, which means if you’re getting on in Redmond to go to Bellevue, you don’t really know when it’s going to show up.
I suspect one reason why not is that traffic at the 520/405 interchange can get quite bad at times, so any transit route using it would have poor reliability.
You can say that about most of the buses in our system. It is also part of the same argument: why haven’t they made the sort of HOV fixes here that they made in other parts of the region. The recent article by Wesley mentions several large (and similar) projects. Given that Microsoft is along the 520 corridor (and served by a freeway bus stop) it seems like connecting Redmond to Bellevue would be higher priority than some of the projects that have been built. You can say that we knew all along that a train would connect Bellevue with Redmond but then why is there an HOV connection from Bellevue to Seattle (via I-90) that has never been used by buses? (So far as I know.)
These intermediate stops mean more ridership, which justifies higher service frequency than would be possible with a bus that only served the endpoints.
Sure, but we are talking about running a bus here, which is fairly cheap given the distance. I’m not talking about running every ten minutes (like Link). Every fifteen would be fine. Meanwhile you serve the biggest intermediate stop (Microsoft). You can also serve more of Downtown Redmond (like the 542 and 545). Given that the B serves plenty of intermediate places it seems like an express would complement it really well. It is like the the old 71/72/73 combination versus the 43/49/70. If you wanted to get from downtown to the UW (when the express lanes were in your favor) then the express buses did a fantastic job. If you wanted to visit places along the way you took the other buses.
I’m not saying it makes sense for Metro to run such a bus. As you mentioned they have a funding shortage (especially outside Seattle). But ST runs all sorts of express buses and has for a really long time. It seems like a Bellevue/Redmond all-day express connector would have been better than a lot of the buses they ran (and continue to run).
It just seems odd to me that folks are saying this will see a huge increase in ridership — which is quite reasonable when you look at Downtown Redmond and Downtown Bellevue (and Microsoft) — but we never bothered to run an express (except for the peak-only 232).
I recall ST Express being an all-day 2-way route back in the day (i. e. way back in the Before Times). It suffered cut after cut until it is now the peak-direction-only skeletal remains of its former self.
I always assumed there was an all-day ST Express route between downtown Bellevue and downtown Redmond, then when I actually tried to do that around 2021 to visit the Redmond trails, I found out it was peak only. The only other option was the B, so I didn’t do the trip.
Yeah, the 250 is another option, but it’s primarily designed for travel to/from Kirkland not going all the way from Redmond to Bellevue. I think taking it all the way is slightly slower than the B-line, besides being less frequent.
Oddly enough when I ask Google for the fastest way to get from Downtown Redmond to Downtown Bellevue it often suggests the 250.
“The B connects the two places, but it really has been designed from the very beginning to complement a future East Link line.”
It was designed to serve Crossroads, the second-largest population center in Bellevue and an equity-emphasis area.
Which is exactly what you want for complementing the Link line – serve the second largest population center in Bellevue (where Link doesn’t go) and connect it to Link stations in both directions.
The problem was KCM cheaping out in the pre-Link era and making the B-line the only transit option between Redmond and Bellevue (excluding the 250, which is no faster). But, service hours are limited, and it’s a lot harder to argue for a faster Redmond->Bellevue route if the tradeoff involves several every-30-minute bus routes getting downgraded to once an hour.
@asdf2 — Exactly. But it isn’t just Metro cheaping out. ST cheaped out. It really should have been done by ST given they run express buses (it is in their name) and they are comfortable running buses with much worse ridership per service-hour than Metro. A Downtown Redmond/Microsoft/Downtown Bellevue bus would likely outperform half the ST Express buses. Some of the buses add very little — even to this day they seem odd. Why do we need an express from Tacoma to the UW, give Link? Prior to the pandemic they used to run buses up to Northgate and Green Lake from the East Side (as if people couldn’t just transfer). The 560 performed very poorly prior to the pandemic (outside of peak) and they decided to convert it to BRT. The 566 (the poorest performing ST bus) inexplicably just ends at Microsoft — even during peak — instead of continuing to Downtown Redmond. It would have made way more sense to just split that off and run an all-day Redmond/Bellevue bus (similar to the all-day 554).
> Oddly enough when I ask Google for the fastest way to get from Downtown Redmond to Downtown Bellevue it often suggests the 250.
It’s not surprising. Redmond is 4 miles to the east and 4 miles to the north of Bellevue, aka diagonally to the northeast.
RapidRide B travels east (to crossroards) then north. While Route 250 just travels north (to kirkland) then east instead. It’s the same distance traveled.
They both come every 15 minutes so one kinda gets a bus from redmond to bellevue every 7.5 (well more like 10 since it’s not coordinated) minutes during peak. Of course 250 drops down to 30 min frequency off peak so it’s not all the time.
It’s also why rapidride k originally had an alternative idea to head to redmond instead of totem lake. Normally I’d care about it more but with the addition of redmond link extension it doesn’t matter as much.
RapidRide B travels east (to crossroards) then north. While Route 250 just travels north (to kirkland) then east instead. It’s the same distance traveled.
Neither is very direct. I’m not talking about going diagonally, I mean going they often go the wrong direction. The B goes back and forth between 40th and 8th. The 250 goes all the way to Lake Washington Boulevard before working its way back east before heading west again. By my measurements the 250 is about a mile longer. Given that RapidRide lines are (supposed to be) faster I would expect it to be the clear choice. I think the B Line gets bogged down making all of the turns. The 250 makes plenty of turns but my guess is they aren’t as time consuming.
> Given that RapidRide lines are (supposed to be) faster I would expect it to be the clear choice
RapidRide B only has minor improvements. It never got much bat/bus lanes on it’s corridor. For 250 going east-west redmond way is pretty fast. even without the turns for rapidride b i don’t think it’d change too much.
“The 250 goes all the way to Lake Washington Boulevard before working its way back east”
Does it? Lake Washington Boulevard gets congested, so that can bog down a bus.
Changing the start time of the trip in Redmond will vary the outcome on Google for me. Probably 50 percent of the time I will get the 250. However the 221 to OLV and on to Link pops up and also Rapid Ride B to RTS and occasionally an ST express to RTS and on to Link. And note I’m starting the trip in Redmond from basically where the Hyatt House Hotel is so different walk times to starting bus stops play a roll. So the four options are all pretty close. My guess is once Link opens to Redmond Downtown it would be rare that Google will call out anything else except Link all the way except for the rare times rail service is lost because of an unsolvable issue with the catenary. (Did I just jinx it all?)
“Prior to the pandemic they used to run buses up to Northgate and Green Lake from the East Side (as if people couldn’t just transfer).”
Back around 2009, I used to ride such buses, and did do a transfer involving them. With no Link yet, 555->545 was, hands down, the fastest way to get from Northgate to Microsoft. Even though the 555 often got stuck in I-5 traffic (it couldn’t use the express lanes because it needed to take the ramp to 520), it was still way faster than detouring downtown on the 41 or doing a slow slog through the U district, only to transfer to the 545 anyway. The fact that the connection to the 545 was a same-stop transfer, and that the 545 ran frequently, also helped.
However, there were some catches. Even though the 545 was all day and frequent, the 555 was not. In the morning commute, the biggest issue was not the 555’s frequency, but it’s span. At the time, the last bus left Northgate at 8 AM, of I remember correctly, a time when, more often than not, I was just getting out of bed. If I missed the 555, there was a 242 trip leaving Northgate around 9, which actually did provide a one-seat ride to Microsoft, however, the 242 took such a long and traffic-clogged grand tour of Microsoft that it made for a one-seat ride that was actually slower than the 555-545 two seat ride option, where I could just get off the bus at Overlake Freeway station and walk.
For the PM commute, the span the 555 was fine, but wait time for it was a big issue – it only ran every 30 minutes, and often got stuck in traffic coming out of Bellevue, so you never knew when it was going to show up. Furthermore, back in 2009, there was no OneBusAway yet or any form of real-time bus tracking to speak of, and even if there was, I didn’t have a smartphone yet. So, for the PM trip, the 555 was basically relegated to days when I happened to see it coming, while in the morning, I would try to plan on using it – if I could get myself out of bed early enough.
While all of the above wasn’t great, simply being on a bus that took the turn between 520 and the I-5 ship canal bridge saved a lot of time compared to the alternatives. People like to gripe about the Link connection at Husky stadium, but a Northgate to Microsoft trip is so much better than way, with the I-5 section replaced by a train that runs every 7.5 minutes and never gets stuck in traffic, plus an HOV exit ramp from 520 to access the Link station. It will get even better when the 2 line opens, allowing for doubled frequency.
Too bad the railroad access to the area is gone. May 10th is the anniversary of the transcontinental golden spike, and is sometimes celebrated as National Train Day. Sometimes historic locomotives get put on display, etc.
Imagine having a steam locomotive or such be part of the opening day…
There’s an art exhibit inspired by a former train depot near 161st on the Eastrail trail, in the Redmond Central Connector Park. I wrote a bit about it it in my Redmond Station Areas article. (Section “Downtown Redmond”, third paragraph.)
Redmond Station Areas post was excellent. Would like to see more posts like that, when possible.
The second article was going to be about the Marymoor Village area and a second look at the Redmond Downtown area, but I haven’t made it back yet.
This will be an interesting period for East Link. One of the better arguments for East Link (instead of funneling a similar amount of money to the buses) is that there will be plenty of riders within the East Side. It is also entirely the argument for Issaquah Link. While it is unfortunate that Link is not going across the water until after this opens, this will give us a good look at how many people ride just within the East Side. I expect Redmond to be big in that sense, as it is probably second only to Bellevue Downtown Station in terms of its urban nature. I look forward to seeing how many people ride it.
I agree, it will be interesting. The one thing that I would add is that once it goes across the lake, more people will start making decisions on where to live based on access to Link. Those people will also be more likely to ride Link for purposes other than going to Seattle, which should increase intra-Eastside demand over time.
I work part time on weekends in the Whole Foods plaza next to Marymoor Village. Right now I take the 542 and bike the last 2 miles across Marymoor Park, which is fine when the weather is nice but I always dread going to work when it rains. This will be a game changer for me – I can transfer at Redmond Tech and just take the train when it rains. Too bad it’s opening after the rain season.
Here is a 1956 picture of the historic rail corridor in downtown Redmond. Aerial photo looking north of Redmond with railroads and freight trains visible. The grassy area in the foreground was a is golf course, but is now where Redmond Town Center is. The long road going straight up the hill away from the camera is 166th. So if you follow that road back, just before the golf course, that’s where Downtown Redmond station is today.
https://digitalcollections.lib.washington.edu/digital/collection/imlsmohai/id/5716/rec/1
Cool. Thanks for that Sam. Downtown Redmond does have a few old buildings which make it more interesting than it would be otherwise.
Next stop: Monohan!
Now for me to go down that historic rabbit hole!
Monohan, home to Big Block Brewing, 7.5 miles by bike on the East Lake Sammamish trail from Marymoor Village Station.
Next stop: Issaquah
So when people talk about a Redmond golf course that was redeveloped, Redmond Town Center was it? I’ve also heard the golf course was where the Microsoft campus is now. I lived in east Bellevue but I’ve never been north of NE 24th Street much because there wasn’t much there then, so I don’t know for sure where the golf course was.
It was definitely where the mall is now, I remember looking at planning documents from the first light rail study that mentioned the golf coursr.
https://www.reddit.com/r/redmond/comments/xtb5ag/evergreen_east_how_a_planned_mall_became_the/?rdt=49628
If I’ve pasted this link in correctly it leads to a history of the two sites. It’s a bit different than what I heard 20 years or so ago that Kemper Freeman killed the mall cause it encroached on his Eastside turf.
The border between Bellevue and Redmond in Overlake is ridiculously squiggly.
When I was in third grade my elementary school was switched from the Lake Washington School District to the Bellevue School District, so my high school would have switched from Redmond to Interlake. (Instead I chose an alternative junior high located at Bellevue High School, so I stayed on at Bellevue for high school.)
We shopped at the Overlake Sears, Safeway and Fred Meyer. Once when I was in Sears an announcement said, “Welcome to your Redmond Sears store.” I thought, “It’s is Bellevue, not Redmond.” But it turned out Sears was on the Redmond side of the line.
Then this year I tried to trace where my physical therapist had gone to, and I called Pro Club Bellevue. I looked at the address and it was way north, at NE 45th Street. I thought, “That’s Redmond; it’s north of 24th.” But the map shows Bellevue extending to 60th between 148th and 134th.
The deep squiggles seem really arbitrary and make no sense to me.
Even in the 90s when you went past that “Redmond: Bicycle Capital of the USA” sign (on Redmond Way & 148th or so?), it looked like a rural wooded area, and central Redmond didn’t start until further east. I don’t know if there are houses there now or it still looks wooded.
Was reading some other article on the DRLE opening, which of course I can’t find now. But in that article Sparrman was talking about how ST has made great progress on reducing the amount of simulated service required to open a new extension.
Supposedly ST has now got the time required down to only approx 2 months. This is much better than the standard 4 months that ST normally allows, and IIRC, aligns pretty much with the 2 months of uninterrupted simulated service that the FTA mandates.
So it got me thinking, “Why did ST just announce an opening date 3.5 months out?” Why the delay if ST is supposedly capable of opening the line in March?
Well……Sparrman’s contract extension ends on May 15th. So that means that both the current, and the future, ST CEO will be at the opening. Coincidence? I don’t believe in coincidence?
The opening of DRLE will serve as sort of a ceremonial “handing of the baton” between Sparrman and Dow Constantine. But I’d rather they just open this extension when ready.
Why do you claim the DRLE is capable of opening in March?
@Sam,
The started DRLE simulated service testing 2 weeks ago (or was it 3 now?).
If they really are capable of doing simulated service in only 2 months, then that would mean they should be ready in mid to late March.
I smell politics.
ST started operator certification on January 17, two weeks ago. I don’t think they’ve started full service testing yet.
What Nathan said. Just because some trains have been seen on the DRLE, doesn’t mean it’s simulated service. Simulated service is when every regular service train continues on (without passengers), to the not-yet-open extension portion of the extension. That isn’t happening yet.
@Sam,
ST announced that simulated service had started at least 2 weeks ago. Add 2 months to that and that puts you at about mid-March. Which is way before May 10th.
But I’m going to be excited to see the dead tow test on Full ELE. Thank gawd that isn’t far off.
Progress. Progress!
Lazarus, are you referring to this announcement?
https://www.soundtransit.org/ride-with-us/service-alerts/beginning-january-17-sound-transit-will-be-conducting-operator-0
The relevant words here are “simulated service”.
I could see a huge difference between simulating a single train run for operator training versus simulating every train run throughout the entire day. Since the announcement describes “operator training” I could see it being the former rather than the latter.
I could easily see that occasional simulated service runs are happening now but the full service simulation has not yet started.
Dow Constantine’s term as King County Executive ends next January, so it’s hard to imagine Sparrman “handing the baton” on May 15. If anything, the baton handing would be at the full 2 Line opening later this year, after the next King County Executive (either Balducci or Zahilay) is elected.
Sparrman is leaving on May 15th. And nobody’s required to finish their term. In fact, sometimes it makes things easier.
I really hope that the ST Board doesn’t install Constantine as the new CEO. He is on the record often supporting project designs that make riding Link harder so he can satisfy other objectives like putting stations in less optimal locations that create ridiculous transfer hassles. And these new rider unfriendly options were put into preferred alternatives without adequate study or cost estimates.
ST instead needs a CEO who foremost knows how to “run a railroad”. The mundane daily oversight of Link stations, tracks, security, safety, elevators and escalators, vehicles, support systems including electrical and passenger info and maintenance efforts and facilities is what’s needed. Once the planned Link openings happen within the next 18 months there won’t be any new extension (TD or WS) opened until the mid 2030’s at the earliest — and with FTA participation no longer assured it may be longer. The other big upcoming new service is Stride — and many have noted how limited its benefit will be thanks to its skipping destinations on 405. I doubt that another referendum is imminent either.
So ST doesn’t need a schmoozer, a consensus builder or a talking head politico at the top moving forward. They need a real BOSS. Someone who knows how much time and effort is required to maintain the existing Link system and won’t rubberstamp staff wanting to disrupt service so drastically when they don’t want to be pressured to get things done overnight.
When I get to a Link platform, I want a CEO who won’t accept a platform closure sign or train that’s going to be 30 minutes late and overcrowded as a default solution. If that means being a feared BOSS that’s fine! The skills at this point should be more of a manager and less of a politico. If I’m traveling on Link I care more about reliably reaching my destination more than I do who listening to someone talking to the camera.
If the heating system doesn’t work, do we care what vent covers look like? No! We just want the heat working again.
Is Dow Constantine really the next ST CEO? That sounds like a step down for him, and no hope for those who were hoping for a reconsideration of the West Seattle Link stub and CID/N and CID/S stations.
There have been no public pronouncements, but it’s been the rumblings for awhile.
Why would he want it? It seems to be where careers go to die. All ST(3) failures would be seen as his responsibility.
Because its his baby. It is highly unlikely that West Seattle Link would have happened without him. I have no idea his specific role in the the other projects but he helped grease the wheels to make it all happen. It is in danger. It is being attacked from all sides. There are huge cost overruns and they haven’t started any of the actual work yet. Transit ridership in the region hasn’t come close to recovering from the pandemic and appears to be getting worse. The “world class transfers” aren’t going to happen and it isn’t clear if the Ballard Line will come close to serving the heart of Ballard. Various transit advocates who held there nose and thought “something is better than nothing” are questioning the efficacy of various projects (and the importance of the underfunded bus system). The Republicans control the other Washington and the only people within his own party pushing back on him are the type of folks who want to cut spending to the bone. It isn’t hard to see the whole thing fall apart. Personally I think that would be a good thing (even though I think we could salvage the Ballard Line by making it independent and automated). If we had a “do over” vote I would likely support it. If we had a “just put all the money into the buses for now” vote I would support it (even though I think a subway line from Ballard to UW is essential in the long run). There is just too much wrong with ST3.
But I’m sure that Dow doesn’t feel that way. He probably feels it is part of his legacy and even if it isn’t based on pride he likely feels it is worth it. I would not be surprised at all if he would jump at the chance to take the position.
“Because its his baby. It is highly unlikely that West Seattle Link would have happened without him.”
He wants West Seattle Link more than any chance at another political career? Why is he so obsessed with it?
If Dow wants Link achievements to be proud of, there’s ST2, the Redmond extension, he could make Ballard better for passengers, improve those downtown transfers, seriously consider SODO cross-platform transfers….