Seattle Center rang in 2025 with the “Alaska Airlines New Year’s at the Needle 2025” show around the Space Needle. Image from the Space Needle’s official video of the event (Vimeo).

Transit agencies around the region will be free to ride all day (and most of the night) on New Year’s Eve. Some agencies are extending late-night service to accommodate riders celebrating the end of 2025 and the start of 2026.

These agencies will operate fare-free tomorrow until end of service:

The Seattle Monorail will still charge regular fare.

Most agencies will run regular weekday schedules on New Year’s Eve. These services will have additional late-night operations:

  • Sound Transit Link 1 Line will operate every 15 minutes after 11pm with last trains departing around 2 am.
    • The last northbound trip will leave Federal Way Downtown at 1:56 am, depart Westlake at 2:52 am, and arrive at Lynnwood City Center at 3:24 am.
    • The last southbound train will leave Lynnwood City Center at 1:57 am, depart Westlake at 2:28 am, and arrive at Federal Way Downtown at 3:23 am.
    • Service hours will not be extended on the 2 Line.
  • Seattle Center Monorail will operate from Westlake to Seattle Center until 10:30 pm pausing operations for the “New Year’s Eve at Seattle Center” event culminating in a fireworks, laser, and drone show. The Monorail will reopen after the show is over around 12:20am and continue running until 1 am.

Unlike previous years, the Seattle Streetcars will operate on their normal schedule (running from about 6am to 9pm), with no extended service on the South Lake Union Streetcar.

On New Year’s Day in 2026, most agencies will run Sunday service schedules as usual for holidays. Check your agency’s website for details. This weekend (Jan 2-5), Link light rail service between Stadium and Capitol Hill stations will end early on Friday night and be replaced by a shuttle bus until start of service on Monday for ongoing tunnel upgrade projects.

12 Replies to “Free and Extended Transit for New Year’s Eve 2025”

  1. A few peak hour express blocks out of Seattle could be moved later in the evening to accommodate celebrations maybe… Some of them end by 6pm on a regular weekday.

  2. One issue with offering extended service for special events is communication – even if service runs later, if people don’t know about it, they will still make plans under the assumption that service ends at the normal time. Communication on STB helps a little bit, but the vast majority of attendees for New Years Eve events do not read STB.

    A second issue, of course, is that only the trains, not the buses, get extended service in the evening, so those that don’t live near a Link station are kind of out of luck (though, maybe Seattle bus routes offer some form of late-night service as part of the regular service schedule).

    1. There’s only so much agencies can do to let folks know about special services. Metro’s blog post about it went up the Monday before Christmas; both Metro and ST have been posting on their respective social media accounts. I guess they could plaster Link and the buses with posters announcing free service on NYE (like they do for other service interruptions), but who actually pays much attention to those? Another option would be a massive public advertising campaign but then folks would wonder why they’re spending so much money on it.

      Beyond that, I think it’s generally up to the events organizers to inform attendees of transit accessibility, and up to attendees to plan ahead.

      1. “I guess they could plaster Link and the buses with posters announcing free service on NYE (like they do for other service interruptions), but who actually pays much attention to those?”

        I think, when it’s a message about actual transit service, rather than generic advertising, people do pay attention. And, the cost of the signs would be negligible compared to the operating cost of actually running the extra service.

    2. Night owl service in Seattle is pretty good (https://kingcounty.gov/en/dept/metro/travel-options/bus/night-owl), and I think Metro runs a weekday schedule on New Years Eve, so Link -> bus definitely possible for most people who would use Link within Seattle. The South King suburbs (A, 160, 161) has night owl service that more closely resembles Seattle, while the East Side has nothing. So outside of usual services that happen to run later on the east side (do any? I don’t see any), you’re pretty much out of luck out there. I think at least having extended service on the 545 and 550 would be good, even just a cursory 1:00 AM sweeper trip. Service ends right at midnight, which is just painfully dumb on NYE.

      On the communication side, I would think that most people plan trips using software that references the GTFS files provided by the agency. Running special NYE service should be as simple as having a dedicated calendar definition there, and providing a press release. I think people expect to have some kind of special late night service on the day where most people do something late into the night.

      1. Yes, the GTFS updates for extended late night service went out a couple weeks ago, so anyone using apps for directions should be served appropriately.

  3. The 8 bus would be a particularly good route for extended service on NYE given its route by the Seattle Center fireworks and the late-nite close-in “party” neighborhoods.

  5. Wait, is Link not free today – only the ST Express buses? I may have inadvertently fare-evaded.

    1. Sorry, I realize now that the list is unclear. All Sound Transit services are fare-free today until end of service or 3am, whichever is sooner. The note about ST Express is to clarify when the fare-free period starts and ends for 24-hour buses.

      1. I rode ST522 Express today, and there were continuous very loud overhead announcements both in English and Spanish about the NoFare-today/tonight policy, and the farebox was taped over. It was also New-Driver Training Day, and it was interesting to overhear the conversation between the two of them. Very kind Old Driver explaining in detail about the logistics…

    2. Some of the publicity mentions free Link, others don’t. I was going to look in at Westlake and check but didn’t.

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