On March 28 the full 2 Line will open with Crosslake service. The next nationwide No Kings march is on the same day. Having both at the same time raises logistical issues like overcrowded trains in the Crosslake segment and downtown street closures. It’s worth thinking through the implications of this early. Hopefully Sound Transit and Metro will have extra service as needed, and a robust plan for downtown street closures. We can point out any blind spots they may have.
Past Link openings have several busfuls of people coming to the speeches, and full trains for the first few hours of service as people try out the route and stations and take their kids to the festivals at all the new stations. We don’t know where the Link speeches will be: most likely Judkins Park, Mercer Island, or Bellevue Downtown station.
The last No Kings march brought over 90,000 people to downtown Seattle, many coming on Link and buses. They blocked part of Pine Street and 5th Avenue for three hours. The first Women’s March started at Judkins Park and went up the entire 4th Avenue.
We don’t know where the next march will be: the last march gathered at Seattle Center and didn’t tell participants the route until the last minute for security. I’m not sure if they knew it would turn at Pine Street until the organizers at the front did. But it will inevitably be somewhere downtown and probably Seattle Center, because that’s where the infrastructure for large crowds is. It probably won’t be at Judkins Park again, because that was only because better locations were already booked, and Seattle wouldn’t want two different crowds at Judkins Park on the same day.
The Link speeches are usually in the morning, and service starts around noon, while the marches start around 1pm. This might play out like this:
- Morning: Busfuls of people go to the Link ceremony on the 550, 2 Line Starter Line, and/or Metro 7, 8, or 48, depending on where the ceremony is. Drivers may park at South Bellevue P&R. Mercer Island P&R is small and can’t fit that many people. ST may have extra 550 service between these, like the Redmond shuttle it had before the Downtown Redmond extension opened. How would people get to Judkins Park station though? ST might have to have a special shuttle route for that, such as downtown to Judkins Park, Mercer Island, and South Bellevue.
- Noon: When Link starts the trains will be full between International District and South Bellevue both directions for 2-3 hours as people do their first train ride and visit all the station areas and festivals.
- 1pm: Trains are full from the Eastside to downtown Seattle with people going to the No Kings rally. This is just theoretical because there’s no room for both #2 and #3 passengers simultaneously. And the rally-goers would really start coming two hours earlier, so that would overlap with both #2 and the latter part of #1.
Michael Smith suggested ST could use the Northgate strategy, where the ribbon-cutting was the night before, service started in the early morning or at 10am (I forget which), and the speeches at the college took place after service had started, so people could use Link for their round trip. I went to the speeches around 10:30 or 11 and there was no crowding problem: Link was running, and people were spread out at the speeches, exploring the pedestrian bridge, and at the station.
Other than that, ST could have a special 550 shuttle serving Judkins Park station as I outlined above. Or extra trains if it has spares with the full 1 and 2 Lines running. When the 2 Line Starter Line started, Link ran every two minutes to transport all the first-ride crowd. But in this case train availability would be a bigger issue, and the inability to turn around at International District or anywhere before Lynnwood. After ballgames extra trains stop on the track and reverse somewhere between Capitol Hill and Roosevelt. That would throw off the 1 Line schedule, so it would be a ballgame service pattern. Although when 2 Line trains are running between International District and Lynnwood, that will lessen the need for extra trains there. But that won’t help the need for more Crosslake service, which doesn’t have two lines overlapping. The 545 and 550 will still be running all day, so those would be available for the overflow and people who don’t care about Link the first day.
Any other thoughts on transit logistics for the March 28 big day?
I compiled a list of events for March 28th since I had time;
Mariners opening day/Cal Raleigh bobblehead -630p
Huskys basketball – Edmundson Pavilion -730p
UFC Match – Climate Pledge Arena – 2p
Seattle Symphony Peanuts Musical -2p and 6p
Sneaker Con – Seattle Convention Center – 12-7p
One Up Cheerleading Nationals – Bellevue Event Center – all day
Matthew Morrison – Admiral Theatre (Bremerton) (Increased ferry traffic to/from Pioneer Square station) -730p
Rene Vaca – Moore Theater – 5p
Inzo – Wamu Event Center (Lumen Field) 7p
Candlelight/Hans Zimmer – Nordic Center – 845p
Habstrakt – Substation Seattle – 9p
Beat the Bunny 5k Race & Kids Dash – Redmond Senior and Event Center – 930a -12p
Seattle Sounders Watch Party – Redmond Town Center – 11a (this was fairly popular last year)
Dang, that much? Also where’s Cardi B Miss Drama Tour, I might go to that concert.
Thanks for the list. Thankfully, most of the events are scheduled to happen later in the day or in Redmond, which I hope means they won’t add much further ado to the congestion on the roads or the Link trains.
Was this intentional just for a large draw of ridership on opening day? The last No Kings protest I went to was in October in Edmonds, and the last protest I even went to was when my school had a walkout to 76th/212th to protest on ICE. If the protest my school had literally caused congestion, I can imagine how bad this one will be. Here’s my proposal for opening day:
7:30 am – Speeches start (who wants to hear speeches?)
9:00 am – Ribbon cutting/festivities and trains start running on I-90
1:00 pm – Festivities end
I would have the speeches at the Judkins Park East Portal. I feel like it’s closer to the “unofficial” segment of the route, and closer to Seattle (which is where they want to connect it to). The festivities at Judkins Park can be at Jimi Hendrix Park which is wide enough to hold booths. The festivities at Mercer Island can be on the park and ride garage.
Is what intentional? No kings is a nationwide event and the opening date was announced before the no kings event was announced
I mean that ST decided to make the East Link opening March 28th because of No Kings. I’m guessing they took advantage.
Scooby, they did that because that is when the biannual service change happens for Sound Transit and KC Metro. It’s purely coincidental that it happens to be on a day of national protesting.
Zach, December 6 was not a biannual service change date. What are you talking about?
Also I’m pretty sure it wasn’t because of that.
If the goal is to maximize first-day ridership, then cut the ribbon Friday, as was done for Northgate. Then proceed with the pols, media, and golden-ticket-holder ride to Judkins Park, exit the station to cut second ribbon, then to Mercer Island’s ribbon cutting, then to the ribbon-cutting for the return ride.
I think the speeches will get more views if they are on the weekday evening news.
I thought there was only one ribbon. The VIPs will probably go from the start point to the end point, not get out at each station along the way.
ST’s primary concern should be long-term ridership. And it has the headache of the first day and No Kings happening simultaneously. It needs to make sure the first-day riders and rally-goers have the best experience possible so that they’ll come back to Link. If they say “Link sucks” and won’t consider it again for several months or years, that’s a bad thing.
It’s possible that more people have gradually discovered what I discovered about the speeches: they’re not worth getting up early for. I’ve also never tried to be on the first Link run. I’m satisfied with going down later at a time that’s convenient for me. Sometimes that means an hour or two after service starts; other times it means on the second day or later in the week. But if the speeches are later like at 11, and in a location I can get to in less than 45 minutes, then I’m more likely to go to the speeches.
So, the best plan is the Northgate Plan, so the new service can begin at the start of service.
UW and Capitol Hill each had their own opening ceremony. Judkins and Mercer Island are not that big of a deal. Mercer Island has earned not getting a ceremony.
Scooby, if Sound Transit had been able to complete the Federal Link extension just before a service change (September or March), I’m pretty sure they would have aligned the opening day with it. That’s what my common sense says.
I like much the idea of a 7:30 am breakfast speech event considering.
Who should be speaking:
a) Vanessa Kritzer for Redmond
b) Girmay Zalihay for King County
c) Katie Wilson for Seattle
d) Claudia Badassuchi for Bellevue and obvious reasons
Have Dow Constantine emcee.
That’s it.
This is the logical time for the torch to be passed from Generation X to Generation Y/Millenial.
I don’t wanna hear from Congresscritters or Mayors – issue your statement and accept the thank you applause and get on MS NOW.
I certainly don’t wanna hear from the Board Chair who demoted Badassuchi right now. I’m sure some of you STB folks feel the same way about any of the Sound Transit legends.
Let’s make this about Claudia Badassuchi’s great championship career and the Badassuchi Connection. Also about passing and keeping upheld the torch.
Joe “A 12 for Transit”, good to hear from you again. I head your testimony during the ST board meeting last month. You were the first to call out removing Badass-ducci from the System Expansion Committee and how that may be an attempt to minimize no-DSTT2 and passenger-needs-enlightened voices in the Ballard Link and Enterprise Initiative decision processes.
Unlike you, l don’t mind hearing Link opening-day speeches from the Board Chair or mayors or congresscritters. I’m glad if a senator or governor shows up. There will always be secondary speakers after the principles. At Northgate there was the head of North Seattle College and I learned some things from it, namely that a substantial number of high schoolers are taking classes at the college, enough to make a Link a helpful corridor between North Seattle College and Roosevelt High School. The entire 1 Line now connects both those and UW, Seattle Central College, Franklin High School, and Highline College.
Your comment got funneled into the automatic moderation queue for some reason; that’s the reason for its delay.
What about the DAPT? Don’t they get to celebrate the opening of the station they fought so hard to stall?
What’s DAPT?
Dakota Access Pipeline Tribe, a name one Mercer resident gave to the islanders over their being invaded by Sound Transit, which refused to build them a residents-only garage majal, caused them to lose their right to drive SOV’s in the HOV lanes, and allowed buses coming from less-worthy eastside towns to stop at the new station.
I expect ST will also be blamed when Metro route 630 goes away over low ridership, taller apartment buildings start popping up around the station, and business starts booming at their new downtown business area, notorious for raising sales tax revenue from outlanders.
ST set the 2 Line date before MSNBC hosts started mentioning the No Kings date, which was around a week ago. Rather than being a ridership tactic, this probably causes headaches for Sound Transit and the host city. Some people will go to both, but others are going to one or the other. ST could maybe change the 2 Line date since the No Kings date can’t be changed.
I think ST should just go with the Northgate solution, and have the day-of speeches early at 9am. Then the speeches and the first few first-ride runs will be finished before the rally-goers ramp up.
No, have the speeches start at 7:30 am and cut the ribbon at 9 am, then you would you finish in time for No King.
Nobody except politicians will get up at 7:30am on a Saturday morning.
Yes, exactly. Who wants speeches? They want the train, not a 1.5 hour long speech.
“Who wants speeches?”
Somebody does because busfuls of people go to them. When I went to the 2LSL opening, I got on at the first 550 stop with ten people (there’s usually one or two) and the bus was full by the time it left downtown. The following few 550s were also full. I didn’t bother going to the Lynnwood, Redmond, or Federal Way speeches; I just went at a time convenient for me a bit later. You can do that.
It looks like only you do. Though I really feel like ST should do a survey on the speeches and how long they take, that would shape up the future of openings. If you want to go ahead and wake up very early to go see the speeches at 7:30 in the morning, go ahead and be my guest. Though my question is if you would really wake up that early or not.
About the 550 people, I’m sure they just wanted to get early ASAP to be early on the first trains (oh my gosh they get so crowded). But anyways I saw people ignoring the speeches at the Lynnwood opening, and for some reason when I got off the Swift Orange, headed towards McCollum Park a lot of people got on at Lynnwood (it was the Lynnwood Link opening day).
“It looks like only you do.”
The point is I didn’t. Even the Federal Way speeches around 9am was too early for me, especially with the hour-long trip to get there.
The speeches for Northgate were the day before. Regular service on the Northgate Link Extension started with the opening of the service day.
The speeches I attended were at North Seattle College on opening day midday.
Agreed.
Plus with Skagit Transit’s span of service I want to be on the 3 PM 90X home.
GO SOUND TRANSIT!
@Mike Orr,
Was that for the ribbon-cutting for the (at-the-time-not-quite-complete) John Lewis Memorial bicycle and pedestrian Bridge?
Joe,
Is there any hope for an Everett-to-Bellingham BRTish route making key stops along the way? (public)
It was for Link. The speeches were about how great Link was.
Brent,
The closest thing to a BRT-esque route between Everett and Bellingham is Skagit Transit 90X + Whatcom Transportation Authority/Skagit Transit 80X. We just need to add span of service to it!
I realize the term has become almost meaningless, but Bus Rapid Transit is generally considered an urban route, not a regional one. With really big, sprawling cities the ideas can be conflated. In L. A. they can have a really long rail line that still operate like a metro (with lots of stops and frequent service). There can also be BRT lines that follow the same pattern. But I just don’t see that between Everett and Bellingham.
At best a “BRT” line between Everett and Bellingham would follow highway 9, and make stops at places like Big Lake and Baker Heights. Those just aren’t urban enough to have frequent service. I just don’t see it.
In contrast, I could easily see good regional bus service between there. As Joe mentioned, the 80X and 90X come close. They are pretty fast between cities because they don’t operate like “BRT” or a local bus. They operate like a regional bus with only a handful of stops. It would be nice if they were combined (and riders didn’t have to transfer). As it is it doesn’t look like they are timed very well so just lining up the timing would be nice. As Joe mentioned, it would also be nice if they ran more often.
Then again it would be nice if we had good regional rail service. Not bullet trains, but something this good: https://www.aawa.us/site/assets/files/7322/2006_washington_state_long-range_plan_for_amtrak_cascades.pdf. If we followed that plan it would take about an hour to get from Bellingham to Everett by now (and the train would be more frequent).
I also think it would be good to just have an express bus from Seattle to Bellingham. It could stop in Lynnwood along the way. This is a short stop with HOV lanes both directions. Hell, it could even stop at Mountlake Terrace instead (for an even shorter stop). Either way this would allow those north of Seattle to connect to the bus without backtracking. Those north of Lynnwood would have to backtrack (or rely on the 80X and 90X). You could also serve Skagit Station in Mount Vernon. This is not far at all from the freeway and unlike Chuckanut Park and Ride, there is a real town there. I could definitely see people taking the bus just to walk around Mount Vernon (on a nice day). It would connect to local and regional buses (like the 80X and 90X) as well which means less backtracking. With only two stops in between (Mount Vernon, Lynnwood) it would be fairly fast. Hourly service seems reasonable.
It would also be fairly reliable. Unless it is tulip season, you won’t encounter much congesting on Whatcom or Skagit County. Southbound there will be significant delays but that really doesn’t effect the scheduling. Northbound this could be an issue. The bus could arrive fairly late to Lynnwood or Mount Vernon. But this is really only a big issue (for a bus traveling in the HOV lanes) a few times during the day. If the bus run hourly it would provide a good way to connect (greater) Seattle with Bellingham and Mount Vernon. It would complement the 80X and 90X. It would probably need to be funded by the state but it seems like it would be a good value (while we wait for better train service).
The walkout at 76th/12th wasn’t No Kings in spite of the overlapping subject. The huge marches are No Kings and the Women’s March and 50501. Those are different organizations, and smaller ones like the last ICE Out and the student walkouts are still other organizations.
Actually, it was College Place Middle School that walked out. It wasn’t part of No Kings or anything, but it’s one of the only protests I’ve been to, being a student.
[unnecessary personal comment about hats; could be interpreted as ah]
I find it very unlikely the ceremony will be at either Judkins or South Bellevue. It’s going to be Mercer Island, and if it isn’t there for some reason, I think Bellevue Downtown or CID make more sense for an event of this importance.
I doubt it would be South Belleve, IDC, or Bellevue Downtown. They’ll never do the speeches at an existing station, they’ll always do a brand new station (usually the terminus). Since Judkins is closer to Seattle and closer to the unofficial segment of the 2 Line (they’re calling it simulated service from Lynnwood to IDC even though they’ll let people onboard). I find it unusual for Mercer Island as it’s the middle of I-90 and I doubt anyone will want to get stranded on an island for the opening. Not to mention Mercer Island has poor transit access, Judkins (Park) however has better transit access.
Bellevue Downtown: has the space for a large crowd. It has hosted it before, which can be either a plus or a minus.
Mercer Island: a city that has never had Link, and is in the middle. Minuses: the only way to get there on transit is the 550 and 554, and it’s a small site.
Judkins Park: innovative location. But hard to get to on transit from the rest of the region until Link starts.
South Bellevue: I don’t see it. Who wants to stand for hours in an isolated P&R location that already has Link?
CID: I don’t see it. It’s part of Link’s initial segment, not really the place for an opening.
Mike, here’s my reviewing for possible locations to have the speeches/ribbon cutting in response to yours:
Bellevue Downtown: Has already been done and is too far from the new segment. Plus wouldn’t this cause crowding between Bellevue Downtown and South Bellevue? (which would be an issue for local riders, there aren’t many but I still see no reason for this to happen)
Mercer Island: Yes, it does not have light rail yet. I don’t think it really matters because Mercer Island is basically nothing outside of the town center, it lacks poor transit access, and who wants to get stranded on an island?
Judkins Park: Probably the best place, it has good transit access, is closer to the 1 Line, and is in the city which ST wants to connect Bellevue to (Seattle). It’s also pretty close to where the speeches were for Central Link opening. This station is also denser than Mercer Island.
South Bellevue: Nah, the worst one yet. It’s basically nothing, and seems like Star Lake but in the Eastside area. And (as you said) already has rail, ST would NEVER do the speeches/ribbon cutting at an existing station.
CID (or IDC): Nope, though I don’t see a whole lot of problems with it… But it’s already open as a 1 Line station (soon to be a 2 Line station). Not to mention the station is old and poorly built, so no wonder the Central Link opening speeches/ribbon cutting didn’t have Westlake as the location (because it was already a DSTT station prior to that).
So the preferred candidate is Judkins Park.
How would people get to Judkins Park station from Kirkland, Bellevue, Greenwood, or West Seattle before Link starts? You can piece together multi-seat rides with the 4, 7, or 48, but this would be the first time a Link opening occurred that’s not at a regional ST Express stop. That would confuse occasional and suburban riders, and would be time-consuming for them from the nearest regional transit stop, and possibly overload the local buses (which are used by other local riders going to other places along the route).
Kirkland: The 250, then 550, and finally the 554
Bellevue: The same as Kirkland, but without the 250
Greenwood: 5, and then the 7
West Seattle: C Line, and then the 7
Yes there’s a lot of three seat rides, but it’s not really about transfers it’s about accessibility. Mercer Island would have two seat rides every time you try to get there from these destinations, but I really think the majority of the opening day riders will be from (Downtown) Seattle, the Rainier Valley, Mercer Island (but would have to wait, similar to how cities like Shoreline and Mountlake Terrace on Lynnwood Link opening day), Bellevue, and Redmond. I wouldn’t expect a lot of riders from Kirkland, Greenwood, but I can see West Seattle being higher than those areas because it’s an area that will actually get rail in it’s core area (or even just rail). Greenwood has no plans to get rail, and Kirkland won’t get rail to it’s downtown area.
“it’s not really about transfers it’s about accessibility”
It’s about the last seat’s travel time and frequency. It’s a classic last-mile problem. It’s putting people into the situation Sound Transit was created to prevent: having regional nodes accessible only by local transit. Especially for people from the suburbs, used to driving to a P&R and taking only regional transit: the kinds of people the speeches tend to be by and for, and that Sound Transit to a significant extent was designed around and had to get their votes. The ceremony is to some extent a reward for them, a token that their tax money produced something that benefits them.
Eastside: 550+554 is unlikely because the 554 is half-hourly, everybody couldn’t fit on the 554 if they did, and it’s a steep walk up from Rainier Avenue to the park if the station elevators aren’t available yet. I’d continue on the 550 to downtown. Then what? The 7 is frequent but leaves you at the same place the 554 would. The 4 is half-hourly. The 48 or 8, well, first you’d have to get to them somehow.
“I wouldn’t expect a lot of riders from Kirkland, Greenwood, but I can see West Seattle being higher than those areas because it’s an area that will actually get rail in”
Greenwood and West Seattle are just examples of other parts of the region. I could have said Ballard, Shoreline, Burien, etc. I don’t agree with “West Seattle is higher because it will get rail”: it’s at least fifteen years until West Seattle gets more than an AJ-SODO stub, and that’s too far off for people to move there yet for future Link, and it’s a major overhead to get from West Seattle to anywhere on transit. People inclined to take transit are more incentivized to move to north Seattle. It has Link relatively close to Greenwood though not in it. It’s flatter and there’s more of a 2-dimensional bus grid, so you can bus or bike more easily throughout north Seattle. You can go directly to Ballard or Northgate or the U-District within north Seattle, and Lynnwood is just north and downtown and east Seattle is just south. From Greenwood you can take 45+48 using only frequent routes. (No half-hourly last-mile problem.) From Ballard you can take 44+48. From Shoreline or Snohomish you can take Link+48 transferring at UW.
“ How would people get to Judkins Park station from Kirkland, Bellevue, Greenwood, or West Seattle before Link starts? ”
I’m thinking that they’ll simply contract for a few free shuttle buses from CID and/or somewhere in Bellevue to a ribbon-cutting ceremony wherever it is.
I’m thinking of a shuttle running every 10 minutes between downtown, Judkins Park, Mercer Island, and South Bellevue stations. That’s almost like the 550 but adding Judkins Park. I think that’s what it did at Redmond. Having it every 10 minutes would be a better and Link-level transfer experience than having if every 15 minutes. Any concern about cost would be overblown because it’s only a few hours on one day.
If ST does the Northgate strategy, Crosslake Link service would start in the early morning, so people could just take Link to the ceremony. Link will be running through those stations anyway as part of simulated service.
I’ve been wondering about the logistics of March 28 myself. I’m pretty excited about attending both events. It will be a long day for sure!
Sound Transit has botched the PR campaign around the 2-Line rollout. Crosslake is great, sure, but doubled frequencies between Lynnwood and IDS are the primary benefit for the majority of riders. This has barely been mentioned. Most daily north-end commuters still haven’t heard about the service about to double.
AFAIK, the Great Doubling has not happened yet. Until then, rumors about the failure to have announced it will have been greatly exagerated.
In a technical sense maybe, because North/Central Seattle is high-ridership and has the most walkability and diverse destinations, so people are more prone to take Link there or to move there because of Link. But that has to be weighed against entire cities getting Link for the first time, or the Eastside getting much better access to Seattle and the rest of the region. It’s hard to tell Mercer Island that 4-5 minute service in North Seattle is much more important than it, when Mercer Island is miles from the nearest Link station.
As for people not knowing about the doubling, 1 Line riders in that segment know about it because there are audio announcements every few minutes, the station signs say Lynnwood/Lynnwood or Federal Way/Redmond, the station maps show the doubling, and some of the station maps have their stickers removed (or never had stickers) making it look like the full 2 Line is already running. I’m more concerned about people thinking 4-5 service has already started or you can now get a train to the Eastside, than I am about people not knowing these will come in the future.
As for the mass of non-riders who don’t know about it, they won’t know about it no matter what ST does. That has been shown time and time again since the 1990s. ST would probably have to put ads on TV or on the biggest radio talk shows to reach them most effectively.
And if they don’t know about it, they can learn about it after service starts, when they can try it out immediately. ST could have an after-start outreach for that.
@ Brian Bundridge
Great to see your name again on this blog. A guest post on the Big Boy tour for the 250 year celebration? (please)
RE: No Kings and the opening day… hope it’s all sorted by Tuesday which is my first in office day after the scheduled opening. I guess that’s why they have the grand opening on a weekend; all the protesters are back at work (or whatever they do) when the weekday commute starts.
Yes, good to see Brian Bundridge again, who has been our biggest expert on BNSF issues in the past.
ST has the option of doing things like they did for Northgate Link in 2021. That would be a late afternoon ribbon cutting the day before, with the trains nonchalantly starting early the next morning. The station street fairs began at 10 am then. (Note that Covid was still part of the concern when Northgate Link opened.)
Surely, ST is acutely aware of the No Kings protest.
I think there are three distinct times that ST needs to set:
1. Ribbon cutting with speeches.
2. First trains in each direction.
3. Celebratory street fairs.
The last few openings have had them within the same hour. But they don’t have to be — and they weren’t for Northgate Link opening in 2021.
ST will announce schedule details in the next week or two. They will need to tell the Board as well as coordinate with governments and street vendors. They won’t want to change plans after they’re set so there’s no possibility of feedback. And there doesn’t need to be.
“Surely, ST is acutely aware of the No Kings protest.”
We’re making sure it notices it if it hasn’t yet.
One other detail about which I would like ST to be specific:
Will riders transferring between the 1 and 2 Line at CID be expected to tap their ORCA Card at that station?
The Super Bowl Parade will be Wednesday. I’m pretty sure Link will get a lot more boardings Wednesday than it will get on March 28. Same for every other transit route.