Month: February 2026

Earlier today, Sound Transit announced the full 2 Line will begin simulated service on Saturday, February 14. During this final testing stage, passengers will be allowed on 2 Line trains between Downtown Redmond and South Bellevue stations, and between International District/Chinatown (CID) to Lynnwood City Center stations. Simulated service will run between February 14 and the full 2 Line opening on March 28.

The start of simulated service brings significant service increases for riders on both the 1 Line and 2 Line. 1 Line passengers traveling between CID and Lynnwood will experience 4 minute frequencies during peak hours and 5 minute frequencies during the day. While the 2 Line will primarily use 2-car trains, the extra capacity will reduce crowding during busy times. 2 Line passengers on the Eastside will also see improved service as 2 Line trains will now run until midnight.

Continue reading “Full 2 Line Simulated Service Begins Saturday”

Metro is studying improvements for Route 60. https://kingcountymetro.blog/2026/01/16/metro-studying-transit-improvements-on-route-60/

The goal of the improvements is to reduce bus travel times by 10-15% during peak commute times. Most of the improvements involve bus stop rebalancing along with some short bus lanes at congested intersections.

Continue reading “Route 60 Improvements”

On Sunday, the Seattle Seahawks won the Super Bowl by defeating the New England Patriots 29-13. To celebrate their victory, there will be a parade this Wednesday, February 11, with official celebrations starting at Lumen field at 10am. Regular transit riders should plan ahead as many bus routes will be rerouted to avoid the parade. Parade-goers are strongly encouraged to leave the car at home, pull out their ORCA cards, and catch a bus, train, or ferry into Downtown to avoid the gridlock and exorbitant parking fees.

A trophy celebration will begin at 10am at Lumen Field and the ensuing parade is scheduled to begin at 11am, starting near King Street Station at the intersection of Washington Street and 4th Ave, proceeding north to 4th and Cedar. Transit agencies are expecting hundreds of thousands of attendees and are coordinating to provide extra service to get attendees to and from the event. Here’s how you can take transit to join the party:

Continue reading “Take transit to the Seahawks’ victory parade”

Although the 1 Line has enjoyed four-car trains since the opening of Northgate Link in 2021, the 2 Line has operated with two-car trains since its opening in 2024. On March 28, the 2 Line will officially extend to Lynnwood via Seattle, effectively doubling train frequencies between Lynnwood City Center and International District/Chinatown Stations. However, the additional trains may be shorter than some riders are used to.

Continue reading “Signs for two-car Link trains return to Seattle”

The history of Gasworks Park. (Fourth Place) Even if you’ve heard some of the history you probably don’t know all of it.

From downtown Portland to Mt Hood by MAX and bus routes. (Climate and Transit)

I made a similar trip to Grouse Mountain in British Columbia in the 90s. From downtown Vancouver I took the SeaBus to Lonsdale Key, a local bus to a transfer stop in a residential area, a second local bus to the Grouse Mountain parking lot, and the ski lift to the resort. It was summer so there was no skiing, just an outdoor space similar to Gasworks Park where people picnic and a building with a documentary movie. The Grouse Mountain website says bus #236 now goes all the way from Lonsdale Quay to Grouse Mountain (a 25-minute ride), and in the winter there’s a shuttle bus from downtown Vancouver to Grouse Mountain.

This is an open thread.

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.

Continue reading “2 Line and No Kings”

In January, the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) announced the RapidRide J project reached a significant milestone: completion of the Eastlake water main replacement. It may seem odd for a transit project to be celebrating utility work, but this is a great example of how city departments can work together to improve the built environment.

While branded as a transit project, the J Line project is more of an Eastlake corridor overhaul project. Wesley Lin shared a breakdown of the project in 2024. When construction finishes next year, crews from SDOT, Seattle Public Utilities (SPU), and King County Metro will have installed the following transportation, utility, and urban greening features infrastructure.

• Transportation
  • Transit
    • 2 miles of dedicated bus priority lanes
    • 20 bus stations
  • Biking
    • 3.7 miles of protected bike lanes
  • Walking
    • 2.87 miles of repaired sidewalks
    • 177 improved crosswalks
    • 131 upgraded curb ramps
  • Driving and freight
    • 2 miles of repaved streets
    • 33 intersections equipped with new traffic signals
• Utility
  • 1.7 miles of upgraded water main
  • 27 new fire hydrants
  • 174 new connections to homes and businesses
• Urban Greening
  • 190 newly planted trees

Continue reading “Friday Roundtable: RapidRide J Project Update”

Two teenagers were shot and killed at bus stop on Rainier Ave near South Shore PreK-8 on Friday (KUOW). Both were students at Rainier Beach High School. Students and community members including Mayor Wilson and new SPS Superintendent Ben Shuldiner gathered at the now-closed bus stop on Monday afternoon (The Seattle Times, $).

On February 7 (Saturday), 1 Line service will be suspended between Federal Way and Angle Lake. During the closure, crews will conduct inspections and make adjustments to the traction power system to improve system reliability. Buses will replace 1 Line trains between Angle Lake and Federal Way, operating every 10-15 minutes. In addition, passengers can use the A Line between Federal Way and Tukwila International Blvd station.

Transportation

• Seattle’s I-5 lane closures wreak havoc on worker commutes (The Seattle Times, $). “Some are turning to other forms of transit, such as bicycles and the Link light rail, or flexing their work schedules.” City Planner Kadie Bell Sata says revive I-5 is the missed off-ramp from car dependence (The Urbanist)
• NYC Mayor Mamdani campaigned on making MTA buses fast and free, but the latter may cost upwards of $1B annually to replace free fares. The Transit Costs Project proposes A Better Billion, an ambitious plan to expand the subway instead. As the New York Times puts it: Free Buses? How About Expanding the Subway by 41 Miles Instead? (gift link). Alon Levy dove into the cost modelling details on their blog (Pedestrian Observations).
• What is Complete Streets design, and why should we all be using it? (Fast Company)
• A Love Letter to the Articulated Bus (Thoughts About Cities)
• Congestion Pricing’s Unexpected Winners: Suburban Drivers (Bloomberg CityLab)

Continue reading “Midweek Roundup: A Better Billion”

Autonomous vehicle (AV) technology is maturing from what I reported two years ago. While Waymo, Zoox (Amazon), and Tesla compete to replace taxis in the U.S., China (Baidu, Pony.ai, WeRide) is already a bit further along. The rollout has shown that AV technology requires expensive sensors but proved itself unless there is a major disruption.

What about if you install such technology in a bus? Many transit providers in Germany and elsewhere in Europe have partnered with startups such as Holon or Navya or more traditional electric bus manufacturers such as Karsan to test on-demand and fixed-line autonomous bus services. This often happens in partnership with the AV software platform provided by Beep. WeRide is partnering with Yutong for global rollout. These vehicles are usually smaller than traditional buses to serve routes with less ridership. As the buses do not require a driver, they may allow Metro to provide fixed services in low ridership areas where King County currently operates their on-demand Flex service.

The Metro Flex service currently uses traditional minivans with drivers. They have partnered with Via to operate this service. Via already has partnerships with vendors such as Navya and May Mobility. At some point Metro may either offer fixed routes using AV buses in such areas and/or partner with one of these AV providers to operate a driverless on-demand service. Jacksonville Transportation Authority is already testing such AV based service. Holon is already building a factory in Florida to supply them to Jacksonville and the U.S. market in general.

A long-awaited ORCA feature is finally available to (some) transit riders: Open Payments. Riders of the RapidRide G line are now able to use common contactless payment methods such as tap-enabled credit cards and digital wallets on smartphones to pay fare at ORCA readers installed along the line. The feature has been in the works for ORCA for years, with a full rollout expected this spring after this “soft launch”.

As of today, riders are able to pay fare (full-price adult fares only) by tapping their credit or debit cards, or digital devices like phones and watches. The system will accept taps from the most common tap-enabled bank cards or smart devices, including iPhones. Unfortunately, ORCA cardholders are still unable to load their ORCA card into digital wallets on iPhones.

Continue reading “Tap-to-pay soft launches on RapidRide G”