The long-awaited full 2 Line connecting Redmond and Bellevue with Seattle, the U-District, and Lynnwood opens Saturday March 28. We’ve had several articles on the opening-day celebrations schedule, a preview ride, Judkins Park station, Mercer Island station, the 50-year history of East Link, and downtown Redmond’s urban walkability. The City of Seattle has a page on getting to Judkins Park station from the surrounding neighborhoods.
On the same day the March service change will go into effect. King County Metro, Sound Transit, and Community Transit will change some of their routes on Saturday. Pierce Transit will follow on Sunday. Metro has a list of route changes and which Link stations they will serve.
Also on Saturday there’s a large No Kings march, and the Mariners opening weekend. Here’s the total large events list:
- 9am: Crosslake Link speeches and ribbon cutting, Sam Smith Park at Judkins Park station.
- 10am: Crosslake Link service and the full 2 Line start.
- 10am-2pm: Crosslake Link celebrations at several stations. (Schedule link above.)
- 12pm-4pm: No Kings march from Cal Anderson Park at Capitol Hill station.
- 6:40pm: Mariners first pitch at T-Mobile Stadium near Stadium and CID stations.
To get to Judkins Park station for the speeches before Crosslake service starts, Sound Transit will have shuttle buses running from South Bellevue and Mount Baker stations from 7-10am every 15 minutes. The City of Seattle has a page on getting to Judkins Park station from the surrounding neighborhoods and bus routes. Seattle residents have Metro routes 4, 7, 8, 48, and 106. Route 7 comes from downtown every 10-12 minutes. Route 4 also comes from downtown but is half-hourly and the stop is a few blocks further away on MLK. Route 8 will be on its service-change alignment so it will stop on 23rd at the station.
Go early in case the trains are full and you have to wait a couple trains to get on. From past experience full trains are most likely:
- 10am-12pm Crosslake (CID through Bellevue Downtown) for the Link opening.
- `10am-11am Eastside (South Bellevue through Redmond) for the Link opening.
- 11am-1:30pm Capitol Hill (U-District through downtown) for No Kings.
- 3-5pm downtown for going home from No Kings.
- 5:30-7pm Stadium (starting in the U-District, Eastside, and south Seattle) for the Mariners.
I don’t want to overstate the problem. In the first and last half hour you’re likely to be able to get on the first train but you may have to wait for the second. At the height of it you may be able to get on but you’ll likely have to wait one or more trains within a couple stations of the target. The crowds could be as expected or they could be larger. And tens of thousands of people will want to board Link at Judkins Park after the ribbon-cutting and VIP ride.
Two other No Kings events will be near Link stations, from the list in the Seattle Times and seattle-protests.org:
- Bellevue: 11am-1pm at 14801 NE Bel-Red Road. That’s between BelRed and Overlake Village stations.
- Mercer Island: 2-4pm at Aubrey Davis Lid Park, 2223 W Mercer Way. That’s a 1-mile walk from Mercer Island station west along I-90 (a pedestrian trail on the south side to a linear park).
I’ll be taking the 8 around 8am to the speeches, then waiting around until the Link line shortens. I’ll visit Symphony station for a bit of the symphony performance, Spring District station for the zoo and a mini-park two blocks south of the station, Downtown Redmond to spend time there, and Marymoor Village to see the view from the top of the P&R. I also want to go to the main No Kings march so I may have to postpone Redmond to another day.
You can use the comments to plan group rides or meet up for events, or tell us your experiences on Saturday.
This is an open thread.
I have a critical question: which station is most likely to be giving away Boop plushies? Judkins since it’s where the speeches are? CID?
For the Lynnwood extension opening there was a ST booth at Lynnwood with some wheel spin or game that gave out Boop as a prize. I didn’t even realize what they were giving away as prizes but got in line at the end of the day because I had already done everything else and the line was much shorter than hours earlier. After waiting maybe 5-10 minutes they announced the booth was closing since it was x:00 o’clock and they gave everyone in line a Boop. It was only later online that I found out how lucky I had gotten.
Thanks for the tip!
I have an even more critical question: What’s going to sponsor CID and South Bellevue?
I’m skipping all the Judkins Park craziness at the start and hope to get in line for the first 2 Crosslink (with people) at CID. Will they get the go-ahead to load people as soon as Judkins loads people, which may mean an empty eastbound train (or two) arriving at JP after the first one takes off there?
Somebody heard during the preview ride that they’ll be kicking everybody off at CID and South Bellevue to have empty trains for the Judkins Park crowd until it dissipates.
I don’t see what else is possible. If an eastbound train is half full or full departing CID, there won’t be room for many Judkins Park people, and it would take all day for speech-attendees to get their first ride.
I hope there will be more trains than the regular 10-minute service. When the 2 Line Starter Line opened, there were trains every 2 minutes for the first hour or two.
That makes sense. It will feel normal, since they will be routinely kicking people off before then (and have been doing so for a while). If you are trying to time that first train (from CID or South Bellevue) you just have to wait a little longer.
Bruh, just by the schedule they make it look like they’ll be letting people onboard at IDC but why are they not letting people get on at South Bellevue? So it’s basically just simulated service, imo they should at least let people onboard at South Bellevue (like what they did for past extensions), otherwise you’ll get no one to get on at Mercer Island (which is your second option transfer guy, though you have to take a 550 or 554). I want to be on the first train though, I really want to greet the officials and hopefully they get 4 car trains that day to handle those crowds (at least just for that day). After that it looks like I-90 will have to deal with 2-3 car trains until at least 2027.
It does raise the issue that people going between Seattle and Bellevue think it starts at 10, but it won’t start until some unknown time later when the Judkins Park crowd has gotten out. On the other hand, they don’t really know when it will start anyway, because the ribbon-cutting may be late, and they’d have to guess when the first train reaches to Lynnwood or Redmond and comes back so they can ride it across the lake (which is at least an hour later). So if they have to wait for the Judkins Park crowd too, that’s just a third unknown time span longer.
This is probably the most messed up opening in ST’s history. First of all, you guys came up with the crazy idea of adding light rail on existing I-90 infrastructure when you really needed to think about the future and retrofit the bridge to meet future standards (even though it was supposed to get light rail by 1985 and the I-90 bridge might have not had a lot of issues with rail back then). I just think that the I-90 bridge should have gotten light rail before so design wouldn’t have been an issue. Then they revisit that idea about four decades later and they come up with the same old idea again, maybe the center lanes might have been good for express toll but imo they should have simply built a tunnel or new bridge (probably would have not been taken to the supreme court or anything) since the center lanes imo were “obsolete” and unfit for light rail operations (yup, don’t waste your time figuring out design solutions when it won’t work out in the end). Anyways after all that trouble you go through you then start construction and guess what? YOU MESS THE CONSTRUCTION UP!!! It turns out you place concrete plinths incorrectly and damage them and then have to start from scratch again delaying the project further up to years. Then you rebuild the segment again and you open a share of the project and then what’s that? A project that was supposed to open before the latter? Oh no! You’ve messed up the timelines, and then a bunch of other projects take gloat over I-90 and decide to skip ahead. And then you finally get to tow LRVs on the bridge and it takes you almost a year to finally power it, and then half a year later you open the segment!!! I mean they did some great progress in the end and the vision was OK at first but was very quirky in the middle. This has really affected scheduling a lot and people at ST have to reimagine the schedules for this occasion… WOW, that’s a lot you went through.
What are you ranting about? When the Hadley Bridge was built in the 1980s, it was for “future rail”, not “future light rail”. The assumption was heavy rail like Forward Thrust or MARTA. Light rail was invented in Germany just ten years earlier and wasn’t widespread in the US yet. (“Light rail” was a rebranding of modernized tram technology.) And then the cars were high-floor so worse: I saw them in Cologne in the 1990s, right inside the doors were two stairs up, so you had to go up and down them every time you got in or out of a train. So I’m glad we didn’t get those, and it would be hard for me to board one now.
The “they” you’re talking about are different people in different levels of government in different years and different generations. The decision for light rail mode was in the 1990s after the bridge was built. The decision to build East Link was in 2008. The plinths were because of contractor error. Nine months of the delay was because of the concrete workers’ strike during the pandemic. The power delay was because WSDOT took its sweet time certifying the electrical system for operation.
Well that’s slightly annoying. Do they really expect big crowds at CID at 10-ish? The opening day site implies people will be able to get on the 2 at other stations (to cross) after the first JP train heads across, but I guess “afterwards” means after they clear out all the JP people.
Here’s how I plan to get to the opening:
7:00 am – Leave my house
7:13 am – Catch the Swift Orange to McCollum Park at Edmonds College
7:20 am – Deboard at Lynnwood City Center and wait for my friend (he might be on the 7:25 am 201 or the 7:34 am 512 bus since he lives up in Everett)
7:40 am – Catch the 2 Line to ID/Chinatown at Lynnwood City Center
8:07 am – Deboard at Capitol Hill Station & walk to John/Broadway
8:14 am – Catch the 8 to Mt Baker TC at John/Broadway (Capitol Hill)
8:33 am – Deboard at 23rd/Massachusetts (Judkins Park)
I mean the 8 is going to be revised to serve Judkins Park Station tomorrow and I should take advantage of it, besides it drops me off outside the ribbon cutting place so not much to worry about. I’ll be 25+ minutes early for the ribbon cutting and I’ll have an hour to get on the first train so I’m not really worried about the crowds.
“Deboard at Capitol Hill Station & walk to John/Broadway”
You don’t have to walk. The eastbound bus stop is right outside the northern entrance (“John Street”). It’s only one or two car lengths away toward the middle of the block.
The westbound bus stop is across the street from it.
Yeah but you still have to climb up to the surface from beneath and take the north exit on John. You still need to walk.
You take two escalators from the platform to the north entrance. I was counting from the entrance, and assuming the interior walk was just an essential part of taking a train.
Is there a schedule and map for the link shuttle? Or will it just be random, also I’m wondering what buses they will be running on, King County Metro XDE60’s? Sound Transit D60LFR’s? Community Transit ADL Enviro500’s? I really have no idea.
I haven’t seen one. The announcements just say “Mt Baker and South Bellevue stations”. They run every 15 minutes from 7 to 10 am.
The layout of South Bellevue Station from west to east is:
1. The northbound bus stop on Bellevue Way.
2. The bus layover lot.
3. The west side of the station building, which either has no bays or paratransit-only bays.
4. The station building with escalators up to Link.
5. Two bus bays for southbound buses going west or east.
6. The parking garage.
It’s a 2-minute walk from the northbound stop to the southbound bays, as I do to transfer both ways between the 550 and 226. I’d guess the shuttle stop will be at 5, since that’s between the garage and Link. But it could be at 2, 3, or least likely 1.
MT Baker station doesn’t have more than Rainier Avenue bus stops; the transit center is a block away. I guess the shuttle will use the route 7 stops? There should be signs.
I assume the buses will be Metro since it’s in King County. And probably articulated to fit the most people. The Link shuttle during closures is two articulated buses running together.
Oh great, jumping to temptations is the low hanging fruit for ST when it comes to running shuttles from existing light rail stations to opening events.
ST be like: rUnNiNg bUsEs fRoM cUrReNt sTaTiOnS tO nEw sTaTiOnS wItHoUt a pLaN iS oUr nO bRaInEr!!!!
Seriously? No schedule, just minutes apart. You’ll probably have drivers like…
Driver: Excuse me, how do I get to Judkins Park?
ST: I don’t know, figure it out noob.
*Driver accidentally heads the wrong way*
Though I’m guessing ST would expect drivers to know how to get to Judkins Park as it’s pretty easy to access from Mt Baker or South Bellevue. Though I’m just hoping that something doesn’t happen like the time when a 535 driver forgot to stop at Canyon Park and had to go back to pick up passengers wasting everyone’s time.
It’s how all the Link shuttles are; there’s no schedule, just a nominal frequency. Or if the drivers have a schedule it isn’t published. The shuttles I see are actually more frequent than the nominal frequency. I’ll be waiting for a Pike-Pine route and two or three shuttles often pass before mine does.
Don’t be ridiculous, bus drivers are trained and they have run cards telling them exactly which streets to turn on and where to stop it. The agency doesn’t just tell them, “Go to Judkins Park station; I assume you know the way.”
They used Starline coaches and picked up at northbound stop https://photos.app.goo.gl/KNXnmbsLeGpd92CP8
“I’ll be taking the 8 around 8am to the speeches”
Where will you be taking it? What’s the exact departure? I just want to see if we’re going to be on the same bus.
I wish I could say but I don’t know when I’ll be ready. It’s probably wishful thinking that I can get up by 7 and out by 8 anyway, so I may arrive in the middle of the speeches or miss the opening time. In that case I’ll just go from downtown, or wait until after No Kings.
If you’re OK sending your phone number to the contact email, I can call or text you when I’m going or where I’ll be
It’s fine, I’ve actually already made plans with my friend who lives up in Everett. I was just wondering if you were going to be on the 8 that departs Capitol Hill Station at 8:14 am so we can meet. I’m meeting my friend at Lynnwood City Center at 7:30 am (which I’m assuming he’ll be coming on a 201 or 512). But I’ll be at the speeches at 8:35 am so I can be on the first train. I’ll also be filming that day, if you’re wondering what my videos are like or what I do in them here’s the link:
https://www.youtube.com/@6_7_4_1-v6c
I do videos mostly on transit stuff but there’s also videos I film on playing games and I even uploaded three videos related to this article and what happened in person:
https://myedmondsnews.com/2026/02/edmonds-woodway-students-stage-walkout-to-protest-ice/
You can check it out for yourself and see what the protest was like that day, trust me it caused a lot of traffic and I’m just hoping crowds aren’t as big as this for that day (probably even bigger).
Is there a movie theater anyone would like to recommend so me and my friends can see Hoppers after the celebration? It’s a movie that I’ve been trying to watch for a while now and idk which theater to go to that’s near the 2 Line.
What’s Hoopers? (Looking it up.) Some kind of children’s animation. It’s playing at:
– [Westlake] Pacific Place (Pacific Place mall)
– [Westlake] Regal Meridian (7th & Pike)
– [Northgate] Regal Thornton Place (a couple blocks east of the station)
– [Downtown Redmond?] Regal Bella Bottega (8976 161st Avenue Northeast. Is this in Redmond Town Center or near Downtown Redmond station?)
I prefer Pacific Place over Meridian because of the architectural layout. I don’t remember what Thornton Place is like. I’ve never been to Bella Bottega.
It’s also playing at two theaters with character that you should visit but they’re not near Link: the Admiral in the Admiral District (shaped like an art deco ship), and the Majestic Bay in Ballard.
Children’s animation? Yeah I know I’m a bit too old to be watching that but a friend at school said he watched it and said he liked it. Also it’s Hoppers with two p’s not Hoopers with two o’s. Hoppers kind of looks interesting so that’s why I want to watch it.
Well there’s
Cinemark Lincoln Square which is like a 1/2 mile walk from Downtown Bellevue station.
AMC Pacific Place and Regal Meridian near Westlake station
Regal Thornton near Northgate station
AMC Alderwood which is a one stop Swift bus ride from the Lynnwood station
Ah, I was looking at today in Google and Cinemark Lincoln Square didn’t show up. But it’s there tomorrow.
I might as well just go to Cinemark in Downtown Bellevue.
Here is an unpopular one, AMC Factoria 8. It is just 1 bus stop from South Bellevue and remember don’t take 240.
What’s the best way to attend this from Fremont? I guess I could take the 62 and then transfer to the 7 to get to Judkins park station
You could also take the 40 and transfer to the 7, or take the 40 or 62 but instead of taking the 7 take the 106 (though you need to wait until the end of the line for the 40/62).
62+7 or 31/32+48 (transfer in the U-District). The 7 is more frequent but the 48 stops slightly closer to the event.
[Edit: I forgot about the 40. 40+7 is good too.]
I was thinking about the 31/32 + 48 but I asked Google and it’s apparently slower than the other options but if you don’t really care and just want to get there you can do that.
YouTuber/blogger Miles in Transit is supposed to be over here for it. Miles plans to review the stations after the opening ceremony.
I’m staying in Renton tonight for it. Attempted to come up by all local transit, but the River City driver didn’t know to wait for C-TRAN so I was stuck at Ilani casino for hours and gave in and took Amtrak from Kelso to Tacoma.
For those who listen to the King County Metro Transit radio scanner (http://kcmt.rosecitytransit.org/) I stopped by to try to improve reception but wasn’t successful.
I’m coming from West Seattle. There’s a few variations to get to Judkins Park. I think I’ll go with the eastbound 50 to the northbound 7 (transfer at the shared stop on Rainier)
Anyone know if theyMll run 4 car trains on the 2 line for today at least? All I’ve been seeing are 2 car trains.
Just 2-car (and maybe some 3-car) trains on the 2 Line today. They may boost frequency with unscheduled trains, similar to after a stadium event.
2-car is pretty sad. The crowding issue may get even worse. Induced demand but not enough capacity.
They are celebrating 16 years of light rail openings by artificially constricting capacity, just like when Central Link opened. They made people stand in line for hours so that everyone could get a seat on the train.
That was one own goal that I never expected to be repeated.
Did nobody at ST expect large crowds on the 2 Line today?
There aren’t enough cars for more without taking them from the 1 Line. If ST could run 4-car trains on the 2 Line it would already be doing so. Some of the trains for the 2 Line haven’t arrived from the manufacturer yet; they’re coming in the next few months.
I was at Bel-Red at 10:10am and the WB trains were still saying South Bellevue. Later around 10:40 the reader board said Lynnwood and they were running 3 cars trains. Good thing as 2 car trains would have been standing room only. There was nothing at the P&R but they had cleared out all the cars that had been using it for long term storage. I expect some of the people in the two large apartment blocks adjacent to the station have been using it instead of paying the expensive upcharge for parking in their complex.
There was a sign at the east end of the platform that pointed to some Arts District events off site. Claimed 2 min walk but it was nowhere in site and address was a different block/street. It didn’t start until noon at which point the crowds will probably have dissipated.
Best part was reading the signage I realized I’m eligible for the $1 senior fare!
Route 8 at Melrose Ave gas all seats filled. At Capitol Hill station it’s standing room only. Unusual for a Saturday morning.
A Black woman got on in the CD and saw her friend sitting in front. After exchanging greetings she said loudly, “I’m going to the light rail too! It’s in _our_ hood!”
The bus was packed when it got to Judkins Street, and the entire buss got off, although ironically not the other woman.
There’s already a long line at the entrance stretching out onto the trail west, even though it won’t officially open for an hour.
Balducci speaking on loudspeakers in the park on the east side of 23rd. People have to choose between listening to the speeches or getting a favorable place in line.
It’s five people deep to the edge of the tent where the speaker is.
Plushies at game booth at JP station near AA Museum. A long line to move a crane hook and try to win a small ORCA doll.
VIPs walking to ribbon with a marching band.
Balducci crossed 23rd.
Furries representing in strength.
The end of the line is across the I-90 trail at the western entrance. The speech/game booth half of the crowd is starting to come. The line is moving now; I’m not sure if an earlier small move was the first batch of rides or not. There has been no trainful if people moving yet.
The western entrance has a sign “Open at 10:30. It’s 10:30 now and I can’t imagine they’ll open the eastern entrance until the crowd gets on.
The line just moved substantially. I got trom the western entrance, under the I-90 Rainier northbound exit ramp, and almost back to the trail.
On the trail. Debating whether to bail because I want to be back in Seattle by 1 or 2 for nokings. But the line is moving a bit so I’ll stay a bit more.
Is nobody else here to liveblog?
I’m bailing on the Link opening to fo to No Kings. On a crowded 7 now.
I’m bailing too. Reaching a critical mass to safeguard democracy is more urgent and than a furst-dat rude.
Took the 7 to CID station. Southbound has a line across the Union Station plaza. Northbound has people getting out.
Symphony playing an irchestral version of “Yesterday” on northern mezzanine if Symphony station.
The station should have recorded classical music all the time.
No Kings transit liveblog thread:
Capitol Hill station. Northbound 2 Line had standees but not full. Two ppl with signs said they’d gotten on at South Bellevue, and waited 2 trains to get on. Several other ppl had protest signs.
Southbound 2 Line at Symphony I saw just before this train said “Out of Service”. I’m guessing it was only letting people off, not that it was empty, but I’m not sure.
Southbound 2 at Capitol Hill boarding now. 3cars, almost full.
Rush hour crowd of protesters got off northbound 1.
I finally saw people using the station numbers in real life! On the 2 Line heading towards the celebration, a group of elderly Chinese seniors who couldn’t pronounce the station names in English were pointing to the diagram and talking about the stations by their numbers. (I overheard and can speak a little Chinese, they seemed to figure it out really well.)
Somebody be sure to get a picture of our favorite [professional] foamer on one of the first runs westbound.
Sadly my wife and I are going to bail. We need to get to Cap Hill for No Kings. The line for the train is crazy at Judkins. Mike is not exaggerating.
How many LRVs long are the 2 Line trains today?
2-3 cars. They should have planned for stadium-event-level surge frequencies of 4-car trains.
Every one I saw was three-car, and standing room only across the lake.
No Kings marchers going east on Yesker at 3rd. Maybw the group from the West Sound; they’re always well organized.
Been waiting in the JPS line for an hour at this point. Starter queueing all the way at the west entrance and only about slightly half of the way to the east entrance.
From looking at transit and pantograph, doesn’t look like extra trains were being added, which is disappointing. It’s going to be a long long wait.
Looking behind me there’s additional people queued all the way down to the underpass, so I don’t think it’s clearing anytime before 4pm. Are they still kicking people off at cid? If not I should have gone there instead.
Looks like reddit said they started letting people on the existing Seattle stations stay onboard. Which explains why the line here at jps has slowed significantly. Kinda crappy for all the people that have been queued here forever.
Ended up boarding around 2h after I got in the queue. Once on the platform, had to wait one train that was already packed. Got on another ultra packed train and took it all the way to SBS. Unfortunately have somewhere to go at 2pm on the eastside so bailed on a bus from SBS. Overall pretty terrible experience but saved by attending a once in a lifetime event lol
Willie, you never said what the ride across the lake was like. You only wrote about lines, wait times, and crowds.
Apologies for just being the complainer, the crowds and waiting was most of my time spent *sweats*
The ride itself was fun but very, very packed. Spontaneous cheers erupted as we exited the tunnel onto the bridge eastbound.
Platforms at MI and SB stations were quite filled but no long queues in either direction.
I had to bail after that ride so unfortunately couldn’t see much nor do the stamping. I’ll probably revisit on a weekday to actually tour the new stations and take in the views without hundreds of people on board
No Kings lmtrabsit liveblog thread:
First message git in wrong place above.
Southbound 1 just let off bigger than Rush hour crowd.
Cried control letting only batches up the CH north escalator. Probably to protect second escalator after it.
Capitol Hill station. Platform busy. Southbound 2 busy but not full. Audio announcement says Crosslake is open. Northbound 2 robust but not as busy. There was brief control at up escalators a few minutes ago but not now.
Route 8 running as normal. Broadway is blocked by a barrier at Denny.
Marchers fill Pine Street going west.
Too bad 4 car 2 line trains were not used with them turned back at Northgate. I thought that’s was one of the obvious uses of that turn back (Redmond to Northgate)
Pine Street buses are back to normal.
Took the line from DT Redmond to Judkins Park, departing around 1:30. The ride was pretty smooth and when we got to Judkins it was still packed with a line out the door. I spent a while walking around and by the time I got back at 3:15 the lines were gone… And the sole escalator was out of service. Never change, ST. (That’s a joke. Please change.)
That’s not an escalator, it’s an artwork of an escalator.
Hah. Wish I could find that funnier. My parents (in their 70s) are coming in for the World Cup and while they don’t want to rent a car at the airport I don’t know if I can in good conscience tell them to rely on Link to get them to Redmond. Will the trains run on time? Absolutely. Will they be able to get to and from the trains? That’s less reliable than I’d like it to be.
Generally escalators and elevators follow a bathtub curve ( U ) for reliability. At the beginning and end of their lifespan, they tend to experience a much higher frequency of breakdowns than during the majority after the break in period. You’re chances of getting stuck in the elevator are slim as they’ve already gone through testing, but the occasional breakdown for newer escalators and elevators is normal. Redmond also had issues with the escalator on opening day but hasn’t broken down since IIRC.
I got a boop plushie by waiting in line at Judkins park for 1hr 45min and winning their claw machine game.
(the line was behind the speeches tent)
There was a long line for that game going 2 times the length of the park space. I imagined ST would run out of dolls, and I couldn’t imagine why so many people would want to wait in a long line for one. There was a shorter line at Metro’s booth; I don’t know why. The other booths didn’t have lines. There were government agencies, nonprofits, craft sellers, a couple of hot sauce sellers, and food trucks.
But they didn’t have the plushie did they?
It’s a small black-and-white doll in the shape of a cute plump whale that looks like it might be semi-soft. It’s in a game where you remotely move a hook crane to try to pick your desired toy up, like the traditional “win a kewpie doll”. They sound like the description of plushies I’ve heard but I’ve never seen a plushy so I don’t know for sure if they’re them, but whatever they are a lot of people wanted to win one.
It wasn’t just the plushies. A lot of people (myself included) were trying to spin the wheel to win the limited edition WSF ORCA card. They ran out so I bailed.
I don’t like public agencies creating scarcity for something they could easily just sell at cost or profit. Let me buy the cool ORCA card dammit!
ST had a clothing-sale booth with ironic signs like it was high fashion. Shirts with the Link map, zip-up sweaters with a transit-themed abstract pattern, semi-hard toys shaped like transit things. I looked to see if if the catalog with with item photos had an orca plushy, because some people here wanted them, but it didn’t.
I did both the 2 line and No Kings. Overall the system was strained but not broken.
I was on a southbound 2 Line that kicked everyone off at ID around 1025. The platform was full of people who had been kicked off earlier 2 trains and staff were making non-transfers queue up at street level.
Around 1050 they let us board a 2 train, which arrived at ID 75% full. It was crushloaded through SBS. Lots of cheering on the floating bridge.
At SBS, they had 1 escalator blocked off to control the crowd, while leaving the other escalator unattended. The 2 line heading back to Seattle was crushloaded and left plenty of people behind at MI and Judkins.
CHS was busy and the elevator to Cal Anderson was broken, leading to hundreds of people walking up the stairs.
At Seattle Center, Monorail crowd control was a joke. Line of several hundred people who were throttled through the ticket booth even if they had an ORCA. I wound up walking to Denny to catch a bus downtown. However the bus (124) wasn’t stopping at the right blocks leading to an extra walk back to Symphony station.
Insult to injury, 2 522s in a row at Roosevelt were ghost buses so I had to wait an extra long time for the bus home.
Overall, Metro and ST got me where I needed to go, but it wasn’t pleasant.
I met up with a friend who boarded at Roosevelt station about 19:40. He was surprised to hear the driver announce that he would be on the first actual complete 2 Line train! In other words, it didn’t reach Judkins Park until 11! ST lost an hour of moving people apparently. That likely backed up everything!
10:40 (not 19:40)
ST seemed to really underestimate how many people would show. The posters were gone by 11. The stampers left seemingly before 2. I did not get a map.
The food trucks were great, but I did not see the number of community organization tents that I expected. Perhaps it was because of No Kings day or Link opening burnout. The Judkins Park booths were laid out rather oddly.
On the Eastside, the food trucks at South Bellevue were rather disappointing; my friends and I ended up riding to the Spring District for lunch there instead.
The kids were having a lot of fun with the South Bellevue fire truck and the toy train setup, though; and also the petting zoo at the Spring District.
The 10-2 festival timeframe always felt too short. Especially with events spread out between Marymoor Village and Symphony, and one at Lynnwood. I felt bad for the booths in the Eastside that would be sparsely attended because a lot of people couldn’t get on a train to get there by 2. I feel worse for the children at Judkins Park that were expecting a great day riding Link and visiting the festivals and then they get to Judkins Park and it’s all just standing in line and being disappointed. I hope it doesn’t make them dismiss Link overall.
Does ST need to do these ribbon-cutting grand openings? Really? I know the politicians like them because they can pontificate to the masses about how great they are and what great things they’ve done, but it seems like a waste of time and money. Food trucks? Tents? Making people get off a train because it’s conflicting with a ceremony? It’s a train, just run the damn thing.
Just start full service at X time in the morning and let people ride the train – why mess up service for several hours for a dog-and-pony show? Do your ceremony off to the side, if you must, but let the trains run.
That’s a good point. The opening celebration doesn’t have to happen with the actual opening of the line. Run the trains first thing in the morning. There would still be people trying to be the first to ride the extension, but not that many (since it runs at 5:00 am). You can still “cut the ribbon” even though the trains are running. Same goes with the fair. The lineup to get on the train would be much smaller.
Of course a political project needs a ribbon-cutting and ceremony. But Ross is right: that can be the evening before, as it was with Northgate Link. Just start service first thing in the morning afterward. The festival is for marketing purposes, but it can be after service starts, like Lynnwood Link was.
“Making people get off a train because it’s conflicting with a ceremony?”: It wasn’t conflicting with a ceremony; it was conflicting with where hundreds of people were lined up expecting a first ride soon.
This was also a unique situation: a delayed middle segment opening. That almost never happens in subway extensions, so it creates unique logistical issues. The PROBLEM was that if ST didn’t empty the trains at CID and South Bellevue, the Judkins Park crowd can’t get on, and they’re left standing in line for an unreasonably long time — as in fact happened when ST started letting people through before the Judkins Park line was finished.
There was a second issue of through riders being kicked off or not knowing when it was safe to make a trip through, but that’s a secondary issue to me. If they get kicked off and have to wait for another train or take the 550, that’s better than Judkins Park people waiting who knows how long and not understanding why no entire trainful is getting in at a time — as they were led to believe. I was in the initial line, which had reached the western entrance when I joined it. I couldn’t understand why we were moving forward a couple dozen people at a time when I thought it would be two hundred people at a time, and nobody told us why it was happening. Finally there was a batch of two hundred people, but then the next ones were a few people again. That’s when I bailed.
“There would still be people trying to be the first to ride the extension, but not that many (since it runs at 5:00 am).”
I’d say the situation that tons of people trying to get onboard of the first train didn’t occur naturally. It happened by design. People wanted to get the free hats before they run out. I think it is a fun experience for other low-profile extension. I was there the entire morning for FWLE and I think the whole thing didn’t seem to cause so big of mass, but for the cross-lake one it was clearly out of hand.
Anyway, this would the last one for a while. Hope they won’t do anything crazy for STRIDE.
I suspect ST silently runs extra frequency semi-regularly, because I see patterns midday or early evening I wouldn’t expect.
Since the ST Board members got an early ride a few days ago anyway, it seems uneventful that they got a second “first ride” on opening day.
And the festivals should indeed start at least an hour or two after the ribbon cutting if not the next day.
With Lynnwood, the ribbon cutting was at 11 am with the festivals from 4 to 8 pm. That was quite a time gap.
However, I think that the other day’s events may have been a factor with this event scheduling. The No Kings rallies plus Mariners opening day are not minor events.
Another factor was the long- hyped floating bridge crossing. It gave a bigger boost to wanting to see the project.
Even though the weather is not as nice, the opening celebration festivals probably would have been better if they were held today (Sunday).
A mid-system opening is also awkward for crowd management. With end extensions openings, the amount of train crowding is much less of a problem to plan for.
Anyway, we won’t have another Link extension open for several years (and single infill station openings won’t draw curious crowds alike this one did). There are certainly no expected middle/gap openings upcoming to celebrate either (as even ST3 has line extensions rather than gap closures). The next scheduled non-infill station opening is currently West Seattle LE at the very end 2032 (probably 2033) and I don’t see that opening before 2035 (same year as Tacoma Dome LE) given the challenges of a large bridge that will need custom steel structures and concrete pours, and probably two bored tunnels and a deep station excavation in the heart of Alaska Junction. That opening will draw some excitement from crossing on a new bridge. Still, it’s so far away that it seems silly to anticipate how to schedule those opening festivities.
Yesterday will not be replicated no matter what. It’s a one-a-lifetime event!
Yeah, it basically was a “perfect storm” that created the mess. As you mentioned, you had a gap in the middle. This complicated things on the East Side although it would have been the same in Seattle if this was just an extension. You would still have big crowds at Judkins Park and CID. It didn’t really matter at Judkins Park but I imagine it was an issue for folks trying to get from CID to the south end. There were other issues. One is this is a scenic trip and it was a really nice day. It is also a fairly central extension. This is an usual combination. Federal Way Link is scenic, but not central. Northgate Link and U-Link are central but not scenic. Thus there were plenty of people who just wanted to check it out, regardless of the silly swag.
I don’t think any of the other additions will have the same impact. Pinehurst Station is next and there will definitely be a ribbon cutting and all that. But the trains will just skip the station until the moment in which they serve it. There is no “missing gap”. No one is being turned back (like they were for the hours before the official opening of East Link). The same is true with Graham Street Station.
The other projects (if they happen) will have some similarities to other things we’ve built. Any extension to the north and south will be similar to Federal Way or Lynnwood Link. Much of Ballard Link will be similar to UW-Link or Northgate-Link (especially if they don’t make it to Ballard). There are some potential views along Elliot but the nicest views would be the crossing of the ship canal (to Ballard). I’m not sure if you get that many people if the train only makes it to Smith Cove. Maybe — on a nice day it is a good place to hang out. But Ballard is way more attractive. West Seattle Link would definitely have people checking it out (as the views would be nice and it has a real destination). I doubt anyone will remember the lessons from this opening (and even care).
The freeway noise was certainly reduced by the sound walls, but frankly it was rather loud on the platforms. It’s hard to gauge when they’re crowded though. Perhaps the noise levels can be better assessed on a less crazy day.
I measured the noise level at the platforms at a variety of stations on Thursday (including MI and JPS). They were louder than most stations, but not terrible: https://bsky.app/profile/mesmith35673.bsky.social/post/3mhxw5jls2222
At 95 dB Mercer Island look pretty loud on your readings! Perhaps as the walls get covered in vines it will drop a bit.
Have you ever measured the John Lewis Bridge at Northgate?
I haven’t been to north Seattle yet (since Thursday), but I’ll measure the Northgate platform and the bridge next time I’m there.
Link’s freeway median stations are not the worst because it replaces the express lane structure that comes with the freeway from day one, so it is wider than typical freeway median. Plus, the lanes that wraps around Mercer Island station are not even freeway mainline, but HOV ramps to Island Crest Way. Lower speed also made less noise.
The most scary one I’ve experienced is one of the station along CTA Blue Line near O’Hare Airport. There is almost no buffer between track and freeway mainline. That happens to be at I-90, too
Link’s highway stations are not the worst tbh, Denver, LA, Bay Area, and Chicago have worse freeway adjacent or median stations.
Though I frankly wouldn’t be surprised if the City of Mercer Island asks WSDOT to look at doing a lid for I-90 between 76th and Island Crest Way. Which sure, that’d be a very Mercer Island thing to do but tbh I’d be fine with it because it might lead to Seattle finally getting around to putting a lid on I-5 through Downtown Seattle. And Mercer Island would probably get a decent urban park out of it with the lid.
I didn’t realize two station entrances at Judkin Park are quite far from each other and the path through station platform might be the shortest for those whom walk from Jimi Hendrix Park to Rainier Av bus stop. I wish there is a stair exit at Rainier Av from I-90 Trail south of I-90, then that might be the shortest path.
[Ed: Corrected typo per author’s intention.]
Yeah, I ran into that problem in the morning. I took Link to CID and then caught the first bus heading towards the park (which happened to be the 106). I assumed I could walk up the stairs to the station but it was all blocked off. Likewise, the bus stop was not officially open either (even though it showed up on the reader board). So we got off the bus on the south side of I-90 and then ended up crossing at the north side to get to the park (https://maps.app.goo.gl/Mt8GxgvC6jkNkwLG9). In retrospect it would have been better to just walk up Massachusetts and go the other way.
In any event, you are right — the station itself will be a nice shortcut for some people trying to catch the 7. It is similar to how Northgate Station is often a shortcut for people trying to get through the neighborhood (and/or catching a bus).
Is that northbound bus stop on Rainier just north of the station supposed to be open? The end of the line was right at the station entrance. The bus stop had a “Stop Closed” cover. Since I think the Judkins Park article said the stop was relocated, I assumed that was the old location. But is it the new location?
Several people were waiting at the bus stop and a 7 passed them. They were too far for me to shout to them, but when they started walking south to find the open stop, I told them the stop had been relocated and it was probably a block south but I wasn’t sure. I ended up saying that to three groups of people who waited at the stop and then walked south.
I noticed that as well. The new stops should be open but buses were using the old stops. The onboard system has the new stops (it announced “Next stop: Judkins Park Station” instead of “I-90”). Let’s see if the new stops open tomorrow when it’s less crowded.
I boarded 106 at the stop near NE corner of I-90 EB ramp terminal (south of station entrance). Is that the old location?
A GenZ protest in Russia might happen tomorrow. This shows what we might lose if we lose our democracy, because in Russia if you hold up even a blank sign you get arrested. I don’t think it could really get as bad as Russia here but better not to start.
The author is a Russian youtuber I’ve been watching for several years; he talks about Russian society in English; he fled the country at the beginning of the Ukraine war and now lives in Portugal.
Why were the 2 line trains only 3 cars today? Every train I was on had to leave people at some stations because of how packed they were.
I only saw 3 car trains for 2 line
ST doesn’t have enough cars for longer trains. Otherwise they’d all have 4 cars already. Not all of the 2 Line cars have arrived from the manufacturer yet. I think they’re coming in the next couple months.
From what I can tell, cars continue to arrive throughout 2026. However, there are an additional 10 cars that were ordered in 2024 in response to the shortage that aren’t expected until 2028.
https://www.theurbanist.org/sound-transit-greenlights-10-more-link-cars/
Meanwhile, TriMet has more cars than the operating budget allows them to operate. If only there was a leasing plan between the two agencies…
ST may have enough cars to operate 2 Line with at least 3-car, but they might not have enough operable units right now.
They are still testing some of the LRVs they recently received and the Series 1 LRV needs retrofit.
Because Sound Transit doesn’t have enough cars to run 4 car trains on the 2 line. ST3 extensions (Redmond and Federal Way) opened before the ST3 cars arrived, the overall end-to-end runtime is longer than expected and a higher percentage of cars need to be out of service for maintenance than planned. 2 line revenue service is expected to be a mix of 2 and 3 car trains.
Yes, I’m frustrated that we waited nearly 18 years for this line to open and there aren’t enough train cars to provide the planned service.
Originally, ST reported the LRV shortage will not allow them operate all 2 Line trips with 4-car, so they would do 3/4 car, but now they operate 2/3 cars probably for another reason.
They could’ve used the 3 cars on the 1 Line, just for the opening day. The 1 Line often doesn’t get that full, especially on weekends.
“The 1 Line often doesn’t get that full, especially on weekends.”
Ha! You jest. Try riding it in north Seattle or Capitol Hill on a typical afternoon. It’s standing room only, and maybe 5-10 more people per half car can fit on. Plus there are ballgames and events almost every day even in the winter, or at least once a week, where the trains fill up. Maybe not leaving people behind, but almost, and yes sometimes. This is why north Seattle needed the double frequency as soon as it could come online.
Now, with the new idea of 3-car trains on both the 1 and 2 Lines, that might work as a stopgap, since it doesn’t matter to the many riders in the Lynnwood-CID range which line they get on. But you also have to look at south Seattle. There you’ll find the “only-5-more-people-can-fit-on” phenomenon happens in the PM peak at least.
I attended No Kings then went to check out judkins (going to Bellevue tomorrow). I’ve never seen link this busy for such a long period of time. Between cross-lake opening, good weather, no kings, and mariners opening game, I think its safe to say we broke the ridership record set by Seahawks parade.
Will be interested to see official numbers
It wasn’t that large I don’t think. Here’s my liveblog of the Seahawks victory day. Three downtown stations in a row (CID, PSQ, Symphony) had packed full platforms in both directions and another crowd up in the mezzanine, and train after train passed totally full and hardly anybody could get on. The reports were that it was filling up in Lynnwood so people in north Seattle couldn’t get on.
I arrived at Stadium station when the rally ended and the march was starting. Surprisingly, many rally attendees went home afterward rather than going to the parade. I thought the parade was the primary point of the day. So at Stadium, the southbound side had a line going out to the street and more crowd there. Northbound was busy but not full. I think we all got on but we were squeezed like sardines. I was concerned I wouldn’t be able to get out at Symphony. I was about the only one who got out, and I had to squeeze hard past a woman who’d said she was already feeling squeezed. I felt bad for that but I had no choice other than to stay on the train, and I wanted to free up a space for somebody else (because I was going to take the bus shuttle north to Mercer Street).
It’s hard to compare a line at Judkins Park with 2-dimensional masses, but I think the total Seahawks ridership was higher than both Crosslake and No Kings, and went on for more hours at more stations.
A counterpoint could be, I don’t think simulated service had started yet on Seahawks day? That could be why No Kings trains/platforms weren’t full for as long as I feared, because there were more regular trains running, one every few minutes.
And I saw a lot of 2 Line trains both directions as I went from Symphony to Capitol Hill station, and then looked in at Capitol Hill station an hour later.
But I couldn’t see everything all day: just the moments I was at a station or on a train.
I guess I haven’t noticed or though about this at the older stations, but…
What do “PR” and “P” stand for on elevator buttons?
(PR went to the platform.)
The elevator labels are inconsistent at different stations. It partly depends on which phase it was built during.
Beacon Hill station is the most interesting. I think it’s P(latform) and T(rain) if I remember. The display has 2-letter floor abbreviations as it goes up and down, but the abbreviations are different each direction. There’s a straightforward B1, B2, B3, but then there are several other ones. You wonder, “Why are they called this?” and “Why does the floor have a different name up than it does down?”
S for Surface. Odd.
It’s hard when “P” can mean “platform” or “parking”, and “T” can mean “train” or “transfer”, and “S” probably has multiple meanings too.
Maybe it would be best to put symbols for the buttons rather than just a letter, like a train car symbol for the platform (🚆) and some sort of entry or doorway or bus symbol (🚍/ 🌲) for the street entry. It seems better for other languages especially.
Yeah, I agree Al. I’ve been confused with the letters before (and I’m supposed to know this stuff). Symbols would be much better.
“R” as a second letter often means the rear door if both doors open on the same level.
So PR probably means the rear platform door, while P probably means the main platform door. .
I’ve seen people get confused by the P marker, thinking it’s some sort of parking lot.
In the Washington Park station, TriMet uses “S” and “T” which seems like it would have appealed to SoundTransit.
Or how about “G” for “Ground,” which you can see in a lot of buildings too?
I see “G” commonly used in many elevators for the ground floor. I like it better than “S” for see face or street or sidewalk.
See face = surface (typo)
In buildings “G(round)” is often used for the level below the front door instead of the front door level. That’s partly because Pugetopolis is hilly so the front and back doors can be at different levels. The house I grew up in was like that, but we called the back door level the “basement”. It’s strange that the “ground” level is not the level most people enter at, and there’s not a whole level of steps up to the front door. So I wouldn’t use “G(round)” because it’s used so inconsistently in overall buildings.
I had a great time exploring all the stations. I think we had the optimal route for avoiding the crowds and getting the goodies.
8:10am – breakfast at Village Square Cafe in Redmond
9:10am – walked off the breakfast to the station
9:30am – boarded at Downtown Redmond
9:40am – got off at Redmond Tech to get some Mariners gear. Picked up the stamp cards here. There was free coffee but they said they wouldn’t start until 10.
10:00am – got off at Spring District for the petting zoo. Goats, chickens, and bunnies, it was real fun. There was some food trucks and vendors in a market hall. We stopped by Diwan Coffee House and got some really good pistachio coffee. They were giving away a free box of stuffed dates for the first 7 customers to mention it (we were the first)
10:50am – arrived in Downtown Bellevue. Lots of free things here including a two totes and a lime helmet and drawstring bag. There were booths talking about the Grand Connection and bike improvements in Bellevue.
11:15am – arrived at South Bellevue for our first stamp. This was the first place where there was actually crowds as it was after the first crosslake trains had started running. Got some stickers and had to get in line to get back on the train, which was now packed.
11:50am – arrived at Mercer Island for the second stamp. There was lots of booths in the P&R and I got plenty of fun swag.
12:30pm – arrived at CID, skipping Judkins Park for now. The train was packed once more, this time even more than the previous one. People were left behind. This was definitely the right choice since getting back on the train at Judkins had an enormous line. There weren’t too many booths, so we got the stamp and moved on.
1:00pm – arrived at Judkins Park. Turned in the stamps and walked around. It seemed most of the booths were packing up or sold out already. There was a huge line for the Boop plushies.
1:20pm – got on the 48 to the U-District. We had explored every station and did not want to wait in the line just to ride again. Got lunch and hung out there for a while.
Later, I returned from the U-District around 10pm. Usually, I’d take the 542 back to Redmond, but I wanted to try out the new bridge again since I wasn’t in a rush (and since the Eastside trains are running later than 10p now, it’s actually possible!). You can really feel how much longer of a trip it was (about an hour instead of 25-30 minutes). A mariners game had just ended and the train was full of people trying it out to get to the game. People got off mostly at South Bellevue, Downtown Bellevue, Redmond Technology, and Marymoor Village.
I’m very curious to see how ridership will play out with the possibility of using either the train or bus for trips to Redmond. Currently the 545 is SRO every morning and evening rush. Excited to see how the train shakes things up!
Just want to share my experience because I had quite a day–the tl;dr is that it was very cool to finally ride on the bridge and join the festivities, but there was plenty of confusion and not the best communication from Sound Transit.
I started in Shoreline, taking a 2-Line train to ID/Chinatown, arriving around 7:20 AM to see if they had maps yet. No one there yet, which I expected, but it was good to see where the tent was for later.
Took the 550 to S. Bellevue, arriving around 7:50 AM, where they were already giving out and stamping maps. This saved a ton of time later!
Took the 2 Line to Downtown Redmond, where I had an unrelated event in the morning.
Returned to the Downtown Redmond station just after 9:35, right before the first train to go all the way across was scheduled to depart. There weren’t very many people on the platform. A train pulled up just before 9:40, and since it was close to the scheduled departure time, I asked the operator if this was the train that would go all the way. She said no, it would be the next one. When I asked the operator of the next train (which was definitely the one scheduled to go all the way), he said he wasn’t sure, but he’d make an announcement. I boarded along with a few other passengers, but it was mostly empty around me. Right before we took off, the operator opened the window in his door to tell me that it sounded like it wouldn’t be this train to go across, but that he’d make an announcement. We took off with the stated destination of S. Bellevue. At Bellevue Downtown, he announced that he wasn’t going across, and that we should get off there to have the best shot at getting a spot on the next train (due to crowding at S. Bellevue). I got off, but a lot of people didn’t–not sure if they could hear the announcement.
The next train arrived with the destination of S. Bellevue again, but I hopped on. At S. Bellevue, a Sound Transit employee came up to the operator’s window to chat, then huddled with some other employees, then came back to announce that the train was going out of service.
I saw there was a train about to arrive heading in the other direction, so I made my way through the huge crowd to get on it, to be able to board the next westbound train before the crowd. Bad decision, I heard later! But I was glad to not have to worry about going all the way down to the stamping tent again. I got off at East Main. The sign said that all of the trains were now going to Lynnwood.
Once on the next train south (which again had S. Bellevue on the sign), the operator announced that we had the green light to go across, and that we would be the second train to do so (in that direction). I learned from another passenger who got on with the crowd at S. Bellevue that after they told me to get off the previous train, they changed their minds, and let it go across with whichever passengers hadn’t listened to the announcements. So that was a bit disappointing! I guess I should have ignored the ST employee who directly told me to get off? I rode to ID/Chinatown, finally going across the bridge around 10:50 AM.
After a quick stop at the stamping tent (glad I knew exactly where to go from earlier), I headed for the opposite platform, until I realized there was an enormous line. So instead I hoofed it back over to the 550 stop, where I got on with a small like-minded crowd around 11:05, many of whom got off with me on Mercer Island.
Took a bit to find the stamping station, then headed straight back to the platform. Would have been nice to check out the festivities, but the way the stamping challenge is designed (and especially with how hard it was to catch a train), you’re disincentivized to spend any time at the stations where you have to get a stamp. Luckily there wasn’t a line nor an unmanageable crowd headed back west.
I arrived at Judkins Park around 11:40, and there wasn’t a line to trade my stamps for a hat. I collected some swag and ordered a hot dog. Just after I paid, a health inspector came up and made the proprietor change some things to avoid committing an infraction. I haven’t experienced any ill effects yet… Knocking on wood though. I had to be choosy about lines to wait in, with No Kings coming up, so I settled on a Lime bike helmet. (Couldn’t wait 90+ minutes for a chance at a Bloop, much as I want one!)
The line to get to the platform was absurd, so I hiked down to catch the northbound 106 (which stopped at the more southern stop). I used to live in the area, so I knew exactly how to get down there–not sure it was clear enough for anyone not familiar with the area.
At ID/Chinatown, there wasn’t a line heading northbound. The board said the next train would be a 1, and when I saw it coming the square looked green from a distance, but as it approached I realized it was blue, so had to hustle a car length up the platform. Still packed, of course.
Marched from Capitol Hill to Seattle Center, lots of clever signs. Afterwards (around 3:00), figured there would be long lines for the monorail and light rail, so opted for the E line back to Shoreline. Took awhile for the buses to navigate the detours, and had to wait for a second E as the first one got too full.
Quite a day, happy to join the long-awaited celebration (and march) with everyone. Just wish there was a bit better communication from ST…and maybe keep the shuttle buses running longer!
It’s nice to hear about other people’s successful trips across the lake even though mine was unsuccessful.
I had a coney dog at the same stand at 9:45 and had no ill effects. The health sign said Excellent then, so the previous inspections had been top-notch.
As a southender and frequent 1-Line rider, I totally would not mind shortening trains to 3 LRVs so that the 2 Line can run 3-car trains, at least for a few months.
That would spread out the northbound afternoon peak loads a lot more easily.
I didn’t have time to hit any of the opening day events, but I did go to Seattle, so I took Link from Overlake Village to Symphony at about 12:45. I had to stand on the (4-car!) train the whole way to Seattle. By the time we got to Mercer Island, the train was full enough that people were still waiting on the platform when we left. (Although, let me just say… it was not, by a long shot, the most crowded train I’ve ever been on. Tokyoites and New Yorkers will keep shoving their way onto a train after Seattleites apparently give up.)
My return trip was at 4, and I was not immediately able to find a seat, but at Chinatown I found one. Still much more crowded than I’m used to seeing on the Eastside.
I remember that when the Bellevue-Redmond section first started running, the first day was very crowded, but it took weeks for the ridership to finally stablize. And then it happened again when Downtown Redmond opened. I wonder what it will look like in a month.
As it happened, I also took the G for the first time. I guess I was a little disappointed by that experience. It was kind of slow, stopping at almost every light, and the driver had a lead foot – I kept falling off my seat when he slammed on the brakes.
We tried to do the opening day thing but it was mostly a victim of its own success, made worse by lack of crowd planning by Sound Transit. Times approximate:
10:15am – Boarded southbound 2 line at Northgate. Normal train load.
10:30am – Got kicked off the 2 line at IDS/Chinatown, where there was a crowd waiting. They let the crowd on before us, and we probably could have squeezed back on, but we had wanted to get off anyway.
10:35am – We learn they are already out of the “collect all 4 stamps” maps at IDS/Chinatown.
10:45am – We board a Metro route 7 at 5th and Jackson to get to Judkins Park so that we can get our “collect all 4 stamps” maps.
10:55am – The Rainier entrance of Judkins Park Station is still closed. There is a line of people on the I-90 trail all the way from the Rainier entrance, across the length of the park, to the 23rd Ave entrance. The line is to ride the train and the line is not moving. We bypass the line because at this point we’re just going to the celebration.
11:05am – We check out some of the Judkins Park festivities (100-200 people in line for plushies, crowding making it difficult to move between booths in places).
11:40am – We decide to walk back to IDS/Chinatown along Rainier/Dearborn and see many others doing same. The Judkins Park Rainier entrance is still closed (sign says it will open at 10:30am), and the line to get on the train at 23rd still stretches to the Rainier entrance. We do some shopping at Goodwill.
12:45pm – There isn’t much of a crowd at the IDS/Chinatown platform now, so we decide to get on an eastbound 2 line. It’s crush-loaded, but we make it on. The plan is to ride across the lake and get off once we see an uncrowded stop.
1:00pm – Our crushloaded train passes through Judkins Park, Mercer Island, and South Bellevue without really letting anybody on. Some people who managed to get on at Judkins Park tell us they had waited over an hour for the train. At this point my partner needs to use the bathroom, so we stay on until Bellevue Downtown instead of getting off at East Main, where there doesn’t seem to be much.
1:15pm – There are no open businesses in sight at Bellevue Downtown either for potential restroom use, but luckily we spot an unlocked Honey Bucket at a construction site below the station.
1:30pm – We squeeze onto a crushloaded westbound train at Bellevue Downtown. Our full westbound train then passes up frustrated-looking crowds at South Bellevue, Mercer Island, and Judkins Park. We stay on till the U District.
The train capacity issues were probably unavoidable but, the “stamp collecting” thing was really poorly executed, with running out of maps so early and the stupid plan that you’d need to return the completed map to one specific stop (Judkins Park) before 2pm instead of any stop. Was anyone actually able to complete this?
We’ll have to go back and check out Mercer Island and Judkins Park stations some other time, but riding across the water was fun. Overall, this seemed poorly executed. It was disappointing after having such a great experience at the Northgate Link opening party.
I had a similar day except a bit earlier. By the time I got to CID it was still crowded with people trying to go east. (I really feel sorry for someone trying to go south.) I was going north at that point (back to Northgate) and since CID has separate platforms, this was easy. I never made it across the lake but that wasn’t my plan. I just wanted to check out the fair at Judkins Park (and the neighborhood, which I haven’t seen in a while). I was disappointed not to use the bus-stop-to-train-platform connection but I’m sure I’ll use it some day.
As a 70 year old I can relate to your very simple need to use a restroom. Hint, at Bellevue station the City Hall has one that kept nice and clean. Not sure if they were open on Saturday though.
One of my other public restrooms I use occasionally while using The 1 Line is SeaTac airport. The Port Authority seems to be able to this job very well, both acknowledging that people need to go and that they need to be kept clean and sanitary. For that reason alone I would support a Port of SeaTac take over operations of Sound Transit. They know the basics.
Now to get ST security to take on the job of removing people from public transit before messing it up for hundreds of others.
One thing that I noticed yesterday was that there were often two 1 Line trains then two 2 Line trains on the arrival boards, rather than an alternating 1-2-1-2.
I’m curious what the backstory is on this. Is it that once the sequence is set that it has to be maintained? Is this supposed to be a crowd management strategy? Is the reversal at Lynnwood a constraint on this?
ST has never been able to get the frequency or alternation exact. 10-minute frequency in practice means half the time 10 minutes, half the time 5, 8, 12, or 15 minutes. And the display often changes every few minutes on what the next three will be. Yesterday I saw two northound 2 Line trains in a row at least once and maybe twice. It gave the impression that the 2 Line was more frequent than usual. I don’t know if that was the case, or they were surging 2 Line trains at that moment, or there had been a delay and those were late trains. All of those are possibilities. When it’s 1 Line only you never know whether a 5 or 8 minute gap is because these are late trains after a delay or there’s extra frequency for some reason.
I noticed on the message boards that the destinations are Lynnwood (rather than Lynnwood City Center) and Federal Way (rather than Federal Way Downtown) yet they fully list Downtown Redmond on the boards.
I guess that ST does it because there are four stations in Redmond where the other two currently have one station.
This suggests another sign software problem, which is that the train destinations listed appear to be unable to automatically change during a route. It would be better for riders if train destinations said Seattle/ Lynnwood at SeaTac but just Lynnwood in Downtown Seattle, for example. If a train’s listed destinations could vary by station, the destination listed could just be Redmond until the train reached Overlake Village.
Dropping “Downtown” or “City Center” is due to the length of some displays and ST being inconsistent. Since it should always drop them, at least it drops them in some places.
“Redmond”, “Bellevue”, Lynnwood”, “Federal Way”, “Capitol Hill” means the center/downtown of those cities or neighborhoods. Others add “North”, “South”, or whatever.
That should be what ST does, but it doesn’t. Each city lobbied for a unique wording, and ST allowed them to be inconsistent. To me it’s the cities being self-aggrandizing. “Downtown Redmond” makes it sound as if it’s as big as downtown Seattle, and sends the message, “You [employer] should invest in an office/headquarters/factory here.”
To be fair, there are plans for a second station in both Lynwood and Federal way. I think “Town center” seems more accurate than City Center or Downtown
And Chinaneigborhood is more accurate than Chinatown.
Just “Central” or “Center” is most succinct.
Heaven forbid a suburban city actually visualize, fund and build an actual landmark noteworthy enough to become a station name! “Federal Way Fountain” or “Redmond Clock Tower” or “Lynnwood Arena” could have been an iconic local fixture. Oh well!
Since 1 Line mostly going north-south, station with city name paired with east-west street name pinpoint the station location effectively, like Federal Way/320th.
That’s exactly what was done to stations in shoreline. Federal Way is just like Shoreline. Neither has a real downtown and will never have one but some TOD towns.
I was still at Judkin Park event around 1pm. They had a line of artists keep performing at the tent where the speech was given before the opening although there were much less audience.
Two vocalists who performed around 1pm and the rapper on stage around 1:30pm were pretty damn good.
Does ST post an agenda of the event somewhere?
There was this: https://www.soundtransit.org/crosslake/events, but no detailed schedule (that I know of). I thought it made sense to get there early but it was probably the other way around. I saw some bands warming up as I was leaving.
I waited until yesterday morning to give it a try. I had to go to Redmond so I got on at University of Washington station and rode all the way to Downtown Redmond. It was busy but still seating available. On the way back in the afternoon it was considerably more busy starting at Marymoor – made me glad I had grabbed a good seat at the beginning. It looked like standing room only much of the trip. I rode all the way back to Westlake and hopped off. Success!
I got on the wrong train at one point on Saturday.
I rode with a friend northward as far as Capitol Hill Station when I hopped off to go back across the lake (2 Line). There was a train across the platform so I ran and hopped on. It turns out that I accidentally got on a 1 Line train rather than a 2 Line train.
I quickly figured out my mistake by looking at the train info inside the train. I got off at Westlake and waited.
While waiting at Westlake, I noticed that the original DSTT labeled “Westlake” about every 40 feet and that ST had added “1/2 50” above each sign. That amount of labeling (closer spacing) is not being installed at new DSTT stations.
Even on the platforms, ST has only installed two realtime arrival signs per platform so they’re hard to find in a crowd.
With two lines in the tunnel, labeling has gained a new level of importance. It won’t be an easy fix, but I’m expecting to start reading comments about the labeling deficiencies on Link in the upcoming months. People will likely blame themselves. However, at some point, some blame will be put on ST for inadequate labeling.
My suggestion would be for ST to install those little LED laser lights that could project a 1 ball or 2 ball onto the train or on a small screen/ board above where the station doors open. I’m sure there are other ways too. It’s just noting that something probably needs to be done.
I’ve had trouble distinguishing north Seattle stations from the train because several of them look the same. Often you can’t see the station name on the wall because the angle is wrong or there aren’t enough signs. I’ve learned to look for the window artwork at UW station, and that tells me it’s not Roosevelt or UW, and Roosevelt is next. Capitol Hill has nothing distinguishing, so I go by the longer travel time to the next station on both sides. I wish each station had walls a different color or a different pattern, so that you could look at any point and tell which station it is. The DSTT stations are all completely different, so a glance at the wall tells you which station it is.
My other pet peeve about Capitol Hill station is both ends look identical from the platform. When I get off a train, if I can visualize which direction the train was moving, then I can go to the exit that direction or the opposite direction. But often I’m thinking of something else and immediately forget which direction I had been moving (and I approach Capitol Hill from both north and south, both facing forward or facing backward, so it’s not always one of those). Then I have to go to the middle and see if the sign says “Denny Way” or “Olive Way/John Street”. Then I have to calculate in my head, “If I’m going to the Denny end and the sign says John, do not go that way but turn around, and that’s my escalator. To see Denny I’d have to walk further out-of-direction to see the other side of the sign, so I calculate it in my head to avoid that. There’s the fighter jet exhibit in the middle but that’s not always visible, and I’ve never memorized which direction the front is pointing. So I look up to the mezzanine level, and try to see if I can get a glimpse of whether the walkway goes right or left, or whether the right or left is a wall. That’s the most positive identification, but it took me several trips to notice that slight difference — which you can only see at certain angles. So I wish the mezzanines looked completely different too rather than 99% identical from the platform.