Sound Transit Route 535 travels inbound from Lynnwood City Center station to downtown Bellevue, primarily via I-405. This express service stops at Alderwood Mall and in Bothell and Totem Lake.

Route 535 runs every 30 minutes during the week, every hour on Saturdays, and does not run on Sunday. In October 2025, Route 535 had 1,908 average weekday boardings.

Route 535 Map (Sound Transit)

Average Ridership Per Trip

The plots below show the average weekday ridership by stop in each direction, color-coded by time of day. For a more detailed breakdown of how the plots are set up, please refer to the How to Read the Plots section of the article discussing Route 70.

Average Weekday Ridership per Route 535 Trip in October 2025. “Inbound” is toward Bellevue; “Outbound” is toward Lynnwood. Click the plot to view at full-resolution in a new tab.

Route 535 offers essential express service connecting communities along the north half of I-405. Some observations:

  • Ridership at Lynnwood City Center station surprisingly asymmetrical. Each morning, mid-day, and afternoon trip departing the station has about 10 passengers on board. Only return trips in the afternoon have a similar passenger count. This discrepancy is also reflected in the total daily ridership for the stop. 294 passengers board inboound trips, while just 146 alight outbound trips. Passengers can transfer here to Link 1 Line and 2 Line, Swift Orange Line, Community Transit routes 102, 103, 112, 114, 117, 120, 130, 166, 201, 202, 901, 903, 904, 905, and Sound Transit routes 512, 513, 515.
  • The two stops near Alderwood Mall have some ridership, almost entirely from Eastside passengers. Trips between Lynnwood City Center and the mall are better served by the more frequent Orange Line.
  • The 298 space Canyon Park P&R has moderate ridership all day. Inbound boardings are highest mid-day (about 6 passengers per trip) and outbound trips drop off 5-8 passengers in the mid-day, afternoon, and evening. Passengers can connect here to ST Route 532 and Community Transit routes 106, 120, 121, and Swift Green Line.
  • Route 535 detours from I-405 to serve UW Bothell and Cascadia College. The ridership pattern at this stop is similar in both directions. More passsengers alight Route 535 in the morning and mid-day, and board trips in the mid-day and afternoon. This pattern makes sense, as many students, faculty, and staff commute to the schools. About an equal number of people travel to the colleges from either direction on Route 535. The UW Bothell & Cascadia College stop also allows transfers to Community Transit routes 106, 120, and 121, Metro routes 230, 239, 372, and Sound Transit route 522.
  • The stops at Bothell P&R and Brickyard Freeway station have similar, commuter oriented ridership. Most passengers board inbound trips in the morning and alight outbound trips in the afternoon. The Bothell P&R stop is a short walk from downtown Bothell. Metro routes 239, 372, and Sound Transit Route 522 stop near the Bothell P&R. Brickyard Freeway station is also served by Metro routes 231, 239, and 256.
  • Ridership at Totem Lake Freeway Station is a bit more even throughout the day. Inbound trips are busiest in the morning and mid-day, while outbound trips are busiest in the afternoon. The freeway stop is walking distance to The Village at Totem Lake, a mixed-use development with over 60 stores and 800 apartments. This stop allows quick transfers to Metro routes 225, 239, 255, 256, Sound Transit Route 535, and Community Transit Route 424.
  • Bellevue Transit Center is the route’s main stop in Bellevue. Over 15 passengers alight each inbound trip all day, and over 25 passengers board each afternoon outbound trip. Many destinations are within walking distance of the transit center. Passengers can also transfer between Route 535 and Metro routes 226, 240, 249, 250, 271, B Line and Sound Transit routes 532, 550, 556, 560, 566, and the 2 Line.

Daily Totals per Stop

Average Route 535 Weekday Boarding and Alighting Counts in October 2025. “Inbound” is toward Bellevue; “Outbound” is toward Lynnwood. Click the plot to view at full-resolution in a new tab.

Looking Ahead

Route 535 will be replaced by the Stride S2 Line in 2029. The overall routing for the S2 Line will be similar to Route 535, but a few of the stops will change. The S2 Line will have a stop in Kirkland at a new inline station on NE 85th St. The new line will skip the Bothell detour in favor stopping at the new Bothell/Woodinville Transit Center. Passengers will be able to transfer to the S3 Line at the transit center. In Lynnwood, the S2 Line will stay on the highway until Lynnwood City Center station, dropping the stops near Alderwood Mall.

The Stride route will bring a significant improvement to the route’s frequency, running every 10-15 minutes everyday.

S2 Line Map (Sound Transit)

Appendix: Route 532

Sound Transit Route 532 is a peak-only route between Bellevue and Everett. The ridership patterns for routes 532 and 535 are similar. In October 2025, Route 532 had 934 average weekday boardings.

Average Weekday Ridership per Route 532 Trip in October 2025. “Inbound” is toward Bellevue; “Outbound” is toward Everett. Click the plot to view at full-resolution in a new tab.
Average Route 532 Weekday Boarding and Alighting Counts in October 2025. “Inbound” is toward Bellevue; “Outbound” is toward Everett. Click the plot to view at full-resolution in a new tab.

39 Replies to “Ridership Patterns for Sound Transit Route 535”

  1. At 405/160th, what was the final resolution for the pedestrian bridge. Is it going all the way across 405, or just connecting the median bus stop to the park and ride to the west, and nothing else?

    A full bridge not only connects the bus to the neighborhood much better, it also fills a critical gap in the Tilt Pipeline Trail, and could be justified purely from a parks&trails perspective, even without the transit.

    Driving down 405, I can see they took down a section of the concrete wall on both sides where the new bridge would go, which leaves me optimistic that they are going to do this right, and not cheap out.

    3. Yes, the pedestrian bridge will go all the way across 405, and they will be adding a new pedestrian crossing at 115th Ave and Juanita-Woodinville Way. The pipeline trail won’t have any annoying detours on the highway overpass anymore.

  2. I looked into taking the 535 recently, and realized that after the Bothell and Alderwood Mall detours, the Bellevue TC – Lynnwood TC travel time is identical to the 2 Line.

    Given that, I’d be very interested in seeing just how much ridership was lost after the cross-lake connection opened.

      1. The January and February Link ridership data has been corrected but they’ve been slow with the updates since. ST Express has ridership through March (including Route 535), but April’s data isn’t online yet.

    2. I’ve never ridden the 535, so I didn’t know it served Alderwood Mall. I’m not sure if it always has.

      1. I remember catching it at Alderwood Mall in summer 2012, so at least since then.

        1. What did you do in Alderwood Mall in summer 2012? Was the 535 on a 2008 Gillig Phantom? Just curious on what it was like back then.

        2. I didn’t actually go in the mall back then; I was biking down the Interurban Trail and it was getting late so I decided to catch a bus at least part of the rest of the way home. Can’t remember what model of bus it was.

        3. How many people do you think know what a 2008 Gillig Phantom is, or noticed at the time whether their bus was one?

        4. “How many people do you think know what a 2008 Gillig Phantom is, or noticed at the time whether their bus was one?”

          Well, at least I know. They probably thought it was normal back then but since they’re retired, they might not know what it is. I mean you could tell by the shape of the bus.

    3. I would be interested in seeing that as well. Anecdotally (albeit 4 days/week since the 2 Line opened across the lake), there are few to no people on the train at Pioneer Square station who were already on when I board at Northgate. CID gets a decent number of eastbound 2 Line boarders. Now, this is at 6am out of N’gate so things may change later in the AM rush, it’s just what I’ve observed consistently in the car I happen to be in. Returning in the afternoon it’s much more difficult to tell who has ridden from the Eastside and is still on when I get off at N’gate – but it seems, again, that there are few from what I’ve seen.

      A co-worker of mine lives close to Lynnwood Station/TC and loves taking the train into Seattle for things but to work in DT Bellevue he takes the 535 and prefers it.

      The *fastest* way (via Google Maps) at 8-ish am from Lynnwood TC to Downtown Bellevue is the 1 or 2 Line to the 271 in the U District at 45 minutes, although that of course requires a short walk and a transfer (included in the time). Point-to-point travel time, not including any walking or trips to/from platforms, the 535 is 60 minutes and the 2 Line is 57 minutes. I’ll assume that Stride S2 will be quicker than the 535 as well as having the improved frequency mentioned. Clearly where you are actually departing from and going to will weigh into the decision of what mode you take.

    4. Very surprised to learn that light rail takes about the same time from Lynnwood to Bellevue as 535.
      Ongoing SR 522 constrcution must have slowed 535 down as it now crosses two more signals ever since they took down the SR 522 flyover.
      I wonder if southbound is still faster as that direction is less impacted by SR 522 interchange rebuild.

  3. Who is gonna operate Stride? Right now, First Transit (via CT) is covering the 510/30’s.

    1. I believe that Sound Transit will have its own buses and drivers for all the Stride lines.

  4. One nice thing about the ST express routes is that we have easily accessible data from the past. This is the page for the 535: https://www.soundtransit.org/sites/default/files/documents/2020-service-implementation-plan.pdf#page=114. It looks similar. I think the biggest difference is a drop-off in ridership from Brickyard. Other than that, ridership is down just a little bit across the board although I think it is up a bit at Totem Lake.

    The 532 is way down across the board. There are fewer trips, so that probably had an impact.

    1. My co-worker told me that his nearest park and ride is Ash Way and he used to take 532 regularly.
      Nowadays he just drive a little bit further to Canyon Park so he doesn’t have to time his trip precisely. It also allow him leave work before first 532 head north.

      Before he didn’t do that because Canyon Park parking garage was often full.

  5. It will be interesting to see how the Stride line impacts the 532. I assume that ST will keep it but have it serve the same stops as Stride (east of Lynnwood). Someone in Ash Way then has a choice:

    1) Take one of the many buses that head to Lynnwood and then transfer to the Stride bus.
    2) Continue to take the 532.

    Depending on the time of day, I could see the first option increasing in popularity. Right now it is basically a desperation move, since the 535 isn’t very frequent. But that will change. Commuters tend to time their trips (especially in the morning) so the impact may be minimal. We may also see an imbalance, with people timing the 532 in the morning and then leaving work whenever they feel like. This means catching the first bus heading to Snohomish County which most likely will be Stride.

    For Everett it is a bit different. There are multiple buses to Lynnwood but both detour to Ash Way. Thus the trip from Everett to Lynnwood isn’t particularly fast (to be fair, the 532 also serves Ash Way). But from Ash Way it seems like Lynnwood is just a quick hop. That isn’t the case with Everett.

    1. Option 1 seems like a long detour, likely not worth it unless it’s a 20+ minute wait for the 532. Of course, anyone traveling outside of peak hours has no choice but to endure this detour.

    2. Everett to Bellevue is such a long distance I’m not sure it will keep the 532. It’s not a major market or one with high political visibility like Everett to downtown Seattle. And if Stride succeeds in shaving 10-20 minutes off the travel time as some estimates have suggested, that might make ST not have cold feet about eliminating it.

    3. It may not happen immediately upon opening Everett Link as far as Mariner in the late 2030’s, but I think the tea leaves to me suggest ST making Stride 2 end point shift to Mariner if not all the way to Downtown Everett. When Lynnwood City Center is no longer the end point and is just an intermediate station (actually the half-way travel time point between Downtown Everett and Westlake), Stride buses would be more time competitive to Link if they connected to Link north of the 405 interchange rather than south of it.

      Add to that a Stride line or extension would connect Downtown Everett with Mariner much, much faster than Link will (if it ever opens). I’m expecting that ST will continue to run some sort of frequent bus service between the two stations even if Link opens because of the time loss created by the SW Everett diversion.

      PS. I’m always amused at the ST diagram of the SW Everett diversion. It looks like just a little notch, when the actual diversion is about 4 miles. A picture paints 1000 words as they say — and if it was more obviously a diversion in that diagram, its logic would get lots more scrutiny.,

      1. S3 end at Lynnwood is awkward, but I-405 ramps from/to I-5 north are more congested than ramps from/to south because of busy 164th crossing and freeway weaving section between 164th and I-405 , so it probably doesn’t have much travel time saving to if S2 is bended to north and terminated at Ash Way or Mariner.

      2. That’s an interesting idea. I doubt ST has considered it because it hasn’t mentioned it and it’s not in ST’s long-term plan. But it would solve two problems with one stone: the backtracking to Lynnwood station is , and the overhead to the Paine Field detour.

        However, it depends on why S2 is going to Lynnwood station. Is it because of downtown Lynnwood or because that’s where the Link terminus is? I think it will be hard to move S2 because the Lynnwood terminus is in ST’s long-range plan and has always been the vision for S2, Lynnwood is the second-largest city in Snohomish County and centrally located, Lynnwood is planning a large downtown at the station area, and the Lynnwood station is the closest to the Alderwood Mall area if you’re transferring to there. So it would be hard to move S2 and explain to constituents why it wouldn’t be going to all that.

  6. I’m realizing now that I will never ride Stride. It skips UW Bothell and Alderwood Mall, which are the only things I’ve ever used the 535 for. Connecting buses are sure to be unreliable.

    1. Stride 3 shouldn’t be too unreliable to wait for due to high frequency… But yeah it’s definitely a concern for UW Bothell. hopefully they actually try to line up the timings.

      1. They don’t line up timings for anything else, so I wouldn’t expect it here either. I think this route is only useful if your destination is Downtown Bellevue.

  7. It looks like most of the travel time savings between Lynnwood and Bellevue will be from skipping the diversion to UW Bothell/Cascadia College, and secondary improvements in Kirkland, since it is essentially the same right of way as the 535. Indeed, taking the bus from Bellevue, the stops seem to go by very fast, then things really slow down in Bothell. Something you might not appreciate from just looking at the maps.

    With the greater frequency, Stride should be a solid option between Bellevue and Lynnwood. I’ve admittedly been knocking it as not much of an improvement over the 535, but now I realize it will improve things for most of the route! It should in fact be competitive with the 2 line, if you’re going all the way to Bellevue. Hopefully the greater frequency makes up for the lack of direct Bothell – downtown Bellevue service, and ridership won’t suffer that much. The Stride 3 should also help UW Bothell riders connect to Link on the west side of the lake, and with both Stride 2 and 3 running at higher frequency, it’s a good option to downtown Bellevue (and also Totem Lake on the way).

  8. From what I see, most of the ridership involves Lynnwood City Center Station and Bellevue Transit Center.

    I expect those numbers to reduce because of the 2 Line’s better service quality, Sunday service (though the 535 will get Sunday service this fall), longer service span, traffic on I-405 (though probably not that big due to the express toll lanes), more frequent service, and easier access to destinations (or in other words, one seat rides).

    Lynnwood City Center Station has around 300 boardings per day.
    Bellevue Transit Center has around 450 boardings per day.

    If we expect half of those riders from the most popular stations to transfer to the 2 Line, then the ridership at those stations would be…

    Lynnwood City Center would have around 150 boardings per day.
    Bellevue Transit Center would have around 225 boardings per day.

    Also what William said, travel times on the 535 vs 2 Line are identical, though I would rather ride the 2 Line because it has better scenery than a freeway and as well the 2 Line has more destinations on the line than the 535.

    1. For a trip this long, getting a seat will be a factor in what route choice to make. If someone has to stand on Link for awhile, over time they’ll prefer the bus.

      Of course, Lynnwood CC is the first station so it’s likely that riders will almost always get a seat. The same is likely true leaving Downtown Bellevue in the afternoons — but less likely than leaving from Lynnwood in the mornings.

      I have no idea how many people are forced to stand on 2 Line at this point. The two-car trains that are in the fleet mix probably have more standees.

      In cities where everyone is used to riding crowded trains, standing on one isn’t that big of a factor. But here people are used to finding a seat most of the time.

    2. Forgive me that I just cannot stop complaining about how badly the Bellevue Downtown light rail station is located.
      If we talk about Lynnwood to Bellevue, 535 actually has better access to destinations in Downtown Bellevue than 2 Line does. I think a detour in Bothell area is the only disadvantage for 535.
      Scene on light rail is unimportant if that’s someone’s commute 3 days a week.
      After a month commuting on 2 Line, I’ve stopped paying attention to the view. I’d sign up for anything that can take me to work relatively fast, reliable, and with somewhere to sit.

      With that I actually doubt anybody would take 2 Line from Bellevue to Lynnwood knowing that travel time is about the same.

  9. I also can’t help but noticing that the 535 still has no Sunday service. If the route is important enough to merit the improvements they are making, the cost of Sunday service today should be trivial by comparison.

    1. It was going to get Sunday service in 2022 but the driver shortage swallowed it.

      The same argument could be made for why the 550 should have gotten 15-minute Sunday service a long time ago. But it’s for the same reason: it was going to be fixed in 2022. And the 545 also has 30-minute weekend service.

  10. I cannot remember where I learn that, but apparently in order for S2 to get to Lynnwood TC via I-5 more smoothly, they are going to build a small section of busway only lane between the middle of SB I-5 to 196th St SW EB loop ramp and 196th St SW & 36th Ave W intersection. S2 will exit freeway at off-ramp to 196th St SW and use the bus lane to turn northbound left to 196th St SW.

    It is unfortunate that without some kind of I-405 express lane direct connector to I-5 HOV, buses from I-405 can use neither Lynnwood TC HOV exit nor Ash Way bus-only exit. I think 535 serving Alderwood today partially because ST tries to keep it off I-5.

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