The next 18 months may be the most important period of Sound Transit history as it tries to close a $30-40 billion program gap (The Urbanist). Additional coverage by the Seattle Times ($). Mayor Harrell thinks a new technical advisory group and regulatory reforms will get the job done with no program cuts or new taxes (The Seattle Times, $)

Sound Transit is starting a mid-life overhaul of the Sounder railcar fleet (The Urbanist)

The King County Water Taxi will run extra service from Vashon to Downtown Seattle on Saturday to get islanders to and from the Grand Opening Celebration of the rebuilt Waterfront (Metro Matters). Earlier this year, the State Legislature approved funding to maintain the Water Taxi’s midday service through June 2027.

SDOT thinks putting bus lanes on Denny would paralyze general traffic (The Urbanist). More on the SDOT blog. Here’s what the Fix the L8 campaign proposed on STB earlier this year.

Join the “Light Rail Relay” race on September 27 (The Urbanist)

Kitsap Transit’s summer service change begins on Sunday, September 14 (KT Headways)

Last week, Amtrak began operating its new high-speed Acela train fleet along the Northeast Corridor (Citylab)

Adaptive, automated bus lane enforcement is speeding up buses across the country (Fast Company)

Parking is the invisible “dark matter” of the urban planning universe (Planetizen)

The White River Bridge in Buckley is closed for emergency repairs after a truck crashed into the bridge structure. In the meantime, King County Metro is increasing weekday service on DART Route 915 to get riders to the nearby pedestrian-only Foothill Trails Bridge (Metro Matters)

This is an Open Thread.

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Biking the new Seattle waterfront and East Marginal Way with Greg Spotts, former SDOT director. (Best Side Cycling)

Biking the Vancouver Seawall Trail. (City Beautiful) It goes 28 km (17 miles) around Stanley Park, around False Creek, and along the Kitsilano shore to several beaches.

This is an open thread.

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King County Metro

Starting August 30, Metro is implementing Phase 3 of the East Link Connections route restructure, adding Route 106 trips supported by the Seattle Transit Measure, and increasing adult fares to $3 ($0.25 increase). Phase 1 of the East Link Connections restructure started when the 2 Line extension to Downtown Redmond opened on May 10 and Phase 2 took effect earlier this summer. Additional East Link Connections changes will launch when the full 2 Line opens in 2026. The full slate of East Link Connection route revisions was outlined in a previous post.

New Routes:

• Route 203 will provide service between Issaquah Highlands, north Issaquah, Issaquah Transit Center, Newport Way, Factoria and South Bellevue Station. Route 271’s service to Issaquah is unchanged at this time.
• Route 222 will provide service between Overlake, Idylwood, downtown Redmond, Education Hill and Cottage Lake.
• Route 223 will provide service between Eastgate, Lake Hills, Overlake and downtown Redmond.
• Route 256 will provide peak-only service between Woodinville, Brickyard Park & Ride, Totem Lake, Kingsgate Park & Ride, Yarrow Point Freeway Station, Evergreen Point Freeway Station, South Lake Union and downtown Seattle.
• Routes 893 and 895 are new contracted routes for the Lake Washington School District, starting on September 2, 2025.
• Metro Flex launches in parts of Overlake, Crossroads, and northeast Bellevue on Monday, September 15. Click here to view a map of the Metro Flex region.

Continue reading “Fall 2025 Service Change” | 81 comments

This morning, Sound Transit announced the official opening day of the Federal Way Link Extension, which will extend the 1 Line to three new stations beyond its current terminus at Angle Lake. An opening ceremony will be held across the extension on Saturday, December 6, 2025, kicking off full 1 Line service to the new terminus at Federal Way Downtown.

Continue reading “Federal Way Link to open on Dec. 6” | 132 comments

Local Transit & Land Use:

• Sea-Tac is testing an automated shuttle between the Seatac/Airport Link station and the airport terminals (The Seattle Times, $). Reportedly about 7% of the airport’s daily passengers arrive and depart via Link.
• After Sound Transit gets the 2 Line running across the I-90 floating bridge, it may have difficulty running trains every 4 minutes through Seattle under real-world conditions (The Urbanist)
• The planned Link 4 Line between Issaquah and Kirkland will serve neither city’s urban core, but a Bus Rapid Transit line would serve both cities and the Eastside better (The Urbanist). Stride S4?
• Why Shoreline’s Vote to Erase Parking Mandates Is a Big Deal (The Urbanist)

National News:

• 20 years after Hurricane Katrina knocked out passenger rail along the Gulf Coast, Amtrak’s Mardi Gras line has resumed service between Mobile and New Orleans (New York Times, gift link). ‘“I’ve just always wanted to ride Amtrak,” said Pat Stancliff, 71, as she waited to board her first train ever.’
• A budget shortfall has led Philadelphia’s transit authority (SEPTA) to cut its bus and rail services by 20 percent with fare increases and more cuts to come (New York Times, gift link)
• The Cross Bronx Expressway tore the South Bronx of NYC in half, and residents are concerned upcoming major repairs (and proposed traffic mitigations including new temporary bridges) will once again leave lasting impacts on the community (The New York Times, gift link). Parallels with WSDOT’s I-5 maintenance?
• The FTA is looking to remove consideration of the “social cost of carbon” from grant applications (Smart Cities Dive)
• The new NextGen Acela trains promise faster travel and more seats – but arrive as US rail faces an uncertain future (The Conversation)

Continue reading “Midweek Roundup: first train ever” | 64 comments

California high-speed rail is good, is well under construction, is likely to survive federal grant loss, and could be improved with a conventional-speed interim extension. (Alan Fisher)

Los Angeles has big rail and BRT expansion plans. (Nick Andert (nandert) via RMTransit)

In June we covered the LAX metro station and the K line in Los Angeles.

This is an open thread.

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Correction: This article previously called this lane the first freight and bus lane in Seattle. The first freight and bus lane was installed on Broad St between sometime between December 2021 and September 2024. We regret this error.

Continue reading “Friday Roundtable: FAB Lane in SODO” | 55 comments

Recent Transportation Headlines at The Urbanist:

• SDOT To Unsnarl Westlake Avenue Transit Pinch Point
• Sound Transit Breaks Ground on Stride Electric Bus Base in Bothell
• Sound Transit’s 2 Line Is Even More Popular Than We Thought
• Op-Ed: PCC Provides Model for State Rail Ownership in Washington State
• Shoreline Makes Good on Pledge to Stop Mandating Car Parking Citywide

Other Transportation:

• An interview with Sound Transit CEO Dow Constantine (KUOW, audio-only)
• King County Metro’s fall service change will add over 900 weekly bus trips (Metro Matters)
• WSDOT is one step closer to getting new ferries (WSDOT Blog)
• Freeway construction costs are increasing faster than inflation, just like transit projects (Eno Center for Transportation)
• Parked cars, especially those with dark paint, contribute significantly to the urban heat island effect (Carbon Copy)
• The future is cloudy for Amtrak’s ambitious plan for state-supported rail lines (Railway Age)

Continue reading “Midweek Roundup: one step closer” | 90 comments