The Sound Transit Board just voted to pass the ST Express 2026 restructure, which will be implemented this fall. There are little or no changes from the last proposal. The vote was unanimous.

Until then the ST Express routes will remain unchanged, even though Crosslake Link will open in two days and Federal Way Link opened last December. ST says this is to provide “resiliency” through the World Cup period. I take this to mean if Link breaks down or gets overcrowded during the World Cup, these routes will remain as a backup, and the routes are widely known so residents can help visitors find them and tell them when they run.

There was extensive public testimony at the beginning of the board meeting, though most of it wasn’t about ST Express. The meeting livestream should be on ST’s YouTube channel within a couple days. I listened to bits of the testimony: most of what I heard was advocating for ST3 Link extensions not to be dropped, and there were a few ST Express comments.

We have reservations about parts of the restructure, missed opportunities for further restructuring, and the way public input was handled. The online survey had no text field to suggest changes to other routes or other alternatives for these routes. I sent my feedback in an email to ST, but most people wouldn’t think of that or get around to it or realize other changes were even possible.

More below the fold.

Continue reading “ST Express 2026 Restructure Approved” | 55 comments

On Monday, the Move All Seattle Sustainably (MASS) Coalition published an open letter calling on Mayor Wilson to advance high-impact transportation, accessibility, livability, and climate priorities. Seattle Transit Blog is a proud member of the MASS Coalition, and we endorse this letter. It reads:

Dear Mayor Wilson,

We, the MASS (Move All Seattle Sustainably) Coalition, write to request your administration take action on a set of high-impact, near-term actions that respond to public priorities and accelerate visible results for city residents, while preserving capacity for longer-term reforms.

Your recent electoral victory creates a historic mandate and an opportunity to translate progressive campaign commitments into real results for Seattle. Your leadership—built through years of grassroots organizing and coalition‐building, and long record as a transit advocate provide the momentum and responsibility to act swiftly on the transit and sustainability priorities you have espoused. Indeed, you co-founded the MASS Coalition in 2018 to connect Seattle’s diverse and vibrant neighborhoods, minimize reliance on private vehicles, achieve Vision Zero, make Seattle carbon-neutral, create walkable communities, and ensure equitable access to transportation for all people. As such, our coalition has a duty to call on you to pursue tangible progress on expanded service, equity‐centered planning, and durable funding strategies during your first year in office, when visible well‐executed actions will reinforce the core values of your platform and build political capital for deeper reforms.

Continue reading “MASS Coalition Letter to Mayor Wilson” | 41 comments

Transit headlines:

• The Seattle Times’ ($) transportation reporters offered two opposing perspectives on Saturday’s opening of the full 2 Line: Lindblom directly questioned whether Sound Transit is even capable of reliably operating the line on Friday, while DeShais called the project audacious, unique, and bold on Sunday.
• Sound Transit’s “plausible” scenarios for ST3 all exclude finishing the Ballard Link Extension, and three more takeaways from last week’s Board retreat (The Urbanist)
• 55mph freeway speed limits helped reduce gas consumption during the 1970s Oil Crisis, and it might be time to bring it back (Paul Krugman).
• Every $0.50 increase in fuel costs adds $12,500 to Metro’s daily expenses, and other impacts of the recent spike in oil prices (The Seattle Times, $).
• Pioneer Square’s historic preservation committee opposes SDOT’s plan for more bike and scooter corrals (PubliCola), apparently preferring the current chaos.
• Construction of RapidRide I (upgrading Route 160) broke ground last week (The Urbanist)
• SDOT selected three locales across Seattle where it will focus early efforts toward creating “Low-Pollution Neighborhoods”: Lake City, Capitol Hill, and Georgetown/South Park (SDOT Blog).
• It’s weird that truncating the Ballard Link Extension is on the table but revisiting the choices which made unaffordable is off the table (Seattle Bike Blog).
• Ambiguous definitions of “frequent transit stop” lead to inconsistent rules regarding transit-oriented development (StreetsBlog Cal).
• Lime is retrofitting its scooters with cameras which will use AI to detect if the scooter is being ridden on the sidewalk (The Seattle Times, $).

This is an Open Thread. Comments may discuss any topic related to transit or land use. Uncivil comments will be moderated.

160 comments

The highly anticipated full East Link extension will open this Saturday, March 28, finally connecting the Eastside to Seattle and the rest of the metro area. Two new stations will open at the same time, Judkins Park and Mercer Island stations.

The Mercer Island light rail station, located in the median of I-90 just north of the city’s Town Center, will help connect Mercer Island residents to Seattle, Bellevue, and the wider metro area.

(Judkins Park I-90 ramp reconfiguration and Access Guide were discussed in previous articles).

Continue reading “Mercer Island Station” | 86 comments

Downtown Redmond’s walkable urbanism in the Link station area is transit-oriented development (TOD) done right. (Yet Another Urbanist, August 2025)

Continue reading “Sunday Movie: Downtown Redmond Urbanism & Floating Bridge Rail” | 68 comments

In just 7 days, the Link 2 Line will carry its first passengers across Lake Washington. The long awaited and heavily anticipated opening will cause a cascade of changes across the region’s bus network. Many of these changes will be implemented this Fall, but some will start on March 28. Below is an outline of all Spring 2026 route changes for King County Metro, Sound Transit, Community Transit, Pierce Transit, and Intercity Transit.

King County Metro

Starting March 28, Metro is implementing Phase 4 of the East Link Connections route restructure. The remaining route changes will be implemented in the Fall. The full slate of East Link Connection route revisions was outlined in a previous post. The agency’s South Link Connections route restructure will also be implemented in the Fall. In addition to the changes listed below, several other routes have minor schedule adjustments or bay changes at transit center.

Metro will begin all door boarding on all routes on March 28. Most of the Metro fleet has ORCA readers at each door, so riders are expected to tap in when they board (with an ORCA card or credit card). Passengers paying with cash should still use the front door.

Continue reading “Spring 2026 Service Change” | 48 comments

Ten years ago yesterday, March 19, the University Link Extension opened to the public. The extension utilized a new 3.15 mile twin bore tunnel from the north end of the Downtown Seattle Transit Tunnel (DSTT) to the University of Washington, via Capitol Hill. U Link was arguably the first subway-like section on the 1 Line (then Central Link). Trips between the University of Washington (UW) station and Westlake station only took 8 minutes, compared to 20-30 minutes on a bus. The extension caused a significant Metro bus restructure that truncated numerous routes at UW.

Continue reading “Friday Roundtable: University Link Turns 10” | 97 comments

Sound Transit finally addressed their severe budget shortfalls at the March 18 Board Retreat. The transit agency looked at three different approaches to build ST3. All three approaches investigated involve heavy truncations with some lines being completely eliminated.

Continue reading “ST3 Truncations” | 189 comments

Reminders & Updates:

• Downtown Transit Tunnel Closure Mar. 21-22: Link service between Capitol Hill to Stadium will be replaced by shuttle buses this weekend for scheduled maintenance.
• Simulated 2 Line service from Lynnwood to Seattle is suspended until March 23.

Local Transit:

• Sound Transit’s efforts to make ST3 affordable again continue with new cost-savings measures for WSLE (The Urbanist). Revisions to the long-term plan for ST3 are the focus of today’s ST Board retreat in Tacoma.
• Meanwhile, Sound Transit is trying “progressive design-build” as a way to build its third Link operations and maintenance facility more affordably than estimated under its standard megaproject delivery methods (The Urbanist).
• The Interstate Bridge Replacement project is being broken into phases as cost estimates continue to explode (The Urbanist).
• State Rep. Greg Nance (Bainbridge Island) accused State Sen. Marko Liias of retaliatory and transactional lawmaking as the Mosquito Fleet bill stumbled at the State Legislature (Op-Ed, Kitsap Sun, soft $). Liias says he would have preferred a phone call over a newspaper column (The Seattle Times, $).

Continue reading “Midweek Roundup: ST Board retreat” | 50 comments