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.

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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” | 71 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” | 64 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” | 44 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” | 96 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” | 187 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

[Ed. This article featured a video that has since become unavailable. Here’s a video link in case it comes back. Commentators who saw the video, could you help summarize the content as you remember it in the comments?]

A bus restructure idea for rural Pacific County in the southwest corner of Washington State, home of the Long Beach penninsula. (The Transit Bandit) Thanks to commentator “big-b” for finding this video.

Would anyone like to do an article on another Washington county outside Pugetopolis? What is the current transit network like? How well does it serve residents and visitors? What service is missing? Would a revenue-neutral restructure help? Would a small expansion like one or a few more buses allow a large improvement to the network? This could evolve into a series about several counties if somebody or some people want to write it. We’ve had articles about Spokane, Ellensburg, the Tri-Cities, etc, when we’ve had somebody with ties to those counties or the agency announced a major change.

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Judkins Park Link station will open with the full East Link Extension on March 28. While Judkins Park station will be an incredible resource for Seattle residents in the Central District and Southeast Seattle, the station’s location in the middle of I-90 is less than ideal.

The two entrances to Judkins Park station are quite different. The east entrance faces 23rd Ave, a 2-lane arterial, and Sam Smith park on the I-90 lid. The west entrance faces the 6-lane Rainier Ave under the Link tracks and several I-90 overpasses. Recent improvements in the area have mitigated some of the challenges faced by people traveling to the station by transit, bike, and on foot.

Transit Connections

Judkins Park station’s east-west orientation has potential for great connections with several north-south bus routes. Fortunately for transferring passengers, King County Metro, Sound Transit, the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT), and the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) have worked together to provide front door transit service to both entrances.

Continue reading “Judkins Park Station Access Guide” | 89 comments