Service changes are coming to Puget Sound transit agencies late this month, as part of annual spring adjustments. The biggest will be in Snohomish County with implementation of Community Transit’s Swift Orange Line and some related bus network changes, but Sound Transit, King County Metro, and Pierce Transit will also see some changes. Sound Transit will also be launching an abbreviated but long-awaited version of East Link (2 Line) light rail in late April, independently of these planned changes to bus routes.
Metro’s RapidRide H Line and Route 28 will get a bit more frequent service, but a few other routes will see slight cuts. Overall, Metro service continues to be well below pre-pandemic levels as the agency seeks to rebuild its staff capacity and recruit more bus drivers and mechanics. The last service change in September 2023 featured a 4% cut to scheduled service, which Metro said was necessary to restore service reliability and reduce the incidence of missed trips.
Community Transit changes start March 30 with a new Swift line
On March 30, Community Transit will launch its third Swift bus rapid transit (BRT) line, the Orange Line. Connecting McCollum Park and Ride in Everett with Edmonds Transit Center in Edmonds, service will run every 10-12 minutes during peak hours and midday on weekdays and every 20 minutes evenings and weekends.
With the launch of the Orange Line, Community Transit will also make the following changes to other routes to optimize its new network:
| Route | Changes |
|---|---|
| 102 | This will be a new route running from Edmonds station to Lynnwood Transit Center via Edmonds Park & Ride, replacing much of Route 116 and providing service seven days a week with 30-minute frequencies for the bulk of weekdays and Saturdays and 60-minute frequencies on evenings and Sundays |
| 114 | This will be a new route running from Lynnwood Transit Center to Aurora Village Transit Center, replacing part of Route 115 and providing service seven days a week with 30-minute frequencies for the bulk of weekdays and 60-minute frequencies on weekends and weekday evenings |
| 115 | This route will be deleted, alternative service will be available on the Swift Orange Line, Routes 114 and 166, and the Alderwood Shuttle |
| 116 | This route will be deleted, alternative service will be available on the Swift Orange Line, Routes 102, 114 and 166, and the Alderwood Shuttle |
| 120 | This route will be truncated, no longer serving Edmonds College via 200th Street SW and instead terminate at Lynnwood Transit Center, alternative service will be available on the Swift Orange Line and Route 114 |
| 166 | This will be a new route running from Edmonds station to Silver First via Lynnwood Transit Center and Ash Way, replacing Route 196 and part of Route 116 and providing service seven days a week with 30-minute frequencies for the bulk of weekdays and 60-minute frequencies on weekends and weekday evenings |
| 196 | This route will be deleted |
| 202 | This route will be adjusted between Smokey Point Transit Center and 152nd Street NE, running on a modified alignment along 172nd Street NE and 51st Avenue NE |
| Orange Line | The new Swift Orange Line will run McCollum Park Park & Ride to Edmonds College Transit Center via Lynnwood Transit Center, Alderwood, Ash Way, and Mill Creek; on weekdays, service will be every 10 minutes during the day and lower off-peak and on weekends service will generally be every 15 to 20 minutes |
Community Transit does plan to have a grand opening celebration of the Orange Line at Edmonds College from noon to 3:00pm on Saturday, March 30.
King County Metro changes start as soon as March 30
Metro will see some schedule changes on two dozen routes, mostly in Seattle, as the City of Seattle directs changes to the routes it funds to better align with policy priorities. Changes will begin to go in effect on Saturday, March 30.
| Route | Changes |
|---|---|
| 5 | On Saturdays, one northbound trip will be deleted at 10:22pm |
| 10 | On weekdays, four evening trips will be deleted |
| 21 | On Saturdays, one southbound trip will be added at 11:53pm |
| 28 | On weekdays, several trips will be added during morning and afternoon periods |
| 45 | On weekdays, trip times will be adjusted in off-peak periods with the same amount of service |
| 56 | On weekdays, one morning northbound trip and two afternoon southbound trip times will be deleted, and evening trip times will be adjusted to coordinate service between Routes 56 and 57 to provide combined 20-minute frequency |
| 57 | On weekdays, evening trip times will be adjusted to coordinate service between Routes 56 and 57 to provide combined 20-minute frequency |
| 73 | On weekdays, trip times will be adjusted in off-peak periods with the same amount of service |
| 118 | Several morning and evening trips will be deleted, new late morning and midday trips will be added, and service will be coordinated with Route 119 |
| 119 | Three morning and will be deleted, new late morning and midday trips will be added, and service will be coordinated with Route 118 |
| 221 | This route will no longer serve stop on 148th Avenue NE between NE 36th Street and NE 24th Street and will instead serve new stops on NE 36th Street and 152nd Avenue NE as the route is adjusted to serve the Overlake Village station opening later in April |
| A Line | On weekdays, southbound trips will be adjusted between 11:00pm and midnight to provide roughly 20-minute frequency, and on weekends, trips will be adjusted between 6:00am and 10:00pm to provide 12-minute frequency |
| H Line | On weekends, several trips will be added between 6:00am and 8:00am |
Pierce Transit changes start as soon as March 31
Starting Sunday, March 31, Pierce Transit will implement a variety of service changes, including the introduction of a new express bus service, dubbed the Stream Community Line, from Spanaway to Downtown Tacoma shadowing the Route 1 with more limited stops. Improved service on many routes systemwide will also be part of this service change.
The launch date for the Stream Community Line will be on Monday, April 1 and provide a shadow service along much of the SR 7/Pacific Avenue corridor. Service will run very express with only the highest used stops along the corridor and saving up to 14 minutes over Route 1. Riders will be able to use the service on peak weekday periods from 5:30am to 7:30am and 4:00pm to 7:00pm every 20 minutes.
Pierce Transit had hoped to launch a more robust BRT line on the corridor, but ultimately shelved the plan and pivoted to the express bus concept due to issues with ballooning costs and schedule delays — not to mention some BRT creep issues that may have jeopardized service quality.
A new Runner on-demand microtransit service will also be launched, starting Sunday, March 31. This will operate in Gig Harbor and surrounding areas, allowing riders to make point-to-point trips. Service will be available seven days a week from 7:00am to 10:00pm. Pierce Transit recently expanded Runner service in Northeast Tacoma, Tacoma’s North End, and Puyallup.
For regular bus service, Pierce Transit will be deleting Routes 13, 64, and 425 as well as a portion of Route 409, and using the service hours from those routes to operate the new Community Line.
Sound Transit changes start March 30 with Link 2 Line to follow
To support Lynnwood Link service later this year and respond to operator shortages at Pierce Transit, Sound Transit will be reducing some service on the Link 1 Line and ST Express bus service starting as soon as Saturday, March 30. Sound Transit will also launch partial Link 2 Line service on April 27 on the Eastside. Changes will shake out as follows:
| Route | Changes |
|---|---|
| 510 | Schedules will be revised to reflect current travel times |
| 512 | Schedules will be revised to reflect current travel times |
| 513 | Schedules will be revised to reflect current travel times |
| 532 | Schedules will be revised to reflect current travel times |
| 535 | Schedules will be revised to reflect current travel times and departures from Lynnwood Transit Center will be revised to clock-face schedules on the 20 and 50 minutes past the hour |
| 577 | Six trips on weekday middays and 27 trips on Sunday will be suspended |
| 578 | Two trips will be suspended on evenings |
| 580 | The route will be fully suspended |
| 590 | Stops in Downtown Tacoma will be suspended, effectively truncating the route to Tacoma Dome station, and a total of 22 trips on weekdays, cutting service in about half |
| 1 Line | Service may consist of three-car trains instead of four-car trains more often, frequency will be reduced from every 10 minutes to every 12 minutes between 8:00pm and 10:00pm, and some minor changes will happen to the earliest and latest trips of the day |
| 2 Line | Starting April 27, service will begin from Redmond Technology and South Bellevue stations with trains every 10 minutes from 5:30am to 9:30pm seven days a week |
With coming opening of the 2 Line, Sound Transit will host a celebration event on April 27 to mark start of service on the abbreviated line. There will be a formal ribbon cutting at Downtown Bellevue Station, which happens at 10:00am. More details are to come.
Kitsap Transit won’t make changes
Kitsap Transit won’t be joining the spring service changes. The agency had planned to launch extra Sunday service this month and even posted its plans in anticipate of the change. However, Kitsap Transit paused the changes over worries that the state’s Climate Commitment Act (CCA) could be repealed by initiative later this year. The state provided grants to agencies to expand service as part of the CCA, but a repeal would make those funds unlikely to be restored by other state dollars as the legislature scrambles to fill a major funding gap throughout the entire state transportation budget.
“Pausing the Phase 2 expansion of Sunday bus service will give the agency time to evaluate the potential impacts,” the agency said in a statement late last month. “The CCA provides dedicated funds to transit agencies, including Kitsap Transit, that support operations.”
Originally, Kitsap Transit had planned to improve Route 8 (Bethel) by operating on Sundays every 30 minutes between 8:00am and 4:00pm from the Port Orchard ferry dock to the Bethel area. It also would have offered on-demand service within a defined area that includes Port Orchard, Annapolis, East Port Orchard, and Parkwood. Along with this, Route 332 (Poulsbo/Silverdale) would have begun operating hourly Sunday service from 8:30am to 4:25pm, running from Poulsbo’s North Viking Transit Center to the Silverdale Transit Center and providing on-demand service in the Poulsbo.
In September, Kitsap Transit first launched Sunday service on Route 217 (Bremerton/Silverdale) with half-hourly frequencies from 8:00am to 4:40pm, offering fixed route service and special on-demand service. The agency plans to keep running that service despite the threat to the CCA.
In the future, Kitsap Transit would like to provide hourly Sunday service on Route 390 (Poulsbo/Bainbridge Island) with on-demand flexibility. But that would likely follow introduction of the other service improvements first.
Stephen is a professional urban planner in Puget Sound with a passion for sustainable, livable, and diverse cities. He is especially interested in how policies, regulations, and programs can promote positive outcomes for communities. With stints in great cities like Bellingham and Cork, Stephen currently lives in Seattle. He primarily covers land use and transportation issues and has been with The Urbanist since 2014.