Systemwide Link ridership set high water marks three months in a row.
Systemwide Link light rail ridership surpassed records three months in a row through August, September, and October 2024. Spurred by the new Lynnwood Link expansion, subsequent multi-agency bus route reconfigurations, and the usual hustle and bustle of fall festivities, Link continues to show extremely strong growth.
The addition of the 2 Line to the Link system would complicate the measurement of ridership records since we are now comparing the present two lines to the previous single line. Serendipitously, we need not worry: October 2024 set records for both 1 Line-only (2.93 million) and systemwide (3.08 million) boardings. This is the first month that the Link system has topped three million riders in Sound Transit history.
August and September both broke the system ridership record of July 2023, but 1 Line-only ridership came in just shy of the record in both months. However, October set a new 1 Line-only record, and by a healthy 200,000 riders. The 1 Line also averaged more than 100,000 daily riders for the month of October, another impressive broken record and major milestone for Sound Transit.
Lynnwood Link pulls Northgate’s boardings north
In the last ridership report, Northgate proved a strong performer on the 1 Line, supported by its status as the terminus for many commuter bus lines. Although Lynnwood Link opened on August 30, transit agencies waited until the regularly scheduled September 20 service change to complete their bus route restructures. Therefore, October is the first full month of ridership data that demonstrates service patterns uncomplicated by extension openings nor service reroutes.
The four new stations that Lynnwood Link added seem to have taken half of Northgate’s former numbers, but also attracted new ridership that previously did not exist. Lynnwood City Center Station (109,387) eked out the lead over Northgate (97,672), continuing a pattern of terminus stations posting strong ridership numbers. In July, Northate had 204,808 boardings, and in October all four new Lynnwood Link stations summed to 197,059 boardings. The five-station segment from Northgate to Lynnwood saw nearly 90,000 more boardings from July to October.
The three other Lynnwood Link Extension stations besides Lynnwood City Center did not perform as strongly; Shoreline North is now the least boarded station in the network, and along with Shoreline South and Mountlake Terrace, all three were boarded less than the previous least boarded station, Stadium.
Anemic initial boarding numbers in Shoreline and Mountlake Terrace could be due to slow to develop neighborhoods within the walkshed of the stations. The station being sited directly next to I-5 wastes valuable transit-oriented development opportunity, breaks up the area’s walkability, limits multimodal station access, and decreases the attractiveness of the area to potential residents. While Shoreline has added housing, the majority lacks a comfortable car-free connection to the new stations. Plus, the Shoreline City Council has hesitated to phase out single family zoning citywide.
Boardings surge up and down the 1 Line
Nearly every station posted a record-setting boarding total in October. The most boarded stations were Westlake (368,936), Seatac/Airport (323,957), and Capitol Hill (297,004). November numbers are not published yet. Past years’ October numbers have traditionally
been strong, being one of Link’s busiest months. It’s therefore unclear whether October 2024’s total ridership numbers are representative of a new normal commuting pattern and how strong the usual temperance of demand that accompanies the winter months will be.
Across nearly every metric, October was an impressive month for Link 1 Line history. It’s likely many of the records of October 2024 will stand until at least July 2025, when the rush of Seattle summers buoys ridership upward once again.
2 Line ridership softens as riders await connection to 1 Line
On the other side of the lake, 2 Line ridership faltered slightly. After a couple of expectation-beating months, the 2 Line’s ridership has fallen to closer to Sound Transit’s original projections for the starter line. As discussed previously, much of the station areas are still under construction, including thousands of apartment units and much of the new Microsoft campus. Still, much of the Eastside awaits the completion of the full 2 Line. Next summer, with more housing and office units online, and two additional stations in Redmond, the 2 Line will likely post more robust numbers.
It’s not immediately clear what drove down numbers on the 2 Line. Redmond Technology Center saw the largest dip in boardings comparing July (49,292) to October (41,139). Besides the northern terminus, most 2 Line stations saw little change in boardings.
Sound Transit struggling with system reliability
The success of Link’s ridership has also brought stress for Sound Transit as it operates the nation’s fourth most-ridden light rail system. System reliability has suffered due to lower than expected train reliability and some specific infrastructure failures. Sound Transit has a series of planned maintenance tasks that extend over the next several months to address these issues. Until the 2 Line opens, Sound Transit is operating the 1 Line with fewer light rail vehicles than expected, since the Bellevue train base is currently separated from the 1 Line, leaving the agency with just a single operations and maintenance facility in SoDo for its overwhelmingly busier line.
As the region builds reliance on Link, it becomes ever more important for Sound Transit to not lose the hard-earned trust due to system disruptions. Whether the agency is up to the task as it searches for a new CEO, opens large new Link expansions, and manages the current reliability problems, remains to be seen.
All data sourced from official Sound Transit metrics and collated by Bryce Kolton.
Bryce Kolton
Bryce Kolton is a life-long resident of the Seattle region. He lives on Capitol Hill and has been car-free since 2013. An avid cyclist for commuting and fun, Bryce loves exploring areas on two wheels. In his free time, he advocates for a more walkable, bikeable, transit-connected city and region.