Sound Transit
The Central Puget Sound Regional Transit Authority, branded as Sound Transit, is a public transit agency serving the Seattle metropolitan area in the U.S. state of Washington. It manages the Link light rail system in Seattle and Tacoma, regional Sounder commuter rail, and Sound Transit Express bus service. The agency also coordinates with the regional ORCA fare card system used by transit operators across the metropolitan area. In 2024, Sound Transit services carried a total of 42million passengers and averaged over 134,000 riders on weekdays.
Sound Transit was created in 1993 by King, Pierce and Snohomish counties to build a regional rapid transit system. After an unsuccessful proposal in 1995, the agency's "Sound Move" plan for regional light rail, commuter rail, and express bus service was approved by voters in November 1996. ST began operating its express bus service in September 1999, taking over existing routes from local transit agencies. The region's first commuter rail line, between Tacoma and Seattle, started in December 2000; the agency's first light rail line, Tacoma Link, began service in August 2003. Light rail service in Seattle on Central Link began in 2009, and is the largest part of the Sound Transit system in terms of ridership. Union Station in Seattle has served as the agency's headquarters since its renovation in 1999.
Sound Transit is independent of local transit agencies and is governed by an eighteen-member board of directors, which consists of elected officials from member jurisdictions and the Secretary of Transportation. It is funded by local sales taxes, property taxes, and motor vehicle excise taxes levied within its taxing district in portions of King, Pierce and Snohomish counties. The agency has passed three major ballot measures to fund system expansion: Sound Move, Sound Transit 2 and Sound Transit 3. Planning and construction of transit projects is scheduled to continue until 2041 under the Sound Transit 3 plan, which would expand the light rail network to and 83 stations.
Services
Sound Transit operates three main transit services across the Seattle metropolitan area: the Link light rail system, which serves as the rapid transit system for the region; the Sounder commuter rail system from Everett to Lakewood, via Seattle; and the Sound Transit Express bus system across the three counties. In 2024, these systems carried more than 42million total passengers, averaging 132,904 riders per day on weekdays. A fourth service, Stride bus rapid transit, is planned to be introduced in the late 2020s. Sound Transit's services use a unified livery and paint scheme that consists of blue, teal, and green waves against a white background. Link, Sounder, and Stride all use the same naming scheme for lines and services, which switched from colors to numbers and letters in 2021.All of Sound Transit's services accept cash payment and mobile tickets as well as the regional ORCA card, a contactless proximity card with stored fares and passes., fares on Link and Sound Transit Express use a flat rate while most Sounder passengers pay based on the traveled distance. Discounts are offered for eligible low-income households, senior citizens, and people with disabilities; passengers under the age of 19 are not charged a fare as part of a statewide program. Sound Transit's light rail and commuter rail stations do not have faregates or turnstiles, instead relying on proof of payment that is enforced by fare ambassadors.
, Sound Transit has a fleet of 558 vehicles for use on its services. The fleet is composed of 218 low-floor light rail vehicles for the 1 and 2 Lines; 8 streetcars for the TLine; 78 bilevel cars and 14 locomotives for Sounder; and 240 buses for Sound Transit Express. The entire Link and Sound Transit Express fleet is considered accessible, with level boarding or ramps and lifts. Sounder trains have a high platform with a designated level boarding area for ramps. All vehicles are also equipped to carry bicycles in racks; Sound Transit also provides bicycle cages at some stations. By 2027, the agency plans to deploy an additional light rail vehicles for Link and 44 battery electric buses for the Stride bus rapid transit system, including double-decker buses.
Link light rail
The Link light rail system encompasses three lines with of track and 48 stations in three counties. The three lines, which have no direct connection between each other, are the 1Line between Snohomish County, Seattle, SeaTac, and Federal Way; the 2Line between Bellevue and Redmond; and the TLine in central Tacoma. Link trains carried 30.8million passengers in 2024 and averaged 90,050 passengers on weekdays across all three lines. It is the fourth-busiest light rail system in the United States by ridership, behind Los Angeles, San Diego, and Boston.Link trains generally run seven days a week at frequencies of 6 to 24 minutes, with stops spaced closely together. All stations are accessible and most offer connections to nearby buses or a park and ride facility. The system is planned to expand to 83 stations and by 2041, with five lines serving all three counties. 1Line and 2Line trains are operated and maintained under contract with King County Metro and use longer, four-car trainsets that have a typical capacity of 150 passengers in each car. The TLine uses low-floor streetcars, unable to be coupled into pairs, and are the only Sound Transit service to be directly operated and maintained by the agency rather than a contractor.
Sounder commuter rail
is the regional commuter rail service managed by Sound Transit and has two lines that intersect at King Street Station in Downtown Seattle. Trains generally run during rush hours with limited service at other times, including weekend trains for special events. The NLine connects Seattle to Everett, stopping at two intermediate stations in Snohomish County. The SLine connects Seattle to Tacoma and Lakewood, stopping at six other stations in Pierce County and southern King County. Trains are operated under contract by BNSF Railway crews on the company's leased tracks, while the vehicles are maintained by Amtrak. Sounder uses a fleet of Bombardier BiLevel Coach passenger cars that each have a seating capacity of 130 to 146 passengers depending on their configuration. They have restrooms, space for bicycles and wheelchairs, tables, cupholders, power outlets, and Wi-Fi. The SLine typically uses an eight-car configuration that carries 950 seated passengers, while the NLine uses two to three cars in normal service that can carry 300 to 450 passengers. In 2024, Sounder trains carried 1.9million total passengers and averaged 7,341weekday boardings.Sound Transit Express
comprises 24 limited-stop express bus routes that provide regional service to cities in all three counties, primarily using a network of high-occupancy vehicle lanes on state-maintained freeways. Some routes operate seven days a week, while others are limited to rush hours only. These routes normally have wide distances between stops, which are primarily hubs and transfer points in cities and suburban areas where local routes operated by other agencies connect; many stops also have park and ride lots. Sound Transit funded the construction of new transit hubs, park and ride lots, and direct access ramps to the HOV lanes as part of the rollout and expansion of express buses. In 2024, the express buses carried 9.2million total passengers and had a weekday average of 35,513riders. The busiest route in 2023 was Route 550, which connects Seattle to Bellevue and carried 1.17million riders.The fleet of 240 buses is owned by Sound Transit and includes double-decker buses with up to 81 seats, articulated buses, high-floor motorcoaches, and standard buses with a minimum of 42 seats. These buses include upholstered and cushioned seats that are able to recline, footrests, overhead luggage racks, air conditioning, reading lights, and bicycle racks. Sound Transit Express buses use diesel or compressed natural gas for fuel, along with several hybrid electric buses. They are operated and maintained under contracts with local transit authorities who also deploy shuttle buses during disruptions to rail services.
Stride
A bus rapid transit system, named Stride, was funded by the Sound Transit 3 ballot measure and is scheduled to open in the late 2020s. Stride is planned to have three lines: the S1 Line on Interstate 405 between Burien and Bellevue, scheduled to open in late 2028; the S2 Line on Interstate 405 between Bellevue and Lynnwood, scheduled to open in 2029; and the S3 Line on State Route 522 between Shoreline South/148th station and Bothell, scheduled to open in 2028.Paratransit
Sound Transit contracts with Community Transit, King County Metro, and Pierce Transit to provide paratransit service along the Link light rail network in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act. Costs are split equally between Sound Transit and the contracted provider within the Link corridor. The agency is not required to operate paratransit service along Sounder and Sound Transit Express routes.History
Background and early studies
The waters of Puget Sound and the surrounding region's navigable rivers were the primary transportation corridors for the indigenous Coast Salish peoples as well as later settlers who arrived in the 19th century. A series of scheduled steamboat trips in the 1880s grew into the "mosquito fleet", the main mode of passenger and freight transportation for the growing region through the turn of the 20th century. It waned in importance as railroads and streetcar systems were constructed around Puget Sound; these services, later supplemented by interurban trains, grew in the early 20th century to serve a growing number of passenger commuters. The Seattle Municipal Street Railway had a streetcar and cable railway system by 1935, while private companies ran interurban services north to Everett and south to Tacoma. These rail services were all abandoned or converted into bus routes by 1941 as automobile adoption in the Seattle area contributed to a need for more developed highways and later freeways.The first major proposal for a rapid transit system to serve Seattle and the surrounding region was drafted by urban planner and civil engineer Virgil Bogue in 1911 as part of a comprehensive plan. Bogue's plan was rejected by a wide margin in the March 1912 municipal election; the city's three major newspapers had all opposed it. The Forward Thrust program, formed in the 1960s by civic activists, proposed the development of a subway system that covered Seattle, Renton, and Bellevue by 1985. Two-thirds of the$1.15billion construction cost would be funded by the federal government, contingent on the approval of local funding. The first referendum in February 1968 failed to reach the 60percent supermajority needed to pass; a second attempt was made in May 1970, but failed amid a spree of layoffs by Boeing that severely affected the local economy. The federal earmark was instead used to build the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority's subway system in Atlanta, Georgia.
The Seattle Transit System, the successor to the municipal streetcars, struggled to secure funding to modernize its fleet in the 1960s but launched the region's first express bus system, named Blue Streak, in 1970 between Downtown Seattle and a park and ride lot in Northgate. The successful route led to plans to develop a network of express buses across the region by using the then-new freeway system and express lanes. The regional water quality agency, Municipality of Metropolitan Seattle, led planning of the network; Metro later took over operations of the Seattle Transit System and a suburban company in January 1973 following the approval of King County voters in a September 1972 special election. Metro Transit's ridership reached 66 million passengers in 1980—exceeding its original projections—and an increase in bus trips led to congestion on downtown streets. A tunnel for buses began construction in 1987 and was opened in 1990 for a fleet of dual-mode electric and diesel buses; the tunnel was also designed for eventual conversion to accommodate a rail system.
Metro and the Puget Sound Council of Governments, the inter-county metropolitan planning organization for the Seattle area, completed a study in 1986 to identify potential corridors for a modern light rail system. King County voters approved an advisory measure in November 1988 to endorse accelerated planning of a light rail system as well as a commuter rail line by 2000. The Washington State Legislature also convened a rail development commission to study a regional transit system that later incorporated Metro's unfinished plans. The commission endorsed the creation of a regional transit board composed of politicians from King, Pierce, and Snohomish counties, which was authorized by the state legislature in 1990. The Joint Regional Policy Committee was formed in 1991 and approved its final long-range plan for regional transit two years later. The $12billion plan comprised a light rail system from Everett to Tacoma and Redmond; commuter rail from Everett and Tacoma to Seattle; and improvements to local and express buses. It would be funded by sales tax and motor vehicle excise tax revenue within a district that covered the urbanized areas east of Puget Sound between Marysville to the north and Parkland to the south. From 1960 to 1990, the region's population had increased by 82 percent and was outpaced by the growth in the number of registered vehicles, which collectively logged 55.2million miles traveled in 1991.