(Image: Sound Transit)
As Seattle ramps up to host hundreds of thousands of fans for the slate of six games it is hosting in this summer’s men’s World Cup, Sound Transit says it plans to have a test of new late night bus service every 30 minutes between downtown and the airport in place before the tournament.
“This overnight pilot will ensure 24- hour transit access from Seattle to the airport,” Sound Transit CEO Dow Constantine said in the announcement. “While our proposed regional overnight bus network is still in development, adding this pilot now provides expanded flexibility for airport passengers and employees as we prepare to welcome the world during the FIFA World Cup.”
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The bus service is a band-aid. Seattle’s light rail service still shuts down for 5 or 6 hours a night around midnight and is not resourced for 24-hour operations. Sound Transit has said it needs the time for daily maintenance including software reboots.
In major United States cities, 24-hour rail service is rare with New York City an unusual example of nearly ubiquitous round-the-clock trains throughout its subway system. Others like Minneapolis have maintained 24-hour service for lines that reach airports but even the Minnesotans have lightened that schedule with overnight closures. Track architecture makes shutdowns a near necessity. The most common single-track or double-track layouts require a system shutdown to allow for safe maintenance, inspections, and cleaning.
Under the plan starting in late March, Constantine says Sound Transit buses will serve SeaTac/Airport and Tukwila International Blvd every 30 minutes between 12 AM and 4 AM “before running express to downtown Seattle, serving stops near SODO, Stadium, International District / Chinatown, Pioneer Square, Symphony, and Westlake.”
Travelers hoping to get Capitol Hill can already piece together a similar route on Metro’s 124 and G Line if they’re willing to brave the 90-minute journey.
Sound Transit, in the meantime, is getting ready to open its 2 Line connecting Seattle to the Eastside via the I-90 bridge and Judkins Park Station by May.
Seattle’s light rail trains will continue to take a nightly break.
I do not understand why we as a “major” have zero overnight support to our international airport. Half hour bus service is the bare minimum and realistically with how unreliable the link is after hours it should be from 11 to 6 am. It’s not a sin to have backup routes already functioning in case the rail goes down!
I hate that too. Uber is the only way I can get there if my flight is first out.
Light rail should not be the only way to get to and from the airport via public transit. Buses should link the airport to major transit hubs, such as King Street Station, Coleman Dock, Downtown Bellevue, and the Tacoma Dome station at least every 30-60 minutes 24/7, with one exception (no need to serve Coleman Dock when the ferries aren’t running).
Sound Transit runs the 560 (Bellevue to White Center via SeaTac) and the 574 (Tacoma/Lakewood to SeaTac). Both could use a few late night milk runs, but they already provide 30 to 60 minute service from 5am to midnight (the 574 has overnight service, but only from Pierce County to SeaTac). Other buses include the Rapid Ride A (24/7 service to Federal Way) and the 161 to Kent and Burien (spotty night service, but a few overnight trips)
Chicago also has 2 24–hour train lines and one is the airport serving line. Seattle metro transit is a joke. It also takes way to long to get to the airport vs other methods on the light rail.
What? Taking the train to the airport is ez pz. What are you even talking about? I take one carry on and a small camera bag with loose snacks etc. and the gear. Go to anywhere and come back the same way. I live 4 blocks from the train station. My scooter and I go everywhere on transit. It’s nice too because I ain’t driving and the bus cruises along in the bus lanes faster than traffic. A lot faster.
Other 24 hour line surely goes to Midway, Chicago’s smaller airport.
No, the Orange Line to Midway does not run 24 hours
He died before he could finishing writing this article
:) Oops. Thanks for noticing that vestigial tail of a final sentence. Fixed.
I started thinking…Sad…He was starting to grow on me and now RIP…lol
It might solve the tent / encampment issue. Just sleep on the light rail.
Why don’t you give that idea a test run yourself and save us all another stupid comment?
I don’t think Sound Transit or the general public would go for that at all!
Houseless people and drunks at 2am are the real reasons Link doesn’t run at night.
The present #124 gets reaaaaaally interesting late at night. I was the first and only one on at the airport; little did I know what my eyes (and nose) would be in for as the bus filled up with “creatures of the night” on the many subsequent stops enroute to downtown. That was the first and last time. I hope for a more pleasant experience on this new bus….