Sound Transit exploring paid parking at Lynnwood light rail station

Officials gave a major update on coming service changes last week, with just weeks until light rail arrives Aug. 30.

LYNNWOOD — With about 3,500 spots, parking at the Lynnwood Transit Center for the new light rail station will be free.

But that might not always be the case.

Sound Transit is exploring moving to a paid “parking management system” in the future, Randy Harlow, an executive project director with Sound Transit who is overseeing the Lynnwood Link project, told Community Transit’s Board of Directors last week.

With less than a month until light rail begins service in Lynnwood, officials from Community Transit and Sound Transit provided a lengthy update on transit operations at last week’s board meeting.

Both transportation agencies need their systems to connect ahead of Link service for the system to work as designed.

Collaboration has been key, something both agencies have mentioned throughout the extension’s planning and construction. Interim Sound Transit CEO Goran Sparrman called it a “key issue.”

“We’ve really provided an integrated light rail system that’s closely integrated with the local bus system and regional bus system as well,” Sparrman told Community Transit’s Board of Directors.

Trains are expected every eight to 10 minutes in Lynnwood. Travel from Lynnwood City Center to downtown Seattle will take about 30 minutes. A ribbon-cutting is planned for 11 a.m. on Aug. 30, with the first ride slated for approximately 12:15 p.m.

“We believe that crowding will be at manageable levels on average until the 2 Line crosses Lake Washington,” Harlow said.

Sparrman said the I-90 East Link project is still expected to be finished in 2025.

Connecting the east-west 2 Line to the north-south 1 Line via the I-90 extension over Lake Washington has far-reaching implications and will soon become more urgent. Essentially, the project not only seeks to connect the Eastside Link to the main line, but is also important so Sound Transit can move its train cars around for maintenance and to fill service gaps elsewhere.

The University Street Station will also be renamed Symphony Station to help with confusion during the opening of the Lynnwood extension, Harlow said. Pictograms for different stations have been retired as well, replaced with numeric codes.

Service on the Lynnwood Link will begin around 5:30 a.m. each day.

Community Transit, meanwhile, is not only looking forward to Aug. 30, but to Sept. 14 too. The second week of September will bring large shifts to the bus system, including several route changes. The agency will be offering a six-fold increase in trips that “directly connect to light rail,” said Melissa Cauley, Community Transit’s chief planning and development officer.

One of those new routes is 117, offering express service between the Mukilteo Ferry Terminal and Lynnwood City Transit Center. That will run all day, seven days per week. Route 121 will connect Lynnwood High School to the Community Transit bus system. That route runs from Ash Way Park and Ride to the UW Bothell/Cascadia College campus.

The agency is also extending the Swift Blue Line to Shoreline’s NE 185th Street light rail station, one of the two new Link stops in that city. Stanwood will also get two new bus routes: one to Seaway Transit Center and another to Lynnwood. The Lynnwood route will run all day, while the Seaway route is twice per day.

Community Transit is also preparing to pitch in with “bus bridges” at times where a section of light rail is closed. These closures can happen for a variety of reasons, including maintenance. Sometimes they’re planned, sometimes they’re not.

During those situations, Sound Transit and its partners use buses to detour riders around the closure.

“We want to be prepared as Sound Transit’s partner to be able to provide service and fill in the gap when Link isn’t available. And hopefully that’s for a very short period of time,” said Community Transit COO Roland Behee. “But we need a well-thought-out game plan to be able to provide for that continuity. So this is standard practice in the industry.”

Behee said Community Transit is calling it the “Link Shuttle” and that its development has included work with both Sound Transit and King County Metro.

Jordan Hansen: 425-339-3046; jordan.hansen@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @jordyhansen.

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