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Seahawks fans score with Crosslake Connection
Sound Transit continues to change the way people live, work and play throughout the Puget Sound region. That includes Seahawks fans.
This is the first season where we have Link light rail service to Lumen Field from the Eastside. Coupled with recent extensions to Federal Way and Lynnwood, more fans are now able to get to the game the traffic-free and stress-free way, while avoiding parking and fuel costs.
On opening night of the Seahawks season (Wed. Sept. 9, a workday), the nearly 5,000 riders at South Bellevue Station represent a 52% increase over the prior week's baseline.
On Sunday, Oct. 4, ridership (3,655) at South Bellevue increased by 156% over the average previous Sunday with no professional sports games in Seattle.
On Sunday, Oct. 11, ridership (3,515) at South Bellevue increased by 146% over the average non-sports Sunday.
The South Bellevue Station, with its 1,500-stall park-and-ride garage, is the last station on the Eastside before the train crosses the East Channel to Mercer Island and then over Lake Washington to Seattle. The garage at South Bellevue does fill up before kickoff, as does the other large Eastside garage at Marymoor Village.
Sound Transit’s website provides more information on parking at these and other stations in the system. Our parking table shows all park-and-ride options when riding Link, Sounder and ST Express, allowing you to filter lots by city or by your train or bus line. It also shows other transit to light rail connections for those who don’t want to hunt for a park and ride spot and instead take transit to transit.
We’ve increased Sounder service to Seahawks Sunday day games this season as well. We’ve added one additional train from the north and south, starting in Everett and Tacoma/Lakewood respectively, and ending at King Street Station, adjacent to Lumen Field. N Line trains to Everett depart King Street Station 20 and 45 minutes after the game, and S Line trains to Tacoma and Lakewood depart King Street Station approximately 10, 20 and 45 minutes after the game ends. These first two trains departing 10 and 20 minutes after the game will depart as they become full. This additional service is in response to customer demand and returns Seahawks gameday Sounder service to pre-pandemic levels.
So far this season, more than 3,000 people are taking advantage of the five Sounder round-trip trains serving each Sunday Seahawks day game.
Finally, if you find yourself on a crowded train or platform here are a few tips that will make the ride better for everyone:
Spread out on the platform. Often there is more room in train cars away from the main entryways and in the first and last train cars.
Don’t crowd/block the doors. Move to the middle to let others board and step off if necessary to let others exit the train.
Be patient (and yield to your fellow Hawks fans). Let people get off before you get on board, stand to the side to let people exit.
Throughout the region, people are finding ways to use our growing transit system in ways that work for them. For the 12s, that's a win.
