Sound Transit launches new website revamped with the customer in mind

Sound Transit has launched a redesigned website with features that make it easier for people to plan their train and bus trips throughout the region and find information about system expansion projects.

“Customer focus is one of our key values at Sound Transit,” said Sound Transit Executive Director of Communications Craig Davison. “This redesign was meant to meet the changing needs of our site visitors, particularly the increasing number of people who use the site on their mobile devices. The new site is even easier to navigate and delivers information faster to our customers.”

Since 2011, Sound Transit has offered a mobile site and a desktop site. The agency also created a third, stand-alone site to inform the public about the Sound Transit 3-funded projects. This redesign has replaced those channels with a single responsive website – meaning all the information is readily available, regardless of the device being used. 

A user-centered approach informed the design and development of the new site, including prototyping and user testing. As a result, all web content, including system expansion information, is now easy to access on a mobile phone, tablet or computer. This change will benefit the more than 77 percent of site visitors who use a mobile device to view soundtransit.org. In addition, the redesign was an opportunity to review and refresh all content to ensure information is up-to-date. 

Improvements include: 

• Previous searches in the trip planner show up as the user types in the search bar
• Trip plans and real-time arrival information can be printed and emailed
• Service alerts appear in trip plan, real-time arrival and schedule results
• Improved site navigation makes content easier to access
• Better connections between pages means information can be readily cross-referenced
• A system expansion map provides quick access to project summaries and links to learn more
•  Access is improved to online current and archived documents

Customers are encouraged to provide feedback on the new site. Visitors can offer ideas and comments by clicking on the “give feedback” link on the site.

“We want to hear from our users to determine how successful we were in making the site easy to use and in providing quick access to valuable information,” said Davison. “We’ll prioritize adjustments based on what we learn. We also want to collect ideas for future improvement.”

The new site will continue to undergo a series of improvement and enhancements over the coming months. In addition, in 2019 Sound Transit will undertake a comprehensive look at all the rider tools on the site (trip planner, schedules and real time) to begin planning for future improvements.