Early Look at Crosslake Connection’s Record-Breaking Ridership

Earlier this week, Sound Transit shared the per-station breakdown of Link’s record-breaking ridership in April 2026. The two new stations, Judkins Park and Mercer Island had 2,130 and 1,723 average weekday boardings, respectively. Ridership at these stations will increase over the next year as travel patterns change. Additionally, Metro and Sound Transit will restructure their bus networks in August, further boosting Link ridership.

For the existing stations, these new data show how Link usage has changed over the past month and the past year. The chart below shows the average weekday ridership for April 2025 (light blue, left column), March 2026 (blue, center column), and April 2026 (dark blue, right column). System-wide Link boardings increased 52% year-over-year (YoY) and 35% month-over-month (MoM).

Lynnwood City Center – International District/Chinatown (CID)

While no new stations opened between Lynnwood and CID between April 2025 and April 2026, passengers along this section have benefited from improved Link frequency. Since February 14, Sound Transit has run both 1 Line and 2 Line trains, providing 4 or 5 minute frequencies throughout the day. This improvement, along with the new possible trips to Federal Way and the Eastside, has caused a surge in ridership. In March 2025, the 13 stations accounted for 56,919 boardings. Just one year later, this count has jumped to 98,300, a 72% increase. Higher gas prices and I-5 construction may have also contributed to more people taking Link.

Mountlake Terrace ridership has ballooned over the past year and has surpassed Lynnwood. Lynnwood is now the only terminal station to have lower ridership than the adjacent station. Ridership at both Shoreline stations and Northgate has more than doubled YoY. U District and CID stations have each gained over 5,000 daily weekday boardings since April 2025. The top 5 busiest Link stations are now Westlake, U District, Capitol Hill, CID, and SeaTac.

Stadium – Federal Way Downtown

The southern half of the 1 Line got a bit longer this past December with the opening of the Federal Way Link Extension (FWLE). Since we first discussed FWLE ridership in January, more passengers have started to use each station. Kent Des Moines and Star Lake are both approaching 2,000 daily weekday boardings while Federal Way Downtown has nearly 5,000 boardings each weekday. Despite the strong FWLE ridership, overall boardings on this section of the 1 Line have dropped 9.2% from April 2025. Boardings at Angle Lake and Tukwila Int’l Blvd have fallen 60% and 23% YoY, respectively. This is likely due to passengers choosing to board Link at one of the new FWLE stations. SeaTac/Airport also saw a 26% decline in ridership, possibly due to a nationwide drop in tourism and higher airfares. Beacon Hill and Mount Baker both had a smaller ridership drop, potentially from the nearby Judkins Park station poaching some passengers. Curiously, Stadium station lost more than half of its average weekday ridership. The Mariners played a similar number of home games in April 2025 as April 2026 (13 vs 11) so the fluctuation of other events may have caused this drop.

Judkins Park – Downtown Redmond

As expected, the Crosslake Connection caused a a ridership boom at every station on the Eastside. Including the two new stations, overall ridership has increased 505% YoY. East Main saw the largest relative increase at 647%. The ridership at every other station has at least doubled since April 2025. Most of the new ridership is from park & ride stations (South Bellevue, Marymoor Village) and the downtown stations in Bellevue and Redmond. Wilburton station now holds the title for the least busy Link station, with just 931 passengers each weekday. Significant development in the area surrounding the station will let the station reach its full potential within the next few decades.