Bus routes all across the Eastside are set to see significant changes at the end of August as King County Metro implements its next major service change. This phase of the East Link Connections bus restructure, which has been in the works for years, will provide Eastside residents and visitors with easier access to light rail stations in Bellevue and Redmond, setting the stage for the full 2 Line connection across Lake Washington into Seattle to open next year.
While virtually none of the bus routes crossing the 520 or I-90 bridges are being adjusted yet, the changes start to transition the Eastside toward a more frequent all-day network that provides access to the new future high-capacity route into Seattle and up to Lynnwood. Three new all-day routes and one peak-only route will launch as Metro officially eliminates more than a dozen more sparse routes that had been suspended at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.
After the full 2 Line starts running in 2026, Metro will pull back on some of its own routes that currently cross the lake, a move that should free up service hours to be reinvested within the Eastside to provide more coverage and frequency than this service change provides. But the new routes launching now provide a good baseline that will improve mobility now.
Seattle bus riders won’t see very many changes on August 30, with the biggest upgrade a planned increase in Saturday and Sunday service on the Route 106, between Renton and the International District-Chinatown. Funded with Seattle Transit Measure dollars, the increase means the route will come every 15 minutes every day of the week for most of the day.
Systemwide, King County Metro says the service change will add more than 900 weekly bus trips, though the adjustment will leave some areas of the region with less service than they had before — places like Woodridge, Clyde Hill, and South Eastgate.
Route 203
The new Route 203 will provide an all-day connection between Issaquah and South Bellevue Station, serving Factoria and Newport Way with service every 30 minutes. Eventually, this route will fully replace the winding 271 between Issaquah and Bellevue, a route that’s so long that it can be incredibly unreliable. For now, Issaquah will see another connection on top of that route to light rail, even as the Sound Transit 554 continues its full run into Downtown Seattle until the 2 Line opens.
Route 222
The new Route 222 will connect Redmond’s light rail stations at Overlake Village and in downtown with Cottage Lake, bringing 30 minute weekday service and hourly weekly service to an area currently lacking any transit along Avondale Road and replacing the existing 221 in Education Hill.
Route 223
The new Route 223 connects between Downtown Redmond station and Eastgate, providing 20 minute service through Overlake and Crossroads and down to Bellevue College. It will replace the majority of the existing half-hourly 221, which also winds around Phantom Lake in Bellevue. Phantom Lake will instead be served with the Route 226.
Other changes
Metro will replace the peak-only Route 311 with the new Route 256, connecting between Woodinville and Downtown Seattle, with stops at freeway stations in Kirkland and along SR 520. Unlike the 311, this route will directly serve riders connecting to and from South Lake Union.
Woodinville also saw additional bus service added earlier this summer with the launch of DART Route 931, providing hourly service between UW Bothell and Duvall on weekdays. Metro also added Sunday service on the DART 204 in June, providing connections throughout Mercer Island.
Some existing bus routes will also come more often. Service on Route 240 will be increased to every 20 minutes between Downtown Bellevue and Renton, with stops in Newcastle and Newport Hills. The Route 226 will also increase to 20 minute frequencies during peak hours between Downtown Bellevue and Eastgate, with stops in Overlake and Lake Hills.
Metro is also launching a new Metro Flex microtransit zone in Overlake, providing on-demand shuttle service between most of the neighborhood, these new bus routes, and the Overlake Village light rail station. That service will join other Metro Flex zones on the Eastside including Issaquah, Renton Highlands, and Kirkland’s Juanita area.
Correction: this story has been updated to clarify service changes around Bellevue’s Phantom Lake area.
Ryan Packer has been writing for The Urbanist since 2015, and currently reports full-time as Contributing Editor. Their beats are transportation, land use, public space, traffic safety, and obscure community meetings. Packer has also reported for other regional outlets including BikePortland, Seattle Met, and PubliCola. They live in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Seattle.
