Annual Service Plan
Recent and upcoming Link light rail openings mean there will be changes to existing ST Express bus service. Learn what these changes could look like for you.

South King and Pierce counties

In 2026, Sound Transit will extend Link 1 Line service from Angle Lake Station in the City of SeaTac south to Federal Way Downtown Station (currently called the Federal Way Transit Center). The 7.8-mile extension includes three stations: Kent Des Moines near Highline College, Star Lake near South 272nd Street, and Federal Way Downtown. Trains will run every 8 minutes during peak times and every 12-15 minutes late at night and early morning. All three stations add parking, totaling 3,200 spaces along the extension.

Learn more about the service plan for this area below and then take our survey to share your feedback.

Service maps

 

Sound Transit currently provides ST Express bus service in south King and Pierce counties that serves the cities of DuPont, Lakewood, Gig Harbor, Tacoma, Puyallup, Bonney Lake, Sumner, Auburn, Federal Way, Kent, SeaTac, Burien, and Tukwila.

The following 10 ST Express routes serve about 6,700 riders daily; about 75% use routes 574, 578, and 594. Routes 574 and 594 provide service all day/night from Lakewood via Tacoma to SeaTac and Seattle, respectively. Others, like Route 590, provide supplemental service during the busiest times of the day.

  • 574 // Lakewood–SeaTac/Airport
  • 577 // Federal Way–Seattle
  • 578 // Puyallup–Seattle via Federal Way
  • 580 // South Hill P&R–Puyallup Station
  • 586 // Tacoma–University of Washington
  • 590 // Tacoma–Seattle
  • 592 // DuPont–Seattle
  • 594 // Lakewood–Seattle
  • 595 // Gig Harbor–Seattle via Tacoma Dome Station
  • 596 // Bonney Lake–Sumner P&R

When 1 Line service to Federal Way Downtown begins in 2026, trains will run between Federal Way and Lynnwood via downtown Seattle. 1 Line riders traveling to the Eastside can transfer to the 2 Line in downtown Seattle for easy access to Bellevue and Redmond via the 2 Line Cross Lake Connection. Riders can expect a trip between Federal Way Downtown Station and Sea-Tac Airport in about 16 minutes and from the Kent Des Moines Station to downtown Seattle to take 42 minutes.

If you currently ride any of the bus routes listed above, your trip could look different when Link opens. Changes could include:

  • Buses that integrate with the growing Link light rail network
  • Bus routes that have updated schedules
  • More frequent and reliable service throughout the day – trains will arrive about every 8-10 minutes between 6 a.m. and 9 p.m.
  • More seats and overall capacity
  • More connections to more places throughout the region
  • A new option to avoid highway traffic

ST Express riders in south King County and Pierce County gave us their feedback during our engagement efforts for the Service Plans from 2022 to 2025. Thousands of rider surveys and comments identified more bus coverage, faster travel times, increased early a.m. and late p.m. service, improved east-west connections, and increased weekend service as key values. South corridor riders overwhelmingly supported restoring bus service in 2025 that had been suspended due to operator shortages stemming from the pandemic.

Your feedback

Do you have comments about how you will use Link? Have we correctly identified your priorities? Is there any other feedback you have?  Take our survey to tell us what you think.

Take survey