The Sound Transit Board of Directors on Dec. 15 approved service improvements in 2017 that include two additional peak Sounder south line round trip trains between Lakewood and Seattle that also will serve Kent.
The board also approved 15,000 additional annual platform hours for ST Express bus service to meet growing demand and deliver voter-approved projects.
As part of the 2008 voter-approved Sound Transit 2 package of transportation investments, Sound Transit will add two new peak hour Sounder commuter rail trips between Lakewood and Seattle next September at a cost of $4.8 million to complete track and signal improvements. The final schedule for these new round trips will be developed next year.
In response to increasingly crowded conditions on ST Express service, Sound Transit will also add 15,000 annual platform hours for ST Express regional bus service beginning in September. Sound Transit will conduct a detailed analysis in early 2017 to identify the most crowded bus routes for additional investments. These increased hours will supplement 43,000 annual platform hours added in 2016.
In addition to the added service hours, Sound Transit will roll out 32 new double-decker buses on Snohomish County routes and will add longer buses to its busiest routes in King and Pierce counties.
Voters approved four new Sounder south line round trips in the Sound Transit 2 ballot measure. The first round-trip train began service in fall 2013. The second of the four round trips was implemented as a midday train in September. The last two trains will provide peak hour round trips next September.
Sound Transit also will add a parking garage at Kent Station but a timeline for construction has yet to be determined.
Station access projects in Kent and Auburn are funded under ST2 approved by voters in 2008, said Sound Transit spokeswoman Kimberly Reason. Transit staff plans to start the first phase of planning during the first quarter of 2017.
“It’ll be some time before planning reaches the point when staff will have the first iteration of possible improvements to put before the board as a preferred alternative,” Reason said in a Dec. 16 email.
Preliminary cost estimates and a construction timeline will be determined after planning phases are complete, she said.
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