Central Puget Sound Interstate 5 - Transit ridership
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Measures of public transit ridership on the I-5 corridor in the central Puget Sound region.
Transit ridership
WSDOT works with transit agencies in major urban areas throughout the state to collect data on the number of transit vehicles and passengers that pass specific points on select urban highway corridors, including the I-5 corridor in the central Puget Sound region. WSDOT combines this data with its highway vehicle and person throughput data to produce the measures below. For more information on how WSDOT calculates vehicle and person throughput, see WSDOT's Handbook for Corridor Capacity Evaluation (PDF 5.9MB).
The chart below shows the average percentage of buses compared to all vehicles passing select points on the I-5 corridor in the central Puget Sound region, and the average percentage of bus riders compared to all highway users passing those points. Use the drop-down menus in the chart to see how these percentages vary by location, time of day, direction of travel and year.
Source: WSDOT Public Transportation Division.
Note: Charts showing 0.0% may indicate smaller values (for example, 0.04%).
Multi-year trends
In 2022, transit ridership continued to increase like in 2021 due to the ongoing recovery of traffic volume and travel demand in the wake of COVID-19.
In 2020, due to the statewide response to COVID-19 there was a significant decrease in transit ridership compared to previous years.
The same trends that increased delay and travel times on I-5 between 2018 and 2019—economic growth, increased employment and rising housing prices—also increased demand for and usage of public transportation on this corridor. Public transit agencies in the central Puget Sound region—including King County Metro, Sound Transit, Pierce Transit, and Community Transit, which contributed data for this report—had increased their service to meet the demand. Notably, on the I-5 corridor between Federal Way and Everett, Sound Transit's Link Light Rail increased the number of stations it serves and the number of trips it operates several times during this period.
Annual highlights
In 2022, transit ridership continued to increase due to the ongoing recovery of travel volumes and travel demand in the wake of COVID-19, but transit ridership was still under the pre-pandemic level. Transit contributed the most to morning highway commute travel on I-5 southbound at N 145th Street, where buses (2.0% of all vehicles) moved 8.9% of travelers. During the evening commute at the same location, buses (1.4% of the total vehicles) moved 6.4% of the northbound travelers.
In 2021, transit ridership continued to increase due to the recovery of travel volumes in the wake of COVID-19, but the number of transit riderships was still under the pre-pandemic level. Transit contributed the most to morning highway commute travel on I-5 southbound at N 145th Street, where buses (1.2% of all vehicles) moved 8.6% of travelers. During the evening commute at the same location, buses (0.1% of the total vehicles) moved 0.6% of the northbound travelers.
In 2020, due to the statewide response to COVID-19 there was significant decrease in transit ridership compared to the previous year. Transit contributed the most to morning highway commute travel southbound on I-5 at N 145th Street, where buses (1.0% of all vehicles) moved 4.9% of travelers. During the evening commute at the same location, buses (0.1% of the total vehicles) moved 30.8 % of the northbound travelers.
In 2019, transit contributed the most to morning highway commute travel southbound on I-5 at N 145th Street, where buses (1.1% of all vehicles) moved 27.7% of travelers. During the evening commute at the same location, buses (0.8% of the total vehicles) moved 20.4 % of the northbound travelers.
Transit ridership data was not collected for 2018 due to a pause in publication while WSDOT conducted an engagement process to inform the redesign of this dashboard. Following input from its transit agency partners, WSDOT switched from commute-level transit ridership measures to analyzing transit ridership at select locations along urban highway corridors, including the I-5 corridor between Olympia and Federal Way. This change helped to streamline the collaboration process.