BELLEVUE, Wash. — The East Link light rail Starter Line will begin service in April from South Bellevue to the Redmond Technology station, Sound Transit said Thursday.
The East Link Starter Line will begin operation at 10 a.m. on April 27, according to Sound Transit. 2 Line trains will run seven days a week every 10 minutes from 5:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Fares will be $2.25-2.50 depending on how far you travel.
The board voted on Aug. 24, 2023, to establish the service. The East Link Extension will be 14 miles and include 10 new stations from Seattle to Redmond. The starter route includes six stops between South Bellevue and Redmond Technology stations near the Microsoft campus. Sound Transit expects the rest to be complete in 2025.
In January 2023, the board voted to authorize $6 million to develop the option to open a completed portion of the East Link Extension.
According to Sound Transit, the $43 million to implement the East Link Starter Line exists within the overall East Link Extension budget, which is $3.68 billion. The board projects the cost to operate and maintain the starter line after opening to be $34 million, which would be included in the proposed 2024 agency budget.
The starter line will operate while work continues on the delayed segment that crosses Lake Washington.
Thirty cities, businesses and organizations wrote a joint letter in support of opening the starter line last year.
President and CEO of the Bellevue Chamber Joe Fain cited a study that found 65% of people in Bellevue will be regular users of the system when it is fully open.
"It's something that people really want," Fain said last year.
Sound Transit released a report in 2022 that the opening of the East Link would be pushed back at least one year beyond the previously scheduled mid-2023 opening.
The biggest challenge the East Link Extension faced was the construction quality and durability concerns about plinths or raised concrete structures that support the tracks. According to Sound Transit, work to fix problems with the concrete plinths on both the east and west sides of the I-90 floating bridge led to the discovery of further issues.
In January, the Bellevue Transportation Department said Sound Transit started sending trains on "regular practice runs" every 10 to 15 minutes.
Redmond resident, Caitlin Hoffman, said earlier this year that she plans on riding the Eastside Link Extension once it officially debuts. Hoffman said she takes two buses and a train to get to her workplace in Everett each day. She's hopeful this will limit the number of legs she has to take during her daily commute.
"I'm very excited," Hoffman said.