New Sound Transit Facility Will Boost Jobs, Help Slash Travel Times

Sound Transit and project partners recently celebrated the groundbreaking of the agency’s new Bus Operations and Maintenance Facility (Bus OMF). The Bus OMF will primarily serve as the home of Stride, an all-new three-line BRT system that will transform travel around Lake Washington.

“This operations and maintenance facility will be the anchor for our upcoming 45-mile Stride bus rapid transit network, connecting 11 cities all along I-405 and SR 522 to Link light rail and to each other,” said Sound Transit CEO Dow Constantine. “It will bring dozens of living-wage jobs to Canyon Park and Snohomish County, operating and maintaining a first-in-the-nation fleet of fast, reliable, all-electric buses.”

The Bus OMF, located north of the Canyon Park Park-and-Ride in Bothell, will include a new operations and maintenance building and parking structures for buses and support vehicles for Stride and some ST Express bus service. It will also include the charging infrastructure necessary to support Stride’s double-decker and articulated battery-electric buses and include space for fleet expansion to accommodate increases in demand for bus service in the future.

“I’m thrilled to break ground on our region’s first dedicated all-electric bus rapid transit facility, which will support 48 battery-electric buses and link Lynnwood, Bellevue, Tukwila, Shoreline, and more to light rail,” said Sound Transit Board Vice Chair and King County Councilmember Claudia Balducci. “With cleaner, quieter, faster, and more frequent service powered by a simple ORCA tap, Stride will slash travel times; open new pathways to jobs, education, and recreation; and drive us toward a zero-emissions fleet by 2050.”

Stride will operate every 10-15 minutes, primarily using HOV and dedicated lanes. Stride buses will be Sound Transit’s first battery-electric bus fleet, and Stride will be the first program in North America to use this technology for double-decker buses. There will be a fleet of double-decker buses on the S1 and S2 lines and 60-foot articulated buses on S3. Between trips, buses will park at layover bays at the end of each line to recharge over charging pads and to give drivers a break. Stride bus layover bays will all have charging pads.