Trailhead Direct Transit Is Great. It Can Be Even Better.
If you're one of Trailhead Direct's thousands of riders, you may have found yourself on a standing-room-only bus on the Mount Si route. It's common to see this on the first several morning runs. It’s no surprise — the service was an immediate success when King County’s trailhead transit shuttle service launched as a pilot program almost a decade ago in 2017.
Trailhead Direct is now entering its 10th season, with the 2026 season launching May 23 and running through August 30.
Across its initial offering of three routes in 2018, Trailhead Direct's first full season, round-trip boardings hit 10,000. After a fourth route was added in 2019, boardings increased 75%. Even after the Covid pandemic knocked the program back on its heels, cancelling service for 2020 and 2021, ridership rebounded when service returned in 2022.
When a service is this successful, investments to expand and enhance it are bound to be welcomed. In fact, expanding this wildly popular service is required to meet demand. Several enhancements and expansions are obvious and relatively easy to implement, with only modest funding required. Some bigger changes will require more funding, which behooves King County to unlock more transit funding.
https://www.theurbanist.org/op-ed-trailhead-direct-transit-is-great-it-can-be-even-better/