Light rail milestones: Judkins Park Station to finally open in March, ORCA adding ‘tap to pay’ with RapidRide G test in February

Pretty much ready and waiting since 2023 (Image: Sound Transit)

Light rail service across the I-90 bridge between Seattle and the Eastside via the Central District’s Judkins Park Station will finally begin in March.

Meanwhile, the region’s ORCA payment system is finally rolling out a long-awaited upgrade with a test on the RapidRide G line along Capitol Hill’s southern edges.

Sound Transit has announced the opening of the world’s first light rail on a floating bridge and “crosslake” service will begin March 28. Delayed six years by construction screw-ups and logistical complications, the milestone marks what will be a full transformation of the network into a two-line system — the original 1 Line serving the city and its north-south neighbors, and now the added 2 Line connecting Seattle to Bellevue and Redmond.

Judkins Park Station and its Hendrix inspired design has been mostly complete and ready for riders as the rest of the new line was delayed for years over issues including a defective track bed that had to be rebuilt twice.

As it was being engineered, the station was one of the most complex Sound Transit had tackled. Entrances are located at Rainier and 23rd which includes a prominent entry point for cyclists and pedestrians coming off the Mountains to Sound Greenway Trail.

New Jersey-based artist Hank Willis Thomas contributed the Jimi Hendrix murals on two outdoor elevator shafts at the station. Artwork from local artist Barbara Earl Thomas is featured inside the station.

A new station on Mercer Island is also part of the new line.

Sound Transit projects approximately 3,000 daily boardings at Judkins Park Station by the year 2030.

The March debut for Judkins Park Station in the Central District will fall just a few days over ten years since the opening of Capitol Hill Station. The Broadway station debuted March 19, 2016.

Riders will connect between the 1 Line and 2 Line at the International District/Chinatown Station.

Sound Transit’s flat light rail fare will remain, for now, at $3.

The way riders can pay, however, is finally getting ready for a long-awaited upgrade.

A test of new “tap to pay” capabilities that “will let riders across the Seattle region use Visa, Mastercard, Discover, or American Express cards, as well as mobile wallets such as Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Samsung Pay,” is being rolled out with a test slated to begin next week on G Line buses, Geekwire reports.

If everything goes well, the full ORCA system will be mostly “tap to pay” capable by the end of February.

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