Learn about Swift Orange Line at Open House, Oct. 24

Third bus rapid transit route will connect with Lynnwood Link light rail in 2024

Snohomish County, Wash. – Community Transit invites the public to learn about its planned third bus rapid transit line this Thursday, Oct. 24, from 4:30-6:30 p.m. at the Lynnwood Library, 19200 44th Avenue W., in Lynnwood.

The Swift Orange Line is in project development, with construction expected in 2021-23, and service starting in 2024.

The Swift Orange Line will run between McCollum Park Park & Ride and Edmonds Community College, traveling through Mill Creek and Lynnwood. The Orange Line will serve the Lynnwood Link light rail station when light rail opens in 2024.

At the open house, the public can review the routing and station locations for the Swift Orange Line project, and complete a brief survey about their travel patterns, whether they use transit or not. Members of the public may also learn more and comment on the project at www.communitytransit.org/SwiftOrange.  

Community Transit introduced Swift bus rapid transit service to Snohomish County in 2009 with the opening of the Swift Blue Line between downtown Everett and Shoreline. The Swift Green Line opened in March 2019 between Seaway Transit Center and Canyon Park. The two Swift lines are Community Transit’s highest ridership routes and carry about 20 percent of all the agency’s daily passengers.

Swift is a quicker service than regular local bus service, with stations spaced further apart, fare payment at the station, not on the bus, and simultaneous boarding and deboarding at the bus’s three doors. Swift buses arrive every 10 minutes weekdays between 6 a.m. and 7 p.m., and every 15-20 minutes nights and weekends. The average time a Swift bus spends at a station is about 10 seconds, and the average trip on a Swift route end-to-end is about 25 percent quicker than a regular local bus route.

The Swift Orange Line will provide easy access to destinations such as Mill Creek Town Center, Alderwood Mall, Lynnwood City Center, and Edmonds Community College, while serving park and rides at McCollum Park, Ash Way, Swamp Creek, and Lynnwood. As a part of the project, the transit facilities at McCollum Park and at Edmonds Community College will be rebuilt to better accommodate future services at each site.

Community Transit is responsible for providing bus and paratransit service, vanpool and alternative commute options in Snohomish County. The agency is building a network of Swift bus rapid transit lines with Swift Blue Line along Highway 99, the Swift Green Line between Canyon Park/Bothell and Boeing/Paine Field, and the new Swift Orange Line coming to Mill Creek and Lynnwood in 2024.