Starting August 29, King County Metro, Sound Transit, and Pierce Transit will be making changes to bus routes in south King County and Pierce County. Most of these changes are in response to the Federal Link Link Extension that opened in December 2025. Service changes in east and north King County will be discussed in future articles.
Across this sub-region, the biggest change is Sound Transit’s Route 574. Route 574 will be truncated at Federal Way Downtown station (instead of SeaTac) and will now run every 15 minutes. At the southern end of the route, the stop at Lakewood Transit Center will be replaced by a stop at Lakewood station.
Routes throughout south King and Pierce Counties will be adjusted in a few weeks. See full list of changes below, or skip to Burien and SeaTac, Kent and Des Moines, Auburn and Federal Way, Pierce County, or Night-Owl changes.
Burien and SeaTac
Route 121 will be partially restored to provide eight peak hour trips (four AM and four PM) between Burien Transit Center and downtown Seattle. This route will take just 37 minutes compared to 53 minutes on the H Line.
Route 156 will have a slightly revised routing on its trips between Southcenter and Kent Des Moines station. The route will no longer serve the McMicken Heights loop (dashed blue line on the map). The route will also have expanded service, running from 4am to 11pm on weekdays and 4:30am to 11pm on weekends.
DART Route 631 will now have weekend service. The route will operate the same schedule on Saturday and Sunday as it does during the week.
Kent and Des Moines
Route 164 is a new route that will replace the southern half of the current Route 165. Route 164 will run every 15 minutes during the day, every day. Some of the route’s northbound trips will continue to Route 166. Route 166 replaces the northern segment of Route 165. Buses will run every 15 minutes during peak hours and every 30 minutes during the rest of the day. Every southbound trip will continue to Route 164.
Route 168 will have a few additional trips added to provide 15 minute frequency during peak hours.
Auburn and Federal Way
Route 181 will have improved weekday frequency and addition trips that run until midnight.
Route 182 will have earlier and later trips each day and will now be through-routed with Route 187…