The 2 Line through Bellevue
From Sound Transit's timetable and fare pages, City of Bellevue project pages, and plat's own count of apartments near each station. Service details are as of the timetable that runs to 26 March 2027.
Six light rail stations sit inside Bellevue, from South Bellevue at I-90 to BelRed at 130th Avenue. Since 28 March 2026 the trains also cross Lake Washington, so downtown Bellevue is 22 minutes from International District/Chinatown and 19 minutes from Downtown Redmond.
Riding it
Paying
Tap an ORCA card on the reader before you go down to the platform. Since 23 February 2026 the same readers also take a contactless Visa, Mastercard, Discover or Amex card, or a phone with Apple Pay, Google Pay or Samsung Pay. You do not tap out. An adult ORCA card costs $3 from the ticket machine in any station.
| Who | Fare |
|---|---|
| Adult | $3, any distance |
| 18 and under | Free |
| 65 and over, or with a disability | $1 with a Regional Reduced Fare Permit |
| Low income (ORCA LIFT) | $1 |
| Day pass | $6 adult, $2 reduced |
A bank card or phone always pays the adult fare, one rider per card. Reduced fares need an ORCA card issued for them. Metro buses also cost $3, and a fare counts toward any bus or train you board within two hours.
How often trains come
Every 8 minutes at weekday rush hour (5 to 9 a.m. and 3 to 7 p.m.), every 10 minutes the rest of the weekday, and every 10 to 12 minutes on weekends. Sound Transit's station pages say "every 4 to 5 minutes"; that is the Seattle stretch north of International District, where the 1 Line and 2 Line share track.
Where it goes
| From Bellevue Downtown to | Minutes |
|---|---|
| South Bellevue | 7 |
| Mercer Island | 11 |
| Redmond Technology (Microsoft) | 12 |
| Downtown Redmond | 19 |
| International District/Chinatown | 22 |
| Westlake (downtown Seattle) | 27 |
| University of Washington | 34 |
| Lynnwood City Center | 59 |
The airport, games and the UW
The 2 Line does not go to the airport. Ride to International District/Chinatown, change platforms, and take the 1 Line south for 33 more minutes to SeaTac/Airport. From the Bellevue Downtown platform, allow about an hour and ten minutes (our estimate from the two timetables, not a Sound Transit figure).
For Seahawks, Sounders and Mariners games, get off at International District/Chinatown and walk; the 2 Line skips Stadium station. For Husky Stadium, the University of Washington stop is next to it.
After midnight
The last train toward Redmond leaves Westlake about 12:25 a.m. on weeknights and 11:40 p.m. on Sundays. After that, Sound Transit's Night Bus 547 runs from downtown Seattle through Bellevue to Redmond about every 30 minutes.
Bikes and parking
Bikes ride at the middle doors marked with a bike, up to six a car. Rented Lime scooters and bikes are not allowed on board. South Bellevue has the only garage, 1,524 free spaces; BelRed has a 300-space lot. The other four stations have drop-off zones only.
The six stations
Listed south to north. The apartment count is buildings the King County Assessor lists as apartment complexes, reached on foot along real streets from the platform, each counted once at its nearest station. Condominiums and houses are not included, so it understates how many people live nearby.
South Bellevue
- Platform
- Elevated, one island platform
- Parking
- 1,524-space garage, free
- Buses
- Metro 111, 203, 226, 240, 249; ST 556
- Apartments within a 10-minute walk
- None
On Bellevue Way at the edge of Mercer Slough, over the park-and-ride Metro opened here in 1981 with 337 stalls. No apartment building is within a ten-minute walk; the nearest is a 44-unit complex from 1957, inside fifteen. The garage fills early on game days, and a $6 event permit holds a space if booked up to four weeks ahead.
East Main
- Platform
- At ground level, two side platforms
- Parking
- None; drop-off on 112th Ave SE
- Buses
- Metro 220, 240, 249
- Apartments within a 10-minute walk
- 1,065 in 8 buildings
On 112th Avenue SE between the denser blocks north of Main Street and the single-family houses of Surrey Downs to the south. Sound Transit is handing the city about two acres over the tunnel portal for a park between them. Route 220, new in August 2026, runs from here to Lake Hills, Bellevue College and Eastgate every 15 minutes on weekdays.
Bellevue Downtown
- Platform
- Two side platforms, at the tunnel's north end
- Parking
- None
- Buses
- Bellevue Transit Center, one block west: RapidRide B Line and most downtown routes
- Apartments within a 10-minute walk
- 3,286 in 22 buildings
Along NE 6th Street between 110th and 112th, next to City Hall. More apartments sit within ten minutes on foot of this station than of the other five combined. Half the transit center is closed until January 2027 while it is rebuilt for Stride, so some buses stop on NE 6th and 110th instead.
Wilburton
- Platform
- Elevated, one island platform
- Parking
- None; drop-off off NE 8th St
- Buses
- RapidRide B Line; Metro 226, 250
- Apartments within a 10-minute walk
- 70 in 2 buildings
On NE 8th Street just east of I-405, beside Overlake Medical Center. In April 2026 it had 931 boardings a weekday, the fewest of any Link station. It is also where the city has planned the most change: a 2025 rezone covers about 300 acres, with the tallest buildings allowed between I-405 and the Eastrail trail, which crosses NE 8th on a 2024 bridge straight to the platform.
Spring District
- Platform
- Below street level in a trench, two side platforms
- Parking
- None; drop-off on 120th Ave NE
- Buses
- Metro 226, 249
- Apartments within a 10-minute walk
- 234 in 2 buildings
Between 120th and 124th Avenues, in a 36-acre district built on former industrial land. REI built its headquarters here and never moved in; Meta bought it in 2020 and gave up its rights to five more blocks in 2025. The platform walls carry Louie Gong's Dragon and Phoenix, one on each side.
BelRed
- Platform
- In the median of NE Spring Blvd, two side platforms
- Parking
- 300-space surface lot
- Buses
- Metro 226
- Apartments within a 10-minute walk
- 1,112 in 4 buildings
At 130th Avenue NE. All four apartment buildings within walking distance opened in 2021 or later. In September 2025 the city chose developers for the land beside the station: BRIDGE Housing for at least 172 income-restricted homes, and Su Development for mixed-income housing with a 302-space garage to replace the surface lot.
How the route was chosen
Sound Transit wanted the line up Bellevue Way to the South Bellevue park-and-ride and then along 112th Avenue SE, past the Surrey Downs neighbourhood, which had voted hardest in Bellevue against the 2008 measure that paid for it. A council majority elected in 2009, backed by Kemper Freeman, whose company owns Bellevue Square, wanted it east of Mercer Slough along I-405 and the old BNSF railway instead, a route called B7. Sound Transit's studies found B7 cost more, crossed more wetland, served fewer homes and jobs, and skipped the park-and-ride. Sound Transit's route won, and the city paid to put the downtown section underground.
| When | What happened |
|---|---|
| 1976 | The state and the I-90 cities agree two lanes of I-90 will be kept for transit and built to carry rail one day |
| Nov 2008 | Voters approve Sound Transit 2, which funds East Link and promises trains to Bellevue by 2020 |
| Mar 2010 | Bellevue's council backs the B7 route, 4 to 3 |
| Mar 2011 | The Seattle Times reports that councilmember Kevin Wallace, who drew up his own B7 route, had a company sign a preliminary deal with a railroad seeking the same corridor. An investigator clears him that July |
| Apr 2011 | The Washington Supreme Court rejects Freeman's first suit, which argued highway money could not put rail on I-90 |
| Jul 2011 | Sound Transit adopts the 112th Avenue route, with a downtown tunnel if Bellevue pays up to $160 million |
| Nov 2011 | Claudia Balducci, the council's leading rail supporter, beats a Freeman-backed challenger with 66%. Six days later the council approves the tunnel deal, 7 to 0 |
| 2013 | A federal suit over Mercer Slough fails, the state Supreme Court rejects Freeman a second time, and a redesign moves the downtown station to the tunnel's north end |
| 2015 | Bellevue's share of the tunnel is fixed at $100 million; opening is set for June 2023 |
| Apr 2016 | Construction starts |
| Jul 2018 | The downtown tunnel, mined in short sections rather than bored, is dug five months early |
| 2022–23 | 5,455 concrete blocks holding the rails on I-90's fixed spans are found defective and must be rebuilt, delaying the lake crossing |
| Apr 2024 | Trains start between South Bellevue and Redmond Technology, without the lake crossing |
| May 2025 | The line reaches Downtown Redmond |
| Mar 2026 | Trains cross Lake Washington on the I-90 floating bridge, which Sound Transit bills as the first light rail on a floating bridge |
The project's budget ended at $3.82 billion, 3.8% above the figure set in 2015. In 2023, at the city's request, two stations dropped their street numbers: Spring District/120th became Spring District and BelRed/130th became BelRed.
What comes next
| When | What |
|---|---|
| Jan 2027 | Bellevue Transit Center fully reopens after its rebuild for Stride |
| Mid-2027 | Eastrail's Wilburton Trestle opens, delayed from 2026 after decay was found in the timber |
| Summer 2027 | I-405 express toll lanes from Renton reach Bellevue, nearly two years late |
| 2028 | Stride S1 bus rapid transit, Bellevue to Renton and Burien on I-405 |
| 2029 | Stride S2, Bellevue to Kirkland, Bothell and Lynnwood |
| Fall 2030 | RapidRide K Line: Totem Lake, Kirkland, downtown Bellevue, Bellevue College, Eastgate |
| 2030 | Grand Connection, a walking and cycling crossing over I-405 from City Hall to Eastrail |
| 2031 | Eastrail's last Bellevue gap closes at I-90 |
| 2050 | Light rail from South Kirkland to Issaquah through downtown Bellevue |
Stride will change the most trips. Both lines start at the Bellevue Transit Center, a block from the train, and run every 10 to 15 minutes on double-decker electric buses. The 2016 plan promised them for 2024.
Two of these are not fully paid for. The K Line needs a federal grant that was rated "medium-high" in April 2026 but has not been awarded. The Grand Connection is costed at $175 million to $230 million, and the city has identified about $115 million of it.
The Issaquah line moved to 2050 when Sound Transit's board revised its plan on 28 May 2026 to close a $34.5 billion funding gap. It would share the Bellevue Downtown, East Main and Wilburton stations and add Bellevue stops at Richards Road and Eastgate. Sound Transit's own project page still says 2041.
Shared scooters and e-bikes are already here. Lime started citywide service on 10 August 2026 with 350 scooters, 50 e-bikes and 100 seated scooters.
What would change these numbers
Service levels and fares are Sound Transit's for the timetable running to 26 March 2027. The walking counts come from OpenStreetMap streets and the Assessor's apartment list as of September 2026; a new building, a closed path or a new crossing of I-405 moves them. The ten-minute band is 800 metres of walking. Opening years under "What comes next" are each agency's current date, and four of them have already moved once.
Sources
Service and fares: Sound Transit's 2 Line timetable (effective 29 August 2026), fares, station pages and parking permits; myORCA Tap to Pay; King County Metro prices. Wilburton's April 2026 boardings: Seattle Transit Blog, from Sound Transit data.
History: the Washington Supreme Court's opinion in Freeman v. State (2013), which sets out the 1976 I-90 agreement; Bellevue City Council minutes of 8 March 2010 and 14 November 2011; Sound Transit's 2011 route decision, 2013 refinements, tunnel excavation and Resolution R2026-01 (schedule and budget history); the City of Bellevue on the 2015 agreement; contemporary reporting in Seattle Met, Patch and Seattle Transit Blog.
What comes next: Sound Transit on Stride and the 2026 ST3 plan; King County on the K Line and Eastrail; WSDOT on I-405 Renton to Bellevue; the City of Bellevue on the Grand Connection, Wilburton, BelRed developers and Lime.
Apartments near each station: King County Assessor apartment-complex extract, selected by parcel to Bellevue, routed on OpenStreetMap streets as of 29 August 2026.
