Sound Transit is expanding its regional light rail network with the West Seattle and Ballard Link Extensions (WSBLE), a transformative 14-mile, 13-station expansion at the heart of the agency's ambitious ST3 transit expansion program.

As part of this effort, Access Planning has been leading efforts to define and manage passenger experience (PX) benefits, ensuring that core user needs are identified, prioritized, and seamlessly integrated into the design and development process. We have facilitated agency-wide workshops to evaluate and refine station designs, embedding PX considerations across all project phases and ensuring alignment with broader system goals.

Given the project's scale and complexity, our focus has been on translating agency-wide PX standards into tailored, station-specific solutions. Access has served as a key integrator, fostering structure and consistency through targeted engagement and collaboration across all concurrent station planning and design efforts. Our role includes (1) defining station-specific passenger experience expectations, (2) developing recommendations and tools to enhance consistency, and (3) guiding context-driven, station-specific decisions. These efforts involve identifying critical PX elements, establishing governance structures to safeguard them throughout the project lifecycle, and providing expert advisory and technical services to align station designs with Sound Transit’s ambitious passenger experience objectives.

Through our work, Sound Transit is positioned to deliver a more seamless, intuitive, and welcoming transit system—one that keeps passenger needs at the forefront of the project.