Get ready for your first light rail moment, Lynnwood. Sound Transit plans meet cute for transit newbies

Light rail service to Lynnwood, Mountlake Terrace, and Shoreline will never get a second chance to make a first impression. So, Sound Transit is doing what it can to make opening weekend (Aug. 30 to Sept. 1) of its new, highly anticipated expansion line shine.

John Gallagher, a spokesperson for Sound Transit, says 30% of the riders on the new Lynnwood expansion line are expected to be new to public transit.

Their first experience riding the line on opening weekend could determine whether they become future riders.

“What happens at the beginning is that, you know, is a lot of people just test the system," Gallagher says. "They get on the system to see what it's like. They ride it just to familiarize themselves with it. And then, you know, the ridership drops off a bit.”

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That's what happened at Northgate Station, Gallagher says.

But he said many of those who enjoyed that first ride come back later, maybe to go to the airport, or a baseball game.

Bit by bit, light rail becomes a habit for more people, and across the system, ridership slowly builds back up.

That's why Sound Transit cares so much about opening weekend.

The agency will have workers there to make sure no one gets lost. There'll be extra security to help people feel safe.

And it's not just at the new stations, it's out on the streets, too.

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Gallagher says every staff member has to pull a couple of outreach shifts, either on an opening day like Aug. 30, or out in the community. It's a way for the organization to keep in touch with how people are feeling about its transit services.

You may have seen a Sound Transit employee standing on a street corner handing out flyers about the system's expansion.

Some people walk by them, perhaps because it looks like they're selling something. Others take brochures, ask a few questions, and consider their place in a future where light rail reaches many more places.

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For many riders, it's personal.

Alex Hudson lives near downtown Seattle with her family.

She's also the head of Commute Seattle, an organization that works with employers to add monthly ORCA transit passes as an employee benefit.

Hudson's daughter used to have a best friend who lived just four blocks away. High housing costs forced the friend’s family to move to Lynnwood, 17 miles away, or an eternity in bad traffic.

Hudson doesn’t own a car, and so, her daughter lost touch with her friend.

“Transportation infrastructure connects us to our communities, connects us to our friends," she says. "And then when we don't have those things, those linkages break.”

On Aug. 30, expanded light rail service to Lynnwood will reconnect them.

“And so, I'm just as delighted as can be, not only for what this means for the broad population, but what it means for my own family, for my daughter's best friend to be back in our lives,” Hudson says.

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Sound Transit says over the next couple years, the length of the light rail system will more than double.

That'll open up light rail to a lot of old, or new, best friends.