By Sydney Goitia-Doran, The Seattle Medium
Seattle’s “Bike and Scoot to Transit” program has returned for a third summer—this time with an expanded footprint across the Puget Sound region, including Shoreline and Redmond. The initiative rewards users of shared bikes and scooters with points redeemable for free transit rides and future micromobility trips.
A collaboration between King County Metro, the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT), Sound Transit, Siemens and Velocia, the program aims to make it easier for people to connect to public transportation. Riders link their Transit GO Ticket app with their Lime or Bird accounts to participate.
According to Kim Pearson, a senior transportation planner for the shared mobility team at SDOT, at the end of a ride, users will receive a free transit ticket. They can then redeem that ticket for a $7 credit that they can use for future trips. Each ride is worth 300 points, and you can earn additional points for activating your transit ticket.
“The goal is to help people connect scooter and bike share with transit, to basically make it easier to get to transit,” Pearson said. “Because in 10 minutes, someone can walk a half a mile, but they can bike or scoot one and a half miles.”
This year, the program will cover all Link light rail stations—including new extensions in Redmond and Shoreline—as well as the Aurora Village Transit Center and select RapidRide H Line stations.
“This is the third year we’ve been a part of the program, and it’s grown as we have to now include our stations in Shoreline and Redmond in addition to in the City of Seattle—and we’re excited to see how expanding access to the program improves its usefulness for riders across our community,” said Henry Bendon, public information officer at Sound Transit.
“This is also the first time we’re including RapidRide stations, so it’s sort of testing out this program at RapidRide stations,” Pearson said.
According to Elaine Porterfield, a public information officer for King County Metro, the program fits into a much larger plan called Metro Connects, which seeks to make biking and walking more accessible throughout the county.
“Micromobility gives people have more options beyond driving alone and lets them more easily connect with the broader transit network—a win for riders, for reducing congestion and for the environment,” Porterfield said.
Pearson also noted that the program could help ease pressure on transportation systems during major regional events like the 2025 FIFA World Cup and the Revive I-5 construction project.
“A great example is the huge cost savings a family could realize if they go from two cars to one car,” she said. “So, this program could be part of that, and then additionally having cleaner air and reducing overall traffic congestion by helping people switch many of their trips to biking, scooting and transit is another goal for the region.”
