advertisement

---

Sound Transit continued to register ridership growth in the second quarter. After rising 28 percent in the first quarter, ridership on the agency's Sounder commuter-rail line jumped 31 percent between April and June compared with second-quarter 2007 data.

The agency noted an even bigger monthly gain in June, when ridership rose 38 percent year over year, partly because Sound Transit opened the new Mukilteo Station in May.

Since the beginning of 2008, more than 1.2 million passengers have boarded Sounder commuter-rail trains. The agency attributes the high passenger count to rising gas prices and service added last fall.

Sound Transit expects to add even more service this fall. The agency plans to operate one additional peak round-trip train between Tacoma and Seattle, an additional reverse-commute train in the south corridor, and another round-trip train between Everett and Seattle.