For Redmond's Game-Night Train, the Ride Home Sets the Schedule

What time does the last 2 Line train reach Downtown Redmond on a weeknight? On Sound Transit's timetable for Monday, Oct. 5, 2026, it pulls in at 1:09 a.m. On a big event night, that time matters more than the kickoff.

This is Redmond's first fall with a one-seat rail ride into Seattle. Getting to the game is now simple. Getting home takes a little more planning. The return trip runs into post-game crowds at International District/Chinatown, longer gaps between trains after 11:30 p.m., and, on Oct. 17 and 18, a bus bridge across Lake Washington.

Getting There Is the Easy Part

The 2 Line had run in Bellevue and Redmond since early 2024, but it stopped short of Lake Washington until March 28, 2026. The Crosslake Connection was first planned for 2023. KING5 put the delay at three years. Now one train runs from Downtown Redmond through Bellevue and Mercer Island to International District/Chinatown, then north through Pioneer Square, Westlake, Capitol Hill and the University of Washington to Lynnwood.

Sound Transit's weekday timetable puts Downtown Redmond to Pioneer Square at about 43 minutes and Downtown Redmond to Capitol Hill at about 49. From Marymoor Village, take off roughly two minutes. For Lumen Field or T-Mobile Park, get off at International District/Chinatown and walk. Sound Transit describes both stadiums as a short walk from that station. At peak times, trains run about every eight minutes.

The outbound trip stays easy because the crowd shows up gradually. Fans arrive over a couple of hours, so the train never has to absorb everyone at once.

The Crowd Leaves All at Once

After the game, everyone leaves together, and that's when the trip slows down. The best evidence on how the system handles that comes from this summer's World Cup matches. Regular-season crowds haven't been reported in the same detail, but the pattern is useful.

At the June 15 Belgium–Egypt match, The Seattle Times reported that Link carried an estimated 210,000 riders, with trains about four minutes apart and no breakdowns. Even so, some post-match queues at International District/Chinatown took up to an hour. The trains weren't the problem. Sound Transit spread stadium traffic across Pioneer Square, International District/Chinatown and Stadium stations, then held people outside the entrances and let them in a few at a time so the platforms wouldn't overfill.

FOX 13 reported Sound Transit's advice from those days: wait out the first rush downtown, then spread out along the platform, because the first and last cars tend to be less crowded. The agency later separated 2 Line and 1 Line passengers in the International District/Chinatown queues. For a Redmond rider, that means the line you join is the line for your train east.

Waiting out the rush means having somewhere to wait, and that only works if the late trains still give you time to get home.

After 11:30, Trains Come Half as Often

On the Oct. 5 weekday timetable, trains arriving at Downtown Redmond late in the evening look like this:

Compare that with the eight-minute peak spacing. After 11:30 p.m., you wait twice as long between trains. An hour in a post-game queue followed by a 16-minute gap can make a 10:30 p.m. finish feel very different from a 9:30 p.m. one. Sunday service runs on a different schedule, and Sound Transit's own published spans don't fully agree, so check the date-specific trip planner before a Sunday outing.

There's now a backup for nights that run long. On Aug. 29, Sound Transit launched Route 547, an overnight bus between Seattle and Redmond that runs every 30 minutes from midnight to 4:30 a.m. It serves stops at Marymoor Village, Downtown Redmond and Redmond Technology. The weekday and Saturday schedule lists trips toward Redmond leaving Seattle from 12:50 a.m. to 5:20 a.m. Before Aug. 29, the Bellevue Beacon reported, no transit ran along the 2 Line corridor after the trains stopped for the night. The Beacon also noted that some Route 547 stops are near the 2 Line platforms rather than at them. And Sound Transit is exploring early-morning and late-night 2 Line cuts in its 2027 Service Plan, which would make Route 547 even more important. That idea is still under study and hasn't been adopted.

Oct. 17–18: Buses Cross the Lake

Late trains and post-game lines are normal parts of the trip. The weekend of Oct. 17 adds something new. All day Saturday, Oct. 17, and Sunday, Oct. 18, buses replace 2 Line trains between South Bellevue and International District/Chinatown while crews work on the overhead power system in the Mercer Island tunnel. KOMO reported the same reason. Trains will still run every 10 minutes between Downtown Redmond and South Bellevue. Shuttle buses will cover the lake crossing every 10 to 15 minutes. The 1 Line isn't affected.

The timing is awkward because this is a busy weekend in Seattle:

The Sounders match matters most for Redmond riders. The shuttle runs between South Bellevue and International District/Chinatown, the stadium station Sound Transit asked Eastside riders to use during the World Cup, so both the trip in and the trip home include the bus. Football fans have it easier that weekend. Washington plays at Purdue on Oct. 17, and the Seahawks' home games fall on Oct. 11 and Oct. 25, outside the closure.

For the Sounders match on Oct. 17, the trip looks like this:

1. Ride the 2 Line from Downtown Redmond or Marymoor Village to South Bellevue. Trains run every 10 minutes.
2. Transfer to the shuttle for the lake crossing. Buses run every 10 to 15 minutes.
3. Get off at International District/Chinatown and walk to Lumen Field.
4. After the match, do it in reverse, with the post-game crowd boarding buses instead of trains. Sound Transit hasn't published shuttle travel times, so allow more time than on a normal train night.

The two weeknights before that weekend have their own maintenance. From Oct. 6 to Oct. 8, buses replace trains between Northgate and Westlake late at night, but 2 Line trains keep running on schedule between Westlake and Downtown Redmond. A trip from Redmond to the stadium area those nights isn't affected.

The Redmond End of the Night

Your Redmond station also shapes the evening. Marymoor Village has a Sound Transit garage at 17300 NE 70th St with 1,403 spaces. Downtown Redmond isn't on the agency's park-and-ride list. Redmond Technology has 323 spaces, and Redmond Transit Center has 377. Sound Transit says new parking fees at selected Link station garages start in 2027, not this fall. We couldn't find any public data on how often the Marymoor garage fills on event nights, so arriving early is a sensible precaution.

If you get off at Downtown Redmond, you have places to finish the night within walking distance, and some of them stay open almost as late as the trains run. Flatstick Pub at 7530 164th Ave NE lists hours until 1 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays. Matador's Redmond location lists midnight closing Sunday through Thursday and 1 a.m. on Friday and Saturday. Molly Moon's at 16272 Cleveland St lists daily hours until 11 p.m., so it works after an early match but not after a late concert. Spark Pizza at 8110 164th Ave NE still lists weekly hours and online ordering. Dave's Hot Chicken opened a few blocks east at 16502 Redmond Way, and a Seattle Times roundup of 2026 openings placed a new Pagliacci right by the Downtown Redmond station.

Near Marymoor Village, Blazing Bagels is the obvious stop before an afternoon game. On a 1:25 p.m. Seahawks Sunday, like Oct. 11 against San Francisco, you can grab breakfast, catch an early train, and be home well before the 16-minute late-night gaps begin.

On the Eastside, where a home sits relative to Marymoor Village or the Downtown Redmond station now affects how easy a night in Seattle is, and that's the kind of everyday detail we pay attention to alongside shoreline, exposure and lot. If you'd like to talk through how a particular address fits the way you spend your evenings, the team at Margo Allan is glad to help.