Seattle's free waterfront shuttle returns to service

SEATTLE - Starting Monday, Seattle waterfront visitors will have another way of getting around the city. 

With the effects of the pandemic continuing to drift away and tourism being at its highest in a long time, the free waterfront shuttle service has returned to Seattle.

The Seattle Historic Waterfront Association (SHWA) held a news conference Monday afternoon on Pier 56 to kick off the first run of the season. 

The shuttle will operate from July 17 to Sept. 24, and has more than twenty seats, some that are ADA accessible, with PAX buses running every fifteen minutes.

The shuttle will follow a route that will connect the Waterfront to the Space Needle, Pioneer Square, King Street Station, the Chinatown-International District, and more; with buses running from 10 a.m to 8 p.m.

The service will be funded by a grant from King County, and additional support from the Alliance for Pioneer Square, the Downtown Seattle Association, the Seattle Historic Waterfront Association, and Friends of the Waterfront Seattle. The Seattle Department of Transportation and Office of the Waterfront both also worked very hard to make this possible.

King County council member Jeanne Kohl-Welles, who sponsored the funding package with King County, christened  the first bus in front of Pier 56 on the central Waterfront.