Proposed Renton Transit Center has no parking garage

Published 1:30 pm Friday, May 29, 2026

Sound Transit’s proposed plan for the Renton Transit Center now does not include a parking garage for commuters.

At the May 18 Renton Committee of the Whole meeting, Sound Transit’s Strategic Project Director for Bus Rapid Transit Paul Cornish presented on the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) Stride program. While the presentation highlighted upcoming milestones and the construction progress, council members were upset to see a rendering of the Renton Transit Center without a parking garage.

Cornish said the originally planned 700-stall parking garage was deferred and will be cut by the Enterprise Initiative. The voter-approved Sound Transit 3 (ST3) plan from 2016 included the transit center and parking garage in Renton. Due to rising costs from inflation and construction costs, current estimates for the plan show an approximate $34.5 billion funding gap over the next 20 years. The Enterprise Initiative was created in May of 2025 to update the ST3 system with trade-offs to close the gap while still maintaining “momentum on ST3 projects.”

“I was eight years old when Sound Transit started collecting taxes in 1997. I’ve lived in this city my whole life and I have seen (little) of benefits from my tax dollars when it comes to Sound Transit. Now I’m hearing that we are going to be possibly losing our parking garage when this is supposed to be a regional park and ride.” councilmember Rivera said. “Sometimes we don’t get as pretty of things as like the other cities on the east side or north end. So that’s my question because as you can tell I’m very frustrated that we are again being deferred as a city when we’ve been historically left behind.”

The Sound Transit Board will vote on the Resolution No. R2026-11 on May 28 to officially cut the parking garage from the ST3 plans. Sound Transit Director of Government and Community Relations Ariel Taylor said the board president is not actively proposing cutting parking, but having a “parking fund” to address parking needs in the future instead.

“There is a very significant effort underway at Sound Transit to rethink our system plan as we move forward with expanding our transit system,” Taylor said. “We have heard this loud and clear. Renton prioritizes and needs parking.”

Councilmember Valerie O’Halloran asked if any kind of racial equity analysis was conducted as a part of the chair’s proposal. Enterprise Planning Deputy Executive Director Alex Krieg said they did not use racial equity toolkit in the enterprise initiative, but they have in the project development process for all of the capital projects.

“We are the 16th most diverse city in the country. We are the fourth largest city in King County and we’re job based,” O’Halloran said. “We have over 70,000 jobs. People mostly who are coming in here to work in Renton, most not living in Renton.”

The current rendering shows a large amount of the land landscaped. Cornish said this was due to inability to work under power lines. Council president Ruth Pérez said she was glad landscaping to beautify the neighborhood was not cut, but expressed her frustration at Sound Transit continuing to cut from Renton.

“Ten years ago I was in front of the board begging them, begging them not to leave Renton behind, to say why we are not having a light rail. Our residents are asking for a light rail and they told us no. The only thing that you’re going to have is a BRT and a transit center with a parking garage and a study for a light rail,” Pérez said. “I cannot believe that I’m here now begging for them to fund the garage when we should have been discussing when the light rail is coming to Renton.”

Taylor said they are “delivering two very massive BRT stations and spending millions of dollars on that infrastructure here in Renton.” O’ Halloran argued the transit center is being funded by federal dollars.

“There is some federal grant in that but it is not the entirety of that facility,” Taylor said. “Also, the improvements along 405 that we are making for speed and reliability, those are also hefty dollars that we are putting into that corridor for speed and reliability.”

Krieg said the expected ridership performance with the new plans relative to the ST3 baseline for rail boardings is approximately 92% of the baseline. He said they do expect the lack of a parking garage to impact BRT ridership as well.

Renton Mayor Armondo Pavone expressed his frustration with the proposal in an opinion piece in the Seattle Times. “Sound Transit’s Enterprise Initiative has made one thing clear: Difficult decisions are ahead. We recognize the challenge facing the board and appreciate its efforts,” Pavone said. “But the current proposal raises serious concerns for Renton and reinforces a growing perception that South King County projects are the first to be delayed, while projects in other parts of the region continue to advance.”

Pavone said Renton is among the fastest-growing communities in King County with more than 100,000 residents and it serves as a transit hub for people throughout the county, such as Maple Valley, Covington, Black Diamond and unincorporated King County.

“Many riders throughout South King County do not yet live near transit and instead rely on parking facilities to access the regional system. That demand is already evident at the South Renton Park-and-Ride, underscoring the ongoing need for transit access infrastructure,” Pavone said. “Yet despite all of this, our city has seen only limited investment from Sound Transit and then, the 2021 delay to our projects. Now, we face the very real prospect of a second delay. Only this time, it is indefinite.”

Pavone said a parking garage at Renton Transit Center is not optional and is critical access infrastructure for working families, commuters, students and residents across South King County.

“The choice before the board is clear,” Pavone said. “They can either choose to endorse a pattern where communities like Renton are pushed to the back of the line. Or the board can demonstrate that equity, fairness and follow-through still matter. To those in Renton, the choice is even clearer: We have waited long enough.”

The Sound Transit Board meeting is on May 28 at 1:30 p.m. in the Ruth Fisher Board Room located at 401 South Jackson Street or virtually via Zoom.