"We are delighted to work with Community Transit to deliver the Cathcart Crossing Park and Ride facility to serve transit routes on Cathcart Way and potential future routes on SR 9," Snohomish County Public Works Director Kelly Snyder said in the county's August 18, 2026 announcement.
The new lot sits at the southwest corner of Cathcart Way and SR 9 near Silver Firs. It has 154 stalls and opened August 29. More parking is the obvious change. The bigger one happened on the streets around it. Three bus routes were redrawn that day, and the stops were shuffled among them. Cathcart Way now carries the buses to Lynnwood City Center Station and Edmonds Station. The 109 serves the Snohomish Cascade Drive stops the 166 gave up. If you live near the Cathcart Way, Puget Park Drive or Snohomish Cascade Drive corridors, the bus you used in July may not be the one that stops near you now.
The Lot Exists Because of the Land North of It
The county says the park and ride came "after many years of planning." It was "a condition of development of the Cathcart Crossing property located north of the park and ride facility." The goal was "to help reduce congestion along Cathcart Way and link riders to the future light rail along Interstate 5." In February 2024, The Everett Herald reported that the county had approved a 286-townhouse project on that northern property.
Snohomish County owns the lot. Community Transit runs it under an operations and maintenance agreement. That split helps explain the rest of this post. The county built a destination for buses, and Community Transit then had to choose which buses would go there and which stops they would give up to make the trip.
Community Transit CEO Ric Ilgenfritz put the reasoning in the same release: "Since the arrival of light rail in Snohomish County, Community Transit has expanded local bus service, especially in areas that are growing and have historically been underserved by public transit." The release adds that some stops "will be eliminated to better serve areas where ridership is growing and plan for future expansion."
One Stop Changed Hands, and It Shows the Pattern
On the northbound side of Cathcart Way at Snohomish Cascade Drive, one bus left and another arrived. Community Transit's service change notice lists that stop as removed from Route 109 and added to Route 901. A neighbor standing at the same pole now boards a bus to the light rail station in Lynnwood. Before August 29, the bus there ran between Ash Way and Lake Stevens.
The same swap repeats across the neighborhood. Here is how Community Transit lists the changes, street by street:
| Street or stop | What changed August 29 |
|---|---|
| Cathcart Way at Snohomish Cascade Dr., northbound | Added to the 901, removed from the 109 |
| Cathcart Way at Puget Park Dr. | Added to the 901 in both directions; 109 dropped the southbound stop |
| Cathcart Park & Ride | New stops for the 901 in both directions; new end point for the 166 |
| Cathcart Way, N. Snohomish Cascade Dr. to SR 9 | Added to the 166 |
| Puget Park Dr., 136th St. SE to 148th St. SE | Added to the 166; 109 also added stops on Puget Park Dr. |
| Snohomish Cascade Dr., 138th Pl. SE to 146th Pl. SE | Removed from the 166; now served by the 109 |
| Puget Park Dr., 148th St. SE to 62nd Dr. SE | Removed from the 166 in both directions |
| 137th St. SE at Puget Park Dr. | Removed from the 166 in both directions |
Read down the table and the split is clear. The 901 and the 166 converge on Cathcart Way and end at the new lot. The 109 has moved off Cathcart Way in those two spots and into the interior, onto Snohomish Cascade Drive and Puget Park Drive. The county also says the new stops include one at Willis D. Tucker Community Park.
The 901 Runs on a Commuter Clock
Route 901 shows most clearly what the lot was built for. It used to be listed as Silver Firs to Lynnwood City Center Station. Community Transit says it was extended in Silver Firs to serve the new park and ride. Its route page now reads "Cathcart P&R | Lynnwood City Center Station."
The weekday trips published so far run in one direction in the morning and the other in the afternoon:
- Mornings toward Lynnwood: a TransSee timetable for Monday, October 12, 2026, lists departures from Cathcart Park & Ride Bay 2 between 4:35 a.m. and 8:30 a.m. They arrive at Lynnwood City Center Station Bay A7.
- Afternoons toward Cathcart: Community Transit's own weekday schedule shows buses leaving Lynnwood City Center Station Bay D2 every 30 minutes from 2:00 p.m. through 7:00 p.m. They stop at 128th St. SE & Park Road and McCollum Park Park & Ride, then reach Cathcart Park & Ride Bay 2 between 2:44 p.m. and 7:44 p.m.
The morning trip gets longer toward the 7 a.m. hour, then shortens again. On the October 12 timetable, the 4:35 a.m. bus is scheduled for 37 minutes to Lynnwood. The 6:53 a.m. bus is scheduled for 49 minutes, and the 8:30 a.m. bus for 42. That 12-minute gap between the earliest trip and the peak-hour trip is built into the schedule. Community Transit also notes that every 901 schedule shifted by more than five minutes with the change. Anyone who timed their morning to a pre-August departure should check it again.
The 901 page includes Saturday and Sunday selectors, but the pages I reviewed did not confirm whether the route runs on weekends. Check before planning a Saturday trip into Lynnwood around it.
The 166 Now Starts at Cathcart Way
Route 166 runs between Edmonds Station and Silver Firs. Its new route takes it along Cathcart Way from North Snohomish Cascade Drive to the park and ride at SR 9. It also picks up a run of Puget Park Drive stops between 136th St. SE and 148th St. SE. TransSee now lists the route as "Edmonds Station - Cathcart P&R."
To make that loop work, the 166 gave up three groups of stops. It no longer serves Snohomish Cascade Drive between 138th Place SE and 146th Place SE. It no longer serves Puget Park Drive between 148th St. SE and 62nd Drive SE, and it no longer stops on 137th St. SE at Puget Park Drive. All of those changes apply in both directions. Like the 901, all of its schedules moved by more than five minutes.
Riders on the southern stretch of Puget Park Drive lost their 166 stops, and the notice names no replacement route. For the Snohomish Cascade Drive stops, Community Transit says Route 109 "will serve these stops." That handoff is the other half of the swap described above.
The 109 Covers the Interior, With a Detour
Route 109 runs from Ash Way Park & Ride to the Lake Stevens Transit Center. Of the three, it is the only one that moved away from Cathcart Way. Community Transit says it now adds stops on Puget Park Drive and Snohomish Cascade Drive. It dropped the northbound Cathcart Way stop at Snohomish Cascade Drive and the southbound Cathcart Way stop at Puget Park Drive.
The 109 also has a complication the other two routes don't. Community Transit lists "a temporary construction detour due to a road closure at Cathcart Way and Puget Park Dr." The notice doesn't name the project or give an end date. I have not found an official source that does, so this post won't guess at either. For now, the 109's posted route and the street it actually drives may not match at that intersection, so check rider alerts before relying on a stop near that corner.
What the Schedules Don't Answer Yet
Six weeks in, a few things are still unclear from public information:
- How full the lot gets. I have not found published parking or ridership numbers since the opening. One commenter on a Seattle Transit Blog roundup from September 16 described seeing parked cars on opening day but no apparent bus riders. That is one person's visit on day one.
- When the Cathcart Way and Puget Park Drive closure ends. Community Transit calls the 109 detour temporary but gives no date.
- Whether the SR 9 routes Snyder mentioned will come. His statement refers to "potential future routes on SR 9." Separately, WSDOT's page for SR 9 widening between 176th Street SE and SR 96 lists the project as pre-construction and says the improvements will happen when it is fully funded.
Community Transit's Rider Alerts sign-up is the agency's own channel for updates on any of these routes.
If you're thinking about selling a home near the Cathcart Way corridor, which route stops at the nearest corner and where it goes is now part of how that home is described. Crystal Dickerson can help you work out what the August changes mean for your street and how to present them to buyers. Contact me today to talk about your home.
