King County Metro will begin charging $20-$90 a month to reserve a parking space at some of the busiest park-and-ride lots and garages, providing more parking options to transit riders who can’t arrive early enough to find a spot.

Monthly permits are scheduled to go on sale this fall for the Aurora Village Transit Center and park-and-rides at Bear Creek, Bothell, Issaquah Highlands, Kenmore, Redmond, South Kirkland, Tukwila, and Shoreline. These lots are regularly 90% or more full early in the morning on weekdays.

While Metro may eventually offer monthly permits at the Northgate Transit Center for $120, there are no plans to charge for parking at Northgate anytime soon since there are enough parking spots currently available.

Solo drivers and carpoolers with monthly permits will be guaranteed spots from 4 a.m. to 10 a.m., Monday through Friday. It will cost ORCA LIFT customers just $20 for a monthly permit, while single-occupancy vehicles will pay $60-$90 (depending on location) — and it’s free for carpoolers.

After 10 a.m. on weekdays, permit parking spots not being used will be offered for free to all customers on a first-come, first-served basis. A parking permit is not required for any of the park-and-ride lots — and at least half of the spots at these lots will remain open to those transit customers without permits.

Some of the other busy park-and-rides will continue to offer reserved spots for carpoolers only, but they must apply for a free parking permit. These include the following park-and-rides:

  • Eastgate
  • Green Lake
  • Kingsgate
  • South Renton

The Permit Parking program is a regional effort across the busiest park-and-rides and transit centers. Sound Transit started charging for parking spaces at select lots last year.

More information about the Permit Parking program will be available on Metro’s web site closer to the launch of the program this fall. For riders with household income of less than double the federal poverty level, learn more about ORCA LIFT, Metro’s discount program for fares and parking.

For more information, see our FAQs about permit parking.