Metro’s first battery-electric base to be named Tukwila

King County Metro’s first fully-electrified bus base has a new name: Tukwila Base.

Previously referred to as Interim Base, Metro broke ground on the 544,000-square-foot Tukwila Base in March. The facility will support the 120 battery-electric buses arriving in the next two years as part of the transit agency’s commitment to reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

“The new name, Tukwila Base, honors the legacy of the neighborhoods that this facility will connect and the critical service that transit provides,” said King County Metro General Manager Michelle Allison. “Tukwila Base will support our new battery-electric, zero-emission buses, our world-class employees, and spur innovation regionally and globally.”

Allison thanked the City of Tukwila for hosting the new facility.

Located in Tukwila directly south of Metro’s South Base and the agency’s Component Supply Center, Tukwila Base will also support many of Metro’s growing fleet of electric work vehicles and will feature a new employee parking garage equipped with charging stations. Construction is slated for completion in mid-2025 and bus service out of Tukwila Base is scheduled to begin in 2026.