Share of Link light rail boardings with fare media, 2019-2025

What this chart asks

What share of Link light rail boardings had a record of fare payment each year?

Why it is shown this way

• A line over years shows the drop after 2019 and the partial recovery after enforcement resumed in late 2023.
• The y axis starts at zero so the size of the change is not exaggerated.
• Years are ordinal because 2020 is missing; the line joins 2019 directly to 2021.

Chart annotations

These markers provide relevant context for interpreting the chart. Their timing or position does not, by itself, establish causation.

No 2020 value

2021

Sound Transit did not report a 2020 fare-media share; the line joins 2019 to 2021.

Why this is marked: Readers should not read the straight segment from 2019 to 2021 as measured 2020 data.

Youth ride free (Sept. 2022)

2022

Youth are not required to carry fare media, so most youth rides now count as boardings without fare media.

Data and accessibility

Download chart data · Open accessible table · Download PNG · Download SVG

Dataset link-fare-payment-farebox, analysis link-fare-media-share

Sources

This chart draws on the sources of the dataset versions it visualizes.

Sound Transit Link light rail: boardings with fare media, fare revenue and farebox recovery, 2017-2025

1. Sound Transit, 2025 Fare Revenue Report Link boardings by payment type including boardings without fare media, fare revenue, operating expenses and farebox recovery for 2023-2025; policy minimums and targets; 2019 fare-media share and farebox recovery

   Retrieved October 18, 2026. Public record of a Washington public agency. Figures restated with attribution; the PDF is linked, not hosted.

   Reliability: Government. Speaks against its own interest. Sound Transit's annual report to its Board on its own fare revenue. Its fare-media figures are unfavourable to the agency's fare-compliance record and below the assumptions in its own financial plan.

2. Sound Transit, 2024 Fare Revenue Report Link fare revenue, operating expenses and farebox recovery for 2022-2024

   Retrieved October 18, 2026. Public record of a Washington public agency. Figures restated with attribution; the PDF is linked, not hosted.

   Reliability: Government. Speaks against its own interest. Sound Transit's annual report to its Board on its own fare revenue; same method as the 2025 report.

3. Sound Transit, 2023 Fare Revenue Report Link boardings by payment type including boardings without fare media for 2021-2023; youth free fares from September 2022; new fare compliance policy from November 2023

   Retrieved October 18, 2026. Public record of a Washington public agency. Figures restated with attribution; the PDF is linked, not hosted.

   Reliability: Government. Speaks against its own interest. Sound Transit's annual report to its Board on its own fare revenue; same method as later reports.

4. Sound Transit, 2020 Fare Revenue Report Link boardings and fare revenue for 2018-2020; inspection-based fare evasion rate for 2020; 2020 farebox recovery

   Retrieved October 18, 2026. Public record of a Washington public agency. Figures restated with attribution; the PDF is linked, not hosted.

   Reliability: Government. Sound Transit's annual fare revenue report for 2020, when electronic fare inspection was suspended for part of the year because of the pandemic.

5. Sound Transit, 2019 Fare Revenue Report Link boardings by passenger type and fare revenue for 2017-2019; inspection-based fare evasion rates for 2018 and 2019; Link farebox recovery for 2017-2019

   Retrieved October 18, 2026. Public record of a Washington public agency. Figures restated with attribution; the PDF is linked, not hosted.

   Reliability: Government. Sound Transit's pre-pandemic fare revenue report, when inspectors aimed to check 10% of Link riders and evasion was measured from those checks.

Limitations

• A boarding without fare media is not necessarily unpaid: since September 2022 youth 18 and under ride free without needing to tap (about 6% of 2019 boardings), and pass holders who forget to tap also count as without fare media.
• No value for 2020. The 2019 value is Sound Transit's reported figure; 2021-2025 are computed from its boardings tables.
• Totals come from automatic passenger counters, which are estimates.