The recent shift by Amazon to return workers to the office full-time has drastically shifted the landscape of how workers get around Seattle. The policy change has brought tens of thousands of employees into offices since the January 2, 2025 mandate went into effect and clogged traffic, tacking several minutes onto commutes. Vehicle traffic is visible in the neighborhoods of South Lake Union and Denny Triangle. The most recent information provided by SDOT to date ranged between 5% to 9% for the first week this new policy was in place. Other independent reports by INRIX said that traffic times in these cases more than doubled in major highways leading out from the suburbs to downtown areas.
Once more vehicles made it onto the roads, bottlenecks occurred consistently. Long delays plagued major intersections along Mercer Street and arteries feeding onto Interstate 5. On the highways, traffic flowed at 40 miles an hour or slower at commute times on I-90 and I-405. Other workers have abandoned driving altogether, and started commuting on scooters and bikes. For Lime, a scooter-rental company, ridership jumped 146% in the South Lake Union neighborhood, a sign that more people are seeking ways around the congestion.
To help the commuting issues, Amazon has offered many commuter benefits to their employees and free public transportation, commuter shuttles, and parking or rideshare subsidies. Another group called Commute Seattle is also working with area businesses to help make commuting easier, especially with less than 25% of people commuting into downtown driving. While more and more workers are returning to the office, the city does need to continuously monitor the traffic situation and look for smart ways to handle it.
Sources:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Seattle/comments/1i6mi9j/amazon_workers_slow_the_seattlearea_commute_after/
