Things Fall Apart Edition
To be fair, there are other reasons your travel might be delayed than long, slow freight trains -- they just may be more mysterious. After Alaska Airlines' troubles with depressurizations in the spring, they ordered a big inspection and -- headscratching all around -- found nothing much to report. Now the gremlin is back, and spewing smoke. (Shrug. These things happen.) At least an engine didn't go out, as with an American Airlines jet this morning. At 30,000 feet, you want all the engine you paid for.
Much closer to the ground, but still elevated, we have the Monorail, which has been running in fits and stops since restarting August 11, frightening tourists and generally acting like the most fun ride that the Fun Forest has to offer. (We advise them to raise the price to $12 and make people stand in those switchback lines to board, like at real amusement park that gets overrun by visitors.)
Why the Monorail won't go is perplexing the people who run it, Seattle Monorail Services, so its directors have decided to call in the experts. You didn't know there were monorail experts, did you? What a fascinating -- and apparently highly classified -- field of inquiry.
[Director Tom] Albro said he "can't hazard a guess" as to when the Blue Train will be able to run again, though it is being tested in an attempt to isolate the problem that stalled it Saturday... Albro could not identify the team of experts Tuesday but said they'll be "recognized experts" and his company is still assessing which individuals to consult.
The upshot is that it doesn't look like the Monorail will be running by Bumbershoot. This in tragic tones, though the Monorail hasn't been running for months and months, denying Westlake Center and Seattle Center of far more traffic than could ever crowd into it over the course of a three-day festival. It would seem to have been a great time to do some of that $100-million-worth of postponed repair and upgrades. But maybe it was better -- since after all it's an odd but key transportation element that people rely on -- to ignore the whole problem and hope it would fix itself for free.
