Results tagged “link”

Sound Transit says weekday ridership is at estimated at 12,000 per day--with 15,000-17,000 on the weekend, so suck it, Seattle Times. ST is aiming for 21,000 riders per day by the end of this year, with another 5,000 daily stragglers due to board after the final leg to SeaTac opens end of December. Events like last weekend's Sounders FC and Seattle Mariners games, and the Seattle Seafair Torchlight Parade have boosted ridership--coming up, ST will be running free shuttles from the Othello light rail station to Seafair's hydroplanes and air show on Lake Washington on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

From the Times: "On the first day of regular light-rail service, ridership on Sound Transit's new Link train system is rather light. Midway through the morning commute, trains were arriving at Tukwila from downtown Seattle with fewer than 10 passengers aboard." And: "Normal use is projected at 26,600 per weekday next year—far more than today's trend." One morning is a trend? This makes us curious. What was the Times headline on February 4, 1965? "I-5 Looks Awfully Open"? Times commenters are through waiting for ridership to increase--they sound about ready to rush out and pull up the tracks.

Over the weekend and again this morning, a bug has been affecting Link light rail's ticketing system, telling aggrieved would-be riders no soup for you "transaction canceled." Bummer.

Starting today, the Sound Transit Link Light Rail line from Westlake to Tukwila is officially open. This weekend, everyone rides for free. (As of noon, that's been about 13,000 people.) Paid service starts on Monday. Transit officials said yesterday that the system is ready to go. Fourteen two-car trains are operating all weekend. On Monday, 14 trains will be operating during peak hours and 12 trains at all other times.

There must be some deep-seated rage that manifests during a ride on Seattle Metro buses. Recent Metro reports show that the rate of "incidents" per rider is the highest it's been in a loooong time. Seattle's top five sketchy buses (174, 7, 358, 106, and 36) have all seen their fair share of of chaos. The war stories are real from those who ride the bus. We have seen the shenanigans that goes on; take your pick: fighting, pervs, arguing, peeing, assaults, flashing, boozing, and the random acts from your local bat-shit crazy. We just hope the pretty new Link (that opens in 66 days) won't end up with stats and stories like these.

Still undecided about transit measure Proposition 1 on the ballot this year? Not sure about the light rail? Here's some food for thought: A Denver real estate study has revealed property values of homes closer to a new light rail line have actually increased while the remainder of the market has declined markedly: "Homes near light rail stations along the southeast line, which opened in November 2006, have increased by an average of nearly 4 percent over the past two years, according to an analysis by Your Castle Real Estate. But the rest of the Denver market declined an average of 7.5 percent."