The train car was nowhere near empty or even comfortably roomy at the time these images were taken. As you can see, some of the riders have a strong social/urban ethic; others completely lack it. The latter kind are refusing to grow with and adapt to the new realities of this city. They still live in that other, older, smaller, uncrowded, uninteresting Seattle. We left that town forever.

Last week, Sound Transit announced that ridership on Link in August had increased by an astounding 21 percent from August of 2013. (The ridership actually flattened and then dropped last year after July.) Those numbers are real, and are to likely stick. Meaning, they represent a real social shift rather than a bubble, a fad. Five years ago, there were, on average, 12,000 daily riders on a weekday in August; in 2014, there were nearly 30,000. As Sound Transit's PDF shows, August 2014 crossed the million mark for boardings for the first time ever. Rush hour is now producing real crowds in downtown stations, particularly Westlake. And our buses have apparently taken the aspect of Calcutta.

All of these changes require a change in behavior. That change is social in nature and urban in ethic. We need to stop thinking that our pieces of luggage (property) are people.