Comments

2
Hear, hear! When I started working in Queen Anne I was floored to find that there was no way for me to use my orca card to get over to the link and the bus tunnel, and worse that it's cash only! I never ended up using it since it would be such a hassle.
3
@1 Works out fine for San Francisco's cable cars, which take the commuter Clipper card (same deal as Orca). I would put them in the same category - kitschy, limited transit options.
4
@1 If it will help relieve congestion, it will be worth the subsidies. If the owner won't play along, use eminent domain to seize it.
5
I'm not sold on how much impact this would have, though. They already have a monthly pass option, which seems like it would be a great deal for anyone who needs it for their daily commute, given how bad Mercer and Denny are in the afternoon.
6
Interesting, except that the 1,2,3,4,13 and D Line buses also travel from downtown to the other side of this "barrier".
7
#2 there are a number of buses that run from both sides and the middle of Queen Anne to 3rd Avenue, connecting with the Link and bus tunnel and they all take ORCA.
8
I've heard those things are awfully loud
9
Another bizarre mention. What does the route 8 have to do with anything?
10
The monorail used to be run by Metro, and I think they took Metro passes. But the real problem with the monorail is the stupid station they were forced into by the construction of the stupid, stupid, stupid Westlake Center.

The old Westlake Station was large and easily accessible, even for those with mobility issues, and had a center platform so both trains could be at the station at one time.

Getting to the current Westlake Station involves making your way through the mess that is Westlake Mall, taking a sole hydraulic elevator, or walking up/down three flights of stairs.
11
@1, @4

Do either of you dingalings have any idea how an Orca card works?

An Orca card is not a monthly or weekly pass.

It's like a prepaid debit card. You are charged for each trip individually. The price you pay for a trip via the card can be different for different services or different times of day.

The monorail operators could charge any price it wanted to for Orca card users. They could charge more for Orca card users than regular ticket buyers, if there were high costs involved in integrating the thing.
11
@10

... and the other stop has a minimum walking time of ten minutes if you're going to or coming from anything that isn't Seattle Center.
12
While they are at it, the city should also re-take control of Bumbershoot and rescue it from its death spiral.
13
Charge riders what each ride really costs. Car drivers should not be continually asked to pay for everyone else's transportation.
14
Oh Dori. You're so nineteenth century.
15
@13 Congratulations on coming out as the unofficial valedictorian of the Trump school of Economics. Since you clearly have worn your special intellectual earmuffs for your past 35 years, here is what happened: ALL of America has subsidized all OUR grotesque and inefficient roads, parking lots, petroleum industry, automotive industry, and ALL the associated air and water pollution, and the wars waged for them since the dawn of the gasoline era. I'm not it saying it wasn't to some degree necessary; I'm saying like so many concepts at which we Americans excel and innovate, we tend to get greedy and fuck it up. After which, we tend to lie, and revise the historical perception of everything that happened and why. You're doing it right now, dumbass. IF the cost of driving a car were not subsidized by all of us, your pathetic ass would not be in a single-occupant vehicle. Feel stupid? You should, because you are. It goes with the territory of being an arrogant ill-informed nit-wit.
16
Wouldn't it be easier for the City just to take over Amazon? Means of production and all that. Then we could put their workers wherever we want without worrying about traffic.
17
Wow! Slow news day?

The P.O.S. monorail has been a lost cause for years. It's NOT worth expanding at all. I'm surprised there's even an article about it. There has to be something better to write about, Mudede.
18
Last I heard, they were studying the issue. Here is a summary of how that went down:

I was on the Seattle Transit Blog and mentioned a couple things: First, Google doesn't consider the monorail "transit", even though it shows the tracks. Second, you can't use your ORCA card on it. The second issue got people pissed off, along with the usual cynical "Seattle is so stupid" responses. Someone explained how the monorail works. It isn't owned by the city, but by a private company. And yes, that private company had no interest in using the ORCA card (basically too much hassle).

But then someone pointed out that the city approves the monorail operations every ten years, and they were about to renew within a few weeks. Next thing you know, a little letter writing campaign was started, and the city council took up the issue. They didn't require ORCA card usage immediately, but they did authorize a study, which should (presumably) end up showing a very minor cost to the agency (to handle the cards) and perhaps even a net gain (since they get money off of each transaction).

I don't know where that study stands. That would require, well, reporting.
19
#11 actually an ORCA card can have a monthly pass on it and does not have to have an e-purse.

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