Comments

1

King County Metro operates the buses, not Sound Transit.

“your absurd lack of rent control keeps me stuck here”

Hunh???

2

“Did anyone notice that all the new Link stations appeared across the street from parking lots or garages?”

I did not notice that because it is not true.

3

The light rail should have more stops -- absolutely. But it is designed more to please politicians from distant suburbs (or distant independent cities) than provide the best value. Holy shit, there isn't even a stop at First Hill -- WTF!

As for the buses, Seattle helps subsidize Metro buses. They have for years. Unfortunately, last year they decided to reduce the subsidy. You can thank the mayor and Alex Pedersen for the reduction. That is why the buses run less frequently (and in some cases, don't run at all).

Another problem is our fucked up zoning. Since population density is concentrated into little pockets, it makes it very difficult to serve with buses. With more widespread density, we would not only have cheaper rent, but better transit as well.

4

@2 -- Northgate is across from parking lots and parking garages. The community didn't want a new park and ride lot, but they built it anyway. There is plenty of private parking as well.

Oh, and of course there is a public park and ride next to the Roosevelt Station as well. So two out of three stations.

5

Oh, and I hope no one reads my comments and thinks I believe that Northgate Link sucks. It doesn't. With the addition of the stop at the U-District, Seattle finally has the section it should have started with (U-District to downtown via Capitol/First Hill). It is just frustrating that they make so many preventable mistakes, while fixating on building total crap (i. e. very expensive, distant subway lines).

6

I suggest a better attitude about your transportation choices.

7

@4: That's a stretch. The Green Lake P&R has been there for decades (and isn't "across the street"). And there ain't no parking around the U District Station, so I'd say 1.2 out of 3 stations.

Seattle does have a lot to work on how to ACCESS the new stations however. 45th is a clusterfuck, with all the buses now being redirected to the light rail station. It needs transit-only lanes.

8

Shoulda built the monorail.

9

@ 3, And the gazillions of dollars needed to buy up all the real estate and construct more stations/stops at a time when our real estate has hyper-inflated in tandem with the pandemic-induced revenues crash would come from where exactly?

Also, it would be geotechnically impossible to build a station under First Hill. It would’ve had to be too far underground; that’s why they supplemented it with the street car.

It’s hard as hell trying to reverse engineer a mass transit system in a dense heavily urbanized area after nearly a century of car-centric planning.

As far as building the rail out to burbs, they’re paying into it, so they rightfully expect to get something out of it. A go-it-alone approach has never worked for us. The monorail is the most recent example of how it was sabotaged every step of the way. Rabid NIMBYs would’ve guaranteed we’d end up with nothing.

10

@9 agree. its too bad that the bus system is being weakened at the same time as the rail system is becoming functional (which is good). minus some of the histrionics the bus is OPs original problem. given what you listed busses make a lot of sense in this city.

11

I've tried 3 bus routes, 2 of them new, to get to Light Rail since 10/2. 75, 62, and 79.

Every one of them takes approx. the same time from door-to-door: 50 minutes. One involves a mile of walking.

12

What @1 said.

Also, what happened to your bike or skateboard?

13

@8 actually, we expanded capacity for that. You can thank the Seattle Kraken

14

Oh dear. What a whiner.

It's not hard to leave Seattle. I know lots of people who have done so.

15

Great IAnon! Whiny, foul-mouthed, and ignorant of the issues! I rate this IAnon 7/10.

15

@1 Original Andrew, @12 Will in Seattle, and @14 Catalina Vel-DuRay for the WIN!

@9 Original Andrew: Yep. Seattle had been offered shitloads of federal money to improve regional infrastructure way back when putting I-5 through Seattle and King County, and expanding to the U.S. Canadian Border at the Peace Arch in 1962 during the World's Fair. Voters said no. San Fransisco's BART system and other large U.S cities ended up getting the federal funding instead. Meanwhile those of us in the Puget Sound region have been paying one helluva price for a forever worsening mess.
I can't imagine having to commute on I-5 anywhere anymore.

16

@1, @OP, Sound Transit doesn't operate anything, it's all subcontracted. Metro operates light rail and ST bus routes that stay within King County. Community Transit operates ST commuter bus routes to and from Snohomish County. Pierce Transit operates commuter bus routes to and from Pierce.

17

@1 I'm guessing what the OP meant is that they can't save any money to move because, due to Seattle's lack of rent control, their current landlord takes most of their income. I can relate.

Still, I don't know where they expect a Link station between Roosevelt and Northgate would be located. (Maple Leaf? Good luck with that.)

19

That was one good rant.

The dirty little secret about transit advocacy is that the citizens and officials who advocate and vote for transit systems don’t actually use the system, so they have no idea how dysfunctional it is, as this ranting writer so aptly points out.

I’ll bet you a 12-pack of your favorite beer that no one on the Sound Transit Board uses Sound Transit.

My express route was cancelled due to COVID, and I’ve had a heck of a time getting to work, so I can relate to this author’s frustration.

The light rail works well if you’re next to a station, otherwise you have to use iffy Metro Transit or Uber.

Apparently, Seattle had a fiduciary orgasm from dropping all the coin for this kooky transit system, so from a collectivist, spiritual standpoint it was worth it.

This is sort of like George Bush (the one who looks like Alfred E. Neuman) fondling himself over the Wounded Warriors Project and visiting wounded veterans and telling them it was worth it to become maimed over that stupid war in Afghanistan.

At any rate, pollysexual agrees with auntie grizelda that Trump should be cornholed in federal prison for tax evasion and Councilmember Kathy Lambert should suck the plank for those atrocious racist campaign mailers she sent out.

Okay, there’s polly’s rant.

21

The light rail didn't benefit me personally therefore it's a piece of crap, waaah!

You need to recognize changes come with tradeoffs and it's impossible to please everyone. My commute got a little longer too but now I can go north or south any time of day and not have to worry about I-5. I can get to Capitol Hill without having to hike up Denny or Olive. There are fewer buses clogging up downtown now too.

22

Surprised more people aren't mentioning biking. It would take you 10 minutes.
OR if you don't want to bike, ride one of those e-scooters. LINK has a program for poor people where you get NINETY FIVE PERCENT OFF your rides. So, basically free. The last time I flew back to Seattle I took the light rail to the U District then rode one of those scooters two miles to my house in Greenlake for 26 cents!

23

Ride a fucking bike to the light rail. Yeesh. It ain't hard, even in the winter.

25

There should be a tax on threatening to leave the city, then not leaving.

26

I like the light rail system. It's imperfect but generally efficient and helpful. The new three stops are a big boon to me and many others, and the eastern and northern extensions coming soon will improve service even more. Orca passes are quite reasonable, too. You want to leave Seattle? You might find many metropolitan areas in this country have far worse public transit than the Seattle area.

27

@23 - Unfortunately that won't work. No way you can leave a bike parked outside the light rail station unless you want to buy a new one twice a month. Way too many bike thieves in this town and no one seems to be doing anything about them. If any significant number start trying to bring them on the train , that will rapidly become impossible.

29

@28 - I would except once more than a couple of people get that idea there is no space. Scooter is not a bad idea. Dealing appropriately with bike thieves would also be a plan.

30

@9 "It’s hard as hell trying to reverse engineer a mass transit system in a dense heavily urbanized area"

New York City does it all the time. They dig a new subway tunnel where it's needed, and voila! Sure it's expensive, but what in New York isn't?
They do it in Chicago, too.
And Washington.
I think they did it in Denver, too.

You just have to quit thinking of the comparison between a multi-billion-dollar integrated system that will last 200 years, compared to the price of one new Toyota that will last, maybe, 10 years or so.

31

why u mad tho


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