Comments on: Riding the Rails All Day

By: Andrew Hitchcock

Andrew Hitchcock — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 05:05:21 +0000

My friend and I that were riding the system together on Saturday had lunch there. We had lunch at Tutta Bella and then drinks at Columbia City Ale House. There was also a group of volunteers eating at Tutta Bella while we were there.

By: SeattleHound » Seattle Light Rail is Open

SeattleHound » Seattle Light Rail is Open — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 18:27:43 +0000

[...] Transit Blog probably had the most persistent coverage. Several of their writers spent all day on the train, riding back and forth between downtown and Tukwila, checking out the people, the [...]

By: ericn

ericn — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 17:04:00 +0000

You can look through the window in the operator’s door to get a view out the front of the train, but the window is tinted.

By: Rob

Rob — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 16:54:02 +0000

Totally agree with you, Oran. Chicago’s :CTA has a sequence that works well:

1. “Ding dong” chime.
2. Announcement: “Doors closing.”
3. Pause (about 2 seconds)
4. Doors close.

By: joshuadf

joshuadf — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 15:03:05 +0000

Probably stoplights. We waited for a couple. I couldn’t see the red light out the front window like on the bus, so it was a little confusing.

By: John Niles

John Niles — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 08:28:32 +0000

If you have time during light rail operation hours with your multi-media computer, listen to one available channel of King County Metro’s radio communication with light rail operators at http://www.northwestradio.net/live/soundtransit.asx .

On my computer this URL loads successfully, sometimes, into Windows Media Player. There is a lot of white noise in between bursts of talking. It’s quite an education about how much the central control center knows about the location of the trains.

By: L. Smith

L. Smith — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 07:45:02 +0000

I went over to Jones Barbecue and saw some people around with light rail stickers. A few people asked me about my ride and how it was.

By: L. Smith

L. Smith — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 07:44:09 +0000

I had an idea that would clear up this whole debate: Paint the doors on one side red and the other side blue (on the inside). Thus, the announcement can be made “International District/Chinatown Station. Red doors.” It’s instantly clear to all which side has red doors.

By: L. Smith

L. Smith — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 07:38:46 +0000

According to some ST person I talked to today (I talked to so many people at the stations, so I really don’t remember who), the recordings are played based on mileage, but the operator needs to press a button or two to reset it and start it at the right point. If s/he forgets to and starts it late, it will be that far behind for the entire trip.

By: grant

grant — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 07:02:23 +0000

I was wondering if anyone experience delays in the Rainier Valley – on my last trip north through the valley (around 7:15) we came to a very abrupt stop just north of the Othello station – it was abrupt enough that people thought that maybe there was an obstruction or accident ahead. After that, we stopped 3 more times before reaching Columbia City station. The total time between the two stations was close to 10 minutes. Any thoughts?

By: Oran Viriyincy

Oran Viriyincy — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 04:41:24 +0000

One thing our group was critiquing was the ‘doors closing chime’. In our opinion the chime doesn’t give enough notice before the doors close. By the time you hear it, it’s too late. In many Asian cities, there is usually a tone (or a melody even) for a few seconds before the doors close so whoever on the platform knows if they are going to make it or not.

By: alexjonlin

alexjonlin — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 04:21:35 +0000

I rode it from 8:30am to 7:30am with just a 30 minute break for lunch and an hour break to volunteer with TCC. It’s awesome! My favorite station by far was the Beacon Hill Station. The platform level is incredible, it’s the coolest looking station I’ve ever seen anywhere.

By: Matt L

Matt L — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 04:15:28 +0000

The train I was on this morning (supposedly only the second to leave Westlake) was announcing one stop off in the tunnel, then there were no announcements the rest of the run. The trains I rode later were spot-on. How does that work – is it GPS-based, or does the operator control which announcement is played?

By: L. Smith

L. Smith — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 03:18:38 +0000

I was saying that all day today, I guess I’m pretty used to MAX so ours just didn’t sound right.

By: Ben Schiendelman

Ben Schiendelman — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 01:21:54 +0000

They’re working on that. Some of the trains had missing announcements.

By: k-lo

k-lo — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 00:54:20 +0000

I think that announcements like “now approaching ___ station, doors will open on the right/left” would work.

By: Tim

Tim — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 00:45:45 +0000

“Her” is the train. “She” is looking in the direction that she’s moving. If it just said “the right” then that would mean something different depending on where you’re sitting.

By: Galen

Galen — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 00:45:32 +0000

I had fun riding the light rail and we were the first group of people leaving Westlake at 10 AM. :) It wasn’t crowded at the time but when we returned back from Southcenter mall…the trains were packed.

I saw the cool effect when you go thru the Beacon Hill tunnel, if you look carefully you can see it show light showing of a playing cards, which is cool! I really love the Beacon Hill station, it looks awesome!

By: Seth

Seth — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 00:42:51 +0000

Don’t complain…MAX in Portland has all announcements in English AND Spanish. I can still remember “puertas a mi derecha” every 2 minutes.

By: Pete Lorimer

Pete Lorimer — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 00:23:33 +0000

* I too was thinking about the “my” in “doors on my right” earlier. Is “my” referring to a female ghost driver? Or is she the entire train?

My entire car on the way back from the Tukwila station actually had a discussion about this. Since we saw the driver when he got on, we decided it must be the train itself. So apparently trains are like boats, and are all female?