Comments on: 92,000

By: Jessica

Jessica — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 03:02:30 +0000

Thanks everyone!

By: John Jensen

John Jensen — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 21:24:01 +0000

I think you might have heard wrong on this, Ben. The shuttle’s schedule seems to have 10 minute frequencies for most of the day.

By: Tim

Tim — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 21:20:35 +0000

I think the people that would use them know exactly what it means.

By: Oran Viriyincy

Oran Viriyincy — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 21:03:47 +0000

For future reference, the TVMs are from Scheidt & Bachmann.

By: Mike Orr

Mike Orr — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 20:58:22 +0000

I saw those signs and didn’t understand what they meant. While I could probably guess they mean “emergency shelter”, they should be clearer.

By: Ben Schiendelman

Ben Schiendelman — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 17:58:43 +0000

We’ll get a 133rd station eventually. I’m not worried about that. :)

By: Ben Schiendelman

Ben Schiendelman — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 17:57:46 +0000

A ‘no more parking available’ sign might have been helpful, but it would have to have been actively managed – people were coming and going by car all day.

The lines looked well managed to me. There were quite a few plainclothes media around, probably 70 or 80 of us.

By: Chris Stefan

Chris Stefan — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 15:11:11 +0000

In the DSTT I believe there are stretchers along the tunnel for carrying people with mobility problems in case an evacuation is needed. I don’t know about the Beacon Hill tunnel though.

By: Mad Park

Mad Park — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 14:22:15 +0000

We can never have too much service. We’ve had too little for 75 years.

By: Ben Schiendelman

Ben Schiendelman — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 13:49:10 +0000

The connector doesn’t have the same schedule at this point, actually – it’ll be on 15 minute headways. Closer than that was apparently not feasible.

By: Ben Schiendelman

Ben Schiendelman — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 13:47:05 +0000

That’s a great explanation. I meant more – what would Jessica do, as she can’t walk?

By: dang

dang — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 13:26:57 +0000

I’m not sure of the exact requirements for this type of building, but I would suspect that ST would err on the side of caution. The building code requires areas of refuge to be built adjacent to or within other exits (i.e stairs)– the areas of refuge are fire-rated with smoke partitions and would not be remote from general emergency exits. The elevators would most definitely be on emergency back up power as Colin noted–expressly for the purpose of evacuating people. The stairs are also usually “oversized” so as to allow a good samaritan or fire fighters to navigate them while carrying people. I would also expect that the stations have sprinklers, which are effective enough in suppressing fires that the building codes allow an area bonus–basically a doubling of allowable building sizes–if sprinklers are used.

By: Tim

Tim — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 09:21:31 +0000

If the train burst into flames it would probably stop. The operator would stop it if it didn’t do so itself. Then the operator would open the doors and announce instructions over the PA. There’s room for people to stand between the tracks along the entire alignment. The pantograph would probably come down, and the OCS would probably get shut down too. Another train could come by to pick them up, or they could use one of the many emergency exit stairways located along the elevated section (or just walk across the street on the at-grade portions). The tunnel also has various emergency evacuation areas.

By: Tim

Tim — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 09:16:34 +0000

A couple of reasons:
1) The 194 connects Federal Way and Seattle, not Seattle and the airport. The airport is just one of its stops.
2) The tri annual service change already does enough to confuse people. Let’s not confuse them by changing this route halfway through the shakeup.
3) While we won’t know for sure, I wouldn’t be surprised if the connector shuttle will be cutaway vans with luggage racks. Yes, I’m aware that the LRVs do not have luggage racks, but they have level boarding which makes things much easier. Having previously worked at an airport valet lot, I know having luggage racks on buses makes things far easier. But we won’t know until later today what they (ST contracted out the connector) are using.
4) The routing kinda sucks if you’re coming from Seattle and trying to get to the airport via Tukwila station. You have to take 518 (which is what the 194 does anyways) and get off at 99, backtrack to the station, and then take 154th to Air Cargo (AKA Perimeter) Road. It’s even worse northbound–instead of continuing to 518 from the Airport Expressway, you have to dump off at 170th to take Air Cargo to 154th and then get on 99 to go south to 518′s on ramps. I don’t know what traffic is like at the intersection, I would only go through there once or twice a week–and it was always after midnight.
5) This is the most important one. King County/Metro pays for the 194. Sound Transit pays for Link. Metro has nothing to gain by changing its routing and picking up a bunch of people that won’t pay.
6) Let’s keep rewarding tourists that choose to use public transit. The 194 is a one seat ride to the tunnel stations. Yes, the train is sexy, but some people will take a cab or a shuttle instead if they know it’s going to be a two seat ride. I failed on this point since the connector effectively makes it a two seat ride. Maybe I can save it by mentioning that that the connector runs on the same schedule as the train. The 194 has 15-30 minute headways weekdays and 30 minute headways weekends, or about half that of the train. If you’re going to increase headways, you need to have someone pay for it, and I don’t think ST could justify the cost of paying for more 194 trips when they could get their own customized shuttle for cheaper.

By: Patrick

Patrick — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 07:10:45 +0000

I don’t see why metro is going to continue to operate route 194 all the way to Downtown the remainder of the year why can’t they truncate it at Tukwila station, and why is sound transit is going to operate a shuttle from the airport to Tukwila station. It seems like there is a lot of overlapping service.

By: Ben Schiendelman

Ben Schiendelman — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 06:24:21 +0000

Yes, I saw places of refuge at Tukwila. I’m not sure about Mount Baker.

By: Ben Schiendelman

Ben Schiendelman — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 06:23:05 +0000

ERG is just for ORCA, the contractor for the TVMs and software is German, with software engineers in Germany and the Czech Republic – the patch came from Europe.

By: Ben Schiendelman

Ben Schiendelman — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 06:18:11 +0000

I have an answer for Beacon Hill.

The four elevators are actually built for emergency exit. Only one is converted to fire use, the other three are used for evacuation.

There should also be a portable chair or two in each stairwell, although I haven’t actually looked.

I don’t know what would happen on a train. That’s a little worrisome – I’ll ask, or maybe ST Guy will know.

By: L. Smith

L. Smith — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 05:39:10 +0000

I saw sings at Tukwila Int’l Blvd featuring a wheelchair emblem and an arrow pointing to a Place of Refuge.

By: PugetSoundPete

PugetSoundPete — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 05:13:40 +0000

Sound Transit did a great job, and I hope the momentum continues so our community embraces Link as Portland has done for MAX.

My only regret is that there isn’t a station in Tukwila at Allentown, at S 133rd and Interurban. I like that location for a Link station for its access to Boeing, Southcenter, the Interurban Bike trail, Starfire Sports Complex, et al., and it can revitalize a community and business park that’s less than a half-hour’s ride away from downtown Seattle. Metro can close down the Tukwila Park-and-Ride, since it’s only a couple of blocks south and there is room for parking even at the current office park. A station there also means lower speed and train noise that concern the nearby residents. Maybe one day this will happen.

But at least there’s finally a good alternative of transportation in this area. I’ll be riding Link again soon and often!

…pete…