Comments on: Don’t Worry, Be Happy: This Is Expected Ridership

By: September Link Ridership Numbers Flat - Seattle Transit Blog

September Link Ridership Numbers Flat - Seattle Transit Blog — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 17:48:21 +0000

[...] As always, I want to point out that month-to-month ridership reports don’t mean very much and are subject to seasonal variations and small-sample-size issues. [...]

By: First Link Ridership Numbers - Seattle Transit Blog

First Link Ridership Numbers - Seattle Transit Blog — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 18:59:50 +0000

[...] Ben took the position that it’s best not to get too worked up about ridership numbers at this stage, and I think [...]

By: Talulah

Talulah — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 19:28:41 +0000

All of the Link stations will have designated “fare zones” which will include the platforms. The reason there is no “fare zone” signage in the downtown tunnel is because it is Metro’s turf.

By: News Roundup: Link Reactions Everywhere - Seattle Transit Blog

News Roundup: Link Reactions Everywhere - Seattle Transit Blog — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 09:14:08 +0000

[...] direction, which shockingly produces low-ridership anecdotes. Although numbers games are pointless at this stage, Seattlest rips Lindblom [...]

By: Mickymse

Mickymse — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 21:55:57 +0000

I had a colleague who rode in today from Mt. Baker. (This might be a permanent switch for her!) She was looking for a place to use her Metro paper tickets to buy a ticket, and then thought she’d put it in somewhere when she exited the station Downtown. Ooops!

By: Mickymse

Mickymse — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 21:54:03 +0000

As I said, Ben, I get what you’re trying to say. It will hopefully be around in 100 years. But it is designed for, say, 2050.

And my bitterness about the monorail has little to do with critiquing anti-transit folks like Schram and Carlson. Did you read what I wrote, or were you just too quick to defense?

Your point about being planned for the 20-30 years hence when density will have grown up around them and future riders won’t need cars is exactly what I meant about it not being built to take people out of cars.

When critics like John Niles complain that rail cannibalizes riders from buses we shouldn’t try to defend against the comment, we should point out that this is PRECISELY what rail should do. The majority of new riders at the start of Link will be from buses… but those riders now have higher frequency, more capacity, and greater reliability in their trip; and, ideally, this should free up bus hours to either provide more frequent service to/from the station areas or more bus service elsewhere. (This is a good point, by the way, for folks who complain that a rail line doesn’t serve their particular neighborhoods.)

As transit advocates, we should all know that TRANSIT DOES NOT REDUCE CONGESTION. Of course, adding a new lane of freeway will not reduce congestion in the long run either.

By: Mickymse

Mickymse — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 21:44:00 +0000

We DID look at better ways to get better transit service. Folks in 1/2 of the corridor overwhelmingly said “elevated transit” and elevated was competitive with streetcar as the desire for the other half.

Add to that the expense of tunneling any portions or the complications of TWO water crossings, and monorail simply made the most sense in the corridor at the time.

And I still happen to believe it will be a tough sell to bring light rail to West Seattle — unless it comes up from Burien instead of from Downtown or SoDo.

By: Chris Stefan

Chris Stefan — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 17:36:54 +0000

I’m going to hit Tammy Bakery later this week.

By: Chris Stefan

Chris Stefan — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 17:36:10 +0000

… ton of Mexican, Vietnamese, Ethiopian, and Somali groceries and restaurants that is.

By: Chris Stefan

Chris Stefan — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 17:34:42 +0000

Ben,
Yea there are a ton of Mexican, Vietnamese, Ethiopian, and Somali all up and down the Valley. I also found at least three Filipino places up near the Beacon Hill station.

By: Chris Stefan

Chris Stefan — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 17:30:07 +0000

I’m speaking of Tacos El Asadero located at 3517 Rainier Ave S. Which I believe is the first Seattle area taco truck/bus and still one of the best.

However I believe the Taco Bus at Othello is run by the same people. Even with the longer trip time on link, hitting that location should be faster.

I did find some really good Somali food near the Othello Station last night. The place doesn’t look like much but the food was cheap and excellent. I had goat for the first time and found out I like it!

By: Rob

Rob — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 16:02:56 +0000

Only one-way Link (and Sounder) tckets are good for a Metro fare, but it’s for a one-zone fare which implies that it works during peak periods. That will be the case until inter-agency transfers are done away with at the end of the year.

http://www.soundtransit.org/Riding-Sound-Transit/Fares-and-Passes/Transfers.xml

There really needs to be an unlimited day/multi-day pass for Metro and Link!

By: Morgan Wick

Morgan Wick — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 08:08:05 +0000

“Then when UW starts any UW students living in the south end can use Link to transfer to a 71, 72, 73, 74 bus.”

That’s BEFORE U-Link opens. After U-Link opens ridership during the school year could be MASSIVE.

By: Morgan Wick

Morgan Wick — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 08:06:46 +0000

Wait… M Street (Madison and 8th), IGA (3rd and Pine), AND Uwajimaya (5th and whatever south of Jackson) in walking distance? Especially with the long, uphill climb to the first of those, including maybe possibly crossing I-5? Am I missing something?

By: poncho

poncho — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 07:38:48 +0000

yeah and its gonna confuse the hell out of people having a fareless zone in seattle just for buses and a fareless zone in portland just for rail. plus the way fares are paid on the buses on metro is confusing. pay when you get on, pay when you leave. then it seems after 7 you pay no matter what when you board. also i bought a link ticket today r/t for $3.50. how does it work for transfering to metro bus? especially when it is $2 peak fares.

By: Ben Schiendelman

Ben Schiendelman — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 07:24:28 +0000

Generally, when I talk about future routing not making sense, it’s because there’s another future route that makes more sense sooner, or that the future route would run through an area that can’t be redeveloped easily, or because it’s one of those spur ideas people have that would mean 15 minute peak headways.

By: Ben Schiendelman

Ben Schiendelman — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 07:23:08 +0000

They’re going easy on people at first. You don’t want to piss off your new riders, they’ll learn to pay soon enough.

By: Ben Schiendelman

Ben Schiendelman — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 07:22:37 +0000

A lot of them are plainclothes. They’re out, don’t worry.

By: lorax

lorax — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 07:12:43 +0000

Once buses are fully re-routed to take advantage of Link, we’ll see ridership surge. The 140, for example, does not currently connect with Link, but in a few months it will stop serving the airport and will start serving the Tukwila station. Right now it is more than a half-mile walk from the nearest 140 stop to the Tukwila station. Once that happens, ridership will increase from all over the South End.

By: Zed

Zed — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 06:55:15 +0000

A lot of the article was just hearsay too. “Well we heard from someone who said that they saw ten people get off the train in Westlake this morning, therefore ridership is low.”

I was actually quite surprised at how many people were on the six trains that I rode this afternoon, I had to stand on my last trip from Beacon Hill to downtown around 1:00.