What, prey tell, are those plastic green arrows on every lug nut in the system? Torque indicators?
yes … they are an easy way for the mechanics to make sure that the lugs aren’t loosening as all they have to do is make sure that they are all pointed the same way.
This is a product that was created after a bus threw a wheel (can’t remember where) due to loose lug nuts.
You may also expect to see these on many truck operators as well.
So they don’t indicate when the wheel has been properly torqued, only that the lug nut has moved? Aha! Now I get it! That makes a lot of sense.
I guess the trick is to make sure they all point the same way before you do the final torque down. Metro probably uses one of those “spin every nut at the same time” tools, right? Surely they aren’t running around with a torque wrench doing the star pattern by hand, right? In fact if I could guess, the tool probably holds them in the right direction the whole time, right?
Before we got a close look at them, we first assumed they were part of some kind of system that does what the airlines do–thread wire through each nut. I’m guessing the looked at such a thing and realized it would be too much of a pain for a bus?
The Bravern is opening up in Bellevue only a short walk away from Bellevue Transit Center. It may be a bit upscale for the communists who ride the bus. However, I’ve got to wonder if shopping areas around BTC (and eventually East Link) may siphon customers away from Hellevue Square?
Even my rich self feels uncomfortable going there.
Doubtful, the shops at the Bravern seem to be kinda like Westlake vs. Pacific Place. A different clientèle.
The people that would never have taken the 550 to go to Bellevue Square certianly aren’t going to start taking it to shop at Bravern.
East Link, if anything, will siphon customers that would have gone to Southcenter. That is if East Link opens before the north link. If north link comes first, then Northgate will siphon from southcenter. Either way, the lack of a stop at Southcenter is going to really hurt those guys once there are two new lines who end (and start) at competing malls. Which sucks because they really did a good job with their remodel/expansion.
My hope is Tukwila will get a clue and put a street car in, lobby metro to have a bus that runs with the same headway as the light rail, or the mall itself would run a free shuttle at least during the holidays. If they had at least a free shuttle I might actually do some of my holiday shopping down there for once. Heck, there is a Target down there and us city folk dont have any that are easy to get to. We finally get a hardware store thanks to the central link.
Target across from Northgate?
Those of us living south of Downtown don’t find Northgate to be all *that* accessible. Basically if you live on, say, Beacon Hill, it’s 10 miles to Northgate Target or 10 miles to Southcenter Target. The Westwood and Factoria ones are slightly closer but take just as long to get to. One that would be a quick Link + shuttle ride would actually be sorta handy.
My spouse had this idea that Tukwila should run one of these from the Link station to the mall. Heh.
Target: immediately north of Northgate mall.
Hardware store: Hardwick’s at 42nd & Roosevelt in the U-District. They pretty much have what you need.
Transit fans already prefer Northgate because it’s much easier to get to than Southcenter, Bellevue Square, or University Village. (Well, Bellevue Square is easier if you live on the Eastside.)
Bell Square and U-Village are pretty easy to get to. U-Village probably has just as many routes going by it as Northgate does, and Bell Square has a TON of routes that come within a few blocks (BTC).
How does one get to U-Village from Capitol Hill? The 43 requires a pretty good hike.
You could try the elusive 25 but it still requires a hike down the Belmont slope.
For me Bellevue Square is the easiest. Ten minute walk to the bus stop and a 15 minute ride on the 535 Bellevue. Followed by Alderwood Mall by taking the northbound 535, drops me right in front. Actually, Totem Lake Mall is closest but it’s pretty much a dead mall.
Of course, we have a mall right on Link — Westlake.
Keep in mind, I’m thinking long term. The thought of Kemper Freeman investing all that effort to fight light rail, only to have his customers siphoned off to shopping areas like the Bravern and others yet to be developed in the Bel-Red corridor is an intriguing possibility. Either way, it will be an interesting case study of TOD vs. auto-centric development, assuming Herr Freeman doesn’t get wise and demand/build a Streetcar from Eastlink to Bellevue Square.
I have a question about transfers.
If someone rides Metro to downtown and gets a paper transfer, is that all they need to show when riding LINK? or do they have to get a ticket for the difference?
How does this work?
Thanks (I use Orca, but some of my friends do not (yet))
Bus riders who pay cash or use a bus ticket may obtain a paper transfer from the bus driver to use toward a train fare. Valid bus transfers from Community Transit, Metro and Pierce Transit are valid as one-zone bus fare (Adult $1.50, Youth $1.00, Senior/Disabled $0.50) and can be applied toward a train trip. An ST Express bus transfer is worth the full value of the fare paid, and can be applied toward a train trip. For Sounder, upgrade your bus transfer to reach the full fare at the Ticket Vending Machine.
NOTE A valid bus transfer is valid for full fare on Link (no upgrade required). This will be the case through Dec. 31, 2009, when bus transfer slips will no longer accepted on light rail trains.
The way I understand it, since the transfer is good for full fare, you don’t need to purchase an upgrade ticket and thus the transfer is valid as a Link fare. When playing with a TVM, I wasn’t able to purchase a zero dollar upgrade ticket.
In 2010 when transfers are only good for $1.50, I understand that you’ll have to buy an upgrade ticket and show both the ticket and the transfer to the fare inspector.
Does the proposed deep bore tunnel plan put Seattle on the hook for the cost overages for the entire project or just the seawall and surface street portion?
Yes, and at the beginning she loves being around buses…
Two questions:
1. Why are a couple of the ‘art ameobas’ at Beacon Hill Station not lit?
2. When will the orcacard.com web code for the footers be fixed? I mean its a cute one time joke that use an Internet Explorer specific conditional of ’Not IE’ to enclose the footer for non-IE browsers knowing they won’t pay any attention to it but come on – change the conditionals to standard compliant ones already so that ’Not IE’ browsers have a fighting chance.
how do you define a ‘TRUE’ city?
My city always stays true.
The mechanic just pushes the indicators down on the wheel nuts after they’ve all been torqued down. Plus the nut changes color if the brakes drag and the wheel gets hot. Neato, huh?
Duh–they just slide over the nut. That makes sense. For some reason I was imagining they slid between the nut and the studs but when I think about it that would be silly as you could never torque the things down!
Save the Trolleys!!!!!
Oran, how do you remove street names and labels from openstreetmap images to make your transit maps? I’ve been trying to figure it out for a while now…
I use Adobe Illustrator for finishing my maps. I export from openstreetmap as a PostScript file as the pdf and svg exports don’t look right when imported. When you open it up it comes as a single group of all the objects. Double click anywhere to edit individual objects in the group. You can now select the labels and delete them manually. At first, that’s what I did but there’s a better way.
Select a part of a label, go to the ‘Select’ menu and then ‘Same > Appearance’. Most of the labels will be selected for deletion. You may have to repeat this several times before it’s clean but it’s MUCH easier than manually deleting them.
The pedestrian bridge at the SeaTac Airport station is being installed tonight. From the Port of Seattle website;
“The north entrance to the Airport Garage will close temporarily from approximately 7 p.m. on Tuesday, September 8, until 5 a.m. on Wednesday, September 9. The pedestrian bridge that will connect the Airport Link Light Rail Station to the Airport Garage is being installed.”
What, prey tell, are those plastic green arrows on every lug nut in the system? Torque indicators?
yes … they are an easy way for the mechanics to make sure that the lugs aren’t loosening as all they have to do is make sure that they are all pointed the same way.
This is a product that was created after a bus threw a wheel (can’t remember where) due to loose lug nuts.
You may also expect to see these on many truck operators as well.
So they don’t indicate when the wheel has been properly torqued, only that the lug nut has moved? Aha! Now I get it! That makes a lot of sense.
I guess the trick is to make sure they all point the same way before you do the final torque down. Metro probably uses one of those “spin every nut at the same time” tools, right? Surely they aren’t running around with a torque wrench doing the star pattern by hand, right? In fact if I could guess, the tool probably holds them in the right direction the whole time, right?
Before we got a close look at them, we first assumed they were part of some kind of system that does what the airlines do–thread wire through each nut. I’m guessing the looked at such a thing and realized it would be too much of a pain for a bus?
Well lookie here:
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2009814427_bravern06.html
The Bravern is opening up in Bellevue only a short walk away from Bellevue Transit Center. It may be a bit upscale for the communists who ride the bus. However, I’ve got to wonder if shopping areas around BTC (and eventually East Link) may siphon customers away from Hellevue Square?
Even my rich self feels uncomfortable going there.
Doubtful, the shops at the Bravern seem to be kinda like Westlake vs. Pacific Place. A different clientèle.
The people that would never have taken the 550 to go to Bellevue Square certianly aren’t going to start taking it to shop at Bravern.
East Link, if anything, will siphon customers that would have gone to Southcenter. That is if East Link opens before the north link. If north link comes first, then Northgate will siphon from southcenter. Either way, the lack of a stop at Southcenter is going to really hurt those guys once there are two new lines who end (and start) at competing malls. Which sucks because they really did a good job with their remodel/expansion.
My hope is Tukwila will get a clue and put a street car in, lobby metro to have a bus that runs with the same headway as the light rail, or the mall itself would run a free shuttle at least during the holidays. If they had at least a free shuttle I might actually do some of my holiday shopping down there for once. Heck, there is a Target down there and us city folk dont have any that are easy to get to. We finally get a hardware store thanks to the central link.
Target across from Northgate?
Those of us living south of Downtown don’t find Northgate to be all *that* accessible. Basically if you live on, say, Beacon Hill, it’s 10 miles to Northgate Target or 10 miles to Southcenter Target. The Westwood and Factoria ones are slightly closer but take just as long to get to. One that would be a quick Link + shuttle ride would actually be sorta handy.
My spouse had this idea that Tukwila should run one of these from the Link station to the mall. Heh.
Target: immediately north of Northgate mall.
Hardware store: Hardwick’s at 42nd & Roosevelt in the U-District. They pretty much have what you need.
Transit fans already prefer Northgate because it’s much easier to get to than Southcenter, Bellevue Square, or University Village. (Well, Bellevue Square is easier if you live on the Eastside.)
Bell Square and U-Village are pretty easy to get to. U-Village probably has just as many routes going by it as Northgate does, and Bell Square has a TON of routes that come within a few blocks (BTC).
How does one get to U-Village from Capitol Hill? The 43 requires a pretty good hike.
You could try the elusive 25 but it still requires a hike down the Belmont slope.
For me Bellevue Square is the easiest. Ten minute walk to the bus stop and a 15 minute ride on the 535 Bellevue. Followed by Alderwood Mall by taking the northbound 535, drops me right in front. Actually, Totem Lake Mall is closest but it’s pretty much a dead mall.
Of course, we have a mall right on Link — Westlake.
Keep in mind, I’m thinking long term. The thought of Kemper Freeman investing all that effort to fight light rail, only to have his customers siphoned off to shopping areas like the Bravern and others yet to be developed in the Bel-Red corridor is an intriguing possibility. Either way, it will be an interesting case study of TOD vs. auto-centric development, assuming Herr Freeman doesn’t get wise and demand/build a Streetcar from Eastlink to Bellevue Square.
I have a question about transfers.
If someone rides Metro to downtown and gets a paper transfer, is that all they need to show when riding LINK? or do they have to get a ticket for the difference?
How does this work?
Thanks (I use Orca, but some of my friends do not (yet))
from Sound Transit’s fare and pass page:
Using bus transfers on Sounder or Central Link
Bus riders who pay cash or use a bus ticket may obtain a paper transfer from the bus driver to use toward a train fare. Valid bus transfers from Community Transit, Metro and Pierce Transit are valid as one-zone bus fare (Adult $1.50, Youth $1.00, Senior/Disabled $0.50) and can be applied toward a train trip. An ST Express bus transfer is worth the full value of the fare paid, and can be applied toward a train trip. For Sounder, upgrade your bus transfer to reach the full fare at the Ticket Vending Machine.
NOTE A valid bus transfer is valid for full fare on Link (no upgrade required). This will be the case through Dec. 31, 2009, when bus transfer slips will no longer accepted on light rail trains.
The way I understand it, since the transfer is good for full fare, you don’t need to purchase an upgrade ticket and thus the transfer is valid as a Link fare. When playing with a TVM, I wasn’t able to purchase a zero dollar upgrade ticket.
In 2010 when transfers are only good for $1.50, I understand that you’ll have to buy an upgrade ticket and show both the ticket and the transfer to the fare inspector.
Does the proposed deep bore tunnel plan put Seattle on the hook for the cost overages for the entire project or just the seawall and surface street portion?
See Reuven Carlyle’s message here:
http://publicola.net/?p=4930
Hey is this Los Angeles?
Yes, and at the beginning she loves being around buses…
Two questions:
1. Why are a couple of the ‘art ameobas’ at Beacon Hill Station not lit?
2. When will the orcacard.com web code for the footers be fixed? I mean its a cute one time joke that use an Internet Explorer specific conditional of ’Not IE’ to enclose the footer for non-IE browsers knowing they won’t pay any attention to it but come on – change the conditionals to standard compliant ones already so that ’Not IE’ browsers have a fighting chance.
how do you define a ‘TRUE’ city?
My city always stays true.
The mechanic just pushes the indicators down on the wheel nuts after they’ve all been torqued down. Plus the nut changes color if the brakes drag and the wheel gets hot. Neato, huh?
Duh–they just slide over the nut. That makes sense. For some reason I was imagining they slid between the nut and the studs but when I think about it that would be silly as you could never torque the things down!
Save the Trolleys!!!!!
Oran, how do you remove street names and labels from openstreetmap images to make your transit maps? I’ve been trying to figure it out for a while now…
I use Adobe Illustrator for finishing my maps. I export from openstreetmap as a PostScript file as the pdf and svg exports don’t look right when imported. When you open it up it comes as a single group of all the objects. Double click anywhere to edit individual objects in the group. You can now select the labels and delete them manually. At first, that’s what I did but there’s a better way.
Select a part of a label, go to the ‘Select’ menu and then ‘Same > Appearance’. Most of the labels will be selected for deletion. You may have to repeat this several times before it’s clean but it’s MUCH easier than manually deleting them.
The pedestrian bridge at the SeaTac Airport station is being installed tonight. From the Port of Seattle website;
“The north entrance to the Airport Garage will close temporarily from approximately 7 p.m. on Tuesday, September 8, until 5 a.m. on Wednesday, September 9. The pedestrian bridge that will connect the Airport Link Light Rail Station to the Airport Garage is being installed.”
YAY! :D