Comments on: Breaking News: Airport Station opens December 19

By: Mathew "RennDawg" Renner

Mathew "RennDawg" Renner — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 05:53:05 +0000

Actually it was the 132. I did report him. He refused to pick me up a few weeks later. He said he would not take rats. But I used to ride the 174. I’ve seen all kind of things on there. I even had a driver who only stopped at stops he wanted to. I know he was reported on many times but he kept driving for years. I am just grateful I got off at the last stop.

By: Chris Stefan

Chris Stefan — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 14:55:05 +0000

RennDawg,
Wow, that sounds like the 174.

By: Oran Viriyincy

Oran Viriyincy — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 12:39:43 +0000

Yeah, it really depends on the driver and the route. I’ve heard of bad experiences on the 174 and the 358. Imagine yourself as the bus driver in that position, how would you handle that? The driver could get up and tell them to stop but what if they don’t stop or escalate the situation? Then the police would be called but would they even respond to that call? I haven’t experienced troublemakers on my commute; the routes I ride on are pretty calm and clean, even on the midnight run. So I don’t know how often the transit police actually come on to buses.

That driver seemed unreasonable. Harassment? That’s ridiculous. You should report him.

I think Link is easier to police than buses. There are only 13 stations on the entire line which are well lit and monitored.

By: Mathew "RennDawg" Renner

Mathew "RennDawg" Renner — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 11:33:16 +0000

Well my experiences make me skeptic. Sometimes I can get help but they are few and far between. I’ve been told everything from “so?” to I can’t do anything. True Story; I was on a bus once and a bunch of guys in the back were smoking both pot and ciggaretts. I went and told the driver and asked if he could do something, He told me that if I did not sit down and leave him alone he’d call the police and have me removed for harrassing him.

By: Oran Viriyincy

Oran Viriyincy — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 11:25:53 +0000

Well, there’s always the emergency button that calls the train operator. People seem to forget that it exists. I heard a Link operator announce over the PA to someone talking loud on their cell phone, it was so loud that she heard it in the cab. If it’s reasonable, I’m sure the operator will try to help.

By: Mathew "RennDawg" Renner

Mathew "RennDawg" Renner — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 10:24:00 +0000

And only to Feburary. :(

By: Mathew "RennDawg" Renner

Mathew "RennDawg" Renner — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 10:00:42 +0000

Well I am going to miss the 194. Going from one bus to two or three buses is going to mean a longer commute and less time at home. Speaking for myself, the things I really hate about the bus are not going to get better on Link. As long as there are people who never learned about using there indoor voice and shout all kinds of vulgarity, people playing there music so loud that everyone can hear it event hough there wearing ear plugs or the people who think that everyone needs to hear there music so they don’t even use headphones and people who call you a rasist, hater and other colourful insults if you ask them plitly to stop. At least on the bus I can try and get the bus driver to help. On link I am just stuck.

By: Lloyd

Lloyd — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 18:17:47 +0000

Not to mention the blaring televisions, mostly ads, and the purple interiors – HEX is dreadful – I’ll us the Piccadilly line any day for GBP4.

By: Warren on Beacon

Warren on Beacon — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 15:46:19 +0000

Actually, the 194 will exist after February. I heard from Metro Staff that the DAILY 4:35AM outbound trip (serving the night owl riders) will remain, since LINK light rail does not operate that early. I think the remaining trip will operate only to the airport and be renumbered to avoid confusion with the existing 194.

By: Warren on Beacon

Warren on Beacon — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 15:42:56 +0000

I think the Seattle Times made a mistake. The ST Guide says $2.50 in the fare matrix. They probably get the upcoming METRO TRANSIT fare increase scheduled for January 2010 mixed up (It will cost $2.75 on route 194 during peak periods).

By: ericn

ericn — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 05:19:58 +0000

Too late for me though…I’m flying back from DC the Sunday before Airport Link opens!

By: Erik G.

Erik G. — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 04:35:36 +0000

UKP 26 one-way First Class on Heathrow Express to London-Paddington!

Now THAT is outrageous! Even if the gentleman always, etc.

By: Erik G.

Erik G. — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 04:27:49 +0000

Sorry, brain fart!

4th sentence should say “praying for no red-light runners on the streets that intersect(ed) the E-3 busway”.

By: Erik G.

Erik G. — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 04:25:43 +0000

I really miss the 194 aboard the Bredas. No luggage space unless you commandeered the wheelchair spots. Hoping the stinky diesel motor would start at IDS. Praying for no red-light runners on Spokane (We still have that worry with LINK). Leaning into the turn at Spokane, and then the one at S 129th Street. Hoping the bus wouldn’t topple over or break in two. Wishing we had just splurged for the Gray Line Airporter bus. Such memories…ah and then the transition to SR 518 (another tight curve) as the bus would quickly slow down from 60 to just over 30 mph causing cars to nearly rear-end us. Holding one’s breath as the driver had to play chicken with the other vehicles as the transiton on-ramp lane ended. Would the Breda make it up the hill or would we be forced to walk to the terminal from the old Doug Fox parking lot (site of today’s Tukwila terminus)?

If we made it up the hill to Bow Lake, such elation! Then…can we make it through the cruising SUV’s or triple-parked station wagons and make to the Metro bus zone at Door 4, then moved to Door 2, and now its present location at the La Quinta? (OK, Iam exagerating, but boy have Public Transit Users been treated like Typhoid Mary).

Then, waiting for eveyone to “pay as you exit” and explaining to the wiating out-of-towners who were trying to board at Sea-Tac that, no, “194 S. Federal Way P&R” was not headed to downtown Seattle

Sniff…such fun times.

NOT!

By: Lloyd

Lloyd — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 03:53:56 +0000

Regardless of whether it is $2.50 o $2.75, it’ll be vastly less than the $8.10 BART now charges each way between SFO and downtown San Francisco – outrageous.

By: Another Andrew

Another Andrew — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 02:32:32 +0000

The Times article says the fare is $2.75 to the airport. ST announced a rate of $2.50 earlier in the year. Does anyone know if the Times made a mistake or have they changed the fare?

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2010269632_webairporttrains13m.html

http://www.soundtransit.org/News-and-Events/News-Releases/Board-adopts-fares.xml

By: Dave F

Dave F — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 01:31:51 +0000

Will the 200th St Station be center platform too? If the federal funds come through for that station, and we end up building it long before the rest of the South Link stations, it would be a real shame if it wasn’t built with a center platform.

By: Ben Schiendelman

Ben Schiendelman — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 01:15:17 +0000

And that’s before the eventual service increases.

And those trips carry three times as many people!

By: Ben Schiendelman

Ben Schiendelman — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 01:14:14 +0000

They had to separate the projects because for FTA grant eligibility – there was a dependency on the Port. Money didn’t have anything to do with it.

By: Ben Schiendelman

Ben Schiendelman — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 01:13:24 +0000

Bernie, I’m sure the highway for that bus wouldn’t have cost the same…