Comments on: Regular Link Service Restored

By: Adam B. Parast

Adam B. Parast — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 12:38:57 +0000

Yes to a certain extent. Like have 24-hour communication staff. But from my experience it is more about the transit agency realizing how valuable this information is for riders and how much it does to engender trust and support for the transit agency.

By: Lloyd

Lloyd — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 04:54:38 +0000

No service in the tunnel for about 12 hours – MUNI can be good or verrry bad about providing bustitution – it is often a toss up with them.

By: alexjonlin

alexjonlin — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 02:03:44 +0000

That route you mention would bypass First Hill, which is the whole point of this streetcar. And I would consider International District part of Downtown anyways.

By: misha

misha — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 01:22:14 +0000

A light rail train in San Francisco derailed today too. It would be interesting to compare the Sound Transit response vs. the Muni Metro response.

http://sf.streetsblog.org/2009/11/17/derailment-shuts-down-muni-metro-service-in-twin-peaks-tunnel/

By: Erik G.

Erik G. — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 00:24:45 +0000

Was it a derail or did they split the switch but keep the wheels on the rail?

By: Jeff Welch

Jeff Welch — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 20:02:30 +0000

All it takes is money.

Folks, I love all the comparisons to European systems as a benchmark of what’s possible. I hope that rather than some of the ranting that amounts to “why the heck can’t we do this?!?” considers that the economic model in these countries (read “tax base and spending priorities”) is waaay different than it is here.

By: Andy Walker

Andy Walker — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 20:02:04 +0000

Yes, it is not like it is being build due to the dropping of the First Hill station on Link and being required to serve the population that the First Hill station would have served.

Oh, wait, it is. D’oh!

Another reason why using 12th all the way is not a very good idea…

By: Bernie

Bernie — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 19:42:12 +0000

Yep, pull up the website… no news is good news. The system’s back up and running just like everyone should expect it to be.

By: Adam B. Parast

Adam B. Parast — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 19:31:07 +0000

The reason it was pushed back to 2016 was because of cash flow problems, not planning or design problems. ST simply didn’t have enough money to cover the costs any earlier. The city stepped in and will cover the additional 3 years of interests payments that allows for the accelerated construction. At least this is what was happening last time I read about it.

By: Martin H. Duke

Martin H. Duke — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 19:30:15 +0000

It was reported last night that delays might extend into the morning.

By: Adam B. Parast

Adam B. Parast — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 19:28:15 +0000

The big news is that it takes one ST employee 5 minutes to write on the webpage that all service is back up and running. I bet you a double digit percent of Link riders checked ST’s website this morning to make sure that Link was running. It should take them 2 seconds to know exactly whether it is running or not. They shouldn’t have to guess.

By: Sam

Sam — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 18:59:14 +0000

Thank God they didn’t choose some ridiculous routing like the waterfront, to the CBD, then up Pike or Pine to Capitol Hill.

What a brilliant route! The International District to Capitol Hill, completely bypassing downtown. Pure genius.

By: Bernie

Bernie — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 18:58:48 +0000

The trains are running on time. What’s the big news? Now, if the service delay extended beyond the end of the day on Monday as was previously announced that would be news.

By: Good Grief

Good Grief — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 18:13:05 +0000

Pretty ballsy to cut 3 years off the opening date considering they don’t even know where it will run, but it’s nice to see ST be ambitious. Interesting that they still have all the employment hubs on First Hill listed as the service area — isn’t there still a strong push to move the routing away from there?

By: alexjonlin

alexjonlin — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 17:10:38 +0000

In other news on the ST website, First Hill Streetcar is opening in 2013!

By: Adam B. Parast

Adam B. Parast — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 16:15:18 +0000

No no, sorry let me clarify. I completely agree it really should be much bigger as you said but for the current layout it is where I would expect it. I was saying this in reference to Metro’s website where the alert icon doesn’t take you to alert information.

ST still has a lot they could do to improve communication during major disruptions like this.

By: Michael H

Michael H — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 15:35:37 +0000

Personally, this is not where I would expect it. For major news, I would expect to replace the promotional ad in the middle.

By: Adam B. Parast

Adam B. Parast — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 14:59:48 +0000

Yes it isn’t as big as it probably should be but you know exactly what is happening right from the homepage. It is where one expects it too, right under a bold red “Rider Alerts” title.

I really love how Stockholm’s SL communicates the information. Take a look at this screenshot. It would be nice if the new ST website has something similar to it. wink wink

By: tvjames

tvjames — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 14:50:16 +0000

Glad to see they put up a notice. We went to Canada while WSDOT was replacing Hood Canal Bridge. They weren’t supposed to be done by the time we returned, but all the signs had vanished, so we took a chance and it turned out they had finished early. They should have left the signs in place saying the bridge was open.

Seems like this stuff can often be a PR-miss. Do the hard work, get the train righted, forget to do make sure the good news is spread far and wide.

By: Jim Cusick

Jim Cusick — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 13:52:28 +0000

http://www.soundtransit.org/Riding-Sound-Transit/Rider-Alerts/Resumed-service.xml

Well, maybe not a BIG announcement on the website, but an announcement.