1. It was suggested somewhere that people on the West Seattle light rail line would transfer at SODO. Why? – when the line can share the track with the spine line? Once the line gets built out in the future to Burien and then the airport, it will help handle traffic from the airport and points south. It’ll cost a little more to build the intersection, but I suspect West Seattleites will find light rail pointless if they have to take two lines to get downtown, in addition to whatever bus they take to get to the first line.

2. Given that the suburbs will offer no resistance to WSDOT building as many lanes as it wants on I-5 outside of Seattle, in order to create the justification to widen I-5 through Seattle, I’ve been thinking about how high-speed rail could make its way through the Seattle Metro area. So, let’s use that extra lane space to run HSR up I-5 until it gets to southern Seattle, figure out a way to use existing track right-of-way to get it into the downtown bus tunnel, and then use the space in the middle of each tunnel station for it to bypass those stations, and just have its stops close to I-District Station, and maybe inside Husky Stadium Station. Then, have it end up in the middle of I-5 again until it gets to Everett. By the time California gets its portion built, WSDOT will hopefully get it that HSR replaces the capacity of multiple freeway lanes, instead of insisting on one-for-one lane replacement (ala the downtown SOV tunnel to the Mercer Mess).

3. Decide whether Ballard and/or Aurora light rail is feasible before spending hundreds of millions on an extension of SLUT that might become obsolete and might better serve Eastlake and on up to the U-District. Or figure out if the SLUT extension would be useful to augment northwest light rail service in the long run. However it is done, make it a long-term solution rather than a short-term band-aid.

4. For any new streetcar lines, DON’T BUILD THEM IN THE OUTSIDE LANE! Every time an emergency vehicle stops along the route, it shares the right-of-way, parks there, and blocks the streetcar until the emergency vehicle is ready to move. People who have used streetcars elsewhere tell me no other city does this.

Yes! Seattle is close enough that it is crazy to spend the money on a hotel room if you can manage not to. Rooms are either not available or they are hundreds of dollars — there could definitely be some demand from day-trippers.

Hmm, they’ve been pretty friendly every time I’ve seen them checking. Yeah, they say “tickets, please,” but that’s how ticket inspections work. I’m not sure what you mean by “it was supposed to be ‘spot’ checks,” unless you mean you just thought they would check one or two people on the train…

“Also there were large #’s of security at ID station and for a moment I thought I’d have to go through that again.”

This happened to my spouse, once. Ticket-checked twice on the same trip. Everyone on the train groaned loudly, apparently.

I am starting to get kind of nervous about it. I have to pick up my tickets at the will call office, too, and Cosport doesn’t even know yet where that office will be (or, they haven’t posted it yet, anyway), so I’m not sure where else in Vancouver I’m going to have to get to besides Pacific Coliseum. Also, if you have your ticket you get free trips on public transportation — but I won’t have my ticket until I get to Will Call. Argh.

I was really, really hoping to be able to take Amtrak, darn it, but no such luck, I guess.

One had a flight leaving at 11:45 PM arriving in Seattle at 6:50 AM. You connect in Victoria. That must be a five hour layover. You might as well stay in Vancouver at the train station and catch the first train/bus out. I’m not seeing that 9:15 PM Amtrak trip though.

The other option is to connect in Edmonton. The last direct flight is at 7:55 PM.

I wonder if there is a charter group you could join. During Expo ’86, I know there were many day-time charter buses from Washington to Vancouver. I was driving at the time and did one round trip from Mount Vernon and Bellingham at the time.

Best part: no harassment from ANYONE. Since Link opened, I’ve never been bothered for taking pictures anywhere, including DSTT, Tukwila, and Beacon Hill. I love it!

“Olympic Line Streetcar
Bombardier and the City of Vancouver are providing an opportunity to take a close look at a modern streetcar during the 2010 Winter Games. This showcase streetcar, called the Olympic Line, will be a free service running between Granville Island and the Canada Line Olympic Village station from January 21 – March 21, 2010.”

– from the bottom of http://www.translink.ca/en/utilities/2010-games/february-2010-extended-services.aspx where there is also a YouTube link showing the streetcar.

I got tickets to an Olympic event on Feb. 16. I don’t want to drive if possible. I was hoping to take the train from Seattle. However, the event I’m attending ends at 8:45pm at Pacific Coliseum, and the last Amtrak (bus, unfortunately) is at 9:15, which means I won’t be able to get there in time, most likely. (Some later services during the Olympics would be really useful!) The last Greyhound leaves stupidly early, at 6:30 pm. Those of you who know the transit options in the area — is there any other public transportation option available to me that would leave that evening? Hotel rooms are unaffordable during the Games and I am not traveling with a large enough group to split the cost of one. (One, possibly two other people.) So ideally, this needs to be a day trip. And if necessary, I could take a regular public transit bus instead of Amtrak or Greyhound, but is it possible to make that trip at that time of night, or am I out of luck?

There is no spectator parking at any of the venues, and people are asked not to drive in Vancouver if at all possible, but there are park and rides in the outlying areas on the Sky Train line, which is my last resort, as I’m afraid I will drive up there and find them full.

I’m looking at various websites for help but just getting confused, really.

(some systems, like WMATA (the other Washington) and London, do have a price difference, as an incentive for you to move to the smart card)