Sounder trains will once again serve Sunday afternoon Mariners games for the 2014 season, starting this Sunday when the M’s and the Oakland A’s slug it out for first place in the American League West Division. There will also be Sounder service to the afternoon Memorial Day game against the LA Angels, since commuter service won’t be running that day.
The departure times for weekend Sounder event trains are available here.
The full Mariners season schedule is available here.
Note to baseball fans flying in from out of town: Sounder is not the train you are looking for. What you want is Link Light Rail, which takes you from the airport to downtown Seattle, via Safeco Field. Be sure and buy a train ticket or an ORCA card at the station vending machines, and be prepared to show it to the fare enforcement officers during your train ride.
The full list of scheduled weekend Sounder event service dates for 2014, so far, is available here.
In addition to serving weekend afternoon Mariners and and Sounders games, Sounder and the Emerald Downs Pony Express from Auburn Station will team up to serve Emerald Downs.
Afternoon South Sounder counter-peak runs are at a good time for getting to weeknight games. Sound Transit keeps extra ST Express buses, and super-frequent Central Link trains, on stand-by to get home after the games.
Buses that run by Safeco Field include King County Metro routes 21, 41, 101, 106, 124, 131, 132, and 150; and ST Expresses 522, 545, 577, 578, 590, and 594. Metro 150 will get you back to Kent Station. ST Express 578 will get you back to Auburn Station, Sumner Station, and Puyallup Station, but you have to get back up to 2nd Ave Ext S & S Jackson St to catch it. ST Express 594 will get you back to Tacoma Dome Station and Lakewood Station.
Central Link connects to some bus routes that don’t have to slog through the game traffic, and get you back to Sounder stations, including Metro route 180 from Seatac/Airport Station to Kent Station and Auburn Station, and ST Express 574 from Seatac/Airport Station to Tacoma Dome Station. No, the 140 from Tukwila International Boulevard Station to Tukwila Sounder Station doesn’t run late enough, but hopefully the F Line will. (Wouldn’t it be cool if stand-by 180s and 574s were waiting at the Link stations, departing as they filled up?)
BTW, If you want Metro buses to continue to run late enough to take fans home from baseball games, you might want to vote for King County Proposition 1. There may be far more important reasons to vote Yes, but I just wanted to throw that one out, too.
I’ll be parking at Kent Station and taking that train on Sunday!
So glad to find it’s running.
I’ll be under the scoreboard…cheap seats.
Just a heads up but the top floor of the garage is closed this weekend for maintenance. Might be a good idea to go early. I haven’t heard that it usually fills up for Mariner’s games, [OT]
Thanks! I’ll head in early and grab a snack at Dilettante Coffee. (Yes, we have one of those at Kent Station!)
Well not such a good game, but Sounder made it all worthwhile.
Got in at noon to enjoy a cup at my favorite independent coffee house in Pioneer Square, Zeitgeist.
What an elegant part of town:
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But oh, I noticed five “charging stalls” right by King St. Station. But any Teslas?
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Kind of ridiculous to promote weekend Emerald Downs service when, to return, you would have to know when the game the service is running for ends AND time it right with the hourly shuttle that runs from Emerald Downs to Auburn Station. There is absolutely no way that is convenient.
You can take the 578 southbound to sumner and puyallup. The 578 northbound and mt 181 go to federal way and then the 574 southbound to tds. So if you miss the train you do have options.
That’s an even worse solution to a problem that shouldn’t even be advertised in the first place. If people want to hack the Mariner service to get to Auburn, great. But don’t advertise it and make it seem like it’s a convenient, easy-to-use service.
the 577/578 only serve the Sodo area in the southbound direction, and the nearest stop to Safeco is on the other side of King Street Station, on the island by the mission (in front of what used to be The Iron Horse)
I see from the stop list in the schedule book that you are correct. Thanks.
The fact that the map in the book mentions Safeco Field led me astray.
And the 578 never turns around (has different stops than the 577 — drivers need a break after the drive from puyallup). So 577 riders can stay on until 2nd and Jackson while 578 riders should wise up and take the train (puyallup sumner or auburn) or get off at 4th and university and walk or bus back to the station.