I have a guest column up at the Rainier Valley Post on the various ways people can access light rail in the Rainier Valley and Beacon Hill.
The comment thread is degenerating into the usual stuff, but there are some good tidbits in the piece. In particular, we’ve identified two pay parking lots within easy walking distance of a station.
Good column! Love those comments.
The amount of fear, ignorance and hatred for fellow citizens, government, tourists and anything different in these comments (and so many others away from this blog) is very scary. We have failed as a society in so many ways to alleviate fear of the new and the other.
I just thought I would checkout my travel options on LINK, so I went to the Metro Trip Planner and entered some destinations, but it seems like the Trip Planner does not yet include LINK schedules and in fact LINK is not listed as one of the supported transit options. Will this change any time soon?
It looks like they’re prepping for it though. When I mistyped Beacon Ave & Lander in the from box, it asked me to clarify if I meant Beacon Ave S & S Lander St, or Beacon Ave S and ST Light Rail. I selected ST Light Rail, bus it still had me take the 38 transferring to 174 to get to the 154th & International Blvd.
Playing around further I see that typing in Link Station gives the following choices:
BEACON HILL LINK LIGHT RAIL STATION (in SEATTLE)
COLUMBIA CITY LINK LIGHT RAIL STATION (in SEATTLE/TUKWILA)
MT BAKER LINK LIGHT RAIL STATION (in SEATTLE)
OTHELLO LINK LIGHT RAIL STATION (in SEATTLE)
RAINIER BEACH LINK LIGHT RAIL STATION (in SEATTLE)
SODO LINK LIGHT RAIL STATION (in SEATTLE)
STADIUM LINK LIGHT RAIL STATION (in SEATTLE)
TUKWILA INTL BLVD STATION (in SEATTLE/SEATAC/TUKWILA)
Hey, I just tried another trip from Beacon hill to Rainier Beach (with the date set to 7/20) and it had me take LINK!!
But oddly it had me head downtown via bus and catch it at the International District station even though I said my trip began at the Beacon Hill station:
Itinerary #2
Walk NW from BEACON HILL LINK LIGHT RAIL STATION to
Depart Beacon Ave S & S Lander St At 01:09 PM On Route MT 36 Downtown Seattle
Arrive S Jackson St & 5th Ave S At 01:22 PM
Walk 0.1 mile S to
Depart Intl District Statio & Tunnel Sta.-BAY C At 01:30 PM On Route ST 599 Tukwilla Int’l Station
Arrive ST Light Rail & Rainier Beach Statio At 01:49 PM
I asked for a trip from Rainier and McClellan to MLK and Henderson on the 29th of July and instantly the planner gave me rte 599, Link Light Rail. The trip on Link is 10 minutes.
Sound Transit, after pressure from the Cascade Bicycle Club, has agreed to allow bikes on trains during Opening Weekend. There will be special bike corrals with plenty of spaces for bike parking at stations during launch weekend.
I’m volunteering as a bicycle attendant at Mount Baker station on Sunday, July 19 from 7 am to 4 pm.
The pay lot on Beacon Avenue is only a pay lot in the evenings and on weekends. The rest of the time it is reserved parking. So if anyone was planning to use it as a park and ride for their 9-5 job, that won’t work.
You can see the lot sign in the pictures in this post:
http://beaconhill.seattle.wa.us/2009/07/10/this-is-the-last-weekend-before-the-light-rail-opens/
Just want to post a comment about the fare enforcement.
Rode from Sea Tac to Westlake and back today…and I have to ask…
How do they control access? There are no turn stiles, and we did buy RT tickets, but found no way to present them as evidence that we paid before boarding the train. How do they control who pays or not ????
Oh, we did see two guys who got on the train at Westlake wearing uniforms with Fare Enforcement badges (2 people to enforce fare?..were they expecting resistance? ) …but they did nothing??? What’s the deal?
Normally the fare inspectors will check everyone on the train for a valid fare. This is how fares are enforced rather than having turnstiles or a conductor on each train. If the inspectors ask you for your fare and you haven’t paid it the fine is $124.
Supposedly the compliance rate is actually better than turnstile based systems without the need to buy, maintain, and monitor a bunch of fare gates.