Photo by Mark Dublin
Photo by Mark Dublin

Sunday was Link’s three-month anniversary.  Here’s a quick review of what’s worked and what hasn’t, without attempting to apportion credit/blame between agencies and operators:

Sustain:

Security: It would have only taken a few incidents this fall for Link to get a reputation for danger.  There weren’t any, partly because of a thorough security presence at stations.  One gripe: theft at bike racks.

Fare Inspection: The experience with fare inspectors has been a good one.  The frequency is high and unpredictable enough to make evasion a bad risk, but not so high as to be annoying.  Inspectors are courteous, pragmatic, and generally have a pretty good sense of when not to cite riders.

Special Events: Sound Transit has very quietly laid on some extra trains for things like football games.  Moreover, there’s been lots of staff to help people with ticket machines at Tukwila.  Packed trains before sporting events has been one of the big success stories.

Stations: Stations are beautiful, clean, and well lit.  If there’s been any vandalism it’s been quickly and quietly rectified.  The public art program has been successful: as with any good public art, it can be appreciated even by Neanderthals like me.

Responsiveness: People complained about the lack of schedules, and one came out in the very next service change.  Riders didn’t know which track at Tukwila to go up to; many agencies would have said “wait for Airport Link,” but this one very quickly scrounged up signs and got them installed.  The 2 ticket machines at Tukwila were overwhelmed, but two more materialized very quickly.

Headways: The service intervals are about right, by the very subjective measure that I really never have to wait too long for a train.  One gripe: the promised intervals begin a little later and end a little earlier than the hours would lead you to believe.

Improve:

Reliability: This is how rail is sold and has to improve. There are three basic problems: (i) trains that miss a large proportion of lights; (ii) unpredictable 5-minute waits during shift changes; and, most difficult to fix (iii) continuing problems with bus/rail operations in the tunnel.  In the valley we’re continuing to witness cases where the “train coming” alarm goes on and off, but no train passes.

Rider Communications: Trip Planner does a pretty poor job of integrating Link routes.  The “next train” clock in stations is still nowhere to be found, with no firm date on when it’ll arrive.  Service disruptions in the tunnel are actually pretty frequent, but you’d never know it from the Sound Transit website or rider alerts.  The one bright spot is that the “voice” of each train is extremely easy to understand and does a pretty good job of keeping riders informed.  That isn’t the case on many other systems.

Ride Quality: In general things are good, vastly superior to buses.  However, aside from reliability issues above, travel is not smooth in the Tukwila segment.  Moreover, many operators are running pretty slow on the grade-separated portions for no discernable reason.

99 Replies to “Central Link: A 3-month Report Card”

  1. So, what are the problems with integrating buses and link in the DSTT? If it were a big deal, I think some posts would have been showing up before now.

    1. Every southbound afternoon trip, the train waits between pioneer square & ID station for buses to clear.
      Every bus wheelchair load forces the train to wait.
      The bus drivers in the tunnel continue to wait for up to three serial joggers, all of whom walk the last few strides to the bus door.
      The passing lane is unused.
      Buses routinely wait three deep for the first bay to clear.

      I’ve seen bus wheelchair ramps fail, and watched for up to 15 minutes as various staff worked on the problem.

      Some of the above could be fixed by policy changes, but current buses take too long to load and unload during commute times.

      Buses can’t be bumped from the tunnel soon enough. Not all experiments are successful.

      1. I think for those of us who use the bus-train/vice versa transfer entirely within the tunnel – and there are quite a few, at least who I see taking the 71, 72, 73 to the U District – the bus/rail operations are not only worth the wait, but they’re genius. Having a same-platform transfer every morning is a dream come true.

      2. Can’t the ramps be manually operated? I’ve seen a strap on it where the driver can use to lift it up and down. What’s the point of having it if it isn’t used. I never realized ramps failed that often.

        I use the same platform transfer all the time. Link is just one bus away from home with the 255 and it’s timed perfectly as well. And going from Link to the 41, 71, 72, 73 in the afternoon is the closest thing to University/North Link we can have for the moment.

        Whose idea was it to specify 2 doors instead of 3 when ordering the hybrid tunnel buses? It’s a regression from the Bredas. Loading/unloading within the tunnel is slower as a result.

      3. Yes – wheelchair ramps can be manually operated, But there is a sensor which prevents the bus from moving if it detects the ramp not completely stowed. There is an override to allow the bus to move if the rear door malfunctions (which has the same interlock) – it may be that on the newer hybrids the override does not free up the bus with a ramp sensor issue.

        It is not stressed enough in operator training that they must leave several inches of clearance at the front door if the ramp is to be deployed or the arm at the front edge of the ramp will become stuck on the platform edge as the ramp deploys. Sometimes this prevents the ramp from lowering all the way down on the platform – some people step on the ramp to force it down – the arm digs in to the platform edge and makes the ramp very difficult to stow even manually. Perhaps several encounters between ramps and platforms cause the sensor for the ramp to get out of adjustment. Debris that collects on the bus floor that the ramp normally covers when stowed can contribute to problems too.

        The steps to proceed after a wheelchair deployement are a little more complicated on the hybrid buses than other buses in the fleet. This may explain why we have an increase of these issues immediatly after the service change (operators new to the DSTT) – they should decrease over time – at least until the next service change.

      5. Some of the trouble can be solved with a little spot training with the operators of the buses in the tunnel and the bus side tunnel supervisors. The operators do not know to call the Rail side controllers for ANY delay, and the supervisors do not have the “Get it out of the Right of Way” attitude that the rail controllers do.

      6. Agree about the broken buses in the tunnel. In two weeks my commute to Bellevue was impacted by busted buses blocking the tunnel.

        If I could make one policy change, it would be that any bus whose route *ends* in the tunnel needs to go as far forward in the station as possible. In other words, the 550 should be unloading at the “front” of the station not at the mid-point. Same with any other bus that loads half-way into the station. Those guys plug the works up.

    2. Mike,

      We haven’t really posted on it because we don’t have any solutions beyond getting buses out of the tunnel.

      However, I’d expect a post from someone who knows something about tunnel operations in the future.

      1. There are 2 small things that could help a little here: 1) emphasize a sense of urgency for tunnel (bus) operators. Today I say a driver basically park his bus SB @ Westlake station to give a passenger 5 minutes worth of directions. I’m all for helpfulness, but for the people wanting to get on the train that the bus was blocking (and probably 3 more buses held behind that train), it was NOT helpful. 2) enforce the correct staging of buses coming into the tunnel – when a single “bay D” bus blocks two or three “bay C” buses, this not only wastes capacity but it creates more delay – unfortunately, this seems to happen a lot.

      2. The common “bus driver answering questions” problem could be reduced (inside and outside of the tunnel) if metro posted useful information at bus stops, such as a system map (not just a downtown map – really, it’s completely useless for anyone leaving downtown).

  2. Re Rider Communications: I think could be much better communication in the DSTT itself when there is a service interruption. Last week a stalled bus was blocking trains but other busses were able to get around, creating enough traffic to make it seem like everything was normal. It took about 20 minutes without a train coming for me to get the hint. If there was a message board or clear announcements I would have gone back aboveground and taken a 36 or 7 with a minimum of frustration. OK, so no ride on the 36 comes without frustration, but you know what I mean.

    1. Hopefully someone’s reading this, or at least it’s just a coincidence. Today on my Link ride into Downtown we got stuck in the Beacon Hill Station. The recorded voice told us we were experiencing a service delay – first time I’d heard that one, and then the operator told us we’d be help up for two minutes. It was really cool to get that info!

      1. I have it on authority that your comments are being read and this in particular is being addressed.

  3. The train seems to go way too slow on grade separated area near the O&M, and also through the exclusive right of way in SODO.

    1. I think it’s a slower speed limit until the work elevating the road over the BNSF tracks are completed.

      1. No different point. You are talking about near the stadiums. John is talking about where the train turns east towards Beacon Hill.

        And to chime in I COMPLETELY agree. The train feels like slug, and when it stops to change drivers there is no announcement of the fact. This is not how you operate a rail system.

      2. Agree about announcing the switching of drivers. You can’t really see them do this unless you are in the front car or can see the driver get out through the window.

      3. They should have doors for the drivers. It is shame that they have to crawl out of the window. No wonder the switch takes so long.

      4. Waitwut? They have to crawl through the window?! I’ve only been in the rear car for this. Is not opening the cab like some post-9/11 thing? What are the terrorists going to do, ram a bus?

      6. It probably has something to do w/ the tight, spiraling up curve from the E5 Busway to the elevated section and all the complex switchwork. That sort of stuff has to have a lower speed or the train could derail.

    2. I’m not a fan of the unexpected operator changes at the O&M relief point. Is there any word on whether whether they plan to shuttle operators to maybe board at a station?

    3. What is the O&M?
      Folks, please spell out acronyms. Not everyone is a hip transit-afficianado. We need things spelled out. Thanks!

      1. O&M is the Operations and Maintenance facility. It’s the large facility in SODO along Airport Way where all the Central Link trains are stored and serviced.

    4. I think this has to do with the railroad crossing gates to come down … you don’t want a northbound train to accidentally enter the crossing before it is cleared …

  4. Hi Martin,

    Regarding your comment on the”‘next train’ clock in stations”, Sound Transit officially refers to this as “Realtime Arrival Information” on the Readerboards. The only public announcement of this feature (which is indeed surprisingly missing in a brand new rail system such as Link) was on Twitter on opening weekend, promising the feature within two months.

    So of course on September 20th I emailed Sound Transit. After much, much back and forth (so much for openness and transparency), I finally received an updated timeframe for the realtime arrival information — the end of November. Supposedly the reasoning behind the delay is that with the new Airport link station, trains are being tracked on a different system than on the rest of the line, and to make realtime arrival information work now means it would have to work with both systems. So Sound Transit is planning to wait until the Airport station is integrated into the system. (I am unclear on why the timeframe would be the end of November instead of the end of December as that’s when the Airport link opens).

    I can forward you the thread with Sound Transit on this issue if you’d like.

      1. I emailed the person in charge of Airport Link and she said that she had no information re: the Next Train in signs … nor did she have any update for Airport Link to open.

    3. Interesting. Last night at the developer’s workshop that was a question that came up pretty quickly but couldn’t be answered. I don’t really blame them though–the workshop was hosted by people from Metro that work on GIS, communication, web development, etc. There were 3 reps from ST–two were web devs and one GIS guy.
      The coordinator of the workshop promised to find out why and send all of us a followup e-mail. ETA 7 days or less.

      1. yeah i was there too. they seemed to think that the real-time arrival info was much further away than november. did ST specify november of any particular year?

      2. The classic example of this (real-time announcements on when the next train is coming) is the London Tube. Does anyone know the difference that makes it more difficult for Sound Transit than London Underground to provide this information to specific stations? Is it the buses in the transit tunnel?

      3. Well, think of it this way–were in you london while they implemented that system? Probably not. My hunch is for a system that large it probably took a whole lot longer than a single-line system like ours :-)

    5. I’d hate to start a rumor, but maybe someone can back me up on this:

      I thought I once read on a different comment section that there was a rumor that Airport link was going to open by Thanksgiving (end of November). It would make some since for them to implement next train signage with the completion of Airport link.

    6. And not to start another rumor, but I thought we were getting that real-time info on the displays in like late August. It’s so lame they don’t have it yet.

    7. At either the Columbia or Othello station (can’t remember which) … the south side of the southern most info display sign on the southbound platform is constantly stuck at 9:18 AM or so

      2. Well, then it ought to be easy for at least that sign to give some arrival info… always 2 minutes away or something like that.

    1. In the last six weeks or so, I’ve started noticing some hunting on the curve between University Street and Westlake northward, but not southward.

    3. Probably the good forested habitat nearby. At least the Link operators can see them in their blaze orange.

    4. When I was on it last week, I actually thought there was quite a bit less hunting than before.

      1. Thanks, I had images of deer and elk walking the tracks and people hunting them – never heard of this expression before!

      2. Yeah, it happens when Link travels between Tukwila and Rainier Beach. The ride can get pretty bouncy for a brand new track.

        I wonder if this is a track issue or a suspension issue on the LRVs?

      4. The hunting is a serious issue. Even if it doesn’t cause damage, it’s annoying. I’ve never ridden a light rail system that shakes as much as Link does. The Canada line is as smooth as butter in comparison.

      5. Say…

        What are the rules for carrying fresh kill on Sound Transit.\? Do the carcasses have to be prepared? Are there antler-point restrictions greater than those of the state department of fish and wildlife? Must my permit be posted on my person? And how about the hunting rifle, can I carry it in a locked case?

        Just getting prepared for those trips through the Mercer Slough!

      6. Barman- there aren’t as many curves on the Canada Line as there are on the Central Link. Maybe this is why?

      7. From Sound Transit’s passenger code of conduct:

        • Hold personal items, store in overhead rack or under the seat. [just don’t forget it!]
        • Service animals, and pets in small containers are allowed.
        • Carry food and drinks in closed containers. [not sure which category carcasses fall under]
        • No unlawful weapons or firearms.

      8. From what I head, one reason why the shaking in the section between Tukwila and Rainier Beach is so prounounced is because the tracks there were designed by a highway company with little experience in rail tracks. That coupled with the relatively high speed causes the shaking.

      9. Sacramento had the same hunting problem when their light rail system opened. It turned out to be a problem with the profile of the wheels being incompatible with the profile of the rails. They had a company design a new profile for both the wheels and the rails and after re-grinding the rails and re-profiling the wheels the hunting problem went away. It also helped eliminate a lot of squealing on the tight corners. I read a paper on it a while ago, but can’t find it now.

      10. It’s not the curves. It’s just as pronounced on straight sections as well.

        I notice a lot of hunting through the entire line, but mostly on elevated sections. It seems like we should be going faster, but the shaking keeps us from accelerating. Even if it’s not true, you get the impression that if we were to go any faster the train would just fall apart.

        Do the tracks just need to be tightened? Is that even possible?

      11. Hunting is caused when the rails are out of gauge. Basically the 4 wheels of each truck aren’t being held tight against the rails. This means that they start to basically ricochet off of each rail which causes the car to shake. It is possible that the aerodynamics of the MU’ing of cars also has an effect (or amplifies it) … but it is most likely the track.

        If the rails are not completely in gauge … it is possible to re-gauge them … but it would require taking the track out of service while the devices that connect the rail to the concrete track bed are replaced. This may entail vertical adjustments (to make the rails more level), horizontal adjustments (to pull the rails closer together (or farther apart)), or both.

        I do not know whether ST has a rail-geometry truck that they can run to check this stuff … they definitely need one if they do not …

        As Zed mentioned … the problem is definitely fixable … but will require $$$ and time to fix.

        Regardless, it is rather embarrassing considering that they could have fixed this before service started.

      12. also …

        keep in mind that trains really want to go in a straight line … when you add multiple compound curves (including vertical changes) … the ride will always be rougher.

        also keep in mind that when the rails/ties are on balast … the ride will usually be smoother because the weight of the vehicles tends to smooth out the track itself. You can feel this whenever there is a transition from concrete to gravel roadbed (SODO and south of Rainier Beach)

      13. Actually, the wheel flanges aren’t “held” by the rail. This would produce the most unpleasant noise you hear when a car goes around a tight curve, where the wheel flanges actually are guided by the rail.

        The wheel tread is a conical section and, other things being equal, the truck wants to ride directly between the rails. Other things being equal, of course, means the track is perfectly gauged and superelevated or appropriately flat, etc etc. This is very well explained in the Wikipedia link cited above.

        As will be equally evident from the link, solving this problem may be a non-trivial exercise in car suspension and wheel-face geometry. Making small changes in the rail geometry is probably well within the system used to lay the rail- but which changes?

      14. Can’t you just borrow a geometry truck from Portland or something? Would BNSF have one? I know other transit agencies borrow our “look under the bridge” trucks.

        … course thinking Sound Transit can just borrow something is a bit naive :-)

      15. I don’t think having a highway company do it is actually in and of itself a cause of the problem.

  7. The ticket machines need to be on the mezzanie level when you enter from the mall. Not hidden in the wing. I had to get a transit person to help me find them!

    The park and ride in Tukwilla has lots of dead ends. Why?

    The Orca pass was not explained very well in the booklet or on the website. A man who had just bought one gave me the pamplet that came with his where it was explained well.

    However, it seems to me I still save money by buying a round trip and then being able to ride the bus for free. If I use e-purse ORCA it appears I would pay per trip on the rail and on the bus. PITA to do it that way, but I save $4 per day! And I don’t ride it enough to justify a pass.

    Website sucks. Does not give useful info. Same for the Tacoma light rail.

    2. “If I use e-purse ORCA it appears I would pay per trip on the rail and on the bus. PITA to do it that way, but I save $4 per day!”

      You only pay more on the bus if the bus fare is higher than the fare you paid on the train. For instance, if the train fare was $2.00 and the bus fare was $2.50, you would pay $2 for the train and 50-cents for the bus.

    3. Dead ends in the P&R to prevent people from speeding through when it’s got pedestrians, too? Just speculation.

      I agree about ORCA explanations – one thing that’s not intuitive is how to pay for two people with ORCA on Link with an e-purse: one person buys a paper ticket and the other either does that, too, or tags on. It’s very simple, but judging from how many people I’ve heard asking fare inspectors about it (and I asked the first time I rode with someone else), it’s not the first thing that comes to mind.

  8. Only major problem that hasn’t been mentioned here yet… I wish it went more places! I can’t wait for 2016, 2020-2023, and beyond!

  9. Random link question.

    How long are the tail tracks north/west of westlake center?
    How is the train relayed? Operator brings it to a marker, dumps the train and then walks in the tunnel to the south end, charges up and pulls south into the station? How long does the train stay in the relay?

    1. I heard they’re long enough for a two-car Link to turn around, but I swear, and my wife swears, we rode a three-car train on opening day, and it definitely went all the way to Westlake.

      2. Oh, snap! I knew it! I was on one of the two inaugural train – went to Tukwila first, then back.

      6. The stump tracks are long enough for three car trains. There aren’t enough trains (yet) for ST to run them in three car configurations for normal service.

      7. Nor have we needed three car sets yet except for large events at the stadia. ST could easily run 3 car trains south from Stadium Station if needed after a Sounders or Mariners game.

      8. I think a three-car train would be nice because I could spread out and claim more personal space on the way home.

      10. i assume they meant stub tracks. or theres some sort of amputee thing going on we don’t know about.

      12. The Pine St. trail track is long enough to accommodate a 3-car train, for now. When the end of that tunnel needs to be opened up to extricate the tunnel boring machine as it arrives (twice) from the Capitol Hill station site, then the trail track will necessarily be shortened and will accommodate only 2-car trains.

      1. Has anybody seen three or four car trains on the line for passengers? Every train I have seen so far since opening are two cars? Do they plan on operating three-car trains often or at peak hours?

    4. the Pine Street Stub tunnel was designed for a maximum length of 3-car trains.

      On opening day they did run a few 3-car trains … especially for the media and for the politicos.

      however …

      LINK cannot use the entire stub tunnel due to the start of construction of University Link. Available track with the required amount of extra emergency clearance has restricted the trains to 2 cars max.

      Regardless, I cannot see why they are not running 3 or 4 car special trains from Stadium to Tukwila before and after Sounders/Seahawks/Mariners/etc … games … although I do need to give them props for adding extra 2-car trains at these times.

      1. It is my understanding that buses cannot pass a three car train in the station so trains are restricted to two cars in case of a breakdown.

      2. In that case, we’ll be seeing two-car trains until well past the opening of University Link. That seems like a weird policy, seeing as how a bus couldn’t even pass a golf cart if it were stopped in a tube section between stations.

      3. Actually, it’s likely we’ll be kicking buses out before U Link opens. That’s what I keep hearing.

    5. The stub tunnel is just over 300 feet after clearing the switches, able to accommodate 3 cars in a train. The stub tunnel ends at I-5. When the boring starts for university link, the stub will be reduced to 200 feet to give the construction crew space to work.

      You basically have the scenario correct. The typical scheduled layover is 5-6 minutes, but that may vary by the needs of the controller.

  10. From a fairly naive rider’s perspective (and I’m sure you’ve covered this before) I find it bizarre that there is no ride free zone. I mean, if I’m in the bus tunnel, why should it be free to take a bus one stop but not the link for exactly the same route.

    1. At first I thought they’d just kind of look the other way on paying for inner-tunnel trips, but last week fare inspectors actually came aboard while still in the tunnel!

      1. I thought they’d do that too. Hopefully not in the summer when lots of tourists are around. Pardon my language, but fare checking in the tunnel is, in my opinion, one of those law enforcement things that’s what I would call a dick move. In August I saw plenty of people board Link downtown without clearly paying who appeared to be tourists. Like the Almost Live sketch: “Getting busted for riding Link in the bus tunnel! Lame! Lame! Lame! Lame!”

      2. I feel the same way about this that I do about ORCA – people only actually learn by trial and error. If you get on a train without knowing how to pay for it, it’s your issue. We can’t make signs big enough to teach everyone.

    2. ST asked people if they wanted the trains to participate in the ride free area in exchange for a 25c fare increase across the board, and the majority of responders said no.

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