This morning, Sound Transit released the specifics on the extended schedule for Link on New Year’s Eve. As was done last year, two extra trips will run from Westlake to accommodate late New Year’s revelers. Tacoma Link will also see extended service:
Sound Transit Link light rail and Tacoma Link trains will operate on extended hours Saturday, Dec. 31 to accommodate New Year’s Eve revelers. Link light rail will run two additional southbound trips from Westlake Station at 12:58 a.m. and 1:13 a.m.; the last northbound trip will depart Sea-Tac Airport at 12:20 a.m. and continue to Westlake.
The last northbound trip for Tacoma Link will leave the Tacoma Dome Station at 1:00 a.m.; the last southbound train will depart the Theatre District Station at 1:24 a.m.
The monorail will also be running its last trains until about 1am, so Link riders who will be celebrating in the Seattle Center area should have enough time to get back to Westlake to make their connection:
On December 31. 2011, the Monorail will be open until 1:00AM for the New Year’s Eve fireworks at the Space Needle. Due to regulations, the Monorail will carry its last passengers from Westlake Center to Seattle Center at 11:15PM. We will resume service from Seattle Center to Westlake Center once we receive the “ALL CLEAR” from the Fire Marshall (estimated to be 12:20AM).
It’s heartening to see accommodations continuing to be made for late evening service, but there’s plenty of precedent from other cities to do more. Many agencies across the country will run an extra service overlay on the evening of New Year’s Eve in addition to their regular Sunday frequencies, with some even offering fare-free service past a certain period, including neighboring Portland and Vancouver.
Obviously, with so many transit agencies under the ORCA umbrella here, there may be some policy complications to going completely fare-free for a certain time period, but from a technical standpoint, the ORCA system is capable of doing just that. With so many infrequent riders taking transit regionwide on the evening of the 31st, making service seamless would be a good step to leaving a lasting impression for our system.
So you take the 1:00 am monorail and miss your 12:58 Link.
No, you’d catch the 1:13am southbound train.
I see that now.
Give them Saturday service with no adjustments, and let them
ride Link.Thanks Metro.
1:13 means “extended hours”? Technically, maybe, but in my world it would mean at least 3 a.m.
What’s all this about?
Due to regulations, the Monorail will carry its last passengers from Westlake Center to Seattle Center at 11:15PM. We will resume service from Seattle Center to Westlake Center once we receive the “ALL CLEAR” from the Fire Marshall (estimated to be 12:20AM).
I mean, I get it has to do with the fireworks from the Space Needle but it seems like that a whole hour is unnecessary.
And still they could probably just look out the window to see if the track was burning.
@Grant: This reminds me of riding commuter trains in the winter in Chicago and seeing little flames near rail junctions. Apparently they use small burners to make sure the junctions don’t freeze. It’s pretty wild looking out the window of a train and seeing a flame down on the track.
Would it kill this region to operate public transit until after the bars closed?
We should give everyone who’s drunk a free taxi ride home, too. Or maybe they can just start drinking earlier and get home eariler.
Obviously this is not a comment about new year’s, that obviously happens at midnight.
But it is a comment about service till 3 all year round.
Anna’s Ride Home
Like they say, you can lead a horses ass to water but you can’t stop them from drinking.
This seems like sarcasm but I am not sure?