This is an updated version of our earlier post.

This Sunday, when the Seahawks host the San Fransisco 49ers in the NFC title game, Metro and Sound Transit will both be providing the same Seahawks game-day service they have been providing for all regular-season games and Saturday’s divisional match.

Metro will once again be providing $4 (each way) cash-only shuttles from Northgate Transit Center, Eastgate Park&Ride, and South Kirkland Park & Ride, leaving each lot from 1:25 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., and then picking up at 5th Ave S & S Weller St (on the east side of International District / Chinatown Station) after the game.

Sounder will once again be running pre-game trips to Century Link Field and post-game trips back to all Sounder stations. The schedule is a bit different due to the 3:30 start time.

For those flying in from out of town, Link Light Rail gets you from the airport to Century Link Field. You can get an all-day ticket on Link at any ORCA vending machine, including the ones at Seatac/Airport Station, for $5.50. Set Seatac/Airport Station and Westlake Station as the termini of your trips so that you can travel anywhere Link goes all day. The best station for getting to the stadium is International District / Chinatown Station. Stadium Station is designed for the best connection to Safeco Field (where the Mariners play), but is also a decent option if you will be in the south end zone.

If you plan to be staying multiple days and want a free transfer to the bus system, consider getting a $5 ORCA smart card at any ORCA vending machine, and loading it up with several dollars of “e-purse”. There are no day passes, but you get 2 hours of transfer credit from each ride.

$2/hour parking is available in a section of the airport parking garage closest to the station. (I confirmed by phone that the deal extends through the 2014 playoff games, and, oh yeah, the Link ticket price listed on their page is three years out-of-date.) However, you may be lucky and find an open free parking spot at Tukwila International Boulevard Station if you arrive early enough.

If you happen to be riding Amtrak into town, look southeast after you ascend from King Street Station, and that is Century Link Field. You have arrived!

Thanks are due to the Metro and Sound Transit staff who have pulled this service together and re-arranged their schedules to provide this service, as well as overflow runs on all the regular routes and Link.

If you happen to be a 49ers fan, any smack talk about the Seahawks will be considered off-topic for purposes of this post. If you happen to be a Seahawks fan, smack talk about the 49ers will not be considered off-topic, but keep it PG.

28 Replies to “Special Seahawks Sounder Service & Suburban Shuttles Sunday”

  3. If you happen to be a 49ers fan, you probably didn’t use your home address as your billing address to buy tickets.

      1. VTA Light Rail serves the new stadium with a transfer from Caltrain. BART is being extended to downtown San Jose but not Santa Clara. The stadium site is also next to the ACE commuter rail station, which in theory could run weekend trains to serve the game times.

  4. “Thanks are due to the Metro and Sound Transit staff who have pulled this service together and re-arranged their schedules to provide this service …”

    Does anyone else read this and want to yack?

      1. Rubs me the wrong way. “So you’re saying saying thank you to someone should be outlawed, Sam?” No, that’s not what I’m saying at all. I’m saying I wish this blog would do a little less thanking, and a little more investigating. For example, send a blogger down to one of the incoming Sounder trains for this Sunday’s Hawks game, and count the people that get off the train. Are these special Sounder trains packed? Half-full? A quarter-full?? Inquiring minds want to know!

  5. I would hope there’s light rail next year for the Seahawks game at the 49ers’ place in Santa Clara because I’m sure we Hawks fans will need help making sure we don’t get stuck in Fife wearing khakis and a black sweatshirt.

    No, seriously. I hope one of the Fourty Whines about the new stadium was about making sure there was ample transit access.

    1. Does Link ever run 3-car trains? I thought they were currently limited to 2, due to U-Link construction taking up part of the Pine St. stub.

    2. Even though all of the stations are built for four cars the stub tunnel can only hold two at this time. So no three or four car trains (yet)

  7. “Metro will once again be providing $4 (each way) cash-only shuttles from Northgate Transit Center, Eastgate Park&Ride, and South Kirkland Park & Ride, leaving each lot from 1:25 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.,

    I think the game starts at 6:60 PM. If you take the 1:25 a.m. bus, you’ll have plenty of time to tail-gate or whatever…(Except taking the bus makes it harder to tail-gate, I guess.)

    1. Oops. The game starts at 6:30 p.m. Eastern Time, not Pacific Time. My bad. But still, catching the bus at 1:25 a.m. seems a little early.

  8. If bus service is similar to last week, it pays to pay attention to the game, even if you aren’t a fan. Buses running during the game were running a bit too early, since traffic was pretty much non-existent (e. g. my buddies and I walked across 15th NW a couple blocks from Market and didn’t have to break stride). But most buses after the game will be very late because of the traffic (and I found this out the hard way — doh!).

      1. Does OBA or Metro still provide text service for bus times? I used to have my favorite stops queued up in pre-typed text messages when I still had a dumb phone. Worked like a charm!

      3. Before I got a smartphone I used OBA via SMS. The number is 41411 and you text “onebus”, followed by a space and then the stop number, to this number. I think there’s some annoying setup process you have to do so it can take a good guess which county you’re in when there’s a stop number collision.

        Now that I have a smartphone I can post on STB while driving my Hummer limo, so I just do that. Oops, must have hit a deer.

      4. Yeah, I think my problem is that I never could get through that setup process. Does anyone remember how to do it?

      5. The text service doesn’t work with every carrier. I had T-mobile for a while and couldn’t use the OBA service.

    2. I’m usually on a bike during Seahawks playoff games (that’s my superstition) and I saw exactly four other bikes on the Green River Trail. I sure did see a lot of TVs on in the places where the trail goes behind apartment complexes in Kent.

      1. I wonder how good the Seahawks are at providing bike parking for fans going to the game? For comparison, the Mariners have some pretty good bike parking in the parking garage just south of the stadium (which doesn’t get used as often as it probably should).

        By contrast, the last I read of the Superbowl transportation plan in NJ, it is going to actually be illegal to walk or bike to the game – anyone who tries to do it will be turned away by security at the entrance to the parking lot. That being said, there will be tons of transit. To coax people rich enough to afford superbowl tickets to use it, parking at the game will cost $150 per space, and private car pick-up-and-drop off at the venue (including taxis and limos) will be banned.

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