Author’s Note: The title of the article has been changed. The author apologizes for any unnecessary confusion and alarm caused by the original title.
Due to popular demand, and the fact that the Mariners are in contention for the playoffs, Sounder will be serving the remaining Sunday games, September 14th and 28th.
But first, there will be an unfortunate scheduling convergence: The Mariners and Sounders will be playing at home simultaneously, 7 pm Friday evening. The two events combined could eclipse last Thursday’s Seahawks attendance. Thanks to Matt for pointing out the scheduling convergence collision course.
A couple of observations from last Thursday that could make the DSTT work a lot better this next Friday:
1. Suspend front-door bus fare collection starting with rush hour. This was done after the game Friday. No reason not to do it before games as well, for the same reason. Unless the system wants to just come out and say that sports fans deserve better speed and comfort than regular passengers on their way home from work….
2. For post-game, give supervisors some advanced instruction on getting a crush load aboard a bus, especially in helping the driver get the front door area clear and declaring the bus full. Both after games and at Westlake any rush hour, a packed bus causes our slowest departure- exactly the opposite of what should happen.
3. Call your county councilperson, and your Sound Transit board member this week and recommend the above- and anything else you can think of to improve service.
4. Join me in being around the system observing and making notes. And operating personnel, remember what you see and communicate to above e-mail addresses. Exact same things seem to go wrong every game night. Least we can do is deny deniability on levels that count.
Mark Dublin
Excellent observations and directions! Thanks for doing that leg work!
Out of curiosity, when front-door collection is suspended, does the bus become pay-as-you-exit? I know there is a reason those classic 2-sided fare boards show up wrong-side-out from time to time.
According to an all-bus announcement I overheard over Labor Day weekend, yes.
I think Sound Transit was already going to serve these games anyway, since they were SUNDAY afternoon games, so this is nothing new. Too bad ST could not do a post game SOUTH SOUNDER train(s) for both Sounders and Mariners games Friday night (the riders would use the existing reverse peak directional trips to get to the game – that is why I left out the North Sounder, since there is no reverse peak trips to help people to get to the game from that direction). I think the Sounders can only use the lower bowl of CenturyLink field when there is a Mariners game about the same time (no temporal time separation),
I have long wanted a Southbound “Nite Owl” Sounder with a return trip from Seattle.
Perhaps this could be a starting point. One or two days (Friday and/or Saturday). Maybe leaves at 10:30pm so it can accommodate both sports events, the Symphony, concerts and so on with a little bit of post-event dining.
Problem is getting the trains back to seattle. And also these trains operate on BNSF tracks with BNSF crew. It wouldn’t be the best use of money.
I thought there was a city ordinance against simoultaneous sporting events?
I haven’t heard of such, but this is one more example of why the city council should honor the mayor’s budget request to create a traffic control center.
The Mariners and Seahawks do not play at home on the same day as part of an agreement with the city. On the other hand, the Mariners and Sounders have played home games on the same day and on occasion like this Friday at the same time. The major difference is that the Sounders for most of their home games do not use the full capacity of Century Link Field and limit attendance to around 38,000.
Last year the USA Men’s soccer team played a World Cup qualifying game against Panama at Century Link Field and at the same time the Mariners had a home game against Houston. Ticket sales for the soccer game was limited to 42,000 because the two events were taking place at the same time. The Mariners drew less then 20,000 for their game. So the combined attendance for the two games was less then what the Seahawks have at their games which is between 68 and 69 thousand. It could be different this Friday because the Mariners will be playing Oakland with both teams in playoff contention so attendance could be well over 20,000.
The USA game last year needed a special exemption from the city. The ordinance specifically states that there must be at least 2 hours between events, with up to 3 exemptions per year.
“Collision” and “Sounder” are bad choice words in a headline when paired together. Up the editorial standard on that one…
I was just about to post the same thing
Me as well. Talk about a serious lapse in editorial judgment.
Yes, my first thought was, was there a train collision I hadn’t heard about?
So, suggest a better headline. Don’t just complain without offering a better way to write it. Also, using Sounder and Sounders in the same headline … confusing.
Not our job. Why are you so keen on inventing and assigning work to others, anyway? You must be a middle manager.
Wrong. It IS our job. It takes a village to raise a child. A candle loses nothing by lighting another candle. Many hands make light work.
… Two wrongs don’t make a right… The pen is mightier than the sword… when in Rome, do as the Romans do… The squeaky wheel gets the grease… When the going gets tough, the tough get going… No man is an island… Those living in glass houses should not throw stones… Better late than never… A picture is worth a thousand words… The early bird gets the worm… don’t look a gift horse in the mouth… A watched pot never boils…
Oh yeah, and don’t feed the trolls.
Sam– I’m not the STB’s editor, just pointing it out! Jesus, man, get a life and troll another thread.
How dare you. The transit and land use journalism and analysis I do here is part of my life.
When was there ever an article post here by you? All I see is garbbledygook in the comments–hardly journalism.
“He swung around a hill
And his brave heart stood still
For a headlight was shining in his eyes.
He whispered a prayer as he threw on the air,
For he knew this was to be his final ride!”
Thanks to about a century and a half of development of railroad technology, head on collisions have a lot fewer folk songs written about them. Of course, the same holds for plane and car crashes- the folk songs, that is. Also, lyrics like “mechanical issues” and “freight delays” just don’t “scan”. Too hard to rhyme.
“As he read his orders Brody told his fireman,
Forget about the whistle and the bell!
I’m gonna put 97 into Spencer on her schedule
Or I’ll sink her in the bottom pit of Hell!”
Substitute “513” and “Lakewood” and somehow it just doesn’t work.
MD
Also- almost impossible to imagine any BN engineer on Sounder doing like the brave men at the throttles of Number 9 and Number 97 and giving up their lives to be on time!