Sound Transit has released its list of Sounders football matches and Mariners baseball games that will be served by special Sounder trains, through early July.
Leading off will be rare late evening service Sunday to the Sounders’ home opener against the New York Red Bulls, which will feature the raising of the MLS Cup Championship banner. This Sunday’s South Sounder departs Lakewood Station at 1:15, arriving at King Street Station at 2:28. North Sounder departs Everett Station at 1:45, arriving at King Street Station at 2:44. First kick is scheduled for 4:00. Return trains depart 35 minutes after the final whistle. (Thankfully, regular-season football matches can end in draws rather than going into extra sessions. Baseball, with its extra innings, wasn’t designed with transit in mind.)
Be sure to check out the Sounders’ new clear bag policy. Don’t get stuck having to pay $10 to store your daypack.
For those coming by Link Light Rail, my standing advice is to stand toward the tail end of the platform and board the third car, which is always the most spacious. Sound Transit runs 3-car light rail trains all day on most weekends, especially ones with a Sounders match, Mariners game, or other special event.
This year, you can buy your train or bus ticket before getting to the stop / station using the new mobile ticketing app. Try it now, as the mobile ticketing pilot project may go away at the end of the year if it doesn’t get enough use. If you buy your ticket at the station, be sure to get a day pass and skip the ticket line coming back.
The special Sounder schedule only runs through early July, so more games and matches may be added as the seasons progress.
What’s up with Sound Transit’s website? Is it now just a mobile enabled site? It’s terrible on a laptop.
(Also, the Sounders play soccer).
Clearly Brent is not American because the rest of the world calls it football. :p ;)
Bob is correct. I’m from Texas.
Doesn’t having a soccer team and a commuter train with the same name (saved for one letter) lead to some confusion at all?
Nothing like the confusion caused by having a team named after the mighty storms that appear on Lake Superior relocate to Los Angeles.
Confusion keeps compounding, Glenn. While the ore freighter Edmund Fitzgerald did indeed encounter freezing RAIN before a storm sent her to the bottom of Lake Superior with all hands in November 1975, The Seattle REIGN wouldn’t be founded tor another 38 years.
So in theory, they’re off the hook for steering the boat onto those rocks. However, the fact she wouldn’t be born for six more years probably wouldn’t have prevented Hope Solo from at least trying if she thought the Captain was a coward.
Also, read some years ago that after soccer matches, British police in Tube stations- try this one, Elon-would make sure fans of opposing teams never saw each other, while marshaling them aboard alternating trains.
Which were all undoubtedly at least four cars long. Do warring fans still have bald heads, overalls, and steel-toed boots? In any case, could be a bad time for elevators and escalators to break down anywhere on LINK.
Mark
Timbers Army and the main Vancouver supporters come by charter bus, and get escorted out of the station through a gate that blocks cross-traffic while they exit. It would take about one dedicated train to cart those supporter groups off to an alternate site, involving complicated crowd-separation logistics through public right-of-way, only to have them board the same caravan of charter buses that currently brings them to a side door of the CLink.
ECS takes charter buses to Portland and Vancouver, get dropped off right by the stadium, and tend to enter as a mob.
Except when playing a Mexican side in the Champions League, there rarely is a sizable visiting crowd. The crowd for Club Amèrica (Mexico City’s club) last year and the crowd for Monterey back in 2010 were the two largest visiting crowds I can recall at a Sounders match.
But with the new border policies, I’m not sure those crowds will be allowed to come to matches in the US. Maybe US football clubs will lose their right to host Champions League matches. Maybe the US will cease being allowed to host the Gold Cup. We can forget hosting the Olympics or the World Cup again any time soon.
The confusion continues on Link between University Street Station and University of Washington. On two occasions have I overheard UW-bound visitors wondering where they should get off (I stopped them). The other day on the way to the UW I myself almost got off downtown when I heard the word ‘University’, thinking we had reached our destination–I had been reading a book and not paying any attention.
Interesting practice from Germany: buying a Bundesliga ticket will often include free public transport in the hours before and after a match (verified by the ticket itself). A very nice proposition when stadiums are built at rail interchanges and are convenient to access via train and bus.
Portland did this for many years for events at Civic Field (now Providence Park) and the Rose Quarter. I don’t think they do it now though. UW also provided free game day rides on Metro with your football ticket but discontinued it a few years ago.
The Timbers stopped doing it after Uber became a sponsor. Coincidence?
Did that myself in Hamburg – quite the experience! The S-Bahn was packed with Hamburg supporters and seemingly everyone had a beer (or 3) to drink on the way. Rowdy and crowded, but nonetheless very efficient.
And to think that the Mayor and a few people on the City Council oppose SODO Arena for the NHL and the NBA in spite of its superior transit logistics to a potentially revamped Key Arena that won’t get light rail for another 20 or so years and has limited parking resources. Common sense totally escapes our city government for the sake of political fealty.
I’m all for a SODO arena, as long as it’s paid for by the team owner who will profit from it, rather than our tax dollars.
Hanson’s plan is private funding + the money needed for the Lander overpass.
Hey, I made a post this am and it was deleted. It was about the Seattle times article in the paper today. Why was that? It was nice and on topic!
My mistake. Wrong thread