Earlier today, Sound Transit announced the full 2 Line will begin simulated service on Saturday, February 14. During this final testing stage, passengers will be allowed on 2 Line trains between Downtown Redmond and South Bellevue stations, and between International District/Chinatown (CID) to Lynnwood City Center stations. Simulated service will run between February 14 and the full 2 Line opening on March 28.
The start of simulated service brings significant service increases for riders on both the 1 Line and 2 Line. 1 Line passengers traveling between CID and Lynnwood will experience 4 minute frequencies during peak hours and 5 minute frequencies during the day. While the 2 Line will primarily use 2-car trains, the extra capacity will reduce crowding during busy times. 2 Line passengers on the Eastside will also see improved service as 2 Line trains will now run until midnight.
The real-time arrival screens at stations will display the last station that passengers can reach on the train. On the Eastside, these stations will continue to be South Bellevue and Downtown Redmond. In Seattle, Shoreline, and Snohomish County, these stations will be International District/Chinatown and Lynnwood. Passengers traveling to stations south of CID should wait for the next 1 Line train.
During simulated service, Sound Transit staff will be positioned at South Bellevue and CID to ensure all passengers alight the train before it continues across Lake Washington. The agency has built in a short buffer to the schedule to account for these train sweeps. If clearing the trains leads to frequent delays, Sound Transit may decide to prevent passengers from boarding test trains.
The days of simply boarding the next train are over for some 1 Line passengers. Be sure to check the train’s destination before boarding and wait for the next 1 Line train for trips to destinations in south Seattle and south King County.
I think every 2 Line train being 2 cars would help clueless people understand that something is strange about this train. All 1 Line trains be 4 cars, and all 2 line trains be 2 cars.
Also, 2-car trains are easier to clear at CID than 3-car trains.
Since North Seattle demand is so high, this may be more impactful that the actual crosslake opening date.
I’m rather surprised that ST hasn’t scheduled at ceremony in front of the first train headed north from CID on opening day. This is just a few days away!
And it will be interesting to see if the more frequent trains add new riders at existing stations. Will going from 8-10 to 4-5 minutes make a difference on transit use?
I think it will. The difference between a train every 10 minutes and a train every 5 minutes is quite big when you’re dealing with transfers, especially when Link is the middle segment on a trip with multiple transfers.
And, of course, during rush hour and busy events, the increased capacity will help, in and of itself.
So explain why you have to get off instead of using the only useful part of the trip? Are they afraid of law suits should the “floating” bridge sink? This just seems plain old mean. Maybe I can hide under the seat ;-}
Simulated service periods are meant to give operators time to familiarize themselves with the route in varying conditions, and to confirm that planned operations are feasible in real life. Sound Transit has already had one extremely tragic and famous incident at least partially caused by the operator being unfamiliar with the route. I expect it does not wish to repeat it, even if 6 weeks of “practice” seems like overkill.
Please do not try to hide under the seats. ST has said that if it takes too long to clear the trains at IDS, it will stop allowing riders to board pre-revenue service trains.
Yeah, well if your driving on a road there are certainly things that you might not foresee. This is a fix route rail line. Seems pretty stupid to make people get off just because you’re crossing the lake.
If people won’t get off the test trains quickly enough, ST may stop letting passengers board them.
But all the 2 Line trains running in service are test trains. So, what happens if Bernie repeatedly refuses to get off the train at South Bellevue?
Bernie, it’s a brand new section of railway including the world’s first and only mile of track on a floating bridge. Operators need time to get familiar with the new route before opening doors to passengers.
Sound Transit learned this the hard way with the DuPont disaster in 2017.
Bernie, they’re required by law to do so per the federal government rules for certification of new transportation infrastructure. All transit systems go through this with any new extensions that are built. I frankly don’t get why you’re making a mountain out of a molehill on this when they’ll be done with this simulation of service in a month and a half.
It’s for federally-mandated testing before opening. ST has to test running a full schedule of trains for six weeks before allowing passengers in the segment. Normally it would be a new line or an extension, but this is in the middle of the route so it’s a unique situation.
Ideally ST would have been ready for simulated service last year, and timed it so that it could open by the Super Bowl in case the Seahawks won. But that wasn’t possible with WSDOT approving the electrical system around July, and the other testing between then and now.
Seattlites are some of the most obedient city dwellers I’ve ever seen. As long as train announcements give audio warnings well in advance of CID, almost everyone will get quickly off the train.
The signage helps too. Having the destination sign show that the terminus is CID (or South Bellevue) will translate to many riders that the train won’t continue onward. Plus they’ll fear not only a hassle if they’re caught but they also will fear the hassle of getting back across the lake if they’re not caught.
I could see security needing to remove 1 or 2 people from each train. Most will likely be unaware of the situation because they’re drunk or fell asleep. I’m thinking only a handful each day will need to be forceably removed.
Please don’t ruin this for the rest of us. Double frequency and later Eastside service is really important. ST will already have to deal with forceably removing drunk/intoxicated/mentally unstable people.
I want them to all be 2-car trains so ST also has time to check for hiders.
I always thought Sound Transit should just offer a waiver option that they’re not responsible if you get hurt or die or whatever because you’re on a simulated service train.
I agree, but I think that would need a change in federal regulations.
It is not just a ST or FTA thing. This kind of final rehearsal is common for such type of system around the world although full simulation period may vary.
During the full simulation, some real life operation issue might finally surface.
I give this strategy 5 days max before ST realizes that they can’t clear vagrants off the trains fast enough to stick to the schedule.
Actually, by sheer accident of how trains turn around at Lynnwood, most of the the non-destinational riders will probably stick with the 1 Line. They’ll be told to get off the train (and most usually do), the train will pull onto the tail track, then reverse, then invite those riders straight back on.
Question:
If someone gets off at the end points, such as Lynnwood or Federal Way, are they supposed to retap their ORCA card if they decide to stay on the train for whatever reason?
When the 1-line was extended to Federal Way a few months ago I just wanted to check out to see what the ride was like (after opening day had happened), but had no desire or reason to get off there, so I just crossed the platform and took the next train back , which happened to be the one I had just gotten off.
As I understand it, your first tap registers as a 120 minute Orca pass no matter which agency’s vehicle you are on or direction that you are going. If you tap a second time in those 90 minutes it doesn’t add a fare charge.
There have been anecdotes about this. Like someone reportedly tapped before 120 reminutes but was on a returning Link train that took them well pad the 120 minute window — and they got fined.
When the crosslake connection opens on March 28, the train schedules are showing that Federal Way Downtown to Downtown Redmond will take almost exactly 120 minutes in just ride time. Adding on waiting time for two trains and a few minutes swapping sides in the CID station, it will be possible for this rider to be on a Link only trip for well over 100 minutes from the first tap. And this doesn’t count bus ride time taps, which could make a trip exceed 120 minutes.
It’s a structural problem that remains unaddressed. It’s easy if someone just has to tap to board like on a bus. It’s however a problem with proof-of-payment fare checking because the time span shifts from the time span of boarding to the time span when riding.
Sknribe correct me if I’m wrong about this.
Laila Barr
Just make sure you’re tapping whenver you pass the fare paid zone. So if you exit the station, tap in again. For fare inspection purposes, you get two hours from your last tap onto the light rail. Contrary to what Al is saying, agency and mode DOES matter, and you will be ticketed or fined if you have a metro tap but not a sound transit light rail tap. The rule of thumb is that you should be tapping your card roughly every 2 hours if you’re riding around all day. You can stretch that to nearly four hours if you tap your card towards the end of the first two hours, but you’ll be charged 2 hours after the first tap, which is the fare policy.
Yes DM is right about tapping each time. When I said that subsequent taps don’t matter I was thinking how it didn’t add fare until after 120 minutes. But yes if you transfer to link you should tap.
You do not need to tap when leaving Link though. Each time you tap, Irca thinks that you are boarding, not leaving.
When Link has distance based fares, it was important to tap both entering and leaving the platform. But it no longer matters.
I am guessing a good number of non-destinational riders qualify for, and have acquired, a Subsidized Annual Pass ORCA card.
There is no money on the card, so no revenue split for agencies to fight over. Hence, no point asking them to keep tapping.
So it sounds like 2 Line will continue running on 2-car during the period of simulated service and only switch to 3-4 car when revenue service start in March?
2 for simulated, 3 for full service. If some east stations are built for only up to 3-car trains, then there would be no reason to run 4-car trains east. I don’t know why they ran 4-car trains in no-service testing.
Which east side stations are only built for 3-car trains? That would be ridiculously shortsighted if true.
All of the 2 Line stations are built for full four-car trains. Some stations are missing the marker signs indicating where three- and four-car trains should stop, but that’s a minor detail which should be fixed soon.
Someome keeps saying that multiple east stations are only made for 3-car trains. I didn’t see much pushback to their statements, so I believed them. I guess their claim is false. I personally definitely don’t know details of east stations myself.
Don’t expect this to last long. There’s always homeless and other randoms on board who’d be a nuisance to remove.