London vs Berlin transit. Which is better? (Evan Edinger)

Top 15 highest-ridership cities in the US, Canada, and Mexico. (CityNerd)

This is an open thread.

66 Replies to “Sunday Movies: London vs Berlin Transit, and North American Cities by Ridership”

  1. With the World Cup right around the corner, and the fate of the Iranian matches (one of them in Seattle) up in the air, someone gave me an excellent solution to avoid that security nightmare:

    Move the Iranian matches to Mexican or Canada.

    That is not meant as a political statement (a taboo topic for this blog) but a way to diffuse a situation.

    Sure, offering refunds and then seat relocation, followed by late ticket sales, may be an administrative nightmare, but FIFA knows how to do that by now.

    That is far easier to do than to bring in the security measures for US and Iran matches occurring in the same stadia (Seattle and SOFI) and using the same trains, just days apart.

    Protect our vulnerable train systems by removing this dangerous and avoidable mix.

    2. With the administration making it hard to get into the US, the images of ICE agents rounding random people up and putting them in concentration camps for weeks and sending them to random countries they’ve never been to, people outside the US boycotting the World Cup this year, and countries not sending their teams, that will probably all add up to low attendance and ticket sales.

      1. The tickets are already sold, for the most part. Those deciding not to come will sell their tickets to some of the 500M who submitted ticket requests to FIFA. There may be a lot of turnover in who is coming, but I still expect nearly all of the matches to sell out.

        As for the players and teams, teams have replacement players in line for those who back out.

        It as at the level of national federations that a boycott could hurt FIFA and the host cities’ hospitality industries.

      2. I don’t think the blog is supposed to touch foreign policy with a ten foot pole stick, Brent.

        Though I can’t imagine what the crush loads will look like when the matches start, if light rail gets crush loaded over local events and a Seahawks parade (not a game) now imagine over a WORLD event. I don’t know where to start or how I-5 is gonna get.

      3. The likely limit for the passenger-load caused by the World Cup is the capacity of Seattle Stadium (ca. 68k). Few visitors will come here without match tickets in hand.

        The crowds from previous and next matches may overlap a bit, but the teams they are following are playing on identical days, wherever they are playing, only two each match day at Seattle Stadium, with 3-4 days in between matches.

        So, expect larger match day train crowds than a Seahawks game, but significantly less than the Super Bowl Parade.

        The wildcard will be whether security checkpoints will be set up to enter each station. The likelihood of that happening has gone way up since two weeks ago.

      4. I expect what happened at the Goodwill games and happens with most major events like this is a lot of Seattle will opt to be out of town. Some may see the lucrative side of renting their home and others just go on vacation to avoid the hordes.

    2. I rode one of the GILLIG battery buses in February and it felt like riding a trolleybus. Very quiet ride and was only bumpy where the road was in poor condition.

    3. “I find riding buses in Europe is more comfortable than here but wondering how much of that is bus vs road quality.”

      I think it’s both. Some SDOT local streets are indeed aging very badly, but it also has something to do with transit vehicle itself because I can hear certain things are falling loose.

      A ride on Sound Transit’s high speed version of NFI XDE60 feels less noisy than the same model owned by King County Metro.

      Also I think KCM is close to another major fleet replacement. Agency like IndyGo in Indianapolis and MARTA in Atlanta don’t have any fleet built before 2013 anymore while KCM still has good number of buses made before 2010.

  3. With the Strait of Hormuz closed, oil futures are skyrocketing in price. I think we can expect a few more people to be riding the bus soon. Maybe more than a few?

    1. I expect the 2 Line opening across the lake will spike ridership way more than oil prices. Gas is cheap. And it’s a small part of the cost of driving. Gasoline prices have tracked the price of a gallon of milk for as long as I’ve been driving. Even the 1973 oil “crisis” was just a blip. People were more hacked about sitting in long lines than the price. Having just got my license I thought it was kind of fun. Go sit in line for a while with your friends to fill up the parents car. Hint, make sure if you have two vehicles they have alternate odd/even last digit numbers.

    2. I doubt gas prices play big part in mode choice decisions in the US. There are just too much sunken cost made in a way that driving won’t cost much more day by day. Like decision to own a car and move to less transit-friendly part of the suburbs where home price is lower. So, it is not a simple switch for a lot of people. And Gas price is still relatively inexpensive.

      For a lot of commuters without access to free parking at work, they might be more likely to switch to transit because of parking situation than gas price.
      Without experiment, it is difficult to put to perspective how much gas money one would save by switching to transit. I never do my math on that.

      I believe in transit because it is a more efficient transportation mode in urban setup from system perspective. Personally, I probably gain very little (or not at all) by choosing this mode.

      1. There are just too much sunken cost made in a way that driving won’t cost much more day by day. Like decision to own a car and move to less transit-friendly part of the suburbs where home price is lower.
        Yep. There’s also costs like depreciation and insurance that aren’t really proportional to how you drive.

        Personally, I probably gain very little (or not at all) by choosing this mode.
        I don’t know about you, but most people save a lot of money if they don’t own a car. The average cost of car ownership in King County is nearly $1000/month. For a lot of people there is nothing else that’s so expensive and optional—it’s hard to shave off that much rent or mortgage, no matter where you move in the country.

      2. The data are clear that gas prices have a strong (negative) correlation with transit ridership in the USA. Even for a few weeks, there will be riders where gas prices cross their personal threshold where the cost savings are worth the inconvenience of transit.

        Price of parking also has a strong (negative) correlation with transit ridership. Typically parking prices don’t move around in response to geopolitical events, but yes if cities charged more for parking then transit ridership would go up. It’s still free to park on the street across the vast majority of Seattle.

      3. depreciation and insurance that aren’t really proportional to how you drive.

        It is not completely proportional (there are fixed costs with driving) but it has a strong influence. If you don’t commute by car it can reduce your insurance. Even a shorter car commute can lower it. The value of your car and how much you spend on repairs is influenced by how many miles you put on the car (and how you drive). If people get around mostly without a car, owning a car is a lot cheaper.

        That being said, those costs are not felt immediately so there is a tendency to ignore them. In contrast, people are aware of gas prices and spend money on gas quite often. A significant increase will definitely lead to a decrease in driving. If people feel like it is a long term thing then they will change their behavior even more.

      4. The US is the most vulnerable country in the world to oil-price spikes (NY Times gift link), argues R Kelanic of a defense think tank.

        “oil trades in a global market at a single market price. Experts compare the oil market to a giant bathtub with many spigots and drains. The total level of oil in the bathtub, plus market speculation about whether that level will go up or down, determines the oil price”

        “America’s economy is more than 40 percent more oil-intensive than China’s”

        “Even Russia, a petrostate, is about 20 percent less reliant on oil per unit of economic output than the United States is.”

        “Chinese gasoline consumption appears to have peaked in 2023”

        “within the next year, China’s E.V. sales are projected to exceed the entire U.S. car market.”

        “The Trump administration has ended E.V. subsidies, discouraged investment in charging infrastructure and weakened U.S. fuel economy standards.”

        She says the US shouldn’t protect shipments through the Straight of Hormuz — that was Carter’s mistake — but instead encourage oil companies and governments “to diversify the routes on which Mideast oil could move — through pipelines or on railways to ports on the Mediterranean or Red Sea”.

        It ultimately recommends switching to electric cars, and it mentions them all over the article, so that may be what’s funding the essay.

        That ignores the more efficient allocation of resources if some of that money went into boosting transit instead. Ultimately the reason the US is vulnerable is not just industrial oil use, but the fact that so many people live in unwalkable areas with no feasible transit alternative, and the current administration has doubled down on it.

      5. “I don’t know about you, but most people save a lot of money if they don’t own a car. The average cost of car ownership in King County is nearly $1000/month.”

        June,

        If $1000 is essential for someone to foot their bills, then I think it is worth it to give up on car by all means, but if they always have a few $1000 available monthly, then owning a car feels less of a burden. I’d say for most people, it is still too cheap to own a car here.

      6. “doubt gas prices play big part in mode choice decisions in the US. ”

        In areas where transit is a very small portion of overall trips, even a very tiny percentage of drivers switching to transit can still have a big impact on transit ridership. It’s just simple math.

        For instance, if a city goes from 2,000 daily transit trips and 100,000 daily driving trips to 2,500 daily transit trips and 99,500 daily driving trips, even though only 0.5% of drivers have switched, that’s still a 20% increase in transit ridership. Enough to be very noticeable, both to passengers and to the agency.

      7. Enough to be very noticeable, both to passengers and to the agency.

        True, but imperceivable to the people still driving or the person walking or trying to ride a bike along side traffic. If gas remains high for long, like through the summmer, then people will make fewer trips and expect a jump in carpool use. That not only saves gas but gets you into the HOV lanes for free.

        The big savings in cost is going from car to no car. Of even decreasing the number of cars. Gas prices are more likely to spur an earlier trade in on a better mileage vehicle (or electric). If gas prices remain high enough there won’t be a need for government subsidies to buy EVs.

      8. If ridership goes up substantially but Metro doesn’t have more service hours, there could be overcrowding on some routes.

    3. I think only a few people will change behaviors that quickly. It’s a sustained high price that I think will shift behavior. So maybe if they’re still high by May or June there will be behavior shifts starting to happen.

    4. Oil prices are returning to where they were in the 2000s, so it’s not something new. (June 2008: $139.96; March 2026: $102.33.)

      Adjusted for inflation (second chart), it’s only half that level. (June 2008: $208.04:) The second chart only goes up to January, but there’s been little inflation in two months, so we can just take the March number from above.

      At the time Metro ridership rose. (From King County performance reports.) We see ridership in 2000 was 101.6 million, in 2003 it troughed at at 94.4 million, in 2008 it peaked at 118.8 million, in 2013 it reached that level again, in 2019 it reached a new peak 123.5 million, in 2021 it troughed at 51.3 million, and in 2023 it was at 76.3 million, and that’s the latest available.

      So ridership went up in the 2000s with gas prices. But the landscape wasn’t that different: most people drove, the freeways were full, you still walked through huge parking lots filled with cars to get to big-box stores.

      At the time some people said $5 gas was what triggered the 2008 crash. It was in real estate, but what made people unable to pay their mortgates was coping with the high price of transportation fuel (both cars, buses, and delivery trucks). Metro’s fare rose most rapidly in that era to adhere to its farebox-recovery window, and I think it may have had a fuel surcharge. But other things happened in that 2003-2008 era too: the economy recovered from the 2000 recession, the population improved, and Seattle started becoming more of a tech hub. So I don’t know how much of the ridership increase was those vs gas prices.

      In 2008 there was no Link; everything was Metro and ST Express. Since then several extensions have opened: 2009 airport/Rainier, 2016 UW, 2022 Northgate, 2024 Lynnwood, 2025 Federal Way. That shifted a ton of riders from Metro to Link. But other riders replaced them to some extent, the population grew, and it grew in a ridership-friendly sector (tech).

      So this tells us ridership will likely increase with oil prices, but not to the extent transit will overtake driving. The biggest thing to worry about is a recession caused by high oil prices. And now there are new factors: the Strait of Hormuz’s closure being a new factor, and Iran bombing Saudi and neighboring oil fields which may take them offline. Ridership falls in a recession (see 2003, 2010, and 2021).

      Another thing is, oil prices fall in a recession. Because a significant amount of oil is used in industry, and factories idle during recessions. So that would counteract the decreasing supply to some extent. And the rest of the world is madly building solar and wind farms and researching geothermal and converting to battery vehicles: those weren’t feasible at scale in past recessions. And the rest of the world will probably get even more interested in driverless electric trains and trolleybuses, since they don’t have an ideological bias against them, and their public will demand transit more as driving becomes less feasible in their societies.

    5. There’s a book about the impact of gas prices: $20 per Gallon: How the Inevitable Rise in the Price of Gasoline Will Change Our Lives for the Better by Christopher Steiner. It predicts how society will change when gas prices reach $5, $10, and $20. I don’t remember all the details but it’s something like at $5 transit will get a boost. At $10 air travel will stop completely, intercontinental travel and shipping will become uncommon again, and intercontinental passenger ships will have a modest revival.

      But all of it was wrong. It was published in 2009 so it must have been written in 2008. At the time oil prices were reaching $5 and were expected to keep going up as supply ran out. But instead a recession occurred and brought the price back down again, the US moved into shale production, battery cars became a thing, and the world got into renewable energy. So the rule held that when the price gets too high, people stop buying, and the price comes down, and when beef becomes expensive people start eating more chicken, so the price ends up bouncing back and forth within a window.

      1. “At $10 air travel will stop completely, intercontinental travel and shipping will become uncommon again, and intercontinental passenger ships will have a modest revival.”

        That claim, in particular, feels incredulous. $10 gas would make air travel a lot more expensive, and the number of daily flights would most certainly be less. But, the end of commercial air travel altogether feels like a gross exaggeration. Even if tickets were to cost double or triple what they do today, people with money will still fly if the trip is important enough.

        At the same time, it’s not clear that the boat alternative for overseas travel even saves fuel, as cruise ships actually burn more fuel per passenger-mile than airliners do, in part because you can’t pack people in nearly as tightly when a journey lasts 3 weeks vs. just a few hours.

        Also, in an era where EVs exist, I can even see a drastic increase in fuel prices eventually leading to an *increase* in long-distance driving, once a critical mass of people own EVs, as it will become significantly cheaper to drive than to fly, especially if autonomous driving tech makes such long drives less stressful. And also, there will be some substitution of more distant leisure destinations with places within a day’s driving distance.

        Of course, this is all predicted on gas prices getting higher and higher, which is uncertain anytime soon. The problem is, higher fuel prices not only reduces demand, it also increases incentive for oil companies to dig up more fuel. Which, in the long run, increases supply, and brings prices back down again. Which is something that the author seems to have completely overlooked.

      2. “That claim, in particular, feels incredulous. $10 gas would make air travel a lot more expensive”

        I don’t remember what threshold this was at, maybe higher than $10. But it’s in the book somewhere.

        This was from before EVs and shale became common. It was assumed oil would just become scarce, and shale wouldn’t be feasible or environmentally acceptable.

        “Even if tickets were to cost double or triple what they do today, people with money will still fly if the trip is important enough.”

        That’s another factor. The number of billionaires and two- and three-digit billionaires has risen, regulations limiting their activities have been slashed, and psycopathic and/or narcissistic ones have become more numerous or at least more visible, so they wouldn’t let a puny $20 gas index level cramp their flying style.

      3. “*increase* in long-distance driving, once a critical mass of people own EVs, as it will become significantly cheaper to drive than to fly,”

        Opportunity for a long-distance EV bus service entrepreneur.

      4. If a domestic air ticket cost $2000/person, far fewer people would fly just to check out a city or spend a weekend at a beach. But, people with family who can afford it would still pay up to visit their loved ones, albeit less often than if flights were cheaper.

        Of course, a drastic increase in airline costs would not mean people don’t take vacations, they’d just change destinations. From Seattle, that might mean driving to a beach in Oregon, rather than flying to a beach in Cancun.

      5. Air travel used to be a lot more expensive before deregulation but there were still full planes jetting all around the globe. Airfare is incredibly cheap when you look at $$/mi. You can’t drive to NYC and back for $400.

      6. “Of course, this is all predicted on gas prices getting higher and higher, which is uncertain anytime soon. The problem is, higher fuel prices not only reduces demand, it also increases incentive for oil companies to dig up more fuel. Which, in the long run, increases supply, and brings prices back down again.”

        This assumes that all oil is equal in production cost. You can get oil in Venezuela or Brazil, but it’s really deep and not worth getting unless you can get $85 a barrel or so for it.

        So, more production doesn’t necessarily mean lower prices.

    1. A total order that could be over 600 trolleybuses. That’s pretty impressive considering how so many cities in North America abandoned trolleybuses.

      1. Yeah, just realized that this is part of the original 100ish 12 m (~40 ft) order to be delivered this year. The prototype test was done a few years ago.

        The total number is more than existing NFI fleet. Maybe Vancouver plans to electrify some diesel routes?

    2. The article also seems to imply that Vancouver is going to be using the new trolley’s off-wire capability on actual bus routes, something that King County Metro has so far refused to do, in spite of the fact that their buses will have less battery range than ours (20 km vs. 21 miles). If they can do it, we can do it.

  5. Just spotted a 40 foot trolley bus heading northbound over the university bridge, wires connected (vehicle 4375). Its head sign said training coach, no passengers. Sounds like the 49 and/or 70 will get trolleys assigned again soon?

    1. 49 is dieselized until Roanoke Lid is done. 70 is dieselized until J Line/Eastlake Ave project is done. Neither project will be completed any time soon.
      Maybe they just use the remaining piece of active wire as training route for trolleybus operators because no trolleybus runs on 49/70.

  6. About that rent-rate software lawsuit, in a NY Times article about a monopoly lawsuit against Live Nation (owner of Ticketmaster and concert promoter): “To those who had sought a breakup of Ticketmaster and Live Nation, however, the settlement deal underscored how President Trump has tempered the aggressive antitrust enforcement of the Biden administration. Federal regulators have allowed big corporate mergers to go forward and settled cases brought by their predecessors. In one of those settlements, the Justice Department ended a case against a software company accused of facilitating collusion between landlords to raise rents after the company agreed to limit the nonpublic data used by its software.”

    1. Fun fact, founder of Ticketmaster are among those Bel-Air NIMBYs who pushed to abolish LAMETRO’s Sepulveda heavy rail alternative that goes through Bel-Air with a ventilation station in the area.

    1. I had seen Ray’s video when it first was posted. It’s interesting — but ultimately is a “report card” video. Ray is very good about understanding data sources and problems with them, and his awareness of data weaknesses make him much more believable that lots of the click-bait junk lists created for YouTube.

      As far as the list goes, it’s interesting but not very useful. Within any metro area there is a wide variety of tripmaking — and some simply have more urban-ness than others. I feel like his videos are more insightful when he hones in on neighborhoods.

      I think that weather is another influencer of urban settlement patterns, and that how cold and snow affect things is a big indirect factor that is not discussed much. On winter days in some of these metros, preparing a car for travel can be time consuming. Needing 20 minutes to clean off snow or an hour to shovel a driveway or even idle a car to warm it up for 10-15 minutes feels like a time waste if frequent transit is available. I think Alberta’s cities would likely be more like Houston or Austin if it wasn’t for the weather, for example.

      Side note, transit centers in Edmonton often offer heated, indoor waiting areas with clean public restrooms. The US — even in our region — seems to expect riders to instead be “hearty” and shuns spending public funds for things like heated stations — and even more basic features like continuous overhead awnings or bigger shelters, down escalators or even more usable bench seating. If our region wants to attract more transit riders, it needs to build in and maintain more rider comforts than we do.

    2. The London v. Berlin video was interesting. Some of the comparison is off, as the London Metro area has three times the population.

      On the other hand, it’s great to see a video looking heavily at the rider experience! He examines frequency, reliability, cleanliness, passenger info, accessibility — and even noise. Too often we ignore or downplay these things — and they do matter!

      PS. I am curious. Has anyone measured decibels of sound at different transit stops or stations using a phone app? It sounds like a good research project for a student.

      PPS. London’s fare system looks shockingly awful!

      1. A couple of years ago, I used my phone to measure noise levels on my usual metro routes, 118, 62 and C. On the 62 and C, I would often see noise levels above 90db! The 62 on NE 65th and on Sand Point Way is unbelievably noisy and rough.

      2. 85-90db is the level at which OSHA requires hearing protection. Kind of difficult for a bus driver who has to communicate with passengers and be able to hear things like emergency sirens. Another reason I guess for the driver protected compartments.

  8. Anybody know why the 2 Line is suspended for today (and maybe tomorrow)? The Monthly Maintenance release did not mention anything about a March 9/10 closure so I’m guessing (?) this was unexpected… but information is few and far between (Shocking!!! (Not shocking.)) I’m not seeing anything from the Times.

    https://www.soundtransit.org/ride-with-us/routes-schedules/1-line?route_tab=alerts&direction=0&at=1773039600000&view=table&stops_0=40_N23%2C40_S07&stops_1=40_S07%2C40_N23#alertsTab

    I can appreciate that ST puts up the alert that the service is out but it would be really nice if they would tell us ‘why’ considering the amount of money this thing cost. Just give us some level of transparency.

    1. According to one of the operators it’s for wire tensioning on the new segment. Federal Way and Lynnwood both stopped service for tweaks during their simulated service periods. We’re only getting alerts now because there are passengers that are affected (reduced service on the main trunk of the system).

    2. I’ve noticed that the simulation has had several paused periods this past week. There is the copper wire theft hassle that’s being resolved so maybe that’s it.

      Luckily, the required simulation of the cross-lake segment isn’t required to be a full six weeks. There are at least two weeks of padding in there. I just hope that there’s not some new surprise that ST is afraid to tell the public that might delay the opening further. ST has a history of hiding schedule problems because it makes the agency look bad so there’s a reason to be somewhat skeptical.

  9. When will Seattle area agencies announce specifics about enhanced service during World Cup?
    Are we expecting just enhanced schedule for existing service or there will be some shuttle routes just for the event?

    1. For a city that regularly hosts Seahawks games, Taylor Swift concerts and massive Downtown parades (Seahawks championship; Pride), our transit operators seem to be able to develop and execute transit for events like this pretty easily.

      There’s only six games at one venue to plan for — and no more than one a day. It’s not like an Olympics, with multiple venues with several events on a given day over a period of 2.5 weeks.

      The extra siding west of Judkins Park is a new facility now available — as well as the availability of train sets from the East OMF. This likely makes trains for events easier this year as opposed to last year!

      So the biggest difference from a 2025 Seahawks game is probably that more attendees will be staying in hotels rather than in their homes, and that the 2 Line sidings and OMF make operations planning easier.

      1. The extra siding west of Judkins Park is a new facility now available

        FWIW that track has a train parked there whenever they are running simulated service. I’m guessing it must be the relief train when drivers need to go on breaks or there is an equipment malfunction. It’s a two car train so there must be room to stage at least an additional two car train. I haven’t been able to tell if there is a driver with the train at all times or not. The reader board is illuminated but I can’t see what it says.

      2. The Seahawks have four decades of multigenerational fans in all three counties. Some go to the games now, some used to go to them, some watch them on TV — but all those groups come to a Super Bowl victory rally.

        Soccer has been growing in Seattle but watching professional games is still relatively new and not as widespread. Visitors coming for the World Cup may fill the stadium, but they won’t be the three or four times more that go to a Seahawks victory day. They’d do that for their own team in their own cities.

        When I went to mill around the victory day area and check transit’s ridership and performance, I saw a surprising distinction between two groups. I got to the International District as the rally at the stadium was ending and the parade was starting. I assumed a few people would come for all of it, but most would come just for the parade. Instead I saw a lot of people who had attended the rally and were now going home; they didn’t stay for the parade. I got to Stadium station and there was a line out the station and a full sidewalk of people going southbound — away from the events.

        I was going northbound, and there was a crowd on that side of the platform but it didn’t extend to the entrance. I got on a northbound train: it already had a lot of people and a crowd got on, so I was almost the last that would fit. At the next two stations — Pioneer Square and Symphony — there was no room to board, and the platforms were packed full both directions. People going away from the parade that was starting. I got off at Symphony and took a northbound shuttle bus to the Mercer Street terminus. When I got on it had a moderate number of people, but in Belltown it got full. So all those people were also going away from the parade.

        I couldn’t see the parade crowd on 4th because the avenue was blocked off, so I don’t know how many people were there. But there were thousands of people who went to the rally but didn’t go to the parade.

        It was clear that the people on the platforms would have to wait for several trains until they could get on: the general feeling was it would take “an hour”. Likewise, that many people wanted to go to the parade but couldn’t get a train in.

        Some people gave up on Link and took my shuttle bus. One wanted to go go to the U-District. I said the 70 is supposed to be going all they way down 3rd, so why didn’t he take it? He said the pattern kept changing and the 70 wasn’t coming. I thought about it and suggested he take a bus to 45th and transfer,. or transfer in Fremont. Then I remembered the 31 or 32 went to Seattle Center — I couldn’t remember which — so I said take that from Uptown and it will go to UW.

      3. The aerial of the third track looks plenty long. It looks well over 1000 feet long and should easily hold two four car trains.

      4. Was the Crosslake Connection out of service Monday? There’s an alert on the ST site timestamped March 10, 4:24 a.m. “2 Line has resumed Crosslake Connection service due to maintenance.” No train parked on the center track but I did see a train headed into DT. Very confusing messaging. Unless they did a soft open there isn’t any Crosslake Connection “service” only “simulated” service?

      5. And, almost immediately after I posted, the parked train is back. I expect 2 Line trains are running as “normal” between CID and Lynnwood?

      6. Westside 2 Line service was suspended last week, but it was running the last time I took it, which was, Saturday or Sunday?

        Also, the blue “2” icon is properly appearing in the northbound platform displays.

      7. “For a city that regularly hosts Seahawks games, Taylor Swift concerts and massive Downtown parades (Seahawks championship; Pride), our transit operators seem to be able to develop and execute transit for events like this pretty easily.”

        AI and others,

        I don’t doubt that Seahawk parade and other events in the recent years have drawn if not more but at least similar amount of people to the city. The only reason I am asking this is because USDOT gave hosting cities dedicated funding to support transportation need (8.4 million for Seattle).

        Clearly the region wouldn’t dedicate 8.4 million to address transportation need for Taylor Swift concert. So there is gotta be more extensive plan to address event traffic.

    2. Search for “World Cup” on ST’s website. There are multiple articles, with lots of details.

  10. DSTT will be closed the weekend after next, March 21-22. Shuttle buses Capitol Hill-SODO. 2 Line Redmond-South Bellevue. No reason was mentioned in the alert.

    1. If only the ballet and Alvin Ailey at the Paramount could offset their start and end times. The shuttle buses will be overwhelmed before and after.

    2. I appreciate when they state reasons. It gives me a little more confidence in the train’s reliability and the reliability and accuracy of communications to passengers. I also prefer accuracy over precision (I.e. everyone is on the same inaccurate script).

  11. The schedule and map for the new ST570 which is the overnight service that shadows Link between Seattle and SeaTac was published: https://www.soundtransit.org/ride-with-us/routes-schedules/570?direction=0&at=1774681200000&view=table&route_tab=schedule&stops_0=1_430%2C1_61080&stops_1=1_60900%2C1_590

    It appears that the only SeaTac stop is on International Blvd at S 176th St.

    Does anyone know if the walking route through the Link station will be open overnight or do they lock it up? It seems counter intuitive not to loop the bus through the airport roadway like the ST560. If the southbound stop is really on the west side of International Blvd, that either means crossing International Blvd, then climbing or elevator up to the skybridge on the east side, then walking through the Link station and parking garage… or walking along International Blvd down to S. 182nd St to enter the airport from the south.

    Sure seems like the bus should either loop through the airport roadway or else at least serve stops at S 182nd St, which is also a RapidRide stop I believe.

    1. You make a great observation!

      ST must either leave SeaTac station open all night to access the stops or they must move the stops. It would be truly stupid to offer a service that can’t be accessed by walking from a SeaTac airport terminal.

      Surely moving the stop to the access road is would be the best for someone going to or from the airport. The 176th stops are quite the trek!

      Alas stupidity is not beyond ST. Well — maybe it’s just ST setting up a service that won’t attract riders so they can declare it failed in the future.

    2. Another unpleasant surprised is that ST will no longer run in-service trains from Federal Way to Beacon Hill after the full 1 line route ends for the night. Since the new night bus does not serve the Rainier Valley or Beacon Hill, this is a net loss of 1 hour of service from the airport to points south of downtown. 11:18 pm is quite early for a last train on Sundays when flights do land late, especially if they are delayed.

      1. Wow! That’s terrible. I see now that the last northbound Link train will leave SeaTac on weeknights at 12:05 am rather than 12:50 am like today.

      2. Are they parking trains in Federal Way? Or going to run empty trains through Rainier Valley and not let riders on them?

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