Light Rail

[bigmacbear]

gmjambear and I headed into downtown Seattle yesterday to check out the new light rail line. The bus trip south from Everett was relatively uneventful; we spent most of the trip discussing a particularly incendiary (to me) diary I'd just read on the Daily Kos.

When we arrived at the Westlake station a series of buses lined up on our side of the station while a northbound train occupied the other side. Then all the buses left and the southbound train showed up. It appears that buses and trains are required to alternate use of the tunnel; no station can have both buses and a train traveling in the same direction occupying the station at once.

The train emerged from the transit tunnel and followed a set of tracks parallel to the SODO Busway. Between the train tracks and the adjoining property is a pedestrian/bike path, and there was a lot of colorful graffiti and a mural or two on the walls. Next the train paused on the elevated track near the maintenance yard while the operators changed shifts.

From there it was a short hop into the Beacon Hill tunnel. A series of digital screens flashed images of playing cards at the train. The Beacon hill station reminds me of a couple of stations on the Montreal Metro. After the Beacon Hill tunnel the train descends into the median of MLK Way and travels down the valley to Rainier Beach. We saw several places where ambitious developments intended to make use of the light rail had stalled due to the crap economy.

After the Rainier Beach station the train left the median and soared onto an express elevated track with no stops until the temporary terminus at Tukwila/International station. Already there was a line forming of folks wanting tickets to take the train downtown for the evening's Seahawks preseason game. We headed across the street to have lunch at Quizno's sub shop.

After lunch we joined the growing line for the ticket machines. I picked up an ORCA card at the machine to be used whenever I'm not supposed to use my work pass, or when I hop on the Everett Transit bus (which does not honor my work pass). Then there was a bit of a fiasco as the lighted "Next Train" signs took a while to switch after the departure of a train. Fortunately we got up to the other platform in time for the next train.

The return train was mostly full of football fans headed for Qwest Field. We got to Westlake Center in fairly short order. I wanted to see if the South Lake Union trolley (S.L.U.T.) accepted ORCA cards yet but it appears they do not, so we settled in to wait for the bus back to Everett.

The return trip on the bus was not much fun. A young couple and their two kids sat behind us on the bench seat across the back of the bus. The kids were sniping at one another as kids do, the mother was tired and exasperated, the air conditioning was broken and the bus windows were not operable, so the bus was rather stifling.

And speaking of very tired mummies, the whole situation reminded us of a bus trip when we were visiting Liverpool with verytiredmummy in 2003. That deserves a post of its own.

All in all, an interesting way to spend an afternoon.