Seattle Subway Train
A couple of weeks ago, I twatted from a subway platform while waiting for a train in Downtown Seattle. Moments later, one of our fellow Puget Sound residents twatted:
“We have a subway?”
Ouch.
So much for Sound Transit’s PR Department. Oh well, allow me fellas …
The answer is yes, yes we do.
Now, given that it’s light rail, there is some debate over whether our system is a proper “subway” or not, but in my mind, it is very clear-cut.
There is a train in Seattle which runs underground through very densely occupied areas, making many stops along the way. In most cases, in order to reach the train, one must descend into a tunnel via escalator, stairs, or elevator. Once on the train, travel times are very predictable as the train is in no way impeded by street traffic above. The train’s speed is on-par with most other underground rail systems throughout the world.
Seattle Subway Train and Station
Seattle Subway Train
If that’s not a subway, then I don’t know what is.
The current train that runs from SeaTac Airport to Westlake Park is in the process of expanding to Capitol Hill, the U District and other neighborhoods, and it should be completed by 2016. This will essentially link all of the city’s most densely populated areas together with a subterranean rail line, and it will finally put Seattle into a more cosmopolitan category transit-wise.
Future Seattle Subway Train Station Map
Of course, I am very excited about all of this. I’ve been a lifelong transit rider since the day I was born (I didn’t bother to get a permanent driver’s license until I was 32 years old). As a matter of fact, transit has always been the primary consideration when I look for a home.
I grew up in DC and NYC, and the trains were my lifelines. Even when I moved to auto-obsessed LA, I rented an apartment directly above a Red Line station in Downtown Los Angeles. For 5 years in that town, I did not drive on a frequent basis. Rather, I rode the train back and forth to Hollywood and Mid-Wilshire, and when I went to the beach, I threw my bicycle on the front of a Metro Rapid bus.
When I moved to SeedyTown for 5 years, again, I was very careful to make sure I got a place within walking distance to the Monofail.
People thought I was nuts, but trains and buses are my comfort zones. They always have been. These are the ways I learned to get around from infancy. It’s why I sold my car last week.
When the Seattle Subway (it’s called “Central Link”, a name I’m not thrilled about) is fully built out, there is a very good chance that I will personally be the most prolific rider of the system. Hell, in its current state, I probably use it more than most people.
Riding a Seattle Subway Train
View from Subway Train
View of Seattle from Subway Train
Take last week, for example. I rode the subway from its northern terminus in Westlake Park to its southern terminus at SeaTac, then turned around and went back again. I sat across from a lady who was on the nod the entire trip (score one for PNW dope). Her body movements were almost hypnotic, rocking in counter-motion to the train’s inertia. Like me, she rode from one end to the other, and back again.
Seattle Subway Train Passenger
Unlike my companion, however, I was not using the train as an opium den. Why did I ride it back and forth?
Because it’s there.
I’ve similarly ridden every single inch of the NYC subway system, every yard of the DC Metro, and the totality of the LA System. When I visit a new city, one of the first things I do is hop on their subway system (assuming they have one), and I often dedicate a day to riding as much of it as possible. Boston, Chicago, Atlanta, Miami, Baltimore, Philly, San Francisco, Portland … I’ve ridden them all.
You see, in addition to being the overall greatest human being on god’s green earth, I’m also a transit nerd. I have an odd fascination with urban rail, but unlike auto-erotic asphyxiation or chicks with dicks, it’s a fetish that keeps me out of trouble.
Last month, when Sound Transit distributed a memo to my building warning residents of construction noise associated with the Capitol Hill subway tunnel, I was the only person who reacted with excitement instead of annoyance. While everyone else groaned, I remember saying, “Cool, that means they’re making progress”. As far as I’m concerned, they can bounce me out of bed all night long for a new subway route.
Now, while I’m stoked about what’s happening with Seattle transit, I would be remiss if I did not address one lacking issue, and that is the subway’s fare system.
The subway relies on sort of an “honor system” where you tap your card on a reader before you get on a train, and again when you get off. This can be sort of messy and awkward.
For instance:
Shortly after pulling out of the I.D. Station last Friday, a transit cop tapped me on the shoulder and asked, “Do you have a fare card?”.
Me: Yes, of course.
Cop: May I see it?
Me: Uh, sure.
I pulled it out of my laptop bag, held it in front of me and he simply replied “Okay”. He walked on to the next lady, asked for her card, but she was much less polite than was I. Not only was she less polite, she was somewhat hostile:
“You guys do this to me every time, why do I bother swiping my card if I have to keep it out to show you?”
It was a good question. You see, ORCA cards are just blank cards. They do not have any identifying information on the outside, nor do they display a balance or expiration date. Theoretically, you could use a drained fare card to flash at a transit cop every day while never paying a fare.
You’ve heard of security theater? Well, this is subway fare theater. It seems to be more of a deterrent/submissive thing than a valid method of fare collection. I’d prefer they just install turnstiles or gates. Sure, it would cost more in the short-run, but fare evasion would drop, security would increase (right now, anyone can stand on the platform and panhandle without paying a fare), and in the long-run I think it would pay for itself.
Inside of a Seattle Subway Train
Inside of a Seattle Subway Train
Inside of a Seattle Subway Train
One other minor problem I have is legroom in the seats. I am 6’3″, and I have to occupy two seats across, because putting my legs in front of me is very uncomfortable. I look like a clown in one of those tiny circus cars … ridiculous. I have to lodge my knees against the top of the seat in front of me, and my feet cannot even touch the floor. When the train is full, I will be forced to stand, because the seats are built for midgets. Small nuisance, but if you are taller than Tom Cruise, consider yourself forewarned.
Riding in a Seattle Subway Train
In any event, yes Seattle, you have a subway, and it’s about to get a whole lot better.
Leave your cars behind, thumb your nose at the increased parking rates, and experience a city the way it was meant to be experienced. On foot and on your own terms — without a ticking meter counting down like a Doomsday clock.
Now that you have a subway like all first-tier cities, please support it.
I share your transit nerdery, and have likewise ridden every inch of MUNI and BART in San Francisco. When I was a kid I used to ride the trains with my grandfather, and it’s a big nostalgia trip for me now. I’m planning on moving back to San Francsico within the next eighteen months, and happily joining the ranks of the carless.
There’s always Zipcar if I ever need it.
As far as fare enforcement goes, San Francisco is moving toward unifying fares across agencies with the Clipper Card. The cards use RFID, so transit cops can scan instantly and see that you’ve paid. When I got checked I didn’t even need to take it out of my wallet, I held it out and he scanned right through it.
ORCA cards have the chips inside. I have seen cops on the trains with scanners, but they rarely actually scan the cards. I don’t know on what basis they single people out to scan, but they’ve never scanned mine (only asked to see it).
It’s kind of a wonky and confrontational system. I am not a fan.
In my defense, when I made the comment about having a subway, I was thinking what the name implies; a train system under the streets. Since I used to see the sounder trains pass behind my old work almost daily, I never considered them to be “sub”. I knew they went underground, but only in the sense of a tunnel (or extended tunnel).
I didn’t realize the span to SeaTac was opened. That will help when I need to fly since I have a station a couple miles down the road from me. A short bus ride and then a train to the airport beats driving and paying for parking. Sadly, I can’t use it on Thursday since I’m leaving from work.
Sprunt, these aren’t Sounder trains. Sounder is heavy commuter rail. Central Link is a light rail system that only runs from Downtown Seattle to southern King County.
Totally different animal.
Although you can take the Sounder and transfer to the Central Link (subway) at King Street Station to get to SeaTac.
My wife and I took the light rail from SeaTac to Westlake last July. I think the trip took 40 to 45 minutes at a cost of $2.50 each. (A cab is between $38 to $45, fixed fare…no tunnel route like in vegas… ) An elevator up to street level and a block walk to the Red Lion on 5th Ave. was pretty easy going. We were there to board a cruise the next day, so baggage was a little heavier than a weekend trip, but it was still manageable. The walk from the terminals at SeaTac could be a little daunting to those with limitations. Overall, I would not hesitate to take that mode of transportation downtown again. The only limitation I can foresee is the time in getting to your final destination if it is not on the light rail’s direct route. The plans for the new expansion is nice to hear.
One thing I forgot to mention is that I really think they need to change the name.
The plan is to give these routes different names like “Central Link”, “East Link”, “North Link”, University Link”, or names similar to these.
A lot of people from out of town have no idea what a “Link” is. Hell, people in town don’t know what a Link is. As you can see above, they assume it’s some kind of Sounder commuter train (which is what it sounds like).
Most people know terms like “Metro” and “Line”, but i think the “Link” thing is going to be a hindrance. Tacoma also has a Link train, but it stays in Downtown Tacoma and doesn’t leave the city limits.
This system will definitely need to be re-branded to make sense.
I’d like to see them just call it “The Seattle Subway” and call it “The U Line”, “The North Line”, etc.
“… and when I went to the beach …”
Rex at the beach? What’s next, Rex in Vegas, screaming ‘amazing’ at the sights?
I have to disagree with your characterization of the proof-of-payment system as “subway fare theater.” I don’t know why the fare inspector merely asked to look at your card – they have handheld readers to check the information stored on it. Just last evening I was fare-checked on Link, and the inspector used a reader to verify that I had in fact tapped in. This is what has happened every time I have been fare-checked on Link. I suspect your experience was an anomaly.
Proof-of-payment systems are much more cost-efficient for small systems like ours and are very common in Europe. Turnstiles don’t guarantee fare compliance (ever see “turnstile jumpers” in NYC?), cost money to purchase and maintain, take up space, and slow entry/exit from stations.
I’ll have to agree to disagree.
Turnstiles provide a single point of fare control. Sure, people jump turnstiles (and they also shoplift), but if you put a camera or an employee at the turnstile, those that jump will be relatively few. Jumping turnstiles is very obvious. Fare jumpers are easy to detect. No so proof-of-payment. Just insist to the cop that you tapped your card and insinuate that the machine must have malfunctioned somehow. Or maybe you made an honest mistake and didn’t hold the card close enough to the scanner. What can he do to rebut this? How can he prove that you willfully intended to evade? He can’t. After all, you didn’t jump over anything or force your way through a barrier.
It’s theater. Proof-of-payment fare evasion is way easier and more discrete than hopping a turnstile.
I find the current system vaguely uncomfortable. It’s like walking through a store and having the owner stop you and say “do you have a receipt for the watch you are wearing? How do I know you didn’t take it from my store?” Checking once on the train is an assumption of guilt. It’s an accusation. It’s confrontation.
Once I have bought my card and tapped it through, I want to be left alone sans evidence that I have evaded a fare. I would prefer the assumption be that I’m an okay guy unless I do something to indicate otherwise. Then again, I’m one of those people that refuses to stop for bag checks at store exists, so it may just be a manifestation of my anti-social behavior.
I will always take the train, but I am not a fan of the proof-of-payment thing. I doubt I ever will be.
Also, if the cops scan some people’s cards and not others (mine has never been scanned but perhaps I’m just that handsome), I can already see some kind of “discrimination” claims being made in the future.
FWIW, LA also had a proof-of-payment system, but they only checked when the train was relatively empty — never during rush hour. Fare evasion on that system was simple … just ride during peak hours. They desperately needed turnstiles.
The platforms are fare paid zones also. I’ve seen fare enforcement on the platform – although it is more common on the trains
The system is similar to that in Switzerland. Buy your fare and hop on. You may or may not get checked. If you do get checked you better have the fare card and be in the proper car (1st or 2nd class). Otherwise it is a fine on the spot, no questions asked and no appeal.
There a good chance Link will gain turnstiles once it gets exclusive possession of the Downtown Transit Tunnel. All the stations are designed in a way to allow for it. With busses in the DSTT, however, there’s no way for turnstiles to work.