Right then. I believe that transportation and urbanism go hand in hand. I'm a professional transportation planner. And so, when exploring and photographing cities I always pay special attention and get lots of pictures of the transportation system. The coming Portland and Vancouver pictures will also include transit sets.
Two things about transit in Seattle jump out to me as abundantly clear:
1. The transit system is woefully inadequate for such a large and urban city.
2. They are making good progress.
Light Rail and the subway
The core of Seattle's transit network is the downtown subway. It is four stations long (or 5, depending on how you count one of the stations) and is unique in that it carries both buses and trains. It was originally built for buses, but has been modified for light rail as Seattle's Link light rail system has come online.
Within the subway the buses are free (the trains are not). It is a fabulously easy and convenient facility. And, since it's only about a mile long, it is something that other cities too small for true subway systems might be able to afford. I could see something like this as the spine of the Denver or Minneapolis transit systems, for example.
I am a big fan.
The Link light rail begins at the airport many miles south of downtown. Here is the airport station:
It runs on the surface between the airport and downtown. This picture, which includes a King County Metro bus yard, was taken from the top of Columbia Tower.
Railyard! Zoomed *way* in.
The subway begins just south of International District station, which is the plaza on the left side of this photo. The photo also includes Seattle's two intercity rail stations, Union Station and King Street station. More on those later.
Into the subway we go. This station is technically open air, so calling it a subway is a little bit of a stretch. But that's OK. Note that in addition to light rail trains there are two different types of buses: King County Metro (local) and Sound Transit (regional).
The next station is Pioneer Square. Similar to DC Metro.
The wayfinding is strong, and easy to understand.
On the subject of wayfinding, I love the compass embedded in the runningway. I don't like that it's illegal to cross, although there are enough buses and trains that I can see why they don't want you to.
You may have noticed that last picture was of University Street station, the next one down the line. It's far less grand. Here it is again:
I don't know who produces this model of bus, but both King County Metro and Sound Transit have them. They look great.
How about a shot of the tunnel itself? This is the from the inside of a moving bus.
The next station north, and the last true subway station, is Westlake. It is the city's main intermodal hub, and is also the end of the line for monorail and streetcar service.
The lower ceiling at this station is due to its full-length mezzanine. I've never seen that before.
Good place for one of these:
Intermodal? Yes please.
Hey! A broken escalator! That sure does make me feel at home. Good to know DC isn't the only place that happens.
Right now the light rail ends at Westlake, but construction has already started on an extension north, and I believe an extension east is also imminent. Signs of the times are everywhere.
Light rail interior, for the record:
Buses
The bus system is extensive, but not nearly as easy to use. In fact, it is downright difficult to figure out where various buses go, even with the assistance of a schedule. What is very impressive about it is the vehicle fleet. Seattle is the only city I've visited where articulated "accordion" buses visibly outnumber regular buses. It also has a huge trolleybus network, which I am a big fan of.
In my opinion, trolleybuses are one step below streetcars. Not only are they smoother, quieter, and cleaner than diesel buses, but since they have wires they provide some sense of permanence. You don't get tracks, but the wires are almost as good.
I'd love for more American cities to use trolleybuses.
Curious about the trolley arms? I was.
As far as I can tell there is no difference between buses that are blue and buses that are green. In some cities the color difference would indicate a different type of service, but that doesn't seem to be the case here.
I'm sad this picture turned out so poorly, because I really think these buses look fantastic.
There are some nice bus facilities, like these dedicated lanes and center stops.
Here's that 5th "subway station," which is fully above ground and only serves buses.
Buses and bikes only.
Bikes:
I was a little disappointed with Seattle's bike infrastructure. It has tons and tons of sharrows, but a fairly limited number of bike lanes and very little else. I will say that having become accustomed to bikesharing in DC, I seriously missed it in all three of these cities.
This intersection was the only instance of a green painted bike lane I ran across. I wish all cities would do more of this.
I am a fan of the solid and nice-looking bike parking posts that line University Way.
Covered bike parking is everywhere. Good show. This picture also shows the Westlake streetcar stop.
Streetcar
Originally the streetcar that opened here was going to be called the Seattle Lake Union Trolley, aka the SLUT. I think they changed its official name, but screw that. It's the SLUT.
The vehicle is identical to the famous one in Portland. Seattle's line is quite a bit shorter, and will have to be expanded before it really begins to be useful.
These are from the Space Needle.
Let's go back to Westlake. Hey! What's that!
Monorail!
Unfortunately the monorail is clearly a novelty. It has only two stops: Westlake and Seattle Center (the Space Needle). In generally I think the potential utility of monorails in cities is very limited. There are cases where they're appropriate, but those cases are few and far between. In general they are far less flexible to the needs of the corridor than light rail.
But that said, it sure is a fun novelty.
This is the end of the line, at Westlake.
Here we go. To the Space Needle!
Along we go...
Here we come.
Arrival!
This is what the "track" looks like, by the way.
Remember King Street Station and Union Station? Let's go back to them.
Intercity & Commuter Rail
The hub for longer distance rail is King Street Station, at the south end of the subway.
It is clearly beat up after decades of underuse, but it is being cleaned up.
Click
HERE for a larger version of this panorama, which is of King Street Station's main waiting hall.
From here you can catch Sounder commuter rail and Amtrak.
A little bit more of Sounder.
Sounder rail yard, from Columbia Tower.
The Sounder rail cars were ready before the actual line was, so for a few years they leased some of their trains to Virginia Railway Express (VRE) for use in the DC area. They are all back in Seattle now, but it was fun to have them for a little while. These pictures are from Virginia.
Union Station, right next door to King Street Station, does not appear to have any transportation function any longer.
The inside sure is pretty though.
Ferries
Seattle has a robust ferry system. I didn't ride any.
Miscellany
Various leftovers.
The Alaskan Way Viaduct, soon to be removed.
Greyhound with ZipCar
Park and Ride under I-5:
That's all! Stay tuned for Portland and Vancouver.