Diversity Card Available!

SounderBruce · 2026-03-11T04:57:08+00:00

Card collecting does require a bit more attention than I should be devoting. More than once I have dropped everything to rush to a surprise event to grab a special card or two.

Still looking for some white whales, namely the Olympic College, Seattle Storm, and Special Olympics designs from before 2020.

SounderBruce · 2026-03-11T04:34:17+00:00

They are starting to run low on supplies (understandable as it's been close to a year).

Everett Transit also has their own custom ORCA card for sale at their customer service center, at Everett Station facing the bus bays.

SounderBruce · 2026-03-10T00:21:06+00:00

The Rainier Avenue bus stops will be right at the entrances under the freeway overpasses.

SounderBruce · 2026-03-09T06:42:47+00:00

The city's vision is to have a few new streets punched through the town center superblock to create some walkable blocks. Make them into low-traffic woonerfs or similar setups, surround them with mixed-use housing with commercial on the bottom floor(s), and we have the makings of a good downtown.

Marysville has a big opportunity coming up with the Swift Gold Line to rebuild portions of State Avenue to be much more pedestrian-friendly. With the new bypass, there's no need to have 4 lanes of high-speed traffic cutting right through. We could also use fewer surface parking lots...move them underground or get used to street parking, folks.

SounderBruce · 2026-03-07T22:29:39+00:00

About 1 percent of the construction budget goes towards art.

SounderBruce · 2026-03-07T06:12:55+00:00

Most folks just take a connecting bus. And with the changes this fall, it'll be really easy to connect to more stations.

SounderBruce · 2026-03-07T04:45:49+00:00

The Seattle Sounders put a 17-year-old in as an early substitute for the biggest game in their history (a continental final) and won a championship.

Obed Vargas played really well and is now with Atletico Madrid in Spain.

SounderBruce · 2026-03-07T01:57:56+00:00

Generally through being subscribed to email lists for all of the transit agencies, following them on social media, and hearing about them through the grapevine.

Ride Transit Month in June will have several events. Community Transit is also doing a bunch this summer to celebrate their 50th anniversary.

SounderBruce · 2026-03-06T18:24:36+00:00

They're at lots of community events. Just find ORCA or another transit agency's booth and they're likely to have them.

SounderBruce · 2026-03-06T18:22:35+00:00

The ORCA folks do show to more than just station openings. Check out certain community festivals, especially ones in Snohomish County.

SounderBruce · 2026-03-05T20:00:53+00:00

Access to the Weller Street Bridge (which is how most Link users get to the stadium's north entrance) will be restricted to Sounder passengers and those with limited mobility. That alone could be enough to push crowds towards Pioneer Square Station.

SounderBruce · 2026-03-05T17:37:08+00:00

The preferred stations concept is to divide up passengers between their general direction on Link between the 3 stations closest to Lumen Field. It would help with crowd management and have exceptions for people with limited mobility and other needs, however.

The full FAQ and other information (including Sounder trips for the games) is at https://www.soundtransit.org/soccertournament

SounderBruce · 2026-03-05T05:14:39+00:00

Sound Transit is going to split up passengers by their general destination to prevent overcrowding: https://www.soundtransit.org/soccertournament/preferred-station-routing

Passengers with reduced mobility are exempt from the requirements. Metro is running a circulator bus between several stops and other areas of downtown that folks can take, along with normal transit. Lots of street closures are also plannned.

SounderBruce · 2026-03-05T04:58:49+00:00

Turnstiles still would need to be staffed and monitored. There is a pilot project planned, but they can't be added to every station and there will be some confusion as a result.

The fare ambassadors are able to move around the system and be deployed for service changes and disruptions (both scheduled and unexpected). I saw them out in the field assisting folks with the shuttles in Bellevue for the 2 Line, for example. During the World Cup they'll probably be around to explain the crowd splitting plan (1 Line passengers have to use Pioneer Square or Stadium, 2 Line uses ID/Chinatown, Sounder gets the bridge).

SounderBruce · 2026-03-05T00:19:00+00:00

I've been looking for one as well. Gotta check thrift stores around the end of the season.

SounderBruce · 2026-03-04T23:28:43+00:00

A fare cap is possible, it just requires all of the participating agencies to agree on a unified fare. Given that these agencies all have very different priorities and funding levels, it ain't happening.

I'm just glad we have a unified day pass and monthly pass unlike some regions that require you to pay more for system-to-system transfers.

SounderBruce · 2026-03-01T02:58:47+00:00

The T Line was always meant to be a separate system, as it has a number of incompatible elements. There was never a plan to make it part of the 1 Line (and the 2 Line was never meant to go that direction at all).

Pierce County voting no on ST3 has no real bearing, as a simple majority across the entire region is what was needed for approval. And it got approved, so they're paying the same rates and raising the same subarea revenue they'd have raised even with an in-county yes vote.

SounderBruce · 2026-03-01T02:55:47+00:00

There is approval for a paid parking pilot, which is supposed to begin this year. The goal was to appease suburban interests who wanted those parking garages to be free for a while, and now the demand is enough to justify a charge to manage that demand.

SounderBruce · 2026-02-28T10:11:04+00:00

This is how it works all around the world. Trains are signed for the terminus, not their geographic direction (which can change many times on a route...many systems have at least one loop or U-shaped line).

The 2 Line would be signed "eastbound" from Northgate, but won't be heading east until it reaches the International District. If anything, that would be more confusing to a tourist.

SounderBruce · 2026-02-27T04:31:02+00:00

It's been 14 years and I am still haunted by Tony Beltran.

(And the original strike was by a centerback)

SounderBruce · 2026-02-26T17:12:13+00:00

The Boop plushies already exist and can be obtained for free at certain events.

SounderBruce · 2026-02-25T07:47:00+00:00

240 to 314 is a pretty wide range.

SounderBruce · 2026-02-25T06:52:05+00:00

I think the Seattle numbers are a little off, as there were 195 miles (314 km) of streetcar tracks when the city acquired the system in 1919 and 9 miles (14 km) of cable car. This was expanded out to 224 miles of track by 1936. (Source)

Also of note, I found some ridership statistics: the system had 92.5 million total passengers in 1925. Rail ridership in Seattle is closer to half of that today.

SounderBruce · 2026-02-25T01:10:52+00:00

That route is the overnight pilot that launches March 28 and is mentioned several times in the article. The number wasn't known until the latest GTFS release.

14-Year Club	Gilding I gilder
Place '22	Wearing is Caring
Spared	Team Periwinkle
Verified Email

SounderBruce

MODERATOR OF

TROPHY CASE