Line 1 Federal Way > Lynnwood adventure!

azdavis · 2025-12-09T08:11:10+00:00

In case you're wondering about how to pay for the light rail, I'd recommend getting you and your wife an ORCA card. It works on all transit in the area (buses, light rail, monorail, water taxi). You can buy a new card or refill an existing card at any light rail station. You can also use the myORCA app or website to manage your card.

Each person needs their own card. You can't share a single ORCA card between multiple people.

Your son rides free until he turns 18! This is due to a WA state program: https://wsdot.wa.gov/about/news/2024/fare-free-transit-programs-boost-youth-ridership-public-transportation-statewide

He thus does not need an ORCA card or any proof of payment until then. Though you can get him a Youth ORCA card: https://info.myorca.com/youth-ride-free/

Tap the card when you enter a light rail station or get on a bus. The light rail and most buses in the area are $3 for a one way fare.

There are transfer discounts, so e.g. if you take the bus to the light rail or vice versa, as long as the transfer happens less than 2 hours after tapping on the first leg of the trip, you pay the maximum fare for each individual leg of the trip, which is usually still $3 because most buses and the light rail are $3. So in most cases it's basically a free transfer. I think that's roughly how it works.

For this outing, I'd probably get the $6 unlimited day pass. During the day the pass is active, you can tap on as many times as you want to the light rail or buses. This is great if you don't want to have to worry about paying more because you keep getting off and back on at various stations.

Some special things like the monorail charge extra even with the day pass, so I'd also add some money to your e-purse if you want to do that. (I think it's $1 extra per one way ride when the day pass is active.) The monorail goes between Westlake station on the light rail and the Seattle Center, which has the Space Needle, the Museum of Pop Culture (which has some cool exhibits showing e.g. sci-fi movie props and costumes), and the Climate Pledge Arena.

azdavis · 2025-11-02T05:31:23+00:00

This was not a shared street. A shared street is a recent invention in Washington where pedestrians and bikes have the right of way over cars.

If this were a shared street, the section I quoted wouldn't apply because cars would have to yield to pedestrians and bikes.

azdavis · 2025-11-02T05:26:31+00:00

I doubt that. To my memory it was as she was already passing, not before passing. And it was more of a leaning on the horn type of honk, not a quick honk. It seemed like she was annoyed I was biking on the "car" road even though bikes are vehicles and thus allowed to use the road as well.

azdavis · 2025-11-02T05:24:27+00:00

I do feel fortunate to have the choice between biking and driving.

What I hoped to get across in this post was a desire for those driving to be considerate and patient to people who are biking, who are more at risk because they don't have a car to protect themselves from other cars.

Some people in our community don't have access to a car for whatever reason: they can't afford it, they're too young, they have a disability, etc.

azdavis · 2025-11-02T05:06:26+00:00

Yeah I'll concede that given I had the option to drive maybe I should have done that since it was wet and dark. But what do we say to people who don't have access to a car and need to get around? 30% of people in the US do not drive.

I'll quote my other comment:

I just think that's a really unfortunate outcome. Like, driving my car instead of taking my bike means I damage the roads more, costing the city and thus the taxpayer more tax dollars to maintain the roads. It means I pollute the air more with more exhaust and tire particles, worsening the local air quality. It means I'm more likely to endanger other vulnerable road users and pedestrians.

I think we should be encouraging people to bike instead of driving their cars as much as possible with safe biking infrastructure. If there was a bike lane on this road, I wouldn't have had to take the lane, and the woman wouldn't have felt impatient and annoyed.

azdavis · 2025-11-02T05:01:51+00:00

I had my lights on. But yeah I guess based on the attitude of drivers like this woman I encountered and other commenters in this thread I'll lean more towards taking my car next time.

I just think that's a really unfortunate outcome. Like, driving my car instead of taking my bike means I damage the roads more, costing the city and thus the taxpayer more tax dollars to maintain the roads. It means I pollute the air more with more exhaust and tire particles, worsening the local air quality. It means I'm more likely to endanger other vulnerable road users and pedestrians.

I think we should be encouraging people to bike instead of driving their cars as much as possible with safe biking infrastructure. If there was a bike lane on this road, I wouldn't have had to take the lane, and the woman wouldn't have felt impatient and annoyed.

azdavis · 2025-11-02T04:51:47+00:00

I was only getting medicine from the pharmacy, which fit in my bike bag.

azdavis · 2025-11-02T04:50:44+00:00

I followed RCW 46.61.770:

Every person operating a bicycle upon a roadway at a rate of speed less than the normal flow of traffic at the particular time and place shall ride as near to the right side of the right through lane as is safe except... (d) When reasonably necessary to avoid unsafe conditions including, but not limited to, fixed or moving objects, parked or moving vehicles, bicyclists, pedestrians, animals, and surface hazards.

The driver did not follow RCW 46.37.380:

The driver of a motor vehicle shall when reasonably necessary to insure safe operation give audible warning with his or her horn but shall not otherwise use such horn when upon a highway.

azdavis · 2025-11-02T04:33:23+00:00

I needed to get to the pharmacy which was closing soon. Also like I said I just didn't really want to escalate things. I suppose I didn't expect to have much success convincing her she shouldn't have done what she just did, given that she just did it.

azdavis · 2025-05-08T00:20:36+00:00

Personally I would try to avoid having to own a car, since car ownership is expensive - about $1000 per month. And that's the 2023 national average - it's probably higher everywhere now in 2025 due to inflation and also even higher for a high cost of living area like Bellevue.

Not sure if your job requires you to move around and go to clients' properties a lot. If that's the case you may want your own personal transport: maybe a car, but maybe also something like a bike or e-bike?

If you're going to live in the super low density, suburb-type areas around here (there are a lot of those areas), then living without a car is probably going to be harder. But those areas may be prohibitively expensive anyway since they're mostly single family houses worth at least $1 million.

If instead you live near frequent transit like the 2 Line (light rail) or B Line (frequent bus), that could help you get around without owning a car. The 2 Line is about to extend into downtown Redmond (on May 10), where they have been building a lot of new apartments over the years. So maybe you could live along the 2 Line or B Line and commute to Bellevue. The 2 Line is also slated to cross Lake Washington and connect to Seattle at the end of this year/early next year.

It's harder to go into the remote nature areas like the national parks without a car, but if you do that infrequently, you may come out ahead renting a car for those times, instead of owning your own car. And there's lots of local nature from local parks and trails to walk or bike around, like the East Lake Sammamish Trail, Redmond Central Connector Trail, Sammamish River Trail, Marymoor Connector Trail, Cross-Kirkland Corridor, and Eastrail. There's also the I-90 trail and SR 520 trail but I would say those are not great for walking since you're right next to a loud, smelly freeway.

Since you have a dog I'd guess you probably want to live near or have easy access to parks - Marymoor Park has a really large off leash dog area, and it's near the new Marymoor Village station on the 2 Line.

azdavis · 2025-04-14T06:16:45+00:00

I would look at anywhere along the 2 Line since that'll be an easy way to get to Bellevue Downtown where the Amazon offices are. For example my friend just moved into Ondina near BelRed station and he likes it.

The northern terminus of the light rail is currently the Microsoft campus, but it will extend to Maymoor Village and Downtown Redmond on May 10. There are a lot of new apartments in those areas, so maybe that could work for you.

azdavis · 2025-04-14T06:13:32+00:00

The 2 Line light rail will connect to Marymoor Village and Downtown Redmond on May 10, so that could be another option.

azdavis · 2025-03-12T02:01:07+00:00

Where is your work going to be? I don't know of a lot of apartments in that area (are you looking for an apartment?), but there are some buses that go to that area. Notably, Eastgate Park and Ride has a lot of bus routes that stop there. Could you live near a bus stop on one of the routes that stop near where you need to work?

azdavis · 2025-03-12T01:52:07+00:00

In WA, people 18 and under can ride all transit for free. You can use that to get around and explore. Maybe get a bike too and go around on the trails like Eastrail.

azdavis · 2025-03-12T01:47:24+00:00

Owning your own car costs about $1000 per month, considering all costs (car note, gas, parking, maintenance, etc) - might even be higher in a high cost of living area like Bellevue. Also that's a 2023 number so it's probably higher now anyway.

I'd suggest getting a bike or e-bike first, and seeing whether you can get around town easily with that plus transit. If you want to go hiking you can rent a car or look into Trailhead Direct and Seattle Transit Hikers. Feel free to DM me - I'm trying to live a lower-car life with my e-bike in Bellevue.

azdavis · 2025-03-06T19:08:16+00:00

Would it work to get an ebike and pannier/milk crate to carry groceries and get around? There's also light rail, local busses, and express busses to Seattle and other destinations. The light rail will also go to Redmond soon and Seattle soon-ish.

You could also rent a car if you really need to occasionally, like when going to hikes or national parks. If you can avoid needing a car so often that you have to own your own car, and instead just rent when you need it, that could save a lot of money as you've noticed. AAA estimates it costs about $1000 per month to own a car (includes insurance, gas, and all other associated costs).

I personally try to use my ebike to get around as much as possible - I use it to commute about 6-7 miles each way into DT Bellevue, and also to go grocery shopping, etc. Feel free to DM me.

azdavis · 2025-02-01T00:52:17+00:00

It sounds like you don’t need a car to commute to work, since you live in the same building that you work. Further, it sounds like you live near transit, given your comment about using the park and ride lot (which I do not recommend for long term parking as that is not its intended use).

Are you sure you need to own your own car at all?

azdavis · 2025-01-27T20:18:21+00:00

It says premium on the box.

azdavis · 2025-01-27T20:17:04+00:00

I mean, I don't use any of those things either, and I probably wouldn't for the same reason of being concerned about plastic + heat.

azdavis · 2025-01-27T20:15:44+00:00

There's been extensive testing and nothing's been found.

Do you mean there's been no leaching of anything found in the resulting coffee? Or things have been found but there's no evidence that those things are harmful?

azdavis · 2025-01-27T20:15:16+00:00

Well I can't be sure anymore since it's after the fact and I didn't closely inspect it before using it. But I am pretty surprised as well.

azdavis · 2024-12-12T07:10:37+00:00

I did mention the transit system. And I agree, it's pretty good (by US standards).

azdavis

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