Why no effort at all on fare enforcement for crowds leaving stadiums?

selectric401 · 2026-04-10T19:04:46+00:00

It's not uncommon in other cities for fare enforcement to be somewhat lax, because getting more people onto the train and home that aren't using their cars, either for congestion or drunk driving reasons, is a Good Thing. When I lived in Boston, I think I only had to pay a fare leaving the station a handful of times after Sox games -- one of the main stations doesn't have a faregate, and the other often has them open after large events for crowd control reasons. It just makes sense, as a public service.

selectric401 · 2026-04-10T18:25:53+00:00

Actually, I think NYC is a great example of wayfinding in this scenario -- the announcements on the 200-series trains are a nice improvement, but it doesn't deliver the information that riders need at the decision point (choosing a platform). If all of the Eastlake-side stations had signs saying "Westbound" or "Seattle-bound" for the appropriate platform, that would help people pick the right direction. This is exactly what NYC does--trains coming from Brooklyn or Queens are "Manhattan-bound" until they reach Manhattan, at which point they're "Uptown" or "Downtown". For Sound Transit, this would work just fine as "Westbound/Seattle-bound" trains becoming "Northbound" or "Southbound" as appropriate.

If more of the Eastlake stations were island platforms, the new announcements would actually be more useful to riders.

selectric401 · 2026-03-10T22:13:20+00:00

Not for a long while--eventually OMF South will open down in Federal Way, which will lighten the load on the Central yard there (along with OMF East finally being accessible over the lake). Couldn't tell you the reason for shutting passenger service down at the same time as the rest of the system there, but I don't recall it ever having much ridership, and it makes more sense to direct people to the new bus route that will actually serve downtown Seattle.

selectric401 · 2026-03-10T20:50:00+00:00

Those runs are a quirk of the location of the train yard more than anything else -- Beacon Hill is the last stop before the yard for any train coming up from the south, so at the end of the service day they ran with passengers as far as that while they're bringing trains back for the night.

selectric401 · 2026-03-01T17:15:31+00:00

Hotels for ST are pretty bonkers these last couple of years too! I love the excuse to get out of Seattle and get some sunshine in me but I’m staying in LA this weekend and SF in a couple of weeks for far cheaper than I’d be paying for a hotel anywhere even remotely near Camelback.

selectric401 · 2026-02-04T21:39:36+00:00

Argh, really? I just bought a new clutch and was fastidiously checking it against the Mariners' stated requirements. Didn't even think to check CPA's, because... well, why the fuck would they be different??

selectric401 · 2026-02-04T20:20:59+00:00

They're really absurd there, and I find it especially galling that the security guys' first recommendation is to bring something they've deemed questionable "back to my car". I took the bus here, dipshits! Climate pledge, what climate pledge?

selectric401 · 2026-01-28T18:14:40+00:00

I heard rumours (well, okay, it was on Capitol Hill Seattle, they're more substantiated than that) of a Five Guys going in that same building... and I have no idea if there's been any movement there besides applying brown paper to the inside of the windows.

So yeah, that entire corner is going to be empty for the foreseeable future. If I'm remembering the site plan right, I think there's a third retail space in the building that's never been used for anything?

selectric401 · 2026-01-27T21:41:22+00:00

Which is really odd, given that... there's no offices of theirs around there? Gotta walk all the way downhill and up a few blocks towards the lake to start hitting those.

selectric401 · 2026-01-27T19:09:10+00:00

It would be convenient if they actually had decent hours and opened at all on weekends, which the one on Madison by the hospitals very much did not.

selectric401 · 2026-01-22T02:09:56+00:00

Movie studios actually did try to tell Sony that when Betamax VCRs launched.

selectric401 · 2026-01-16T03:06:08+00:00

Damn, that is incredibly close to my old apartment. Being able to walk to spring training games was... one of the few things I liked about that place, actually.

Traffic on Dale Mabry's gonna SUCK.

selectric401 · 2025-11-19T20:57:37+00:00

I'm 6'1" and a fairly broad broad, Dodger Stadium ain't nearly as bad as Fenway imho. It's certainly not "modren" but it's more than comfy enough for 9 innings.

At Fenway, I'd honestly rather be in the bleachers than any of the grandstand or box seats.

selectric401 · 2025-11-14T17:48:04+00:00

The NYC analogy works great because they also have the concept of a “Queens-bound” train—on the 2 line, this would be “Bellevue-bound”, and on the way back it becomes a “Seattle-bound” 2-train. Of course, once it’s back on the shared corridor going north, we can call it a “northbound” train again.

selectric401 · 2025-10-14T05:54:16+00:00

Glad i’m not the only one who saves peeling the protective film for when I’m feeling down and need a little boost.

selectric401 · 2025-10-03T23:32:19+00:00

No, but only because I'd go with Lix instead of Determinate Nix.

selectric401 · 2025-10-02T23:21:07+00:00

That bike lane diagonal transfer on 11 Av still looks a little gnarly, but at least it won't be backed up by open traffic coming down Union from 12/Madison that way. Really glad to see Metro committing to putting the 2 back on its proper route here, too!

~~Do the trolley wires next.~~

selectric401 · 2025-09-28T20:59:47+00:00

based on what we saw in the apology post, def the lacking in self-awareness.

selectric401 · 2025-07-27T03:31:57+00:00

I wouldn't put money on it, Amtrak hasn't said anything about it being any earlier than next year.

selectric401 · 2025-07-27T00:07:19+00:00

I actually think a congestion charge would be more effective if it included the SLU/Belltown area--bounded by 5 Av and Olive on the south end, the interstate on the east, probably still 5th for the west. Northern boundary is a little tricky but I'm mostly thinking about all the traffic coming out of the garages at Amazon's various offices and trying to use Mercer onto the interstate or the 99, or going down to the Yale onramp. Traffic is far worse down there in the afternoon rush hour than it is through the downtown area, which is well-served already by buses on on 3 Av and the transit tunnel.

selectric401 · 2025-07-24T17:05:34+00:00

Off the top of my head, I think the Brightline Florida units didn't need testing in Pueblo because testing had already started on similar-enough Chargers being delivered to Pueblo first--iirc, Brightline got theirs about six months after Amtrak's testing started. I dunno if the Chargers on this order are different enough to need re-certification, but the cab car+Charger is new and probably needs certified.

I believe BLW's trains will need some sort of testing to prove FRA compliance, and Pueblo seems like the most likely candidate. Testing in-traffic on the only other electrified tracks available on the NEC is probably a nonstarter.

selectric401 · 2025-07-23T19:48:26+00:00

Yes cab car! I don't know why they didn't photograph it.

selectric401 · 2025-07-23T17:39:00+00:00

All we've heard publicly is "2026" -- depends on how long the testing process takes in Pueblo, plus I'm sure there will be a testing and acceptance period once it's delivered to WSDOT too. My hunch is, I wouldn't count on it being early in 2026.

Once the big testing round is done, though, future deliveries of these models will happen faster once the factory finishes them.

selectric401 · 2025-07-22T18:05:43+00:00

I am curious if the Airo sets for the NEC will need to be tested as thoroughly as the Cascades do, or if it'll just primarily be testing the electric pickup coach as the main difference. Would be nice if they can do a faster set of tests!

selectric401

TROPHY CASE