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News & ArtsTuesday, February 9, 2010
City This Shit Will Never Get Old
Posted by Eli Sanders on Tue, Feb 9, 2010 at 9:59 AM
- Hello down there!
Wake up, walk out my door on Capitol Hill, walk for ten minutes to the light rail stop, pay $2.50, ride under the city, glide over the freeway, arrive at the airport about 30 minutes later, get on a plane. Perfect.
5
Where is there a light rail station on the hill? Or are you just talking hypothetically when the one on Broadway is done?
8
@ 5 - You took the words right out of my fingertips.
I'm especially cheesed off with transit this morning, due to the impending closure of the South Park Bridge for the remainder of this week. My commute is going to be wildly fuxored, the drivers this morning were no help, the website is _ahem_ less than clear -- I'll just have to leave my house at 5am and hope frickin' Metro can get me to The Hill by 10am.
Grrr.
I'm especially cheesed off with transit this morning, due to the impending closure of the South Park Bridge for the remainder of this week. My commute is going to be wildly fuxored, the drivers this morning were no help, the website is _ahem_ less than clear -- I'll just have to leave my house at 5am and hope frickin' Metro can get me to The Hill by 10am.
Grrr.
9
I could do the same thing in my car and not have to ride with hipsters. I can also get there in under 30 minutes if I needed to. This would cost me less than 2.50 in gas. This is the power of the new invention THE CAR! I can get in AND GO WHEREVER I WANT AT THE SPEED I WANT.
Where else did you go on the light rail? Nowhere, because that is where it is going.
Where else did you go on the light rail? Nowhere, because that is where it is going.
10
@5: It's a short walk from where I live on the Hill to the light rail stop at Westlake. And a nice walk. But, yes, the walk will be much shorter when the new station opens up at Broadway and Denny... in 2016.
13
@5, 6 The cap hill station will be part of the line to UW. The station itself will be just north of Denny and Nagle, across from Cal Anderson park. Don't get too excited yet, though: this part of the line isn't scheduled to open (heaven forbid anything around here gets built on schedule) until 2016.
14
@ 9, at the speed you want? You must live in Sioux Falls, not Seattle, or else only go to the airport at midnight. And also, what 11 said.
16
#9 is like many car owners who are opposed to other forms of transport--they leave off the cost and time of securing parking and calculate their travel time based on once they've already entered an open freeway instead of including all that time crawling to the freeway entrance.
17
@9 As a car enthusiast and an avid light rail booster I can say the the ride to the airport is much quicker and relaxing via light rail.
Why does one have to be better than the other? What's the problem with using mass transit in and around the city and keep the car for day trips, etc.?
Why the hate, yo?
Why does one have to be better than the other? What's the problem with using mass transit in and around the city and keep the car for day trips, etc.?
Why the hate, yo?
18
Best part is the money and aggravation you save.
Total time is less from door to airport, and if you only have the one carryon ...
Total time is less from door to airport, and if you only have the one carryon ...
19
@11 - you can find coupons to get that down to $8 a day if you search. Still takes less time to use the light rail though.
20
@15: I was expecting 40 minutes. Or, 37 as the Sound Transit site told me. But in fact it turned out to be just over 30 minutes. Zippy!
21
I live 2 long blocks from Light Rail downtown.
Let me just say this: I am thankful to never have to ride the #2 home late at night after a flight ever again.
Let me just say this: I am thankful to never have to ride the #2 home late at night after a flight ever again.
22
What I find really annoying about the Orca pass is that if you pay $2.50 for the light rail, that doesn't give you a x-fer onto metro. So you end up paying another $2.
25
@22 you sure? when I took the metro to the LR for christmas vacation I swear the LR only charged my ORCA card like 50 cents and knew about the bus transfer.
26
@19: Yes, you can get parking for $8. But then you're not at the airport, are you? You're at a parking lot. And you have to take a bus to get to the airport (a bus that you may have to share with hipsters). Kind of defeats the purpose of driving your own car, I would say.
27
I KNOW. I love light rail. I live near the Beacon Hill station, and I use it all the time. Can hardly wait for expansion.
It is super awesome to not have to go through the how-am-I-getting-to-the-airport hassle.
It is super awesome to not have to go through the how-am-I-getting-to-the-airport hassle.
28
@26 - and then sometimes you get wait going from your car to the shuttle bus and on the return trip ... plus the car is covered in grime when you get back ...
31
Link LR to the airport (and King Street Station) is great, and a low stress way to start a trip. It's sweet that we have the same cool/modern/efficient option that I used to get only on the other end of my trip.
32
@ 26, "kinda defeats the purpose of driving."
Um, no, not really. If you're gone for a short while, or even a week, it's cheaper than two cab rides depending on how far you live from the airport. Not as cheap as a shuttle (which has the drawback of making you ride with others, and possibly making as many as four stops between home and the airport and taking an hour to make the trip), or the bus (which is still what you have to do if you don't live near the light rail lines, at least part way), but all your options are open if you drive.
Remember, not all Seattle residents live in a central location. When I lived in West Seattle, the shuttle was a good option (cheap, rarely more than one other party sharing the ride), but when I lived in Greenwood it sucked. And the cab was $40-$50 one way, depending on traffic and not including tip. Driving to an off-site lot became the best option.
Of course, imposing on friends or family is the best way to go, but who can depend on those flakes...
Um, no, not really. If you're gone for a short while, or even a week, it's cheaper than two cab rides depending on how far you live from the airport. Not as cheap as a shuttle (which has the drawback of making you ride with others, and possibly making as many as four stops between home and the airport and taking an hour to make the trip), or the bus (which is still what you have to do if you don't live near the light rail lines, at least part way), but all your options are open if you drive.
Remember, not all Seattle residents live in a central location. When I lived in West Seattle, the shuttle was a good option (cheap, rarely more than one other party sharing the ride), but when I lived in Greenwood it sucked. And the cab was $40-$50 one way, depending on traffic and not including tip. Driving to an off-site lot became the best option.
Of course, imposing on friends or family is the best way to go, but who can depend on those flakes...
33
apres moi @22: It should give you a Metro transfer. Metro accepts non-Orca light rail tickets as transfers.
34
@17: Don't you know you can't be both? You're either a smog-spewin', sprawl-lovin', SUV-drivin', cyclist-hating suburbanite -- or one of the cool people.
35
I'd also like praise the ample luggage room on light rail. Ever get on the 194 at SeaTac? You know, the "airport bus" that's already filled up with the dregs from Federal Way? Bullshit. But not anymore...
37
@11. I do like most people and either have someone drop me off, or someone ride with me and park my car back in its FREE SPOT. I know it is hard for cold and isolated NWers to comprehend, but getting others to help you is very common outside Seattle. So I guess I don't blame you for not thinking about it. You and the other hipsters think living in a caring society is some Utopian socialist nanny state. Not family and friends providing support for one another. But I guess you can make friends on the light rail and just yup it up with one another making fun of all the evil car drivers and their silly freeway? O wait, you probably wouldn't take out your ipod ear phones to give anyone the time of day to get to know them. I forgot.
38
@17.
It is rhetorical in a sense. I have had to put up with "I know better, my way is smarter more efficient, and the way to go" attitude of Seattlites.
I am aware of the practical effects light rail will have on regional transportation. But(and this is the reason I do not use my real name on SLOG) the SLOG hardly deserves to have an intelligent or balanced discussion. The more serious political blogs(soundpolitics, HPost, Politico, etc) deserve those kinda of discussion. The SLOG is the voice of the Capital Hill centered progressive citizenry type in Seattle. Sorry for my lack of fairness or maturity. But this is the place to spout for fun.
If it were up to progressives in Seattle, there would be no cars and everyone would walk/bike to a form of mass transit and like it. I reject that.
It is rhetorical in a sense. I have had to put up with "I know better, my way is smarter more efficient, and the way to go" attitude of Seattlites.
I am aware of the practical effects light rail will have on regional transportation. But(and this is the reason I do not use my real name on SLOG) the SLOG hardly deserves to have an intelligent or balanced discussion. The more serious political blogs(soundpolitics, HPost, Politico, etc) deserve those kinda of discussion. The SLOG is the voice of the Capital Hill centered progressive citizenry type in Seattle. Sorry for my lack of fairness or maturity. But this is the place to spout for fun.
If it were up to progressives in Seattle, there would be no cars and everyone would walk/bike to a form of mass transit and like it. I reject that.
39
22-Really? I transfer using my Orca card all the time going between Metro bus/Link light rail and vice-versa without paying additional fare as long as Im within two hours. It will charge.50 cents if I take the bus and then transfer to Link to the airport because of the fare difference. I don't have a monthly pass I just load money on to the e-purse.
40
@22 said: "What I find really annoying about the Orca pass is that if you pay $2.50 for the light rail, that doesn't give you a x-fer onto metro. So you end up paying another $2."
This is incorrect. If you use ORCA, you will automatically get your transfer. Unless you wait more than 2 hours.
This is incorrect. If you use ORCA, you will automatically get your transfer. Unless you wait more than 2 hours.
41
@37/@38: The intense irony of your post (beyond "Capital Hill") is that you are displaying the same kind of self-important "I know better than you" attitude you attack others for.
42
@41. Except I admit I am being an ass, and am not totality in the right. You think I would paint myself in such an easy hypocritical corner. And why not stick to the issues, like paternalistic progressives forcing mass transit on the populace? (I can hear people typing away the various vote returns and hear myself thinking of all the ballets that were ignored until the powers that be got the returns they wanted. Monorail anyone?)
I am being satirical. The progressive politicians that run this city and the hipsters that vote for them (or against, see poor Norm Chopp trying to be ousted for not being progressive enough) are not . That is the difference. If you give my rambling on SLOG the same creditability or weight as what you hear from progressives, then you need some Political Science classes.
But good try at an argument from analogy and self definition. Kinda.......
I am being satirical. The progressive politicians that run this city and the hipsters that vote for them (or against, see poor Norm Chopp trying to be ousted for not being progressive enough) are not . That is the difference. If you give my rambling on SLOG the same creditability or weight as what you hear from progressives, then you need some Political Science classes.
But good try at an argument from analogy and self definition. Kinda.......
43
@42: Is "satire" code for "stupid"? If so, I'm totally on board with everything you just said in your incoherent self-defense, even the "ballet" conspiracies, fears of some evil cabal that wants to steal your car and poor "Norm Chopp", who may or may not be the name you give to all unicorns.
If you'll excuse me, I have to take my own Norm Chopp out for a walk in glimmering glades, pulled by a leash of fresh daisies, morning glories and lilies. He gets grumpy if he doesn't get to drink from unmolested brooks under the light of a shimmering pre-twilight sun.
If you'll excuse me, I have to take my own Norm Chopp out for a walk in glimmering glades, pulled by a leash of fresh daisies, morning glories and lilies. He gets grumpy if he doesn't get to drink from unmolested brooks under the light of a shimmering pre-twilight sun.
44
Everything 42 says is correct, and not objectionable because he is being satirical. mrbombit = Rush Limbaugh
48
@21: Baconcat, it only runs until just before midnight. You're not going to be riding the train home late at night, either.
49
@mrbombit: My 3 kids, spouse and I are not exactly Capitol Hill hipsters. Nor are we cold northwesterners who lack for relatives that could, if we asked them, waste their time driving us to the airport and back when there is a perfectly good alternative. We take light rail to the airport cuz it's easy, fast and cheap. And when we travel to Japan, or Korea, or Bangkok, or Hong Kong, or Paris, or New York, or Boston, or Portland, or Vancouver, or San Francisco, or friggin Atlanta, fer chrissake, we also take rapid transit there, because it's easy, fast and cheap. You appear to be stuck somewhere in the space-time continuum with no comprehension of the advantages of rapid transit. Which is ok, I guess, but you don't have to get all bitchy and condescending to those of us who do understand it.
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