RIDESOUND TRANSIT NEWS FOR SOUND TRANSIT RIDERS VOLUME 7, NO. 2 • SUMMER 2011 RIDE is a Sound Transit publication, distributed on buses, trains and customer service offices. Sound Transit plans, builds, and operates regional transit systems and services to improve mobility for the Central Puget Sound. Sound Transit: 1-800-201-4900 • TTY Relay: 711 Rider Information: 1-888-889-6368 • TTY Relay 711 www.soundtransit.org • [email protected] Union Station • 401 S. Jackson St., Seattle, WA 98104 CS07791 •JUNE •15K 2011 To receive email updates for Sound Transit’s bus or rail Check out the tech See page 4 service, projects or other information, subscribe online 1 at www.soundtransit.org/subscribe. At the intersection of transit and technology you’ll find transit blogs. DIG IT Togo, Balto and Brenda are about to get rolling. The three tunnel boring machines will begin digging These online communities offer easy access to details the University Link light rail tunnels early this summer. about public transit you might not find elsewhere. The two tunnel boring machines that will dig from UW to Capitol Hill are, fittingly, named Togo and A top local site is Seattle Transit Blog Balto after two famous four-legged Huskies. Togo and Balto were the canine heroes of a grueling sled (http://seattletransitblog.com/). We sat down with editor dog relay that delivered medicine 674 miles from Anchorage to Nome, Alaska, during a diphtheria Martin Duke and long-time contributing writer Ben outbreak in 1925. The journey is commemorated each year by the Iditarod sled dog race. Schiendelman to learn more. The third TBM, which will dig from Capitol Hill to downtown Seattle, is named Brenda. Brenda will What makes reasonable people Seattle Transit Blog (STB) was the brainchild of Andrew travel a little over half a mile from the Capitol Hill Station site to the existing light rail system, but will Smith, who created the blog in April 2007 to provide make the trip twice – once the first tunnel is complete, the machine will be extracted at the Pine Street dedicate their free time — “at 5 a.m., information about the Roads & Transit issue on the ballot site and trucked back to Capitol Hill to start the second tunnel. that fall. Schiendelman, who had already been writing The tunnel boring machines are 21 feet in diameter, 330 feet long, and 679,000 pounds each. while eating breakfast and the kids his own blog for two years, soon joined the STB team. are asleep” — to writing about trains Although the 2007 ballot failed, the blog continued through the successful Sound Transit 2 vote in 2008 and A walk back in time Artifacts from and buses? It’s that shared vision it thrives today. Currently, the blog is written by seven to 1880s Seattle, including 33 feet of boardwalk, shown here, nine regular contributors whose interests range from bus were unearthed recently at a University Link light rail work site. about the importance of transit to route planning to tax policy to political strategy. Sound Transit contractors uncovered the boardwalk, 31 shoes a healthy region. “People can write about whatever they’re interested in,” and other artifacts from the original neighborhood 38 feet Duke said, “and we recognize that they have developed beneath the corner of Pine Street and Terry Avenue in Seattle. expertise in their subjects.” Archeologists believe the boardwalk was likely buried during With a shared core value about the importance of the Denny Regrade between 1905 and 1910 when massive a vibrant public transit system to the greater Seattle amounts of earth were moved around downtown Seattle. OTHER BLOGS WITH community, STB writers sometimes agree to disagree Many of the articles were transferred to the Burke Museum for A LOCAL TRANSIT BENT: about details. More important than finding consensus is preservation and exhibition. providing a forum for conversation. Bus Chick: www.buschick.com “I want people to get involved,” said Schiendelman. “I Publicola: publicola.com don’t want to be one of only 10 or 15 people who go to meetings and comment on things.” He believes STB has Sightline Institute: www.sightline.org a purpose in advocacy – helping to educate and mobilize Streetfilms: www.streetfilms.org soldiers in the pro-transit battle. Duke, meanwhile, has a more pragmatic view and Transportation Choices Coalition: believes that STB offers more detail for those who want transportationchoices.org more than traditional media typically offers. 2 3 SEATTLETRANSITBLOG.COM RIDE THE WAVE AND SURF THE WEB SOUND TRANSIT’S NEW WEBSITE We’re social! Connect with us Sound Transit uses several different social media networks to connect with riders. You can find Sound Transit tweeting at Twitter and sharing photos on Flickr. We love hearing what our riders are thinking during their travels on Sound Transit buses and trains and do our best to be a helpful resource. Check out our new website. Go to Rider Community and click “Connect.” Or find us on your social network: Twitter.com/SoundTransit: Latest on our services and other transit happenings. Facebook.com/SoundTransit: Latest news on Sound Transit services and projects. Flickr.com/SoundTransit: Share pictures with us on our Flickr Group “My Ride with Sound Transit,” or by sending them to [email protected] YouTube.com/SoundTransit: See our how-to videos for using ORCA cards and bringing bikes onboard. Our customers talked. Sound Transit listened and made your comments The new website is also cleaner, with better maps and the heart of the agency’s new website. Visit www.soundtransit.org to rider information that is clearer and easier to find. And see what we’ve done. More than 90 percent of our website visitors are that’s just the beginning. Future improvements will tackle looking for specific information to plan their bus or train trip. That’s the the website sections covering construction projects and reason for our new, improved trip planner: future plans. Handy tips 1 Find multiple options to travel from Point A to Point B Sign up for email or text alerts of service or 2 Use the map or street address to search transit options schedule changes. Visit www.soundtransit.org/ 3 Compare schedules and prices to tailor the trip Subscribe-to-Alerts.xml. If you bookmarked a page that works best for you. on our old website, it no longer works. Avoid ‘missing links’ by updating your bookmarks on the new website. 4 5 Current Sound Transit Services LEGEND 510 Downtown Everett P Everett 510 512 513 532 Evergreen P Mukilteo Rider News Way P Eastmont 510 513 512 What you need to know 532 P South Everett 511 512 532 Ash Way P Service change Fare table 535 Alderwood Mall June brought some changes in your train and bus schedules. Here’s the breakdown: Starting June 1, King County became a single fare 511 512 532 zone for ST Express bus rides. In addition, adult 535 535 Lynnwood P P Canyon Park Route 510/511—Sunday and holiday service replaced by Route 512. P Edmonds 511 512 fares that cross a county line rose from $3 to $3.50 P 513 Mountlake Terrace 522 Route 512—This new route provides all-day Sunday and holiday service between 535 522 and in-county youth fares dropped to $1.25. Lake 522 Kenmore Forest Park P P P Woodinville Everett and Seattle. 522 Bothell Ride us to the game 510 New fares starting June 1 Shoreline 511 Route 513—The segment between Hewitt Avenue/Virginia Avenue and Looking for a ride to the game or match? Once again NE 145th P 512 P Brickyard 555 Lake City 532 556 535 In-county Inter-county 522 Evergreen/79th Place SE is deleted. Everett Transit provides connecting service on this season, you can take Sound Transit buses or trains P Northgate Adult $2.50 $3.50 P Totem Lake Route 7. to the Sounders and Mariners. 540 540 Redmond 545 542 Kirkland Youth $1.25 $2.50 542 P 556 P Bear Creek Route 535—No longer operates on Sundays and holidays. Green Lake P 540 Sounder trains run to 15 weekend Mariners games and 586 South 542 542 University of P 545 545 Senior/Disabled $0.75 $1.50 NE 45th Kirkland Washington 566 Route 540—Selected midday and evening trips deleted. six weekend Sounder FC soccer matches this season. 510 Overlake/ Sammamish P 511 P NE 40th 512 554 Route 542—Minor time adjustments. Trains depart from Tacoma and Everett, make their 540 Montlake 540 Evergreen 510 511 542 542 Point Starting June 1, Link light rail adult fares went up 512 513 545 545 regular station stops, and arrive at Seattle’s King Street 522 545 555 555 Route 550—Minor time adjustments. 586 556 556 25 cents. The base adult fare is $2 and the highest 532 535 550 555 Station, a short walk to Safeco and Qwest fields. 556 560 Route 554—Midday and weekend service levels are adjusted to better match 566 Bellevue fare is now $2.75. Youth fares are a flat $1.25 for all Westlake 510 511 512 ridership. University Street 513 522 545 550 555 trips taken on Link. Don’t forget that you can always ride Link light rail to 550 554 577 556 560 578 590 592 550 South Seattle Pioneer Square 593 594 595 554 P South Route 560—The segment between Burien Transit Center and West Seattle is Stadium Station, which is close to Safeco and Qwest. In Bellevue 554 Sammamish International District/Chinatown P 555 Link light rail fares starting June 1 556 554 P & King Street I-90/ Mercer discontinued except during weekday peak periods.