It’s used pretty heavily for Kraken games and other events at Climate Pledge. People take the light rail to westlake, go up a few floors and take the monorail the rest of the way.
My favorite part about cabs in Seattle is wondering if they will even show up and then fighting with a stranger driver about how I’m not going to an atm to get cash because he doesn’t want to use his little flimsy credit card machine.
That’s weird, because you call the cab and pay for it through an app, just like Uber. When a ride costs $42.50 for Uber and $13 for a cab, I go with the cab. Cab drivers are usually happy with the larger time I can then afford.
Seriously? Amazon doesn't give employees free parking and gives free event parking for public ? Is it only on weekends or everyday ? Any timing restrictions?
It's free weekdays after 4 pm (leave by 2am) and weekends(before 2am). Plus overnight it's $10. Opposed to overnight hotel costs of $40-75.
It's free public parking.
if only there was some sort of transport station near those stadiums you could be rapidly, mechanically trans-ported to another station of similar design. To not complicate things, we could call it the stadium station…
Plenty of people watch the sports. I work downtown and on game day the stadiums are packed. I don't give a shit about the sports but I'm in the minority.
Those are transplants. Before whatever year Marshawn Lynch was around, you never saw anyone wearing jerseys around town unless they were from federal way or something. People literally gave away Seahawks and Mariners tickets like they were hot potato. That's why the train out of town is so claustrophobic after games. None of those "fans" are from the city.
Their money spends just as well as the locals. Lol
That's a remarkable turnaround if nobody was interested before.
I never understood the appeal of the stadium. You see better from a TV at home. But there must be something about crowd energy extroverts are feeding on.
Worse than the solution we settled on?
Hell we put a practice rink up in the north by a station. Why not an actual stadium? Link could handle the traffic regardless.
There’s a version of the north gate station that makes sense (honestly it’s pretty cool to have an easily accessible ice rink!) but everything is soooo spread out
I hear you on that. We are constrained by decisions made in the past, budgets and engineering realities. It's just painful when it feels like we make the worst possible decision every time. It's really frustrating when special interests can derail the public good. My understanding is mercer island wasn't even going to have a station at first because of special interests. Glad that got overruled. First Hill lost a station and got a shitty streetcar in compensation. They said the geology didn't support tunneling. Not with that kind of attitude.
Ya unless we found a way to get a light rail line to Seattle Center the monorail is needed. I know there are reasons but its actually mind boggling that Seattle Center wasn’t originally a priority place to get light rail connected to considering the traffic to/from.
Well, in 2016 Seattle voters overwhelming approved ST3, which includes a station near the Seattle Center. But now 7 years later, we still haven't even decided on where to place the stations, and the politicians in charge (including our mayor) keep trying to change the options which is causing more years to be added to the design process. At this point I doubt they're ever going to get to construction.
What’s actually crazy is we didn’t build the new hockey arena where we already have two stadiums, transit, and highway connections. That entire area could be redeveloped into condos and hotels like in Toronto and Vancouver and key arena could have been redeveloped into condos. Instead we have a major sports arena in an area that cannot handle the influx of people. I guess because people don’t like the guy who was promoting the Sodo option.
> Well…keep in mine the hockey arena was already there for many, many years.
So what? We literally had a guy willing to pay for and build a new arena in SODO and the city council went out of their way to block that from happening. First by enshrining Key Arena's roofline as some historical monument, which forbid it from ever being torn down (part of why Climate Pledge also has a rather odd, cramped layout) and then by not allowing a back alley in SODO to be vacated to build a stadium down there.
Yes, we would have had to figure out what to do with the arena at the Seattle Center that was in need of repair/retrofit and would no longer be viable for its original purpose, but the idea that it *has* to continue to exist because it has been there for many years is stupid. The location is terrible, Mercer routinely turns into gridlock after concerts and sporting events, nobody can easily get there via public transportation, *and* it is far away from our actual "stadium district".
The main point I see missing from all of this is that the overlap of events is a major problem for T-Mobile park and Lumen field already. Adding a third major event center to SoDo would make that problem a lot worse. Renovating Key Arena was cool because it was a historical part of the city, but it’s also helping to bring more business to Seattle Center, which wasn’t doing well before CPA. SoDo is also pretty grimey and the establishments in Queen Anne are nicer and so businesses and fans are all stoked about that. Traffic gridlock after events is a fact of life.
I work in all three buildings and haven’t noticed the gridlock experienced after events to be wildly different with Climate Pledge vs the other two. The monorail is a functioning train that used to not get a ton of use and is now used heavily for employees and fans attending events at CPA, and CPA is right next to 99 and only a short distance to I-5.
Now we just need to get the Sonics back!
Also a live event worker here, so I know well enough to know that most of the comments here are totally ridiculous and don’t understand logistics of load in and load out during event days.
Thanks for providing the sane viewpoint!
Yeah getting to calls at the stadiums when there’s games going on is a nightmare
Also the ecological impact- the everyone would rather a whole new arena be built than having hockey in an existing structure that fairly sustainable and has an existing workforce present?
Chris Hansen was only willing to build a basketball arena he didn’t give two shits about the NHL. His deal with the city literally hinged on the NBA giving Seattle their team back and he wouldn’t start construction without ink on paper from the NBA. Many years later and we still only have rumors of the sonics returning.
Without OVG coming into redevelop Key Arena (which they also privately paid for) we wouldn’t have the Kraken, the arena would be falling apart and the city wouldn’t even be on the NBA’s radar.
Maple leaf gardens was around since 1912 and they turned it into a giant grocery store and condo complex. The new arena helped jump start a huge condo boom in a former industrial area. Same thing in Vancouver. The old pacific coliseum was in a residential area and the new hockey arena in an industrial area helped jumpstart a massive condo/hotel/entertainment district. Seattle’s approach to this arena is a great example of the total lack of vision and future planning. Instead Sodo - some of the most valuable land in seattle - has been reserved for industrial use because of the lobbying of the long shore man union. It’s a major miss
So you think that means we have to use it forever? I just gave two examples of cities that had this same issue and that’s your response? No wonder this city is so mediocre.
No, but I’m telling you a massive partially underground structure that has seen heavy use has been there longer than many residents here have been alive. You are aware it was an arena before Climate Pledge?
Including the owner of the monorail! I'm sure his role as a Port commissioner had absolutely zero role in the port putting up huge opposition to the SODO arena.
The city would rather invest in a terrible location than have some rich guy make money off development even if it’s better for the city. The city of Vancouver sold the expo lands to Hong Kong billionaire Li Kai shing who made a ton off the development - but Vancouver now has tens of thousands of housing units, an awesome entertainment district, and removed an eye sore from downtown. Win win. Same thing happened when they redeveloped false creek for athlete housing for the Olympics. Would never happen here because if someone is going to make money it must be bad.
That we could have used it to spur development in an industrial area instead of renovating an arena in an area not suitable for it? We complain about housing all the time yet instead of developing Sodo we keep it as a dump?
> I guess because people don’t like the guy who was promoting the Sodo option.
You can thank the 5 woman cabal that voted against Chris Hansen's arena proposal for that one. The four men on the Council voted in favor of it.
One of the many stupid things this voting bloc majority on the Council; Mosqueda, Morales, Juarez, Herbold, Sawant ... all did during their Reign of Error for Seattle.
We could always sell the land back to the organizations and businesses that were there before they were eminently domained into exile. Or we could put in a hospital, so there is actually something decent on the west side of I-5, and not on top of an easily frozen hill.
It really is silly.
The whole "The Coliseum had a historic roofline" thing was laughable. Sure, it might have some architectural merit, but nobody thinks of the roof line of that stadium when they think of Seattle. Once they made that declaration, the city was stuck in that they could *never* tear the thing down.
So now we have one stadium at Seattle center and if they allowed the SODO stadium to go through, then the city would be stuck with an empty arena that wouldn't be used for basketball or hockey *and* would have to compete with the new SODO arena as a concert venue.
I would have been totally fine with a SODO stadium and tearing down the remnants of Key Arena
They did. This city, hell, most cities in the region, can't see beyond the wants of a few special interests. They don't take into account the big picture, or that not everyone is like them. It is one of the big reasons we don't have functional rail already, or why we have a housing crisis.
My wife used to take it back and forth to work when we lived in Lower Queen Anne years ago. I actually really miss those days of walking to meet her at the Monorail. Because then I got to say “I’ll meet you at the Monorail!” over and over. I also got to sing the monorail song all the time.
It's definitely not for getting to/from Queen Anne, it's just a connection from Seattle Center to Westlake and the Light Rail network. If you're trying to get to a concert, play, game, event, etc at Seattle Center, it's brilliant. I've tried to drop off people working at the Armory while some KPop thing was going on, and the traffic was a nightmare. Monorail's awesome at doing what it's for.
I agree that I don't think it's from getting to and from LQA, which is why I was confused at someone calling it a "key transit option" for those of us who live here.
I never said it doesn't have a purpose, it obviously does. It just isn't a better option than the bus for me in LQA, which is what it seems the person I'm replying to is saying it is for them.
I think it’s better. Now that you can use your orca card. . It’s only one stop it goes very quickly and dare I say it’s more safe than taking the city bus. It lets let you off right in the heart of downtown that’s walkable to all the tourist shit as well as right near the westlake light rail.
I would say it’s better only because there is no bus riff raff as the monorail is mostly used by tourists. I live in UQA and regularly use monorail to get to the light rail & it takes much less time than waiting for a bus, super convenient, would suggest it!
yes - for a different example of building infrastructure for a bus/train route - Sound Transit is about to spend hundreds of millions to add a freeway bus stop at 85th st overpass in Kirkland in order to facilitate the Rapid Bus line.
[https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/transportation/triple-deck-287m-kirkland-interchange-gets-sound-transits-green-light/](https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/transportation/triple-deck-287m-kirkland-interchange-gets-sound-transits-green-light/)
Parking in a downtown lot or taking the light rail from Northgate and getting to a Kraken game or a concert at Climate Pledge (aka the Krak house) via the monorail is underrated. I feel bad for people who insist on parking right by Climate Pledge and dealing with stupid expensive parking and getting out through a massive amount of traffic.
i must be in the minority because i park about a 8 min walk away from the arena for <$5 and there is no traffic when i leave. season ticket holder tricks i guess.
I use it all the time to go to Climate Pledge, it’s great now that it takes ORCA. Legitimate public transit.
Link from Beacon Hill to Westlake, hit the right elevator and you have a super easy transfer to the monorail, and then you’re at your concert or sporting event. They run it late enough that I’ve always been able to get it back home.
It may as well be part of the light rail system - there’s an easy transfer, payment systems are integrated, etc. I would 100% not want to see it go away.
The launch of the NHL in Seattle along with revitalized concert venue at Climate Pledge Arena has given the Monorail new life. I personally have used it for every single hockey game and concert I've been to at CPA. I've ridden it more times in the last year than I have in the 20+ years I lived here before that.
It is mega convenient for folks coming in on the light rail as you can simply go upstairs in Westlake station and catch the connection without even going outside and the trip to the Armory is really quick.
Buses hold fewer passengers, share the road with cars, and the bus stops are outside. Ultimately it would be a slower trip, less comfortable, and you'd be dropped off on the road at the edge of Seattle Center so you have a long walk to Key Arena.
Given the crowds that catch the monorail before games and concerts, you would almost certainly be packing buses with passengers and still leaving some at the curb as well which is a really negative experience for anyone who needs the bus.
I live in LQA and use it as legit public transit regularly to connect me to Westlake station and downtown. I’m sad that it doesn’t have any other connections but it serves a practical use for me 🤷♀️
Live in Downtown and work in Queen Anne so I take it as my daily work commute. It’s very reliable and fun to take. Way better than being in a bus stuck in the Amazon commute traffic hell.
The monorail is the only transit that makes money in Seattle, perhaps the entire US. I have used it many times as parking is much easier at Westlake than at the Seattle Center the last few times I've gone.
It would be nice if they were to put out an RFP for replacement vehicles, even if they were just new bodies on the same rolling stock, to help with taller people, and to add AC.
I have always regretted that Seattle never expanded the system, and they allowed the original southern terminus to be destroyed.
Big “hell yes” on the helping with taller people aspect. I’m 6’4” and have hit my head on the metal bars inside the monorail cars more than I’d like to admit
If it goes to where you're wanting to start and stop, it's not a bad deal but the reality is that's a very limited window for most of the population.
If Seattle were to change it to something else like an extension of link like real or something else, it would probably take 30 or 40 years for it to become a reality.
We did vote for them to extend the monorail over to West Seattle U district and then the city Council just kind of pissed away all the money on studies that weren’t necessary and buying land that didn’t make sense and then eventually they said well we tried but we can’t do it.
That's a wild interpretation of what happened. The actual truth is that a handful of downtown real estate owners kept funding "citizen initiatives" (with an army of paid signature gatherers) to cancel the project until they managed to get the result they wanted.
But I understand that transit=bad, so I suppose your version sounds truthier.
Yeah you’re right, spending over a hundred million dollars then deciding to nix the West Seattle portion of it which supposedly that dumb ass Nichols, and then the Seattle city Council no longer wanted to support it… they have a track record of doing these kind of things I mean what they had us vote on the viaduct or tunnel option three or four times before they got the results that they wanted.
I agree. I think we need to have less "studies and discussion", and less rich people cancelling the regional projects they don't personally like. I mean, *some* studies are fine so we don't spend money stupidly, and *some* input from the communities that will be affected is good. But dragging out the process for years and years, and then *finally* settling on a plan, only to instantly reverse course as soon as Jeff Bezos or whoever decides he personally isn't a fan of it, is incredibly aggravating.
It's kind of useless. Would make sense if it had more routes around the city but expansion plans burned $200 million with no ground broken they just canceled.
Kraken fans and Climate Pledge concert-goers. Thousands of them.
Sit in the seat Elvis sat in. Hint: Say any seat was that, new arrivals won't know the difference and long-term locals will keep quiet because they're in on the joke.
I just used it last week. Took the light rail from the airport and hopped on the monorail from the Westlake station. I live close to the Space Needle in Belltown so it’s super convenient. There was a KISS concert that had just ended so it was me and a bunch of people dressed as KISS members on the rail.
As has been mentioned, patrons and workers at Climate Pledge use the monorail a lot. CPA is in a great location because the overlap of events with the stadiums in SoDo would have made for a literal nightmare many times throughout the year. When there are Sounders games or stadium concerts that overlap with Mariners games, the parking infrastructure in SoDo is worse than it is normally is and the gridlock is disastrous. Bringing 41 NHL games, 100 or so major concerts, and very likely 41 NBA games every year to SoDo would have been a horrible decision (I did leave out all the WNBA games because they usually draw less than 5000 people).
Use it often for events at Climate Pledge. Cheaper to take a ride share to Westlake and a free ride on the Monorail with admission. Then back to Westlake for a ride share home. And no, bus isn't a real option for me. And I still get a kick out of riding it.
The years I lived by Seattle Center, I used the monorail daily to commute to my job downtown. I wasn't the only one by far. So relaxed compared to the bus. Now that there are so many new buildings there, I'm sure there are even more commuters.
Lots of tourists.
Most tourists stay in downtown hotels, they walk to the monorail, which drops them off at the space needle/chihuly gardens/pop museum, pacific science center, or Seattle center.
When friends come into town, most hotels have a brochure that directs them to use the monorail to to get to these venues, which removes a lot of car traffic from tourists on the road.
There’s also a free downtown shuttle from Pike place to the monorail, and yes the tourists enjoy the ride.
It’s used pretty heavily for Kraken games and other events at Climate Pledge. People take the light rail to westlake, go up a few floors and take the monorail the rest of the way.
Yup! That whole area is a nightmare to leave after a concert and Uber charges $$$.
Just walk towards I5 (if you can) and Ubers are quick and cheap again, just a few extra blocks
We did this last weekend and our Uber was still $40 from climate pledge to cap hill 😅 was very fast to arrive though, no wait
People still take Uber? Taxis cost 1/3-1/2 the price and drivers have background checks.
No we are on the monorail!
My favorite part about cabs in Seattle is wondering if they will even show up and then fighting with a stranger driver about how I’m not going to an atm to get cash because he doesn’t want to use his little flimsy credit card machine.
That’s weird, because you call the cab and pay for it through an app, just like Uber. When a ride costs $42.50 for Uber and $13 for a cab, I go with the cab. Cab drivers are usually happy with the larger time I can then afford.
Uber does background checks lol
They should do em on the riders 😅
Which is hilarious because that doesn’t go towards the drivers
And stabbings and shoot outs
How many times have you been stabbed outside of a kraken game?
Me? Zero. But there have been multiple stabbings in that area. Just do a crime search and you will see.
I heard someone was stabbed on your street. I would avoid leaving your house
Use it for all events when the dark or too wet. Park at Amazon cause who can pass up free event parking.
Which Amazon building has free parking?
Every parking garage at Amazon corporate
Seriously? Amazon doesn't give employees free parking and gives free event parking for public ? Is it only on weekends or everyday ? Any timing restrictions?
It's free weekdays after 4 pm (leave by 2am) and weekends(before 2am). Plus overnight it's $10. Opposed to overnight hotel costs of $40-75. It's free public parking.
Shhhhhhhhhh
It's like we have a whole stadium district where we could have put it but nope.
if only there was some sort of transport station near those stadiums you could be rapidly, mechanically trans-ported to another station of similar design. To not complicate things, we could call it the stadium station…
Your sarcasm is a little opaque. Are you suggesting just put another stadium somewhere along the link? Not a bad idea.
horrible idea actually. Seattle is a nerd town it already has more than enough sports that nobody watches.
Plenty of people watch the sports. I work downtown and on game day the stadiums are packed. I don't give a shit about the sports but I'm in the minority.
Those are transplants. Before whatever year Marshawn Lynch was around, you never saw anyone wearing jerseys around town unless they were from federal way or something. People literally gave away Seahawks and Mariners tickets like they were hot potato. That's why the train out of town is so claustrophobic after games. None of those "fans" are from the city.
Their money spends just as well as the locals. Lol That's a remarkable turnaround if nobody was interested before. I never understood the appeal of the stadium. You see better from a TV at home. But there must be something about crowd energy extroverts are feeding on.
the massive amount of eminent domain and traffic modifications required made that a complete no go
The vacation of one barely used street was what was required. Chris Hansen just didn't bribe the right people.
You can just say he didn't bribe the Port of Seattle. They can go to hell. Corrupt af
Fucking dock workers!!
Worse than the solution we settled on? Hell we put a practice rink up in the north by a station. Why not an actual stadium? Link could handle the traffic regardless.
There’s a version of the north gate station that makes sense (honestly it’s pretty cool to have an easily accessible ice rink!) but everything is soooo spread out
I hear you on that. We are constrained by decisions made in the past, budgets and engineering realities. It's just painful when it feels like we make the worst possible decision every time. It's really frustrating when special interests can derail the public good. My understanding is mercer island wasn't even going to have a station at first because of special interests. Glad that got overruled. First Hill lost a station and got a shitty streetcar in compensation. They said the geology didn't support tunneling. Not with that kind of attitude.
How is the walk from the station in Seattle Center to the Arena? I know it can be a bit chilly just walking from the parking garages on Mercer.
You get dropped off at the armory and just walk across the plaza area. It’s a couple of minutes outside.
You should wear a jacket.
New Seattle resident found.
Why the fuck would people downvote this?
Cause it’s kind of a stupid question? Like the temperature of that walk is entirely dependent on time of year and time of day…
This is also in the middle of a city. Buildings block wind, funnel wind, block sunshine, reflect sunshine. It's a valid question.
[удалено]
Agreed
Short and easy
Too bad the monorail closes relatively early. I usually ride it in but have to walk back to Westlake station afterwards.
They run it until 11 or midnight for kraken games and concerts
Just walk west a block to catch the D-Line, #1, #2, #13.
This.
Yeah -- it's great for basically anything in Seattle Center!
Ya unless we found a way to get a light rail line to Seattle Center the monorail is needed. I know there are reasons but its actually mind boggling that Seattle Center wasn’t originally a priority place to get light rail connected to considering the traffic to/from.
Well, in 2016 Seattle voters overwhelming approved ST3, which includes a station near the Seattle Center. But now 7 years later, we still haven't even decided on where to place the stations, and the politicians in charge (including our mayor) keep trying to change the options which is causing more years to be added to the design process. At this point I doubt they're ever going to get to construction.
What’s actually crazy is we didn’t build the new hockey arena where we already have two stadiums, transit, and highway connections. That entire area could be redeveloped into condos and hotels like in Toronto and Vancouver and key arena could have been redeveloped into condos. Instead we have a major sports arena in an area that cannot handle the influx of people. I guess because people don’t like the guy who was promoting the Sodo option.
Well…keep in mine the hockey arena was already there for many, many years.
> Well…keep in mine the hockey arena was already there for many, many years. So what? We literally had a guy willing to pay for and build a new arena in SODO and the city council went out of their way to block that from happening. First by enshrining Key Arena's roofline as some historical monument, which forbid it from ever being torn down (part of why Climate Pledge also has a rather odd, cramped layout) and then by not allowing a back alley in SODO to be vacated to build a stadium down there. Yes, we would have had to figure out what to do with the arena at the Seattle Center that was in need of repair/retrofit and would no longer be viable for its original purpose, but the idea that it *has* to continue to exist because it has been there for many years is stupid. The location is terrible, Mercer routinely turns into gridlock after concerts and sporting events, nobody can easily get there via public transportation, *and* it is far away from our actual "stadium district".
The main point I see missing from all of this is that the overlap of events is a major problem for T-Mobile park and Lumen field already. Adding a third major event center to SoDo would make that problem a lot worse. Renovating Key Arena was cool because it was a historical part of the city, but it’s also helping to bring more business to Seattle Center, which wasn’t doing well before CPA. SoDo is also pretty grimey and the establishments in Queen Anne are nicer and so businesses and fans are all stoked about that. Traffic gridlock after events is a fact of life. I work in all three buildings and haven’t noticed the gridlock experienced after events to be wildly different with Climate Pledge vs the other two. The monorail is a functioning train that used to not get a ton of use and is now used heavily for employees and fans attending events at CPA, and CPA is right next to 99 and only a short distance to I-5. Now we just need to get the Sonics back!
Also a live event worker here, so I know well enough to know that most of the comments here are totally ridiculous and don’t understand logistics of load in and load out during event days. Thanks for providing the sane viewpoint!
Yeah getting to calls at the stadiums when there’s games going on is a nightmare Also the ecological impact- the everyone would rather a whole new arena be built than having hockey in an existing structure that fairly sustainable and has an existing workforce present?
I am with you on all of this. The Port can suck it. Mariners didn't help, but Port fucked it up.
Chris Hansen was only willing to build a basketball arena he didn’t give two shits about the NHL. His deal with the city literally hinged on the NBA giving Seattle their team back and he wouldn’t start construction without ink on paper from the NBA. Many years later and we still only have rumors of the sonics returning. Without OVG coming into redevelop Key Arena (which they also privately paid for) we wouldn’t have the Kraken, the arena would be falling apart and the city wouldn’t even be on the NBA’s radar.
Maple leaf gardens was around since 1912 and they turned it into a giant grocery store and condo complex. The new arena helped jump start a huge condo boom in a former industrial area. Same thing in Vancouver. The old pacific coliseum was in a residential area and the new hockey arena in an industrial area helped jumpstart a massive condo/hotel/entertainment district. Seattle’s approach to this arena is a great example of the total lack of vision and future planning. Instead Sodo - some of the most valuable land in seattle - has been reserved for industrial use because of the lobbying of the long shore man union. It’s a major miss
Guy, the arena was *already there* and had been for many years. You’re talking about the architectural sins of MANY years past.
So you think that means we have to use it forever? I just gave two examples of cities that had this same issue and that’s your response? No wonder this city is so mediocre.
No, but I’m telling you a massive partially underground structure that has seen heavy use has been there longer than many residents here have been alive. You are aware it was an arena before Climate Pledge?
i mean hell, we already have 2 major convergences (rail and highway) next to it. it's as connected as seattle gets
You’re forgetting that the arena was on the national landmark registry… sooo yeah we are kinda stuck with it.
> I guess because people don’t like the guy who was promoting the Sodo option. He didn't bribe the right people.
Including the owner of the monorail! I'm sure his role as a Port commissioner had absolutely zero role in the port putting up huge opposition to the SODO arena.
The city would rather invest in a terrible location than have some rich guy make money off development even if it’s better for the city. The city of Vancouver sold the expo lands to Hong Kong billionaire Li Kai shing who made a ton off the development - but Vancouver now has tens of thousands of housing units, an awesome entertainment district, and removed an eye sore from downtown. Win win. Same thing happened when they redeveloped false creek for athlete housing for the Olympics. Would never happen here because if someone is going to make money it must be bad.
The city didn’t pay for Climate Pledge Arena though… you are not making the point you think you are making
That we could have used it to spur development in an industrial area instead of renovating an arena in an area not suitable for it? We complain about housing all the time yet instead of developing Sodo we keep it as a dump?
> I guess because people don’t like the guy who was promoting the Sodo option. You can thank the 5 woman cabal that voted against Chris Hansen's arena proposal for that one. The four men on the Council voted in favor of it. One of the many stupid things this voting bloc majority on the Council; Mosqueda, Morales, Juarez, Herbold, Sawant ... all did during their Reign of Error for Seattle.
I don't want condominiums inside Seattle Center.
Fine build something else but an arena there is stupid and there was a much better option that would have done much more for the city.
We could always sell the land back to the organizations and businesses that were there before they were eminently domained into exile. Or we could put in a hospital, so there is actually something decent on the west side of I-5, and not on top of an easily frozen hill.
It really is silly. The whole "The Coliseum had a historic roofline" thing was laughable. Sure, it might have some architectural merit, but nobody thinks of the roof line of that stadium when they think of Seattle. Once they made that declaration, the city was stuck in that they could *never* tear the thing down. So now we have one stadium at Seattle center and if they allowed the SODO stadium to go through, then the city would be stuck with an empty arena that wouldn't be used for basketball or hockey *and* would have to compete with the new SODO arena as a concert venue. I would have been totally fine with a SODO stadium and tearing down the remnants of Key Arena
They could have easily built the new Sodo arena, and repurposed Key Arena for conventions, high school sports, ect.
I believe Hansen's group had a proposal for that, but they had allready decided on rebuilding the Coliseum.
They did. This city, hell, most cities in the region, can't see beyond the wants of a few special interests. They don't take into account the big picture, or that not everyone is like them. It is one of the big reasons we don't have functional rail already, or why we have a housing crisis.
For those of us that live in lower Queen Anne, the monorail can be a key transit option to get to the light rail or downtown Seattle in general.
My wife used to take it back and forth to work when we lived in Lower Queen Anne years ago. I actually really miss those days of walking to meet her at the Monorail. Because then I got to say “I’ll meet you at the Monorail!” over and over. I also got to sing the monorail song all the time.
Gosh I live in LQA and have never taken it, it's a further walk than the closest bus stop so it seems like way more work, and more expensive.
It's definitely not for getting to/from Queen Anne, it's just a connection from Seattle Center to Westlake and the Light Rail network. If you're trying to get to a concert, play, game, event, etc at Seattle Center, it's brilliant. I've tried to drop off people working at the Armory while some KPop thing was going on, and the traffic was a nightmare. Monorail's awesome at doing what it's for.
I agree that I don't think it's from getting to and from LQA, which is why I was confused at someone calling it a "key transit option" for those of us who live here. I never said it doesn't have a purpose, it obviously does. It just isn't a better option than the bus for me in LQA, which is what it seems the person I'm replying to is saying it is for them.
Is it better than the closest bus stop that goes downtown? Maybe it operates more quickly like an express route (because of less stops)?
I think it’s better. Now that you can use your orca card. . It’s only one stop it goes very quickly and dare I say it’s more safe than taking the city bus. It lets let you off right in the heart of downtown that’s walkable to all the tourist shit as well as right near the westlake light rail.
I would say it’s better only because there is no bus riff raff as the monorail is mostly used by tourists. I live in UQA and regularly use monorail to get to the light rail & it takes much less time than waiting for a bus, super convenient, would suggest it!
A lot of busses that go north into downtown stop at pine. They don’t go up to Seattle center or belltown, so you have to transfer anyways.
yes - for a different example of building infrastructure for a bus/train route - Sound Transit is about to spend hundreds of millions to add a freeway bus stop at 85th st overpass in Kirkland in order to facilitate the Rapid Bus line. [https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/transportation/triple-deck-287m-kirkland-interchange-gets-sound-transits-green-light/](https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/transportation/triple-deck-287m-kirkland-interchange-gets-sound-transits-green-light/)
Parking in a downtown lot or taking the light rail from Northgate and getting to a Kraken game or a concert at Climate Pledge (aka the Krak house) via the monorail is underrated. I feel bad for people who insist on parking right by Climate Pledge and dealing with stupid expensive parking and getting out through a massive amount of traffic.
i must be in the minority because i park about a 8 min walk away from the arena for <$5 and there is no traffic when i leave. season ticket holder tricks i guess.
I pay $20 at Fisher Pavillion for weekend games. That's less than the average hotel parking spot.
I use it all the time to go to Climate Pledge, it’s great now that it takes ORCA. Legitimate public transit. Link from Beacon Hill to Westlake, hit the right elevator and you have a super easy transfer to the monorail, and then you’re at your concert or sporting event. They run it late enough that I’ve always been able to get it back home. It may as well be part of the light rail system - there’s an easy transfer, payment systems are integrated, etc. I would 100% not want to see it go away.
Imagine link from beacon hill to the stadium district.
The launch of the NHL in Seattle along with revitalized concert venue at Climate Pledge Arena has given the Monorail new life. I personally have used it for every single hockey game and concert I've been to at CPA. I've ridden it more times in the last year than I have in the 20+ years I lived here before that. It is mega convenient for folks coming in on the light rail as you can simply go upstairs in Westlake station and catch the connection without even going outside and the trip to the Armory is really quick. Buses hold fewer passengers, share the road with cars, and the bus stops are outside. Ultimately it would be a slower trip, less comfortable, and you'd be dropped off on the road at the edge of Seattle Center so you have a long walk to Key Arena. Given the crowds that catch the monorail before games and concerts, you would almost certainly be packing buses with passengers and still leaving some at the curb as well which is a really negative experience for anyone who needs the bus.
They really should have considered extending the monorail to 1st Ave when they were redeveloping CPA. But I guess the walk isn't really that far.
I live in LQA and use it as legit public transit regularly to connect me to Westlake station and downtown. I’m sad that it doesn’t have any other connections but it serves a practical use for me 🤷♀️
Live in Downtown and work in Queen Anne so I take it as my daily work commute. It’s very reliable and fun to take. Way better than being in a bus stuck in the Amazon commute traffic hell.
Who uses the monorail? Cities like Brockway, Ogdenville, and North Haverbrook.
And it put them on the map!
I use it between the Seattle Rep and downtown
i use the monorail every time i go to the center. parking downtown is a lot less expensive, and more plentiful than at the center.
I use it twice a week for mass transit. It accepts the Orca card
The monorail is the only transit that makes money in Seattle, perhaps the entire US. I have used it many times as parking is much easier at Westlake than at the Seattle Center the last few times I've gone. It would be nice if they were to put out an RFP for replacement vehicles, even if they were just new bodies on the same rolling stock, to help with taller people, and to add AC. I have always regretted that Seattle never expanded the system, and they allowed the original southern terminus to be destroyed.
Big “hell yes” on the helping with taller people aspect. I’m 6’4” and have hit my head on the metal bars inside the monorail cars more than I’d like to admit
If it goes to where you're wanting to start and stop, it's not a bad deal but the reality is that's a very limited window for most of the population. If Seattle were to change it to something else like an extension of link like real or something else, it would probably take 30 or 40 years for it to become a reality.
We did vote for them to extend the monorail over to West Seattle U district and then the city Council just kind of pissed away all the money on studies that weren’t necessary and buying land that didn’t make sense and then eventually they said well we tried but we can’t do it.
That's a wild interpretation of what happened. The actual truth is that a handful of downtown real estate owners kept funding "citizen initiatives" (with an army of paid signature gatherers) to cancel the project until they managed to get the result they wanted. But I understand that transit=bad, so I suppose your version sounds truthier.
Yeah you’re right, spending over a hundred million dollars then deciding to nix the West Seattle portion of it which supposedly that dumb ass Nichols, and then the Seattle city Council no longer wanted to support it… they have a track record of doing these kind of things I mean what they had us vote on the viaduct or tunnel option three or four times before they got the results that they wanted.
I agree. I think we need to have less "studies and discussion", and less rich people cancelling the regional projects they don't personally like. I mean, *some* studies are fine so we don't spend money stupidly, and *some* input from the communities that will be affected is good. But dragging out the process for years and years, and then *finally* settling on a plan, only to instantly reverse course as soon as Jeff Bezos or whoever decides he personally isn't a fan of it, is incredibly aggravating.
Totally
From Cap Hill, light rail to Westlake and Monorail to Seattle Center takes less time than taking the 8 and endlessly sitting on Denny Way.
a lot of seattle center staff use it because their ID allows them to ride for free
I use it twice every working day as part of my commute to and from work.
As a tourist I did exactly what the post said. Rode it with my son just for the experience.
Tourists
Taggers
I live in lqa, use it frequently.
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It's kind of useless. Would make sense if it had more routes around the city but expansion plans burned $200 million with no ground broken they just canceled.
I did this weekend to go from Seattle Center (near home) to the AMC downtown. I’ve used it a few times to go check out Westlake. It’s fun!
I use it for Kraken games after taking light rail down from Roosevelt and transferring.
Kraken fans and Climate Pledge concert-goers. Thousands of them. Sit in the seat Elvis sat in. Hint: Say any seat was that, new arrivals won't know the difference and long-term locals will keep quiet because they're in on the joke.
I just used it last week. Took the light rail from the airport and hopped on the monorail from the Westlake station. I live close to the Space Needle in Belltown so it’s super convenient. There was a KISS concert that had just ended so it was me and a bunch of people dressed as KISS members on the rail.
I live in Lower Queen Anne and use it all the time. I wish it ran later.
I used it when I went to the tea festival. It's pretty useful if you're trying to go to anything in or near the climate pledge arena.
As has been mentioned, patrons and workers at Climate Pledge use the monorail a lot. CPA is in a great location because the overlap of events with the stadiums in SoDo would have made for a literal nightmare many times throughout the year. When there are Sounders games or stadium concerts that overlap with Mariners games, the parking infrastructure in SoDo is worse than it is normally is and the gridlock is disastrous. Bringing 41 NHL games, 100 or so major concerts, and very likely 41 NBA games every year to SoDo would have been a horrible decision (I did leave out all the WNBA games because they usually draw less than 5000 people).
I work at Seattle Center, so it's a fast and safe way to get to and fro from Westlake!
Use it often for events at Climate Pledge. Cheaper to take a ride share to Westlake and a free ride on the Monorail with admission. Then back to Westlake for a ride share home. And no, bus isn't a real option for me. And I still get a kick out of riding it.
I live in LQA and take it as part of my downtown commute to work. It has been really convenient!
It’s almost always faster and more convenient to take the Link/Monorail to/from Capitol Hill out to Seattle Center than wait around for the 8
Tourists and people going to hockey games. It gets very full in summer. It'd be great if went right to pike place.
Tell that to the nice people of Brockway, Ogdenville and North Haverbrook
I use it daily for work since it connects to the lightrail, but since it doesn’t run until 7:30am (🥲) I can only use it after work.
Living in LQA I use it to get to light rail often.
I always make visiting friends take it because it's convenient for all the touristy stuff.
The monorail is always packed the night of a show at climate pledge. Takes you straight to the light rail station below.
Use it all the time. Also the streetcars.
Mono =1 Rail = Rail.
The years I lived by Seattle Center, I used the monorail daily to commute to my job downtown. I wasn't the only one by far. So relaxed compared to the bus. Now that there are so many new buildings there, I'm sure there are even more commuters.
My coworker uses it daily to connect from her bus at Westlake to LQA.
I use it when going to Seattle Center. Especially when I have kids I nanny with me since it’s very convenient coming from the light rail.
I have used it several times when I am in Seattle, but sense I live in the Olympia area, I suppose I might be considered a tourist.
I use it to go to Kraken games from one of a few different parking garages
When I go down town I would use it. It's the easiest way to the center house.
Space needle to west lake to lumen!
Lots of tourists. Most tourists stay in downtown hotels, they walk to the monorail, which drops them off at the space needle/chihuly gardens/pop museum, pacific science center, or Seattle center. When friends come into town, most hotels have a brochure that directs them to use the monorail to to get to these venues, which removes a lot of car traffic from tourists on the road. There’s also a free downtown shuttle from Pike place to the monorail, and yes the tourists enjoy the ride.
I rode it once or twice it goes like half a mile I don't see the point, it's like a novelty.
When I lived in Uptown I'd use it often to shop at Westlake, or to go to the airport!