Does Seattle/Tacoma Have Subways or Trains (Bellevue, Everett: homes, transfer)

[computer chick]

Does Seattle or Tacoma have subways or commuter trains? I am considering

moving there and would like an alternative to driving sometimes.

[allforcats]

We have a great network of buses. We have a train. And we do not have subways.

There is one commuter line (one set of tracks) called Sound Transit which connects cities south of Tacoma with cities north of Seattle.

The counties in which Tacoma and Seattle are located have public bus systems which connect with each other. Those buses cover geographic areas much larger than just the two cities' limits. The bus system, especially in King County where Seattle is, covers almost anywhere one would want to go in King County. However, this is not New York City, so bus service is most frequent and goes to and from most places during commuter hours and on weekdays. Weekend coverage is reduced.

King County's system is called Metro. Tacoma is in Pierce County, and their system is called Pierce Transit. Sound Transit (named for Puget Sound) covers both counties with the train line and with a selection of long-distance buses.

[tada]

Originally Posted by allforcats

We have a great network of buses. We have a train. And we do not have subways.

I would not call it great.

[allforcats]

Originally Posted by tada

I would not call it great.

I do call it great.

I lived in Seattle for over 5 years, and used the Metro buses, like tons of other commuters, to go to and from work five days a week, and then to travel all over Seattle and learn the city, and to travel to the mountains, to the north and to the south as my personal "tour" system. Such a deal!

Then I moved to Bellevue on the east side of Lake Washington. Along with tons of other people, I continued commuting by Metro to Seattle and back to Bellevue and have done so for well over 15 years.

At different times, living in different homes, I used the Metro buses on weekends to do shopping, visit friends, or roam and discover since when someone else is driving, you can look and learn, not so possible and much more dangerous when you have to drive. And I completely avoided not being able to find a parking space, getting my car dented by lousy drivers, and having to pay parking fees.

I spent the first 30 years of my life in New York City, on the subways and buses. Then I spent 10 years on Tokyo's vast web of trains and subways, followed by Portland's TriMet. I know public transportation systems.

The Metro system is dependable, inexpensive especially compared with driving, goes to zillions of locations, provides riders with time to relax, and the drivers are smart, friendly and capable. In bad weather when driving would be no fun at all, Metro drivers do it well.

I get sick and tired of people within the Metro service area whining that Metro buses don't stop every ten feet on every road in every inch of every neighborhood and town at every moment of every day and night. No public transportation system does in any city on earth because it's not necessary.

Pierce Transit, as I mentioned above, does not cover its countryside as well as Metro does -- logically so, because, of course, Metro serves a much larger population.

The Metro system is great.

[tada]

The Metro system is dependable.

Some routes are consistently late, and if there's an accident, the buses are affected just as much as cars by delays.

inexpensive especially compared with driving

If I want to go to, say, the Seattle Uwajimaya from Issaquah, that's $5.00. It's about the same (maybe even less) in gas. And as long as you buy at least $7.00 worth of stuff (I always do) the parking there is free. Plus they are going to jack up the prices soon due to gas prices.

goes to zillions of locations,

provides riders with time to relax, and the drivers are smart, friendly and capable.

Idle hands are the devil's work. It would take me 1.5 hours to get to Seattle by bus. It takes me 30 minutes by car. Plus it's kind of hard to relax with people sharing their end of the cell phone conversation with the whole bus, listening to music on their iPods way too loudly, and other stuff.

In bad weather when driving would be no fun

That's when driving is the most fun. It's more enjoyable than fun when it's sunny out.

goes to zillions of locations

What's a "zillion"? I assume it's a pretty large number. If so, why aren't the route numbers like 3,002,195,730 1/2? Do you think that the average person would be able to remember route numbers that long, given that they can barely remember phone numbers?

[tada]

Also, no matter how you slice it, buses are not a subway and one train is not many.

[toughguy]

Originally Posted by tada

Some routes are consistently late, and if there's an accident, the buses are affected just as much as cars by delays.

If I want to go to, say, the Seattle Uwajimaya from Issaquah, that's $5.00. It's about the same (maybe even less) in gas. And as long as you buy at least $7.00 worth of stuff (I always do) the parking there is free. Plus they are going to jack up the prices soon due to gas prices.

goes to zillions of locations,

Idle hands are the devil's work. It would take me 1.5 hours to get to Seattle by bus. It takes me 30 minutes by car. Plus it's kind of hard to relax with people sharing their end of the cell phone conversation with the whole bus, listening to music on their iPods way too loudly, and other stuff.

That's when driving is the most fun. It's more enjoyable than fun when it's sunny out.

What's a "zillion"? I assume it's a pretty large number. If so, why aren't the route numbers like 3,002,195,730 1/2? Do you think that the average person would be able to remember route numbers that long, given that they can barely remember phone numbers?

It's $5.00 if you are going to stay at Uwajimaya for the entire day. If you are going to stay a reasonable amount of time, say 2 to 3 hours at the most, you can use your transfer slip to ride the bus home without having to pay the fare again.

I don't know where you get your 1.5 hour estimate from, but that sounds fabricated. There are express routes from "downtown" Issaquah and even the Highlands that get you downtown in 45 minutes or less. You sound like those anti-transit advocates we have to deal with, that use the most extreme examples and shady/misleading estimates to convince us that we don't need to invest in public transit.

[Jennibc]

I have to agree with Tada on this. I spent nine years here without a car and it was hell. The bus system is much better than what it is in places like Southern California, but having moved back here with a car, Seattle is a much easier place to live now.

[tada]

Look at the timetables for route 271. Except for the very early ones (I'd probably suicide if I had to wake up at 5:24am each day, much less be ready and catch the bus by then), it's about 65-80 minutes to get from Issaquah to Seattle. Not quite the 1.5 hours I said, but still close, and much longer than 30 minutes, that's for sure. Even from Eastgate it takes about 45-60 minutes, and that's already halfway to UW from my house. The "express" 272 to UW takes about 40 minutes, which is longer than the entire drive from my house, and it starts at Eastgate, which as mentioned before, is already halfway to UW from my house.

I'm not against transit, I'm against bad transit. We do need to invest in public transit, because as it stands now, I would not use it.

edit: Recalculated the times using the stop I usually get (got) off at.

[bigtrees]

"Great" or "not so great" all depends on perspective.

I move here most recently from Phoenix, and we have a great bus system compared to Phoenix. It was terrible there. But I lived in Montana prior to Phoenix, and phoenix had a great bus system compared to Montana (where there is none).

Tada is comparing our public transit to Toyoko, and Japan is generally better than here.

To answer the OP question, our public transit in Seattle is primarily bus. Lots of people do ride the busses and it may be great or not so great depending on where you live and work.

We do have two train lines, both leading into downtown. One runs from Tacoma to downtown and one runs from Everett to downtown.

We will have a light rail in the near future.

And we do have a streetcar. If you come out here, be sure to ride the S.L.U.T. before you head home.