Being 63, I remember the 1970s when the NYC subway was VERY dirty and constantly late and breaking down. That was during the city’s fiscal crisis. There are still problems but the system has greatly improved.
@JimAllen-Personafor the amount of service it offers and given it’s age the MTA has done a great job but I agree we need more improvements. Hopefully with the new congestion pricing and the CBTC rollout we will I’ll get better service and hopefully new modern stations. They are already installing platform screen doors in some stations. The need to bring back the Enhanced station initiative to though.
Small correction, Seattles inner city has 700,000. Metro area is about 4 million. But that’s not saying much because NYC has a metro if about 20 million 😅
3:50 fwiw, Sound Transit is mostly a capital agency that then contracts with others to operate what they own. Link Light Rail is operated by King County Metro. Sounder is operated by BNSF. ST Express busses are operated by King County Metro, Pierce Transit, or Community Transit. Generally following county borders, but the 560 is completely in King County, but operated by Pierce Transit. Tacoma Link is operated by Sound Transit.
I work with transportation agencies in Washington. We are really making big strides to better our public transportations and improving our multimodal network throughout the state. Other public transportation options not mentioned here is Stride Bus Rapid Transit (bus service, connecting to light rail and to communities north, east and south of Lake Washington) Water Taxi/Foot Ferry, and Via ride share (connecting people on their first and last mile trip to link light rail stations). As for the card reader machines, they used to be in the platforms as well. But Sound transit recently removed them and placed them before you enter the station, or before entering the platform. They are slowly introducing large yellow signs and textured floor to remind riders to tap on/off. Fun fact: the firm I work for redesigned the ORCA pass website. Glad you found it easy and intuitive to use!
As of Aug. 30, 2024, the Link light rail only requires tapping ON and it is now a flat fare of $3. One other big advantage of the ORCA card is being able to not only transfer between modes/agencies, but also just the fare difference is charged and transfers are free for 2 hours. I can hop on the light rail (Sound Transit), do some shopping, then grab a bus (KC Metro), jump off to grab some dinner, back on the bus, and home all for $3 total!
Yes, and I forget when exactly, but now you can use ORCA cards that are loaded into your phone. Which is rather convenient, although I keep one of the physical cards as a backup in case I forget my phone or it runs out of batteries.
@@SmallSpoonBrigade I think that's on Android only (which leaves me out for now). However, I prefer the physical card (in a reader with a retractable lanyard) because I will drop my phone under the bus on boarding or something clumsy like that. And, like you said, if something happens to the phone like it dying.
Westlake and International District/Chinatown are typically the least clean stations - they were built as part of a bus tunnel in the 90s, so they’re definitely showing their age! But most of our stations are really cute and fairly clean here :)
Seattle resident here 🙋♀️ This was a great overview of the two different systems, and I’m really proud of how far Seattle has come, even in the past decade. The ORCA readers are going to be able to accept credit cards later this year, after a multi-year program to get the 2005-era readers replaced. Also, the ferries do accept ORCA but only for walk-on passengers, not for the vehicles. I suppose they don’t want you paying $60 off your transit balance 😅. Also, yes the trains really are that clean most of the time! There are exceptions, but I’ve heard that they clean the trains every night when they go back to the yard. Unlike New York, trains don’t run 24/7 so they have time to give them a once-over every evening. Also, the reason we use proof-of-payment is because the rail system is not watertight and fare evaders could walk on the tracks at some stations to get around theoretical turnstiles. They don’t want that so we use proof-of-payment instead, with fare checkers roving the system, similar to the SBS system in NYC.
@@esgee3829If I had to guess, within the next 5 years or so, Sound Transit will likely propose another package, and that one will probably include express tracks and re-aligning Stadium through Rainier Beach to above grade. It would be nice if Line 2 was also grade separate, but I don't think that's in the cards due to how new it is
@@569pokemon would be wonderful if they did though i wonder if they have sufficient right of way to fit those bypass tracks. and rainier valley...seems like they will keep watching the cost spiral to do what should have originally been done and say, "well now that costs just too much" while people keep dying each year or two on at grade crossings. a bit depressing. but i hope i'm wrong and you're right.
@@esgee3829They don't currently have the right of way, which is part of why they've been hesitant to grade separate them in this package. However, when you combine the significant push to separate the entire alignment, Seattle's Vision Zero goal, and the fact they would have to separate grade and purchase right of way (the latter of which the do frequently) in order to build an express track anyways, I think it's only a matter of time before the re-alignment happens
Great comparison video! I can't speak much on the MTA, but as someone who's relied on nothing but Seattle transit for the past 2 years, I have some added details: 1:15 - There are 2 different express bus operators in Seattle. Sound Transit (ST) and Community Transit. Community Transit serves express routes to less traveled communities in Snohomish county. Places like Stanwood, Marysville, etc. Community Transit is the only other branded bus you'll see in downtown besides King County Metro (KCM) and ST. Another fun fact is that SoundTransit doesn't actually operate any services even though its branding is everywhere. Link is operated by King County Metro, Sounder is operated by BNSF, and the ST express routes are operated by the relevant agencies in the counties they serve. For example, ST express route 594 to Tacoma is operated by Pierce Transit, 550 to Bellevue by KCM, and 510 to Everett by Community Transit. SoundTransit's main job seems to be managing overhead (cleaning Link stations, running security, fare education, etc.) and developing new lines/schedules. 4:35 - WSDOT Ferries actually do take ORCA cards, but only for foot traffic. For example, if you walk into Coleman Dock, go past the ticket booth straight to the station and you'll see an ORCA reader. 6:00 - This is a fare gripe :p , ST has plans to make the ORCA readers more apparent when you enter a station. That's why you see that big yellow line here with readers on either side. This was a test station for that new system. Overall very accurate comparison!
It's important to remember that Seattle is a much younger city than New York, thus has a younger infrastructure. Usually, cities like modern Atlanta, Houston, New Orleans, Phoenix, etc, have much newer and smaller systems.
Also, it's got different sets of constraints. Seattle is roughly hour glass shaped, but NYC has a bunch of water disrupting things that had to be accounted for when designing its system.
@@premsprespective3507 Yes, there's also a minor issue where if you don't use the pass, then you can't transfer between agencies because they have no way of knowing if you paid and wouldn't get their slice of whatever fairs were collected for a given rider that day.
I have been looking forward to this one! I’ve been in Seattle now since late 2019. Few notes: 1. Washington State Ferries DOES accept the Orca card! However, since the fares for WSF are more expensive, it is not going to be covered under most daily or monthly unlimited passes. They do have their own monthly or multi-ride passes though which can be loaded onto your Orca card, or you can use e-purse to pay the single trip fare. 2. It’s actually a recent change that the downtown tunnel LINK stops don’t have Orca readers at the platforms, they have been removed over the last few weeks with the intention that the platform is a fare paid zone where you are expected to already have paid. 3. Some King County Metro buses do have fabric upholstered seats! All the newer ones have vinyl, and many of the trolley buses have been updated to vinyl, but I am sitting on an older bus now with fabric seats. Being from Philly, I was similarly shocked due to sanitary concerns/concerns about bed bugs, but so far I haven’t been in any gross situations Great video as always, I love seeing outsider perspectives on my city!
Did Seattle last February(meeting a friend for lunch). Impressed with the public transportation. Also nice to have a rail connection from the airport to downtown. Also the buses were fairly timely.
Yes, that's the section they did first. Well, one stop shy, and a shuttle the rest, but it made it so convenient to go to and from the airport, and it's mostly grade separated, so apart from a couple spots where it crosses streets, the traffic on the streets doesn't directly impact the train service.
3:56 Payment on them all is exactly the same besides price. ORCA cards can be used on every single agency in Seattle as well as agencies in all neighboring counties except to the east because of the mountains dividing the areas.
i lived in seattle my whole life and it’s just now been getting better in terms of transit. short distances via buses are actually super great here but the light rail has a new platform built every few years
As a Seattle native I enjoyed this. The reason Seattle lacks turnstiles is because our LINK transit system is not fully grade separated as is the MTA subway. Because there are some stations that are street level, turn stiles wouldn't really stop anyone from just jumping them or going around them. Seattle unfortunately loses lots of money as a result of this and the only solution is having fare enforcement on trains. Also, as of August 2024 the system switched to a single fare away from the pay by distance so that commuters only have to worry about tapping on but not off. Overall, I agree the ORCA cards are one of the best and most convenient transit cards to use. Something I wouldve loved to see mentioned is that there is a Transit app where you can purchase and use single use tickets right in app for most public modes of transportation which is especially nice for visitors or people who don't commute frequently.
Great overview. In addition to the state ferries King & Kitsap Counties operate water taxis (which are more analogous to the NYC ferries than the bigger WA state ferries) which accept ORCA cards.
I really should take one of those water taxies. I've lived in Seattle my whole life and that's the only mode of transit I've never actually taken advantage of.
Having lived in NYC and Washington State, I have to say I love this video. I'm a big fan of public transportation. I currently live about 75 minute drive south of Seattle in Olympia WA (the state capital). The transit system here is great as well (it even won a award for a small city transit or something). But in the beginning of 2019, all local and express buses are free. The reason is to get folks to drive less. They use to have an express bus to Seattle but now you take one express bus to Tacoma and another express bus to Seattle or take the Sounder Express train. We also have Amtrack and Bolt/Grayhound to get to Seattle too.
Just a quick correction: Seattle’s metropolitan area is 4 million! 700k is just within city limits. NYC city limits are 8 million but the metro area is 19!
The Washington State Ferry does take the ORCA and has done so for at least ten years. You have to go through the ticket booth however. There are no scanners for passengers to use.
I was in Seattle recently and I asked my friends their thoughts on public transit. I’ve heard good things about Seattle’s transit, and coming from Vancouver, I was curious what it was like. Though I didn’t ride it, I was told that transit was only good downtown. Since some suburbs (Tacoma etc.) has busses operated by a different agency, it just seems hard to connect. In Vancouver, the whole metro area is all run by one agency, making connections really easy. I wish Seattle had that too
Tacoma isn't a "suburb" though, it's a completely different city. Having one agency in charge would make it simpler, but I'm sure there''s also major cons. Interagency collaborations are definitely addressing the issues of public trnasportation in the suburbs by providing more frequent and reliable transit. And that's part of the challenge. WA is a huge state. Frequency and reliability means different depending on where you are. If you live in downtown core Seattle, frequency would be 8 minutes or less. In the suburbs, that would be costly and inefficient. Most people would say every 25 minutes is frequent. Our company helped WSDOT conduct this study :)
@@hi.laulau It's also in a different county. It's kind of interesting how it used to be that this was pretty much just at a county level, with a few routes that would cross boundaries for practical reasons. But, in recent decades there have been more efforts to recognize that the region does need something to tie it together with transit, so you get Sound Transit in addition the the previous ferries operated by the state.
The ferries also accept an Orca card as payment, however they annoyingly don’t offer transfers. You can also take a Water Taxi to West Seattle or Vashon which is a King County Metro run service, they take Orca cards normally and offer transfer (which is amazing if you commuting from Vashon)
this a great comparison! I grew up in seattle and live in queens and I'm convinced if the puget sound systems and NYC metro systems could merge it would be the perfect transit system
I will say, that as of a little while back, you don't need the physical ORCA card, you can just use NFC on the phone via Google Wallet and have it pay from there. It is kind of annoying as you have to have money on the wallet, rather than it being a direct charge to the card, but I assume that has to do with keeping card processing fees to something reasonable.
I took the San Francisco/Oakland subway system for the first time this year. I used it as my main form of transportation for a few days while on vacation. I was shocked by how bad the signage was across the system. The subway carts don't identify which line they are on, and lines share tracks. So it's very easy to get on the wrong line by accident. Also, in my experience the trains ran less frequently and were late more often than the NYC subway despite the overall subway system being a lot smaller.
The old BART trains do have destinations mention on the front of train and signage on platform, just not next to the doors. The new trains do, and have electronic maps inside the train, which solves the confusion by most riders. BART trains do run less frequent and often runs late but it’s a regional rail more than a subway. One hour of BART ride will get longer distance than one hour of NYC subway ride.
@ac3115 BART is actually an S-Bahn or Regional Metro. In suburbs, trains run less frequently, but in the city center (in this case, Oakland and San Francisco) run almost at subway frequenckes. Now, new trains are the norn, and these trains have modern features and designs. Also, the issue with BART is that all lines are interlined with each other, meaning that a problem that arises at One station will impact train schedules throughout the system. By the way, the trains you saw were made in the 70s, so they were 50 years old. That is why there were no modern features like internal and external signage
@@andre0baskin Actually, it is a good idea. Just that an SF Bay Area transit vs a NYC Metro Area transit would also need to include all MTA (subway, bus, Metro North, Long Islan Railroad), PATH, and NJ Transit. That is going to be a good comparison!
Yep, it's amazing to me how much it's improved over the last couple decades. It's just unfortunate that it took so long to start and so relatively little was done in terms of urban planning to make the most of it.
For the amount of service it offers and given it’s age the MTA has done a great job but I agree we need more improvements. We have come a far way from the dilapidated state of the late 80s and 90s. Hopefully with the new congestion pricing and the CBTC rollout we will get better service and hopefully new modern stations. They are already installing platform screen doors in some stations. The need to bring back the Enhanced station initiative to though.
6:39 It’s literally just entrances/exits and mezzanines, how hard is that to understand? I don’t believe the turnstiles in NYC are directly on the platform either
I think it's kind of interesting how both systems have significant issues with that, even though one system has the turnstiles and the other does it via random fare checks. The whole business with the turnstiles just seems like it would slow everything down. I'm assuming it's the result of there being that sort of enforcement historically that never went away, because the way it's handled in Seattle is what I saw was extremely similar to BART in the bay area and a more modern version of what I saw in Italy in the '90s with their prepurchased tickets that needed to be activated once you got on the bus.
I’ve been to Seattle twice and rode the Link and the King County Buses both trips and it was an excellent experience. I wouldn’t have thought to compare Seattle’s Transit system with NY’s but the comparisons are quite interesting. NYC’s Transit gets a bad wrap and i don’t think it’s as bad as many make it out to be, especially having been around when it was truly horrible in the 1980’s, but I’m glad that we are improving steadily and I am optimistic things will keep on getting better for the MTA. Great video & I’m looking forward to the next one!
TBH, it depends where you are and where you're going how good the Seattle transit situation is. It has improved a lot as the light rail has expanded, but I've had times when I was younger when I got stuck in parts of the city because the routes shut down super early and I'd have a long walk due to smartphones not being a thing yet. Generally though North and South is relatively easy, but East and West usually requires a transfer somewhere.
Seattle has a very different culture. People care a lot about public transit and are proud of it. As a growing city and tech hub you also find a lot of youth passionate about public transit in Seattle. Thus the Stations and the cars themselves are very clean and well maintained and up to the latest global standards. Also as for the fare many cities like Portland, Salt Lake, Seattle are testing out free public transit with a slight tax increase which most people are fine with given the excellent quality of service these cities offer. Ofc NYC is gigantic and they need fare revenue to operate but many cities in Europe especially in the Nordic countries are also experimenting with free public transit.
Interesting note about fare revenue, for Sound Transit at least, their budget composition is vastly different from MTA's budget. MTA's 2023 budget is composed of 24% fare revenue and 37% tax revenue, whereas Sound Transit's 2023 budget is composed of 2% fare revenue and 85% tax revenue. If Sound Transit makes up that 2% fare revenue somewhere else, they could theoretically remove fares altogether without any real impact to the system.
@@TheTikeySauce The difference is that ST is expanding rapidly with large amounts of track needing to be installed. Also, that 2% was because fare evasion has been so high. The actual amount should be closer to 8%i if most of the people would pay. Especially, if you exclude the cost of expansions.
The gripe about the seats is very real. The upholstered fabric is and was a terrible idea, hard plastic, metal, upholstered vinyl are all better options. I cant count how many times I've went to sit on the Link and opted to stand because of the worrying stain pattern and or smell coming from a seat or row of seats. The scent of fentanyl smoke and urine are unbelievably common on buses and trains ask anyone who rides transit daily in the Puget Sound. despite this the seattle link is consistent and a good option for travel North and South along Seattle's midline, however until more stations are added (and theyre coming soon!) the bus is more consistent.
That can be changed, I get the feeling that they did that because it looked better in the marketing campaign. That being said, the seats do look surprisingly clean, I just wouldn't recommend thinking about it too much.
The Seattle trains, you wouldn't really ever know if they were late because they tend to run every few minutes through most of the day. A train being a few minutes late would seem like one that was running a bit ahead of time.
This was a interesting video and I think both systems can learn from each other, In terms of geography Seattle and New York and there respective states as a whole WA/NY look nothing like each other yet share so many similarities, the way the biggest metro area is separated from the rest of the state and the way the cities and coastline flirt with islands I would say Seattle definitely reminds me of New York. 😁
I haven't been to NYC, but I always assumed that it was partially a matter of the densities of the cities, the age of the system and just the general shape of the cities.
You made me laugh about the old squawk boxes on the old MTA trains. I could never understand the conductor. He might as well said, "we're gonna make another stop. Hold on. Watch for hosing snores!" Dong Dong.
Sorry if this has already been said, but another correction is that the state ferry system actually does accept orca cards as payment. The monthly passes are separate, but either can be loaded onto an orca card along with cash balance.
What I say is this: NYC has the best transit in North America, despite our elected officials' best efforts. It feels like the ppl managing the city and state want transit to fail, but keep failing at doing that. So we end up with pretty good transit that, paradoxically, sucks.
3:09 the one advantage D.C. has is that SmartTrip can be used on both WMATA (metrorail / metrorail parking, bus), most of the surrounding county bus systems, and part of the MD Transit Administration (buses, Baltimore light rail, subway). And CharmCard (issued in Baltimore) is, I believe, accepted where SmarTrip is (in other words, full reciprocity) 14:41 knock on wood, MTR of Hong Kong! Kowloon population density is over 43K / sq km, compared to Manhattan at just under 29K / sq km
Interesting fact about the ORCA Card, it's also accepted on the Amtrak Cascades between Seattle and Everett through the RailPlus program, with quite a few restrictions though.
In defense of New York, I would say that, while filth on tracks and platforms is an issue, it’s not everywhere; there are stations that are consistently clean. Also, your story about seeing the data from the L line on the #4 train cannot be true because these line use different rolling stock, and an L train won’t even fit into a 4/5/6 station. Though showing a wrong line on a train within the same group of lines is something that does happen sometimes. As for Seattle, though I hadn’t been there yet, you missed mentioning a worthy treasure that only a handful of US cities have: the trolleybuses.
2:02 no nation has put in place an MRT (mass rapid transit in a city with a population of under 1 million) but a medium-sized city can build an LRT ( light rapid transit ) 3:18 Aerial tramway 3:57 in the world the they are all under one unity ministry of transport. the central government regulates: airports, seaports, railway, commuter reil , toll roads and national roads. [state washington] The provincial government only regulates provincial roads , inter-city buses and bus terminal [Seattle city] the city or local government manages all the bus, tram ,local ferry , metro bike paths and sidewalks. 5:48 in china you can pay for public transport just showing your face or palms in faregate. 12:15 when other countries use trains Up to 40 years old and still working fine. on the new York subway even new trains can't last more than 10 years and will look old fast 13:01 in Hongkong is always on time. In Moskow the next train allways 60-90 second.
Washington State Ferry and NYC Ferry are very different. WA State Ferries play a part of the Highway system, they are the “bridges” to fill in the gaps. NYC Ferries are meant to avoid the traffic and subway crowds. It wasn’t until Hurricane Sandy for NYC to realize the potential of ferry services (correct me if I am wrong about this). The Rockaway Ferry does feel more comfortable than the A subway. During my last visit, without luggage, once landed in JFK, I made my way to the Rockaway first, then take the ferry to Manhattan.
The WA state ferry system is the most extensive ferry system in the US. Which kind of surprised me, but ferries probably don't do so well in the ocean and Alaska doesn't really have the same sort of significant need for multiple routes. I hope that we eventually build a tunnel to the peninsula because having that as an option would make getting over there a lot easier. The estimates that I've heard is that it would cost about the same as buying 2 new ferries to replace ones as they age out of the system.
I was in Seattle not too long ago they did accept the Orca sard for the WA Ferry. I'm not sure if all of them accept it but at least the ones in Seattle do.
They do, it's just not complete support. You can use the epurse, but the passes aren't accepted. Which is probably why she made it an X as she seems to have done a fair amount of actual research here.
I visited NYC last summer ( also from Seattle) and the smell in the subway....is something I've never experienced before. LOL! I took the subway mostly uptown/downtown in Manhattan and would walk east or west. Super convenient! But yeah, after that experience, I told myself to never complain about how "dirty" link light rail is... it's so pristine compared to NYC trains!
Who support NYC Light Rail interborough express over heavy rail? This is very unsafe for New Yorker in subway stations fill with rats and messy indoor subway cars.
50% subbed is pretty high, i think hear other youtubers say they get ~10% can you add chapter timestamps for short attention span people like me and could you do a video analyzing crime and how to stay safe, it's probably what i worry most about when i go to (american) cities
10:16 No, no I don’t think I will answer that. You stop at nothing to hate on your own amazing system, telling gruesome stories of people straight up vomiting on the tracks and losing their phones and being shoved. That’s not a phenomenon there and it’s not a phenomenon here. You’re giving suspicious amounts of NIMBY-in-disguise vibes.
Hardly anybody was paying because you get a warning and for the longest time they weren't allowed to get your ID, so if you gave a new fake name each time, they'd have no way of knowing. Things do seem to be tightening up, because that lost revenue is causing delays in expanding the system.
While the city of Seattle is 700k, the metro area that sound transit services is actually a little 4 million people. NYC is way more dwnse though Im originally from the seattle area and one thing ive always been jealous of in new york is that sweet 24 hour service. Even though where i live now is around the same size as nyc (seoul), we only have a mediocre night bus system... Even a train an hour would be nice
I've never been to Seattle, but I would bet that it's still a car centric city where public transportation can't get you to many places you need; so eventually you would still need a car. Just like the case of LA. When I lived in NYC for almost 10 years, I had never felt the need to buy a car. The system may be old, slow, disgusting, etc, yet I was still able to get anywhere I wanted just using the transit system. Then, just crossing the GW bridge to NJ was a shocker, to see how car centric it was with limited choices, even with some buses and trains. And when I moved to LA I was excited to see what it looked like a nice system, only to be let down with a super inefficient system, being forced to buy a car after all. Sad.
Nope, you can defintely get to place without a car in Seattle, even hiking! There are buses that would take you to trails. LA is the definition of a car-centric city unfortunately...
I got through college in Seattle without a car (even the year where I commuted from Snohomish). I lived in Ballard for 3 years without a car. And now I'm living in Everett and commuting in, still with no car. The only times you really need a car are on the east side of Lake Washington. Redmond and Sammamish for instance, have terrible transit. But I can usually get a ride from a friend or family member when I go over there.
I've lived in Seattle 7 years without a car. It won't work for everyone's situation, but the transit is one of the things that pushed Seattle to the top of my list when I was ready to move. Not having to deal with owning a car is amazing. I live right in the city and work for myself (and from home). But I ride transit nearly every day. For those places that I can't get to easily, I get rides from friends. I gladly pay them (not they they will take my $$ half the time) because it's still way cheaper and certainly less stressful than owning a car. I also take Uber/Lyft when transit is too much (or if I'm really tired or it's pouring haha). I'm partially disabled, so some days I have to remind myself it's okay to take an Uber.
It is car centric, however, we also have terrible traffic, so people can get most places via bus. However, it really depends on where you are versus where you want to go how much of an issue it is to take public traffic as historically half of all county buses go through a very narrow portion of downtown and there's been little thought about how to go east and west. Although, that does seem to be changing as more routes have been added to feed people to the light rail, so at least in principle, it should be easier than ever to get around on public transportation.
You're not gonna get drunk people vomit at the Link because it does not work overnight, which is a huge disappointment, specially at the airport because when that station closes the pedestrian crossbridge also crosses. Found that out the hard way years ago. 🙄
That's been a problem since well before light rail. The system mostly shuts down at night with extremely reduced service. Seattle, is just not a city that is known for nightlife. And with good reason, bars generally shut by 2am, and from then until the morning there's practically nothing to do.
Seattle public transit is not bad. It is connected to almost all the major area and good for people who go to work at Amazon, Microsoft, Universities, airport.
@@frednich9603 I have lived here 7 years without a car and find it to be really great! We're no NYC, Chicago, or LA, but then we aren't NYC, Chicago, or LA. The light rail runs from south of the airport up to Lynwood (north of Seattle). There is also an entire line from Bellvue to Redmond which will link up to Seattle next year (should have been this year except for the massive engineering mistake on the floating bridge). We have several Rapid Ride lines, including on that just opened this week. What is prehistoric about the bus system? They seem to be buses and coming from other cities, much improved over what's in those places.
@@EricaGamet One of the downsides to the service being paid for by tax payers in several counties is that Seattle really needs a horseshoe shaped rout going from Queen Anne Hill or West Seattle to the Eastern side of I-5 and then wrapping back to somewhere near Magnolias. It would be the closest thing that could be done practically to those ring routes that most systems have where they can connect a bunch of other routes to, or allow people to bypass downtown turning periods where it's busy.
Being 63, I remember the 1970s when the NYC subway was VERY dirty and constantly late and breaking down. That was during the city’s fiscal crisis. There are still problems but the system has greatly improved.
@JimAllen-Personafor the amount of service it offers and given it’s age the MTA has done a great job but I agree we need more improvements. Hopefully with the new congestion pricing and the CBTC rollout we will I’ll get better service and hopefully new modern stations. They are already installing platform screen doors in some stations. The need to bring back the Enhanced station initiative to though.
I remember the graffiti trains too. The city was pretty much bankrupt then.
Small correction, Seattles inner city has 700,000. Metro area is about 4 million. But that’s not saying much because NYC has a metro if about 20 million 😅
3:50 fwiw, Sound Transit is mostly a capital agency that then contracts with others to operate what they own.
Link Light Rail is operated by King County Metro.
Sounder is operated by BNSF.
ST Express busses are operated by King County Metro, Pierce Transit, or Community Transit. Generally following county borders, but the 560 is completely in King County, but operated by Pierce Transit.
Tacoma Link is operated by Sound Transit.
I work with transportation agencies in Washington. We are really making big strides to better our public transportations and improving our multimodal network throughout the state.
Other public transportation options not mentioned here is Stride Bus Rapid Transit (bus service, connecting to light rail and to communities north, east and south of Lake Washington) Water Taxi/Foot Ferry, and Via ride share (connecting people on their first and last mile trip to link light rail stations).
As for the card reader machines, they used to be in the platforms as well. But Sound transit recently removed them and placed them before you enter the station, or before entering the platform. They are slowly introducing large yellow signs and textured floor to remind riders to tap on/off.
Fun fact: the firm I work for redesigned the ORCA pass website. Glad you found it easy and intuitive to use!
Thank you for your service! :)
As of Aug. 30, 2024, the Link light rail only requires tapping ON and it is now a flat fare of $3. One other big advantage of the ORCA card is being able to not only transfer between modes/agencies, but also just the fare difference is charged and transfers are free for 2 hours. I can hop on the light rail (Sound Transit), do some shopping, then grab a bus (KC Metro), jump off to grab some dinner, back on the bus, and home all for $3 total!
Yes, and I forget when exactly, but now you can use ORCA cards that are loaded into your phone. Which is rather convenient, although I keep one of the physical cards as a backup in case I forget my phone or it runs out of batteries.
@@SmallSpoonBrigade I think that's on Android only (which leaves me out for now). However, I prefer the physical card (in a reader with a retractable lanyard) because I will drop my phone under the bus on boarding or something clumsy like that. And, like you said, if something happens to the phone like it dying.
Westlake and International District/Chinatown are typically the least clean stations - they were built as part of a bus tunnel in the 90s, so they’re definitely showing their age! But most of our stations are really cute and fairly clean here :)
Seattle resident here 🙋♀️ This was a great overview of the two different systems, and I’m really proud of how far Seattle has come, even in the past decade. The ORCA readers are going to be able to accept credit cards later this year, after a multi-year program to get the 2005-era readers replaced. Also, the ferries do accept ORCA but only for walk-on passengers, not for the vehicles. I suppose they don’t want you paying $60 off your transit balance 😅. Also, yes the trains really are that clean most of the time! There are exceptions, but I’ve heard that they clean the trains every night when they go back to the yard. Unlike New York, trains don’t run 24/7 so they have time to give them a once-over every evening.
Also, the reason we use proof-of-payment is because the rail system is not watertight and fare evaders could walk on the tracks at some stations to get around theoretical turnstiles. They don’t want that so we use proof-of-payment instead, with fare checkers roving the system, similar to the SBS system in NYC.
This is how it is in Colorado too! No Turnstiles!
with the number of stations on link now i really wish there were express trains
@@esgee3829If I had to guess, within the next 5 years or so, Sound Transit will likely propose another package, and that one will probably include express tracks and re-aligning Stadium through Rainier Beach to above grade. It would be nice if Line 2 was also grade separate, but I don't think that's in the cards due to how new it is
@@569pokemon would be wonderful if they did though i wonder if they have sufficient right of way to fit those bypass tracks. and rainier valley...seems like they will keep watching the cost spiral to do what should have originally been done and say, "well now that costs just too much" while people keep dying each year or two on at grade crossings. a bit depressing. but i hope i'm wrong and you're right.
@@esgee3829They don't currently have the right of way, which is part of why they've been hesitant to grade separate them in this package. However, when you combine the significant push to separate the entire alignment, Seattle's Vision Zero goal, and the fact they would have to separate grade and purchase right of way (the latter of which the do frequently) in order to build an express track anyways, I think it's only a matter of time before the re-alignment happens
Great comparison video! I can't speak much on the MTA, but as someone who's relied on nothing but Seattle transit for the past 2 years, I have some added details:
1:15 - There are 2 different express bus operators in Seattle. Sound Transit (ST) and Community Transit. Community Transit serves express routes to less traveled communities in Snohomish county. Places like Stanwood, Marysville, etc. Community Transit is the only other branded bus you'll see in downtown besides King County Metro (KCM) and ST.
Another fun fact is that SoundTransit doesn't actually operate any services even though its branding is everywhere. Link is operated by King County Metro, Sounder is operated by BNSF, and the ST express routes are operated by the relevant agencies in the counties they serve. For example, ST express route 594 to Tacoma is operated by Pierce Transit, 550 to Bellevue by KCM, and 510 to Everett by Community Transit. SoundTransit's main job seems to be managing overhead (cleaning Link stations, running security, fare education, etc.) and developing new lines/schedules.
4:35 - WSDOT Ferries actually do take ORCA cards, but only for foot traffic. For example, if you walk into Coleman Dock, go past the ticket booth straight to the station and you'll see an ORCA reader.
6:00 - This is a fare gripe :p , ST has plans to make the ORCA readers more apparent when you enter a station. That's why you see that big yellow line here with readers on either side. This was a test station for that new system.
Overall very accurate comparison!
10:43 University Street station was recently renamed to Symphony station to avoid confusion with UW station :)
6:16 The readers all have yellow tactile lines next to them on the ground indicating the fare payment zone, extremely easy to locate.
1:45 The Seattle metro area has 4 million..?
It's important to remember that Seattle is a much younger city than New York, thus has a younger infrastructure. Usually, cities like modern Atlanta, Houston, New Orleans, Phoenix, etc, have much newer and smaller systems.
Also, it's got different sets of constraints. Seattle is roughly hour glass shaped, but NYC has a bunch of water disrupting things that had to be accounted for when designing its system.
@4:24 Wa does accept orca card
it just unlimited pass does not work in ferry, you have to have balance
@@premsprespective3507 Yes, there's also a minor issue where if you don't use the pass, then you can't transfer between agencies because they have no way of knowing if you paid and wouldn't get their slice of whatever fairs were collected for a given rider that day.
I have been looking forward to this one! I’ve been in Seattle now since late 2019. Few notes:
1. Washington State Ferries DOES accept the Orca card! However, since the fares for WSF are more expensive, it is not going to be covered under most daily or monthly unlimited passes. They do have their own monthly or multi-ride passes though which can be loaded onto your Orca card, or you can use e-purse to pay the single trip fare.
2. It’s actually a recent change that the downtown tunnel LINK stops don’t have Orca readers at the platforms, they have been removed over the last few weeks with the intention that the platform is a fare paid zone where you are expected to already have paid.
3. Some King County Metro buses do have fabric upholstered seats! All the newer ones have vinyl, and many of the trolley buses have been updated to vinyl, but I am sitting on an older bus now with fabric seats. Being from Philly, I was similarly shocked due to sanitary concerns/concerns about bed bugs, but so far I haven’t been in any gross situations
Great video as always, I love seeing outsider perspectives on my city!
Did Seattle last February(meeting a friend for lunch). Impressed with the public transportation. Also nice to have a rail connection from the airport to downtown. Also the buses were fairly timely.
Yes, that's the section they did first. Well, one stop shy, and a shuttle the rest, but it made it so convenient to go to and from the airport, and it's mostly grade separated, so apart from a couple spots where it crosses streets, the traffic on the streets doesn't directly impact the train service.
3:56 Payment on them all is exactly the same besides price. ORCA cards can be used on every single agency in Seattle as well as agencies in all neighboring counties except to the east because of the mountains dividing the areas.
i lived in seattle my whole life and it’s just now been getting better in terms of transit. short distances via buses are actually super great here but the light rail has a new platform built every few years
I just bought a Orca Card Even though I don't live in Seattle lol. Love Your Vids! Keep Up The Great Work!
The new design is pretty cool ;)
And now, you can just add one to your digital wallet on the phone and not even need the card.
As a Seattle native I enjoyed this. The reason Seattle lacks turnstiles is because our LINK transit system is not fully grade separated as is the MTA subway. Because there are some stations that are street level, turn stiles wouldn't really stop anyone from just jumping them or going around them. Seattle unfortunately loses lots of money as a result of this and the only solution is having fare enforcement on trains. Also, as of August 2024 the system switched to a single fare away from the pay by distance so that commuters only have to worry about tapping on but not off. Overall, I agree the ORCA cards are one of the best and most convenient transit cards to use. Something I wouldve loved to see mentioned is that there is a Transit app where you can purchase and use single use tickets right in app for most public modes of transportation which is especially nice for visitors or people who don't commute frequently.
6:58 Well I gotta know what station this was cause that’s crazy they’re so obvious and we don’t need a giant metal gate to tell us where to pay
Great overview. In addition to the state ferries King & Kitsap Counties operate water taxis (which are more analogous to the NYC ferries than the bigger WA state ferries) which accept ORCA cards.
I really should take one of those water taxies. I've lived in Seattle my whole life and that's the only mode of transit I've never actually taken advantage of.
700,000 is the population within the Seattle city limits, which is relatively small. The metro area population is about 4 million
Fun fact, DC’s metro system has upholstered seats too
Having lived in NYC and Washington State, I have to say I love this video. I'm a big fan of public transportation. I currently live about 75 minute drive south of Seattle in Olympia WA (the state capital). The transit system here is great as well (it even won a award for a small city transit or something). But in the beginning of 2019, all local and express buses are free. The reason is to get folks to drive less. They use to have an express bus to Seattle but now you take one express bus to Tacoma and another express bus to Seattle or take the Sounder Express train. We also have Amtrack and Bolt/Grayhound to get to Seattle too.
You got lucky with those real-time screens being correct, they break almost every time I ride
Just a quick correction: Seattle’s metropolitan area is 4 million! 700k is just within city limits.
NYC city limits are 8 million but the metro area is 19!
I would also include NJ Transit in the commuter rail options for NYC. And then you also have PATH as another subway in NYC.
4:22 Yes they do, WSF (ferries) literally do accept orca cards.
WSF definitely accepts ORCA Card payments...
You probably took the M train. Sometimes it runs units from the L. Pretty rare for it to happen
Link is completing their Lynnwood extension on estimated November 2024
August 30th
Opens tomorrow (Aug 30)!
what about the beaches?
The Washington State Ferry does take the ORCA and has done so for at least ten years. You have to go through the ticket booth however. There are no scanners for passengers to use.
You've been able to tap your ORCA card for a while now.
The scanners are on the turnstiles
AYYYY I just watched the fare evasion video!!! What a banger!!
I was in Seattle recently and I asked my friends their thoughts on public transit. I’ve heard good things about Seattle’s transit, and coming from Vancouver, I was curious what it was like. Though I didn’t ride it, I was told that transit was only good downtown. Since some suburbs (Tacoma etc.) has busses operated by a different agency, it just seems hard to connect. In Vancouver, the whole metro area is all run by one agency, making connections really easy. I wish Seattle had that too
seattle kinda has that with sound transit
Tacoma isn't a "suburb" though, it's a completely different city. Having one agency in charge would make it simpler, but I'm sure there''s also major cons. Interagency collaborations are definitely addressing the issues of public trnasportation in the suburbs by providing more frequent and reliable transit. And that's part of the challenge. WA is a huge state. Frequency and reliability means different depending on where you are. If you live in downtown core Seattle, frequency would be 8 minutes or less. In the suburbs, that would be costly and inefficient. Most people would say every 25 minutes is frequent. Our company helped WSDOT conduct this study :)
@@hi.laulau It's also in a different county. It's kind of interesting how it used to be that this was pretty much just at a county level, with a few routes that would cross boundaries for practical reasons. But, in recent decades there have been more efforts to recognize that the region does need something to tie it together with transit, so you get Sound Transit in addition the the previous ferries operated by the state.
The ferries also accept an Orca card as payment, however they annoyingly don’t offer transfers. You can also take a Water Taxi to West Seattle or Vashon which is a King County Metro run service, they take Orca cards normally and offer transfer (which is amazing if you commuting from Vashon)
this a great comparison! I grew up in seattle and live in queens and I'm convinced if the puget sound systems and NYC metro systems could merge it would be the perfect transit system
Seattle metro has 4mil+. Seattle proper is almost 800k.
If you drop your phone in the tracks, that phone belongs to the tracks.
I will say, that as of a little while back, you don't need the physical ORCA card, you can just use NFC on the phone via Google Wallet and have it pay from there. It is kind of annoying as you have to have money on the wallet, rather than it being a direct charge to the card, but I assume that has to do with keeping card processing fees to something reasonable.
I took the San Francisco/Oakland subway system for the first time this year. I used it as my main form of transportation for a few days while on vacation. I was shocked by how bad the signage was across the system. The subway carts don't identify which line they are on, and lines share tracks. So it's very easy to get on the wrong line by accident. Also, in my experience the trains ran less frequently and were late more often than the NYC subway despite the overall subway system being a lot smaller.
The old BART trains do have destinations mention on the front of train and signage on platform, just not next to the doors. The new trains do, and have electronic maps inside the train, which solves the confusion by most riders. BART trains do run less frequent and often runs late but it’s a regional rail more than a subway. One hour of BART ride will get longer distance than one hour of NYC subway ride.
@ac3115 BART is actually an S-Bahn or Regional Metro. In suburbs, trains run less frequently, but in the city center (in this case, Oakland and San Francisco) run almost at subway frequenckes. Now, new trains are the norn, and these trains have modern features and designs. Also, the issue with BART is that all lines are interlined with each other, meaning that a problem that arises at One station will impact train schedules throughout the system. By the way, the trains you saw were made in the 70s, so they were 50 years old. That is why there were no modern features like internal and external signage
When are you going to compare San Francisco Bay Area BART and New York City? Please, do a video like that!
Actually a better composition would be to include all the Bay Area transit services (Muni, ACTransit, CalTrain, ...).
@@andre0baskin Actually, it is a good idea. Just that an SF Bay Area transit vs a NYC Metro Area transit would also need to include all MTA (subway, bus, Metro North, Long Islan Railroad), PATH, and NJ Transit. That is going to be a good comparison!
Seattle is on the right track but there is a lot to do to complete a well rounded and efficient Link system alone.
Yep, it's amazing to me how much it's improved over the last couple decades. It's just unfortunate that it took so long to start and so relatively little was done in terms of urban planning to make the most of it.
13:38 I had this experience in Seattle when going into the city from the airport
For the amount of service it offers and given it’s age the MTA has done a great job but I agree we need more improvements. We have come a far way from the dilapidated state of the late 80s and 90s. Hopefully with the new congestion pricing and the CBTC rollout we will get better service and hopefully new modern stations. They are already installing platform screen doors in some stations. The need to bring back the Enhanced station initiative to though.
6:39 It’s literally just entrances/exits and mezzanines, how hard is that to understand? I don’t believe the turnstiles in NYC are directly on the platform either
Fair Evasioners Unite! 😂
I think it's kind of interesting how both systems have significant issues with that, even though one system has the turnstiles and the other does it via random fare checks. The whole business with the turnstiles just seems like it would slow everything down.
I'm assuming it's the result of there being that sort of enforcement historically that never went away, because the way it's handled in Seattle is what I saw was extremely similar to BART in the bay area and a more modern version of what I saw in Italy in the '90s with their prepurchased tickets that needed to be activated once you got on the bus.
By the way, we do not capitalize Link anymore, it’s no longer LINK, it’s just Link
And please don’t say *the Link*, it’s just Link.
I’ve been to Seattle twice and rode the Link and the King County Buses both trips and it was an excellent experience. I wouldn’t have thought to compare Seattle’s Transit system with NY’s but the comparisons are quite interesting. NYC’s Transit gets a bad wrap and i don’t think it’s as bad as many make it out to be, especially having been around when it was truly horrible in the 1980’s, but I’m glad that we are improving steadily and I am optimistic things will keep on getting better for the MTA.
Great video & I’m looking forward to the next one!
TBH, it depends where you are and where you're going how good the Seattle transit situation is. It has improved a lot as the light rail has expanded, but I've had times when I was younger when I got stuck in parts of the city because the routes shut down super early and I'd have a long walk due to smartphones not being a thing yet.
Generally though North and South is relatively easy, but East and West usually requires a transfer somewhere.
Love her voice. I can hear her talk all day
Seattle has a very different culture. People care a lot about public transit and are proud of it. As a growing city and tech hub you also find a lot of youth passionate about public transit in Seattle. Thus the Stations and the cars themselves are very clean and well maintained and up to the latest global standards. Also as for the fare many cities like Portland, Salt Lake, Seattle are testing out free public transit with a slight tax increase which most people are fine with given the excellent quality of service these cities offer. Ofc NYC is gigantic and they need fare revenue to operate but many cities in Europe especially in the Nordic countries are also experimenting with free public transit.
Interesting note about fare revenue, for Sound Transit at least, their budget composition is vastly different from MTA's budget. MTA's 2023 budget is composed of 24% fare revenue and 37% tax revenue, whereas Sound Transit's 2023 budget is composed of 2% fare revenue and 85% tax revenue. If Sound Transit makes up that 2% fare revenue somewhere else, they could theoretically remove fares altogether without any real impact to the system.
@@TheTikeySauce The difference is that ST is expanding rapidly with large amounts of track needing to be installed. Also, that 2% was because fare evasion has been so high. The actual amount should be closer to 8%i if most of the people would pay. Especially, if you exclude the cost of expansions.
The gripe about the seats is very real. The upholstered fabric is and was a terrible idea, hard plastic, metal, upholstered vinyl are all better options. I cant count how many times I've went to sit on the Link and opted to stand because of the worrying stain pattern and or smell coming from a seat or row of seats. The scent of fentanyl smoke and urine are unbelievably common on buses and trains ask anyone who rides transit daily in the Puget Sound.
despite this the seattle link is consistent and a good option for travel North and South along Seattle's midline, however until more stations are added (and theyre coming soon!) the bus is more consistent.
That can be changed, I get the feeling that they did that because it looked better in the marketing campaign. That being said, the seats do look surprisingly clean, I just wouldn't recommend thinking about it too much.
Seattle trains are usually on time, but not ferries or buses *at all*. That was an anomaly
The Seattle trains, you wouldn't really ever know if they were late because they tend to run every few minutes through most of the day. A train being a few minutes late would seem like one that was running a bit ahead of time.
This was a interesting video and I think both systems can learn from each other, In terms of geography Seattle and New York and there respective states as a whole WA/NY look nothing like each other yet share so many similarities, the way the biggest metro area is separated from the rest of the state and the way the cities and coastline flirt with islands I would say Seattle definitely reminds me of New York. 😁
I haven't been to NYC, but I always assumed that it was partially a matter of the densities of the cities, the age of the system and just the general shape of the cities.
You made me laugh about the old squawk boxes on the old MTA trains. I could never understand the conductor. He might as well said, "we're gonna make another stop. Hold on. Watch for hosing snores!" Dong Dong.
Sorry if this has already been said, but another correction is that the state ferry system actually does accept orca cards as payment. The monthly passes are separate, but either can be loaded onto an orca card along with cash balance.
What I say is this: NYC has the best transit in North America, despite our elected officials' best efforts.
It feels like the ppl managing the city and state want transit to fail, but keep failing at doing that. So we end up with pretty good transit that, paradoxically, sucks.
3:09 the one advantage D.C. has is that SmartTrip can be used on both WMATA (metrorail / metrorail parking, bus), most of the surrounding county bus systems, and part of the MD Transit Administration (buses, Baltimore light rail, subway). And CharmCard (issued in Baltimore) is, I believe, accepted where SmarTrip is (in other words, full reciprocity)
14:41 knock on wood, MTR of Hong Kong! Kowloon population density is over 43K / sq km, compared to Manhattan at just under 29K / sq km
Interesting fact about the ORCA Card, it's also accepted on the Amtrak Cascades between Seattle and Everett through the RailPlus program, with quite a few restrictions though.
In defense of New York, I would say that, while filth on tracks and platforms is an issue, it’s not everywhere; there are stations that are consistently clean. Also, your story about seeing the data from the L line on the #4 train cannot be true because these line use different rolling stock, and an L train won’t even fit into a 4/5/6 station. Though showing a wrong line on a train within the same group of lines is something that does happen sometimes.
As for Seattle, though I hadn’t been there yet, you missed mentioning a worthy treasure that only a handful of US cities have: the trolleybuses.
2:02 no nation has put in place an MRT (mass rapid transit in a city with a population of under 1 million) but a medium-sized city can build an LRT ( light rapid transit )
3:18 Aerial tramway
3:57 in the world the they are all under one unity ministry of transport.
the central government regulates: airports, seaports, railway, commuter reil , toll roads and national roads.
[state washington] The provincial government only regulates provincial roads , inter-city buses and bus terminal
[Seattle city] the city or local government manages all the bus, tram ,local ferry , metro bike paths and sidewalks.
5:48 in china you can pay for public transport just showing your face or palms in faregate.
12:15 when other countries use trains Up to 40 years old and still working fine. on the new York subway even new trains can't last more than 10 years and will look old fast
13:01 in Hongkong is always on time.
In Moskow the next train allways 60-90 second.
Washington State Ferry and NYC Ferry are very different. WA State Ferries play a part of the Highway system, they are the “bridges” to fill in the gaps. NYC Ferries are meant to avoid the traffic and subway crowds. It wasn’t until Hurricane Sandy for NYC to realize the potential of ferry services (correct me if I am wrong about this). The Rockaway Ferry does feel more comfortable than the A subway. During my last visit, without luggage, once landed in JFK, I made my way to the Rockaway first, then take the ferry to Manhattan.
The WA state ferry system is the most extensive ferry system in the US. Which kind of surprised me, but ferries probably don't do so well in the ocean and Alaska doesn't really have the same sort of significant need for multiple routes.
I hope that we eventually build a tunnel to the peninsula because having that as an option would make getting over there a lot easier. The estimates that I've heard is that it would cost about the same as buying 2 new ferries to replace ones as they age out of the system.
Can you do a video on pissiors in the subway. Or restrooms in the subway system. 🙂
The R46 subway trains are the oldest on the system being built by Pullman Standard from 1975 til 1978.
I was in Seattle not too long ago they did accept the Orca sard for the WA Ferry. I'm not sure if all of them accept it but at least the ones in Seattle do.
They do, it's just not complete support. You can use the epurse, but the passes aren't accepted. Which is probably why she made it an X as she seems to have done a fair amount of actual research here.
Seattle metro area has 3 million people. Seattle proper city population is 700000
Also, NYC metro area is 20M but that includes much of NJ Transit.
I’m subscribed ✋
am going to nyc for July 4th and live in Seattle now. Comparing NYC to Seattle transit should be fun!
how'd it go?
I visited NYC last summer ( also from Seattle) and the smell in the subway....is something I've never experienced before. LOL! I took the subway mostly uptown/downtown in Manhattan and would walk east or west. Super convenient! But yeah, after that experience, I told myself to never complain about how "dirty" link light rail is... it's so pristine compared to NYC trains!
Someone gave me a poop knife whilst I was in Seattle and I thought that was really kind of the gentleman.
Who support NYC Light Rail interborough express over heavy rail? This is very unsafe for New Yorker in subway stations fill with rats and messy indoor subway cars.
50% subbed is pretty high, i think hear other youtubers say they get ~10%
can you add chapter timestamps for short attention span people like me
and could you do a video analyzing crime and how to stay safe, it's probably what i worry most about when i go to (american) cities
10:16 No, no I don’t think I will answer that. You stop at nothing to hate on your own amazing system, telling gruesome stories of people straight up vomiting on the tracks and losing their phones and being shoved. That’s not a phenomenon there and it’s not a phenomenon here. You’re giving suspicious amounts of NIMBY-in-disguise vibes.
Thank you for all your NYC subway videos. I recently conquered the
NYC subway system and became a subway superhero.
Congrats, I hear that the final boss was pizza rat.
@@SmallSpoonBrigade th-cam.com/video/UPXUG8q4jKU/w-d-xo.html
@@SmallSpoonBrigade th-cam.com/video/RzN0kDVjATs/w-d-xo.html
Yeah the fabric seats have got to go 🤮
*forgot to pay? You sure you weren’t just being one of those opportunists you described in your fare evasion vid? 😉
Hardly anybody was paying because you get a warning and for the longest time they weren't allowed to get your ID, so if you gave a new fake name each time, they'd have no way of knowing.
Things do seem to be tightening up, because that lost revenue is causing delays in expanding the system.
Now we need the Canadian version… Toronto vs Vancouver
The ferry does accept the orca card though!
Guess the smaller the city the nicer it is eh?
While the city of Seattle is 700k, the metro area that sound transit services is actually a little 4 million people. NYC is way more dwnse though
Im originally from the seattle area and one thing ive always been jealous of in new york is that sweet 24 hour service. Even though where i live now is around the same size as nyc (seoul), we only have a mediocre night bus system... Even a train an hour would be nice
we have to make a comparison of the 4 big powers: new York subway 🇺🇸 vs London underground 🇬🇧 vs Moscow metro 🇷🇺 vs sanghai metro 🇨🇳
Thank goodness NYC is finally moving towards platform doors!!!
PATH needs to start doing omny because I'm tired of reloading my metro card just for that system.
🥰🥰🤘👊
I've never been to Seattle, but I would bet that it's still a car centric city where public transportation can't get you to many places you need; so eventually you would still need a car. Just like the case of LA.
When I lived in NYC for almost 10 years, I had never felt the need to buy a car. The system may be old, slow, disgusting, etc, yet I was still able to get anywhere I wanted just using the transit system. Then, just crossing the GW bridge to NJ was a shocker, to see how car centric it was with limited choices, even with some buses and trains. And when I moved to LA I was excited to see what it looked like a nice system, only to be let down with a super inefficient system, being forced to buy a car after all. Sad.
Nope, you can defintely get to place without a car in Seattle, even hiking! There are buses that would take you to trails. LA is the definition of a car-centric city unfortunately...
I got through college in Seattle without a car (even the year where I commuted from Snohomish). I lived in Ballard for 3 years without a car. And now I'm living in Everett and commuting in, still with no car.
The only times you really need a car are on the east side of Lake Washington. Redmond and Sammamish for instance, have terrible transit. But I can usually get a ride from a friend or family member when I go over there.
I've lived in Seattle 7 years without a car. It won't work for everyone's situation, but the transit is one of the things that pushed Seattle to the top of my list when I was ready to move. Not having to deal with owning a car is amazing. I live right in the city and work for myself (and from home). But I ride transit nearly every day. For those places that I can't get to easily, I get rides from friends. I gladly pay them (not they they will take my $$ half the time) because it's still way cheaper and certainly less stressful than owning a car. I also take Uber/Lyft when transit is too much (or if I'm really tired or it's pouring haha). I'm partially disabled, so some days I have to remind myself it's okay to take an Uber.
It is car centric, however, we also have terrible traffic, so people can get most places via bus. However, it really depends on where you are versus where you want to go how much of an issue it is to take public traffic as historically half of all county buses go through a very narrow portion of downtown and there's been little thought about how to go east and west. Although, that does seem to be changing as more routes have been added to feed people to the light rail, so at least in principle, it should be easier than ever to get around on public transportation.
You're not gonna get drunk people vomit at the Link because it does not work overnight, which is a huge disappointment, specially at the airport because when that station closes the pedestrian crossbridge also crosses. Found that out the hard way years ago. 🙄
That's been a problem since well before light rail. The system mostly shuts down at night with extremely reduced service. Seattle, is just not a city that is known for nightlife. And with good reason, bars generally shut by 2am, and from then until the morning there's practically nothing to do.
Old trains deserve rest. They've worked hard
Seattle's public transportation is closer to Dallas than it is NYC. Extremely limited light rail and a Pre historic bus system.
Seattle public transit is not bad. It is connected to almost all the major area and good for people who go to work at Amazon, Microsoft, Universities, airport.
When did you last use transit in Seattle?!?!
@@EricaGamet may of 2023
@@frednich9603 I have lived here 7 years without a car and find it to be really great! We're no NYC, Chicago, or LA, but then we aren't NYC, Chicago, or LA. The light rail runs from south of the airport up to Lynwood (north of Seattle). There is also an entire line from Bellvue to Redmond which will link up to Seattle next year (should have been this year except for the massive engineering mistake on the floating bridge). We have several Rapid Ride lines, including on that just opened this week. What is prehistoric about the bus system? They seem to be buses and coming from other cities, much improved over what's in those places.
@@EricaGamet One of the downsides to the service being paid for by tax payers in several counties is that Seattle really needs a horseshoe shaped rout going from Queen Anne Hill or West Seattle to the Eastern side of I-5 and then wrapping back to somewhere near Magnolias. It would be the closest thing that could be done practically to those ring routes that most systems have where they can connect a bunch of other routes to, or allow people to bypass downtown turning periods where it's busy.
I love the 75 footer, R46 and R68. Don't you every speak ill of them again.
Will you take advantage for free Bee-Line Bus Ride?