How Seattle Is Becoming an Urbanism Juggernaut (Maybe in Spite of Itself)

Sound Transit Link's Northgate Station, opened in 2021, is now the system's busiest -- but it still isn't anywhere near meeting its potential. Development around the station is a work in progress, including a complete revamp of Northgate Mall, one of the nation's oldest. The station area is a case study in how a region tries to balance transit service, access, and redevelopment opportunities.
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The Urbanist does an amazing job covering cities and transportation, and advocating for a better Seattle. Organizations like this are so important for informing and inspiring action, so donate if you can:
www.theurbanist.org/donate/
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CityNerd is now available on Nebula -- streaming ad-free, along with lots of other great creators! Discount for signing up at my channel:
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Patreon - a way to directly support continuing CityNerd output! Thanks to all who have signed up so far.
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Care about the future of Lake Washington Boulevard? The City of Seattle is listening. Go to:
www.seattle.gov/parks/allpark...
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Thanks to Best Side Cycling for use of their ride/meetup footage. Very cool channel that explores great urban bike infrastructure around the Seattle area. Go check out their channel and consider subscribing!
• Seattle Urbanists Grou...
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Previous CityNerd Videos Referenced:
- The Most Improved US Cities When It Comes to Urbanism: • On the Right Track: Th...
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Resources:
- Mike Lindblom at The Seattle Times also does great work covering local transportation and urbanism-related issues. His piece on Link breaking ridership records over the summer: www.seattletimes.com/seattle-...
- The American Lung Association on the health impacts of living near highways: www.lung.org/clean-air/outdoo...
- PSRC Regional Growth Centers: www.psrc.org/sites/default/fi...
- City of Seattle Northgate Urban Design Framework: www.seattle.gov/documents/Dep...
- www.theurbanist.org/2018/03/1...
- www.theurbanist.org/2021/09/2...
- www.krakencommunityiceplex.co...
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Images
- Aerial view of Northgate looking south, Seattle, December 9, 1967 digitalcollections.lib.washin...
- Clarks Big Top (Northgate) By Seattle Municipal Archives - Flickr: Clark's Big Top Restaurant, 1968, CC BY 2.0, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index...
- And thanks to viewer Jackson Teal for additional images from the group ride on Lake Washington Boulevard
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[@CityNerd]

Hey!! Before you read the comments, which, let's be real, is probably not a good idea anyway, remember that all my videos are also available on Nebula -- and they're all ad-free, and DON'T have sponsor promotions (not that I do too many of those anyway). Discount for signing up using my custom link: go.nebula.tv/citynerd

[@neckenwiler]

The Cheesecake Factory isn't sponsoring you yet?

[@michaelvickers4437]

Vine-covered Brutalism is SOOO much better!

[@michaelvickers4437]

Don't know if you've ever said, but what is kitty's 🐈‍⬛ name? Just the kind of detail to fuel my para-social affinity. 😏

[@michaelvickers4437]

Gotta say, as a not-sports person I have difficulty with a lot of public space or money being dedicated to professional spectator sports. There's no shortage of research to show that the purported economic spinoffs from hundreds of millions of billions of dollars spent building stadiums, and the like, rarely really pencil out. I guess they're big trip generators for a few days year, so if they're going to exert gravity on where transit goes, they should accompany other development, but the development has to make sense on its own.

[@spoonikle]

the comments on city nerd videos are safe though 😊

[@PhillipGHodgson]

It’s wild how Seattle link light rail can simultaneously be superior to what is offered in 90% of US cities, and yet completely and utterly inferior to the Vancouver Skytrain. We seattlites can only dream about 3 min frequencies. Heck, we haven’t even had real time departure info for years. And Link frequencies are actually going to get worse over the next few years as the extensions open.

[@buckyhermit]

I posted my comment before reading yours, but as a Vancouver visitor, that was my feeling too. And on top of that, the pedestrian friendliness of Northgate was a big issue compared to what I'd expect to see from SkyTrain. (I am a wheelchair user as well, which made Northgate Station even trickier to get to, even from accessible parking.) There is just so much potential but there is just a lot of things to fix.

[@Daren_PNW]

❌A system is only as strong as its _weakest link_ (no pun intended). And ya'll know where that is? All the at-grade XING intersections between SODO and Rainier Valley south.❌

[@alshoutcasting9101]

So I got a really good perspective on this as someone who lives currently in vancouver (and has for 5 years) and grew up in seattle for 18. The Seattle link light rail is currently much more limited than the Vancouver sky train, however Vancouver's system isn't improving at all, with the rate of the city's expansion and population growth it honestly is getting worse. We have 3 lines, 1 of which kinda dead ends in a really odd location that isnt really used at all, esp after the larger connection prior to it. They are extending it, however cut the potential extension before the most transit demanded area of the city, the University of British Columbia, which has 60k students and a pretty dense campus currently only accessible via bus with limited parking. The second phase of the millennium line expansion could happen, but likely would only happen in 2030-36 if it made it past the NIMBY voters. There hasn't even been a pre-construction plan for any sky train expansions to North/West van, and potential connections to Tsawwassen & Horseshoe Bay would likely happen in 2040 if they ever do. By the time the arbutus station opens in 2026 (but looking like 28) Seattle is gonna have an east line up and running, as well as the Lynwood/Federal Way extensions finished. When the UBC, Surrey-Langley, extensions finish, Seattle might be opening up the West Seattle, Ballard, Redmond, Issaquah, Tacoma and Everett stations. Seattle is on pace to overtake Vancouver as a more walkable & transit friendly city and with a a transit department that is taking active steps forward to continue growth via rapidride corridors, better local bus services, biking & mixed use paths as well as increased density, Seattle is going to really change with solid momentum. Vancouver is on an opposite path it would seem. The current local political group ABC is absolutely horrible for urban development. They've gutted existing plans and systems and deadlocked any planned projects, directing funding towards the standard car-centric system. Currently the major projects are a 4bn 8 lane car tunnel (to areas the sky train doesn't service, and isn't planned to), a 1.3 bn bridge, 2-3bn in various highway 1 expansions, and the lone 2.6bn on the Broadway sky train. No money is going into meaningfully improving the transit system, and current systems are being undermined/removed, one example the Stanley park bike lanes, being removed to add more parking for the large park, right in the city, with very limited transit connections. I'd say that currently I think living in Vancouver is a bit nicer from the perspective of walkability and urbanism. But in 5 years, I think Seattle with definitely pull forward, and from then on won't let go.

[@srhanson]

@@Daren_PNW as someone who was on a Link light rail train that got T-boned right across the aisle from us by a SUV driver who was so... unfit to drive that they went around the crossing arms and managed to slam into one of the _middle_ train cars, I agree. Still, glad I was on a train and not in my own car. Physics was on my side.

[@cloverring]

I arrive 30 min+ before my estimated time in case anything arrives early or late 😭

[@davidbarts6144]

You touched on part of what makes transit popular in Seattle: the traffic situation there is hideous. When the train is dramatically faster than driving, people will opt to take the train, even if, ceteris paribus, they might prefer to drive their own private vehicle. I lived in Seattle for most of the 90’s, and even then the traffic was bad enough that I knew North Link would be very popular once it opened.

[@sluggo206]

North Link is dramatically faster than driving or buses to all the stations between downtown and Northgate. Further north to Lynnwood and Everett it will be average compared to express buses, but have more trip pairs and better all-day frequency. The Eastside will be somewhat better than the existing express buses. The south end is not so lucky because of Link's surface segments and zigzag. Link is faster than local buses to southeast Seattle, but slower than (mostly nonexistent) express buses and driving. Link to Federal Way and Tacoma will be slower than express buses, and if they are truncated that will be a net increase in travel time. That's a controversial issue that a lot of people in the south end don't realize yet.

[@k80_]

Yep I work on aurora and live in the CD. For me, I would have to take a bus to the e line or bus>rail>bus, which takes about an hour to go 8 miles. Still faster and pretty much the same cost for me to drive as I barely make enough to be priced out of orca lift, but if I lived nearby the e I would 100% take it instead of driving. At least then I could read a book or something instead of getting stressed out driving

[@sweetsweet4390]

Trains will always be a better solution than cars for mass transit.

[@FigNeutered]

As someone who grew up in a small-mid sized town in Texas, i learned to love urbanism and city living when i moved to Seattle. I loved being able to take the link to the airport, take the bus to concerts, and walk to get coffee. All things i could never do in Texas. Cool to see this covered on here too ;)

[@thebootielover]

And what city were you living in Texas? It couldn't have been Dallas or Fort Worth. Dallas has 93 miles of Light rail. 30 miles of commuter rail and Ft Worth has 21 miles of Texrail. and in 2026 Dallas will have 26 additional miles of rail. You most definitely will be able to get to all the airports work gym coffee and a whole lot of other places here.

[@FigNeutered]

@thebootielover It was a much smaller place than Dallas for sure. We only have a small bus network that puts bus stops in the most dangerous spots next to massive stroads. I'm reasonably familiar with the options there, and they were definitely nowhere near as compelling as Seattle. It's always a good thing that they're making an attempt, but it's not quite there yet.

[@jazzcatjohn]

@@thebootielover He literally said, "small-mid sized town."

[@k80_]

Freedom from driving is great for nightlife and soclializing too. Less time spent looking for street parking, more ability to bar hop, less possibility for drunk/ stoned driving. Better for everyone

[@LitchAustin]

Texas has a deep and passionate hatred of transit. A great deal from it comes from self-interest, the oil bidness is essential to the heart of Texas and transit ain't good for it. There is also the meta-economic inherent socialist aspect of transit, they hate that too. No, Texas will never support real transit until the Brazos turns blue.

[@locosderbystuff7952]

*deadpan* "Tallbois, regularbois, bendybois..." I love it.

[@LitchAustin]

He didn't mention the lectricbois

[@suprensa4393]

Seattle as a city has a very special place in my heart because as an autistic guy who has a special interest in cities, and whose favorite childhood activity was to ride the MAX, the sheer amount of busses, bus types, bus routes and bus transit agencies in the Seattle area mesmerized me like a candy shop mesmerizes a child.

[@danielleehresman9507]

i just visited seattle for the first time ever this weekend and i was thoroughly impressed with the public transit. i’m from upstate NY so we don’t have much, but i have gone to nyc. i found seattle’s bus and light rail system to be pretty accessible as a tourist. i went the entire trip without taking a taxi, lyft, or uber once. it was great ☺️

[@notsparks]

I am a Seattleite and it hasn't always been great. It has improved a lot over the past handful of years. When I was a manager at a downtown hotel in the early 2000s, while in college, people would ask about transit options to the airport and the least expensive was bus but required a few transfers en route. For $40 people preferred a direct route via towncar service. Now people can hop on the light rail and get there in 15-20 minutes. It has a way to go but we'll soon have a link to the east side of Lake Washington, north to where I live in Edmonds, and I believe as far south as Tacoma is planned. It has been a very expensive process, too. I think it's something like $150billion being spent for the planned rail and building may take until 2046 (it was $92billion so an extra $50billion in unexpected cost increases). Drivers pay through the teeth for license tabs because of it, also. My car tabs cost over $500 a year with most of it going to the light rail system

[@willdazns]

15-20 minutes, I wish it was that fast 😂 @@notsparks

[@notsparks]

@@willdazns on good days when the crazies aren't smoking fentanyl on the train

[@jaer.6540]

Seattle has one of the best public transit systems in the US

[@wturner777]

@@notsparksI think that’s a great thing that Seattle is is finally investing in transit-oriented development. I found it crazy that the city missed out on a full metro system in the 60s. I would love to visit there one day.

[@mailexyz]

“Spending time talking to people who kinda already decided they like you and who care about the same things you care about, is sorta the opposite of exhausting.” Damn, as an introvert (and possibly recovering misanthrope), I really love this insight and didn’t expect it in a video on light rail. Keep up the good work :)

[@Mogswamp]

Was just at this station a few weeks ago, so this video felt weirdly specific to my recent experience. I will say, I was there for a concert at the climate pledge arena and seeing the rail to monorail connection in action was pretty fun.

[@alembiqueONE]

do you get a free transfer for that connection?

[@dj46104]

@@alembiqueONE the card works but no free transfer

[@hoihoi8]

@@alembiqueONE For Kraken games, you get a free train ticket and a free monorail ticket. I take them to every game from Northgate

[@RowanFortier]

You should build the transit station in superflat :)

[@CityNerd]

Don't miss the fan merge at Westlake if a Kraken game lets out at the same time as one of the other teams

[@pizzajona]

The original subways of New York, Boston, Chicago, and Philadelphia were full metro systems. The Great Society subways mixed Metro with commuter rail. And now Seattle has decided to run commuter rail using LRTs. Absolutely brilliant.

[@wturner777]

It’s the fact that Seattle could’ve had a full metro system, but turned it down and gave it to Atlanta instead.

[@pizzajona]

@@wturner777 on the bright side, it’s unlikely Atlanta would have Seattle’s light rail had they never gotten a metro. So maybe overall it works out

[@DannerBanks]

You reminded me of my favorite quote regarding introversion: "I'm extroverted around people I like and introverted around people I don't like." LOL

[@millevenon5853]

Same. So true

[@SagaciousSilence]

Honestly, Northgate provided enough space to become a second downtown Bellevue if it wanted to. I really wish we got Canada style residential projects like Vancouver BC.

[@Iquey]

Depends on the people. I think shoreline area has more Bellevue-like potential with a lot of apartments going up now but Northgate still has a lot of cultural differences to Bellevue. It's a little bit cheaper and people need places like that. Bellevue is hella expensive to live in. It's not always about making a community around a mall. Also because of all the crime concerns, I suspect commerce in Northgate is going to be more online pickup model with travel sized samples rather than stores with high inventory. I suspect there will be a lot of new techy pilot stores trialed in Northgate to "avoid crime".

[@alwaysbelieveinhope2144]

Wanting a second Belvue is like wanting a second brain tumor

[@pepperonish]

There's a proposal with the city council to raise the height limit in northgate to 145 feet. Really though, the only way housing will be remotely affordable is with

[@ehlava]

does whats happening in Ballard count? or too wide and short...

[@EmilyChandlerj]

I love the biker at 13:35. Reminds me of those early days when my kids were learning on balance bikes. They now happily bike all over town for their commutes. I hope that little Seattle rider keeps riding for many happy days and years ahead!

[@hobog]

In Seattle, kids can learn to bike in calm residential places, while the city-wide network has too many cars and/or fast bikers to facilitate this.. but the Burke gilman and similar trails might be calm enough outside peak times

[@thedownwardmachine]

Come to Medellin. Yea I’m going to keep saying this. South America’s only metro, multiple metro gondolas, extreme density, tons of busses, public bike stations, dedicated bike routes, etc

[@arjunyg4655]

What do you call the Subte in Buenos Aires then?

[@GamesToJumpMC]

I guess Santiago, Chile is not south enough for south America 😂

[@szurketaltos2693]

I'd much rather see him visit Santiago, personally.

[@davidalvarado8799]

Yes! Medellin is an amazing city and inspired my interest in urbanism while visiting family there

[@felixgato125]

Only in South América? So I guess Brazil, Chile, Venezuela, etc don't have anything.

[@barryrobbins7694]

Hi Ray. I’m not against having professional sports teams in a city, but too many of them are heavily subsidized by the city they inhabit. It would be great to have a video about the cities with sports teams that add the most value to a city based on your own unique criteria, and prefaced at the start of the video as always.

[@Co1010z]

I don't follow sports, but I will say that the Padres carry San Diego. They're the only major team here, have a stadium downtown, and get insane attendance every home game.

[@Poosley]

Am also interested in how this reconciles with the Sounders and their developments on the old Boeing grounds

[@barryrobbins7694]

@@Co1010z I think a lot of the expense is related to building stadiums, but there must be other expenses too. I believe the San Francisco Giants’ stadium was privately financed; whereas other cities payout large sums for for their portion of the build. It is sort of like factories that get cities to compete for their presence, but with a lot more emotion involved. There are also plenty of great places without a sports team.

[@barryrobbins7694]

@@Poosley That’s a little ironic considering my last comment above.

[@RsigmaGS_G]

Value is more than just monetary. Having a sports team can have other benefits such as community spirit, better training facilities for the sport including the area they train in or play home games in which also inspire younger people further into athletics as well as jobs within that sector. It might be subsidized but it’s not necessarily a benefit of just number based values for it.

[@JKenjiLopezAlt]

Oh I wish I’d come to the meet up. Would have been great to meet you and I’m local in Seattle. Love your content and now that I know you’re from Seattle I get where the deadpan and introvert vibes come from 😂

[@JKenjiLopezAlt]

Also: biking from Madrona down to Columbia City is a weekly thing for me and Lake Washington Blvd, while beautiful, is always harrowing. Drivers are not patient with one lane roads and there are few sidewalks to pull off onto if there’s someone especially aggressive behind you.

[@nightwaves_]

I had the SAME exact thought re: melancholy tone 😅 I really struggled with transit while I lived in Seattle, bad routes and very infrequent bus schedules. I’ve since moved, but never thought I’d look forward to using the MUNI again. Seattle really tested my patience with being car free

[@theonlyalecazam2947]

Love ur vids

[@sldulin]

wow, how weird... I just watched your Uwajimaya tour video, loved it, and I have my shopping list ready for this morning... unfortunately I will be going to Bellevue location by car.

[@xmnemonic]

why doesn't seattle have a late night dining scene? do you think it would be possible?

[@darkpokemon0426]

I regret to inform you that the parking for Northgate, provided by Sound Transit, is, in fact, free. The parking tower you showed was actually owned by the mall and charges cash. However ST is doing a campaign currently about beginning to charge for use of its park-and-ride lots, and almost all the surface lots in the Northgate area are slated for closure and redevelopment soon. King County Metro owns the huge lot directly in front of the old bus loop, and it put out a notice it will be closed to customer use by the end of this year so they can begin upzoning for, um, probably residential mixed use?

[@FlcnPnch64]

One of the great travesties of Simon's plan for Northgate is the addition of over 4,200 parking stalls as part of redevelopment - beyond the 1,000 that already exist. The entire 55 acre mall site is directly adjacent to the station and is exempt from all parking requirements because of that proximity, but Simon insists on adding Texas donut apartment buildings, large office complexes, and parking garages to the existing parking infrastructure. Once it's all said and done, they will have over 5,000 parking spaces there.

[@WackoMcGoose]

For me, the part that's especially cringe is that you can't park there without installing an app, thus immediately blocking people that don't have phones or do have them but aren't allowed to install apps that store financial data. There's the single P&R garage attached to Northgate Station itself that is completely free-as-in-beer to park at without downloading anything, but that's literally it. Seattle in general is bad in that sense, whenever I go there I have to use the 5th Ave garage next to MoPop because it's about the ONLY garage left in the city that still takes cash and physical credit cards as payment... Seriously, not everyone can PayByPhone (and I think that's the point, they don't WANT people that can't or aren't allowed to, to be able to enter the city)...

[@kevinzaragoza9317]

No surprise for a company based in Indiana *vomits*

[@dandugan1131]

@@kevinzaragoza9317 hey as a Hoosier I’m offended! also you are 100% right lol

[@MSCCA]

Imgaine all the traffic that is going to cause

[@F4URGranted]

​@@MSCCAsomeone's gonna start arguing to widen all the roads to 6 lanes 😂

[@slkuo1996]

Thanks for coming out to The Urbanist event, Ray! Glad some of my writing could be of help.

[@nwcolbert]

I'd like to see you make a video about MARTA in Atlanta. I lived somewhere with little to no public transport before I moved to Atlanta and was blown away by it once I got there. For being in the deep south, I feel like Atlanta has a good thing going on there.

[@neckenwiler]

Would also be curious about this! I grew up in DC and now live in the Bay, which have the other two Great Society subways, and I think there's a lot to be learned from BART, MARTA, and the Metro. (Big takeaway: a real network - not just a trunk line through the core - and good land use around stations make Metro about 5 times better than BART. I haven't been to Atlanta though.)

[@razkrunk3169]

Marta needs another 100 miles of rail and complete rezoning before it gets a good grade as a public transit agency.

[@davidbarts6144]

Interesting you should mention MARTA in a piece on transit in Seattle. Atlanta got MARTA because Seattle refused Federal money to build rapid transit in the early 1970’s. Atlanta passed a tax measure for their share, went to the Feds, and basically said “Since you already budgeted the money, and Seattle said ‘no,’ and we’re willing to match your money, can we have it instead?”

[@hobog]

Marta has one of the best metro cores and airport connections on the continent.. but has needed expansion and better TOD for decades now, like, they got the most difficult part out of the way so long ago

[@sluggo206]

Seattle voted over 50% for Forward Thrust in 1968; it just couldn't reach the 66% supermajority required for the bond levy.

[@TheNewGreenIsBlue]

What they really SHOULD be doing is turning Northgate Mall into something like they did with Lougheed and Brentwood malls in Metro Vancouver. I saw their plans for Northgate mall, and it's just... let's turn it into a better mall. Malls are IDEAL locations to create town centers and turn them into actual destinations. Brentwood used to be Car Dealerships and a dying mall.

[@graycat117]

What do you mean “just a better mall”? There’s the Iceplex, going to be a mix of hotels, residential, commercial and office space.

[@tomindenver1331]

My sister and her husband have lived in Ballard for the past 30 years (she's been in Seattle since going to UW in 1972). She came for one of her frequent "I need some sun" visits to Denver and took the train from the airport to Union Station, then the light rail to within blocks of our house. She was so excited to tell me about the Ballard Interbay extension. "Yeah! It'll be built in 2037!" I have to say the Kraken Community Center is a pretty cool idea.

[@freshapeppa3519]

I recently went to the North Seattle College campus and was in love 😍 Brutalism forever

[@foodbag312]

I have noticed that the sidewalk-less streets in north Seattle actually have slightly slower drivers and a fair amount of local pedestrian traffic than I had originally expected. From the vision zero pedestrian fatality map from 2020 - present, the smaller residential streets in North Seattle have had 0 deaths (if I'm interpreting the streets there correctly since most of the fatalities are on wider arteries like Aurora). I don't think not having a sidewalk is necessarily bad if the drivers are slow. That's how all the neighborhood streets in Tokyo function.

[@jobw]

Shared space is a huge topic to dive into. Perhaps an idea for video? If there are sidewalks drivers feel entitled to own the roadway, making crossings more dangerous. I comes all down to speed - the current 30 km/h in Germany feels still too fast for neighbourhood streets.

[@LitchAustin]

It kind of sucks when it snows, sidewalks let you get out of the slush.

[@sluggo206]

Some streets may be safer to walk on than others. But a number of people in the north end say it's not safe for their kids to walk home on those sidewalkless streets, or don't buy a house in that area because of it. I recently found out there are parts of Bellevue that are missing sidewalks too, but at least the one I walk on the residential street is wide enough that I don't worry about getting hit by cars.

[@anderswennstig5476]

I do agree with you to an extent about the shared space with drivers sometimes being safer- worth a discussion and would love a video about it. I live in Lake Forest Park where there are little to no sidewalks anywhere yet LOTS of pedestrians of all ages walking and it pretty much always feels safe. With that being said there is little "through traffic" or freight other than on 522 and 104 which are state highways and those could use improvement. SO... How can we maximize pedestrian and cyclist safety through a combination of dedicated and separated infrastructure AND shared mobility spaces?? That is the big question.

[@videoviewer8791]

​@@LitchAustinslush is a rare and brief occurrence in Seattle.

[@dominicpinchott7432]

I drove through Seattle going North this summer and I was in awe at how actively hostile the Link stations appeared to pedestrians. The new statuons they are building seem even worse. Like you're a 10 minute walk from anything human scale and habitable. To top it all off, the Link appears to move at a snails pace.

[@garysimonson1135]

But you didn't see the subway stations - much of link through Seattle is underground (9 stations, to be precise). Roosevelt, U District, and Capitol Hill Stations, for example are underground and smack dab in the middle of dense/very dense, walkable urban neighborhoods. Beacon Hill and Columbia City have a lot as well and the 4 station run from Westlake to the ID are all quite bustling. But then you have stations like Northgate, Angle Lake, Rainier Beach, Tukwila and others which fit your description well. But it's a mix. Link is definitely better than most light rail systems in the US as it feels more like a Metro - there is a lot of good there and the expansions have some great stations planned as well, but a lot of it is a mess as well. Especially compared to the Sky Train in Vancouver.

[@kaukospots]

this is always such a weird take- you don't take the train TO northgate, you take the train FROM northgate without the station there people will drive, idgi

[@matthays9497]

One big factor at Northgate might be the citywide upzones we'll see in 2024 along with the One Seattle Plan. Both the mall site and the surrounding areas (hillside to the south etc.) could benefit from that.

[@TheSpiffyNeoStar]

A few things as a local who uses this station often since the light rail doesn't go further north yet: Everyone seems to miss the multiple free park and ride parking locations. I know it doesn't diminish the problems of there being such lack of good development in the area, but there isn't only paid parking. There's way better great transit oriented development being built at almost all the stations north of Northgate that I hope you come see again in the future.

[@BlueSunHiredGun]

As someone who probably wouldn't use the station at all if not for the park & rides, I agree. The desolate parking structure is indeed pointless as there's plenty of free options, even under Thornton Place. The structure used to be free, too, and only converted to paid parking once the mall had been demolished. There's closer parking options (paid and free) to everything around it that you would possibly need to use it for, so it's not a surprise it's empty.

[@Furthea2]

Yeah, on Game days it can get tough to find parking at northgate but that'll change once northgate isn't the north most stop, then maybe they can make something else out of some of the payed parking areas.

[@TheSpiffyNeoStar]

@@Furthea2 the trick is to use the secret parking lots that even fewer people know about under the theater or by the pedestrian bridge just south of the station.

[@ScottyDoesStuff]

Which makes it impossible for anyone who doesn't live in those buildings to actually reach and use the light rail system. It's a net negative.

[@MrBirdnose]

@@ScottyDoesStuff Especially since you have to be pretty rich to live in those buildings. Nothing gentrifies a neighborhood faster than putting a light rail station in it.

[@markproulx1472]

Your observations regarding alignment of light rail proximate to freeways ignited one of my pet peeves. The southern extension of Link to Federal Way, instead of going along the Pacific Highway corridor, was shoved eastward to Interstate 5. This has resulted in a station being located at the intersection of I-5 and S. 272nd Street, a place where few people live, few are likely to ever live, and to which there is zero east/west transit access for the people who live - wait for it - along the Pacific Highway corridor. This station’s big selling feature is a gigantic parking garage. Yay. To make matters worse, the I-5 alignment encountered an area of unstable soil that has forced the engineering and construction of a large bridge, resulting in cost overruns and schedule delays. The truly infuriating thing about this situation was having to hear various local officials crow about what a great job they did by devising an alignment that kept the light rail away from populated areas.

[@amfm889]

Yup. Can't disturb all those highway-oriented businesses. Translink in Vancouver does it right: aerial Skytrain extensions run alongside arterials, and transit-oriented development follows.

[@jimpern]

As a former resident of both Lynnwood and Bellevue (back when the only rail transit in Seattle was the monorail!), thanks for the update. Last September I was staying near the Edmonds waterfront for 2 nights, and when the friends I planned to visit were not home, I used the free time to take a bus to the Lynnwood Transit Center, then another bus (a "tallboy", as you called it) to Northgate, and then Link to go downtown. I was surprised to see that Northgate Mall was no more, though I did pop into the new Barnes & Noble that had been built there. I'm looking forward to riding the Link all the way from Lynnwood on my next visit.

[@CityNerd]

That Barnes & Noble has been there for awhile! I wonder when the last new B&N was opened, hmmmm

[@edwinstar100]

I think Vancouver gets rapid transit closer to right and it is packed. Old rail right of ways and the old inter-urban corridors were saved and used, we didn't build freeways through the city. Skytrain's stations bring high density which can be problematic for existing neighborhoods, but necessary. Like they say, "If you aren't growing you are dying." Thanks for the content.

[@TheNewGreenIsBlue]

A great example is what they did with Brentwood mall. It's not far from the freeway, adjacent to Lougheed highway (more like a major arterial)...

[@hobog]

Lower mainland and Fraser Valley literally ran out of room for sprawl a while ago. Skytrain is gud, density could stand to allow missing middle

[@TheNewGreenIsBlue]

@@hobog I don't think it's about running out of room for sprawl... it's about planning around town centres. Personally, I'm not a fan of condos condos everywhere, but we are seeing more and more SFH getting turned into duplexes... much preferable to laneway homes, imho.

[@Gfbackflip]

As someone who grew up in Seattle and uses the Northgate station for major events I can say that this development is absolutely necessary and people are desperate for more. When the extension to the East side across the i-90 bridge announced 2 year delays I almost cried because that was going to be my primary travel to work. People are rooting for this development and it can't come soon enough.

[@ttopero]

I appreciate you getting out of the station, after diagnosing it, & surveying what’s around & accessible to the station. We have plenty of channels diagnosing rail networks, but very few get out into the adjacent areas to observe and evaluate what is accessible & useful. We can use more of these explorations, including a planner perspective on how people can connect to the diamond station from their cubic zirconium neighborhood location.

[@CityNerd]

Yeah, I used to have to do these kinds of field studies in my job, and it's really interesting to see a station area that's kind of started development but still has a ways to go. I'm tempted to make these videos even wonkier than they already are, honestly.

[@BestSideCycling]

Thanks for the call out and organizing the meetup! :) Hope you enjoyed your time in the PNW and I'm looking forward to covering all the Link Station openings next year!

[@CityNerd]

Thanks to you for taking great footage - I'll keep an eye out for your new stuff!

[@spencersundstrom2658]

I’m literally waiting at ID/C watching this, moved from a Utah suburb to Cap Hill after seeing your content and similar explaining that car free living is actually possible in the US. I’ve saved a ton of money on transportation and with Utahs skyrocketing rent prices I only pay $100 more here💀This city and it’s transit, frustrating as it can be, are making paying for college feasible for me. Thanks for converting me from a person who thought transit was dirty, unreliable, and dangerous to a regular transit user! My physical and financial help has improved drastically lol

[@hotswap6894]

I visited Seattle back in june and it was really cool to get off the amtrak cascades, get on the link and ride it to northgate and walk to my friend's place since he had just moved into one of the new apartments that were built near the station!

[@wturner777]

Cool! I want to visit there someday.

[@davidtardio9804]

"Escalators never break - they can only become stairs!" - The late, great Mitch Hedberg

[@garyholt8315]

much better than broken elevators for wheelchairs.

[@drill_fiend1097]

I've seen videos of elevators sliding people down without power in China. It's something that gives me chills.

[@bearcubdaycare]

The Massachusetts Turnpike (I-90) had a supermarket and a skyscraper built over it, a half century ago. Connecting the terminus station mentioned with the surrounding land doesn't sound impossible. Even a floor of shops that one passed from the station while crossing over the highway to the land on the other side, could be sufficiently compelling to get use and actually enhance the space...tiny supermarkets, cafes, salons, doctor and dentist offices, veterinarians, phone screen repair.

[@FullLengthInterstates]

idk if this station is nearly as valuable as the capped sections of I-90 in Boston and Newton. When the pedestrian and bike bridge has a special name instead of just being 1 of many bridges, it would be a bit tricky to find someone to foot the bill of a megastructure over the highway. That said, I am under the impression that lidding I-5 in Seattle is definitely being studied.

[@manzell]

I still have my "Monorail" ticket from the 2002/03 era revival. Honestly I applaud how fast they've been able to build LINK compared to the speed I had grown accustomed to in Seattle. I grew up in Lake City and spent a LOT of time at the old Northgate bus transfer center.

[@Driver8takeabreak]

Really? Comparing Seattle and Portland's light rail systems is interesting, as I view Seattle's being built MUCH slower, but more expensive, and probably more function (mostly underground downtown, etc.). But Portland has got so much more coverage in comparison, with a number of different lines. Seattle's system seems to be so slow to build.

[@sri-kaushalramana437]

@@Driver8takeabreak portland built more coverage quickly but Seattle focused on quality over quantity

[@Driver8takeabreak]

@@sri-kaushalramana437 You could maybe make that argument, but I would say a more expansive system has more quality. And Seattle's system has had a lot of issues (long times between trains, escalators constantly broken, single track delays because of shoddy station work, etc.)

[@GamblingTimeKaraoke]

Hey, that's my station! I've been enjoying the LINK since it opened up north. My biggest bugbear with the LINK is how early it closes. If you're industry and work until 2am or you like being out late, the LINK is closed by the time you get out. Unfortunately, this means many times when I would've chisen to take the LINK I've driven instead. Really hope they extend hours until 3 or 4 am!!!

[@tyber_roman313]

I find it lovely that you mentioned North Seattle College. After a few years of driving to North Seattle College I have converted to biking (using an ebike) over there Edit: during the summer I was a lifeguard along Lake Washington. Using the road and biking to different beaches when we needed to send guards to different beaches was normal but the Blvd was awful to ride on (road quality was crap at places)

[@hoozthair6076]

I-5 in Seattle has great entertainment value. We spent a month there a number of years ago and for two hours each in the morning and the afternoon there was a TV station that carried the traffic jams. This is the most interesting over-the-air television that I have ever seen in my life.

[@harlander-harpy]

It was fantastic attending the bike and beer event, I didn't get to meet you but I met loads of fantastic people. Also, its nice to see an honest take on seattle from someone who isn't interested in talking about how link is being destroyed by being LRT

[@whimsicalhamster88]

It's great to see you covering this topic. I live near the Angle Lake station and there is NOTHING nearby. There's like a 7-11 and one Salvadorean restaurant a short walk away. It makes me sad when I visit other countries and cities that have actual useful public light rail systems. Here it's basically good to go to very specific places like the airport, UW, the Stadiums or Chinatown and really not much else. And even with that, you're going to probably have to drive or take other transportation to get anywhere near it.

[@mentonerodominicano]

That's the station I use when I visit and I guess it's useful to have another Station close the Airport that is easier to access. I can't wait for Kent to finally open.

[@hobog]

Angle lake station has been around for a long time, F

[@laurysaldana5224]

The only TOD around Angle Lake is the Federal Jail. So sad.

[@mishibird]

Alaska Airlines HQ is close to the Angle Lake stop. So I guess it has some utility for folks commuting there for work.

[@The_Sasswagon]

Yeah the south half of the Link is rough in a different way. From the industrial car chaos of the Sodo station, to the day long walk from the airport through the second largest parking structure in the world, and all the surface level track in between. There's enough content to do another totally different video.

[@fatviscount6562]

The path of least resistance equals the path of least potential. Thank you for covering buses that feed trains. Too many American transit advocates dismiss buses out of hand.

[@shealupkes]

that same station has recently had service cuts for the busses that take people to the light rail

[@laurysaldana5224]

Amazing and frustrating is a perfect description for everything about Seattle.

[@foxydub]

Seattle truly has a great many obstacles to becoming a walkable, thriving, and equitable urban ideal. It was a small, car-dominant city that never really thought it'd become a major one. Our geography is certainly a challenge, as a skinny, hilly area bounded by water on two sides. We are cursed with an immature transit authority that commits misstep after misstep (continually broken escalators, lengthy station tile repairs, and incorrect rail ties!) Never mind that this same transit authority doesn't seem to be able to cooperate with the City and County transportation agencies. Our taxation system is perhaps the most regressive in the country. We've never adequately repaired the pervasive harm wrought by stealing Indigenous land and redlining/land covenanting residents of African descent into segregated neighborhoods. Our own complicated bureaucracy combined with our unique Seattle process of striving for consensus through exhaustion makes building affordable housing and other basic needs needlessly expensive and painfully slow. The list goes on... While these obstacles are significant, they aren't insurmountable. We just lack the political will from provincially-minded politicians who pander instead of lead. Sigh...

[@LitchAustin]

A third of the people in Seattle voted for the tangerine palpatine. Of the rest, most are neo-libs who want nice things without any nasty poor or paying for it, a bunch of wonky academic and corporate geeks who are unengaged politically. There's also a bunch of leftist, urbanist, socialist riffraff, just not enough to make a difference.

[@yuyutubee8435]

We're just never going to be a major pedestrian city outside of the core downtown. Far too many steep hills everywhere, and miserable, drizzly weather.

[@lemongambit]

@@yuyutubee8435 SF has the same miserable weather and twice the hills yet is considered vastly more pedestrian friendly city. Perhaps it's because they have mass transit that helps you get up those hills or across the bay. I biked and walked everywhere in SF. I live in Seattle now and I walk the hills with a stroller every day. It was rough for the first few weeks until I built the muscle, but it is more miserable to do than it was SF because I don't have the mass transit support. Those tough hills are a lot easier to walk when you can just hop on a bus for those 3 blocks. The point is: we'll never be a walkable city if everyone gives up because we have a couple of hills and some light rain, both of which could be less of an issue if the city supported more public transit and walkable neighborhoods. Guess we should tell London and SF to stop being walkable. They didn't get the memo on dreary weather and hills.

[@markuserikssen]

As a Dutch person, it's refreshing to see this modern public transport system in a big US city. It looks impressive already, even though there are still a lot of things to improve and expand. Keep it up!

[@SmallSpoonBrigade]

The impressive bit is the way that the rest of the system is adapting to link into it. That being said, it's also a rather stupid system as there appears to be no provision for a ring type route like you'd normally have so that there can be future expansion. It's basically one line north and south and a second one going from downtown Seattle across the lake to Redmond eventually. There's very little in the system to shield it from issues like a car getting hit by a train and that section being shut down while the mess is sorted out and cleaned up.

[@wturner777]

I’m happy that cities are waking up on this. I do agree that there’s still work to be done, and will take a lot of political will.

[@benellison5668]

Northgate is awesome. Happy that the Kraken practice facility is there

[@garyholt8315]

and 🎃pumpkin curling lol

[@BrandonRotkel]

Very cool to see my neighborhood talked about in such depth! As someone who recently moved here from Orange County, CA, the Northgate station is SO much better than anything we had in SoCal, even with the inconveniences of location and broken infrastructure. I've also got to point out how undervalued the John Lewis Memorial Bridge is for pedestrian and bike traffic. There is literally no other safe route to cross east-west in that part of Seattle. The underpass on Northgate Way is a dark underpass with no curb between street and sidewalk with lots of traffic entering and exiting the freeway, and 92nd has no bike highway to get there, except from Northgate Station itself. A bike and pedestrian only path between 115th and the UW Medical Center did recently re-open after long construction, but that's more useful if you're going to Shoreline than Greenwood. Sadly, since most routing apps ignore the bridge, it remains a bit of a secret to those who aren't getting off the station where the bridge extends from.

[@ARPelayre]

One of the biggest things that kept me from events like street fairs and whatnot has always been the traffic and the parking. I've found myself going out to more of these events BECAUSE of the Lightrail. Things could be so much better in a world where we weren't so car dependent, but I'll take wins like this. Always looking forward to small improvements, it's certainly better than none.

[@PresentGenGamer]

Looking forward to your video on Houston. As someone who grew up there, no other city is as polarizing as Houston is. The best parts of urbanism within the 610 loop and the absolute worst sprawl you can think of just outside of it.

[@wturner777]

Not Just Bikes made a video discussing Houston and why he hates it.

[@seattlegrrlie]

My daughter went to Roosevelt HS. The light rail along I5 was literally the only way we were going to get transit at all. I'm hopeful for the redevelopment of the whole Northgate area. I think in 10yrs it will be great

[@tomselek1000]

I would love to see a video of the most urbanist Cheesecake Factory locations.

[@nw-by-n]

Thanks for this! I made a tiny engineering contribution to this segment of the light rail. I agree, the location of the station along the freeway is unfortunate! If it had been built along Aurora Avenue (SR-99), it could have transformed that low-value, crime-ridden part of the city into something great. Opportunity lost. Yes, it is somewhat outrageous that Sound Transit didn't pay a little more for transit-grade escalators for a multi-billion dollar transit system. Instead, they bought light duty escalators as you might find at a Target store. Dumb. Another gripe I have is the low-platform streetcar design that Sound Transit chose. They are poor for luggage, narrow, and have stairs on the inside to climb over the motors. I mean, come on.

[@benhenry69]

Thanks for all of the great info about a city I love. I left Seattle in 2009, just before so much of the light rail opened up. I'm so happy not only that it is there, but also that it's getting used! ❤

[@chrisguardiano6143]

As a lifelong Seattle area resident, I have to say that our transit system is good though it is not as good as Portland's or Vancouver BC's (which is the best among the three cities in my view). The expansion of light rail northward & east is sorely needed because the traffic is absolutely terrible & the more we get people taking the light rail, the better. As for the Kraken Iceplex I am glad that it is located where it is because it makes it easier to follow the team from where I live in Lynnwood. Hopefully the light rail will eventually make its way up to Everett & be able to connect with Amtrak at Everett Station along with a stop at Paine Field which is likely going to get an increase in flights soon because of Seatac being very close to reaching it's breaking point when it comes to capacity.

[@Fujikawa42]

As a Seattle resident I wish I could have made it to the meetup. Hopefully next time! Also as a newly moved across the sound resident I'd like to see you cover the sound area ferries and how they are (or are not) connected to other forms of transit. I find it pretty hard to use the ferry without also driving unless I'm doing something at one of the stadiums.

[@ccnomad]

There should be a waaay more elegant way to do this, but: just across Alaskan from the ferry terminal (at the base of Columbia St), catch any SB bus and go one stop to Alaskan and Jackson. Walk east one block to the First Hill/Capitol Hill Streetcar, and that will hook you up to whichever 'hood you want, or node you would need to get there :)

[@killercaos123]

The Washington Ferry system is indeed the largest in the country. I think it rivals the likes of Norway if I’m not mistaken

[@rx97_mc]

Loved this video, Seattle's transit focus and community is really exciting to see.

[@clayz1]

Nice essay. You increased my knowledge and understanding of the whole Seattle rapid transit scene. I also grew up in North Seattle and it pulls my heartstrings to remember the 50’s to 80’s when the world was normal with no internet. Thanks. I like your low key way of expressing.

[@suzanneschreiner5145]

Well done. Another interesting chapter on Seattle! Been meaning to take the light rail to Northgate, and now I've got several threads to follow. Cheers to your plug for the Urbanist, a truly reliable source of news!

[@astro_josh]

I’m from Vancouver and love visiting the Kraken community complex when I visit Seattle! Great place and I’m excited for all the new developments in that area :)

[@glantch]

You're talking about my neighborhood - I live between Roosevelt and 15th on 102nd. It's nice to see such an accurate description of the problems here. But it's particularly awesome to live so close to the Kraken Multiplex. It's such a friendly and comfortable place, it's the one place where people in this neighborhood gather and just take to each other. It's kind of beautiful.

[@KSRailfan]

Welcome back! I recently purged a bunch of YT Subscriptions, and kept yours around despite the inactivity because I enjoy your content. Glad that there’s new stuff on the horizon!

[@ylyl55]

I knew you had lived here but didn't know you were from here. Love it when you feature Seattle! Great analysis of the Northgate stop. I really hope I can make it to next group ride you do here and great shoutout for The Urbanist.

[@Nouvellecosse]

A cat can really make for a lovely companion

[@brucemastorovich4478]

Speaking of park and rides vs ice hockey rinks, I'd love a deeper dive into making non-central stations interesting to people who live in the city center! Walkable interior neighborhoods should be the best place to go car free, but transit often offers little of interest to people in those neighborhoods. I feel like the occasional stop at a bowling alley or hiking trail outside of the city center goes a long way. Top US transit lines for downtowners video?! Columbia Gorge Express, Albany Nature Bus, etc.

[@munchkingod6]

First time viewer. Instant subscribe. This is exactly the sort of content we need more of. More trains, more walkable neighborhoods, and anything to reduce our dependence on cars.

[@Patrick_from_Youtube]

Awesome coverage, you have so much knowledge to share

[@russelldavis1875]

After commuting by light rail for a bit now, it is very nice! They really need to pick up capacity though, and I understand the expansions will include a lot more trains. Any time around concerts and sporting events is absolutely crammed full, and as a commuter, that's starting to be a problem. There are also more such sporting events than ever, with the Krakens, and the city obviously really wants a basketball team too, so it'll only get worse. Even just at peak commuter times though, it's getting quite stuffed.

[@TheTikeySauce]

It should be alleviated a bit once East Link opens since lines 1 and 2 will be interlined between CID and Lynnwood, reducing your peak headways from 8-10 minutes to 4-6 minutes in that section of the system.

[@markproulx1472]

Great topic! As a resident of the area, this is a great concern of mine.

[@markvetter4711]

Living in Florida I was blown away by the Seattle public transit, and walkability. It might not be perfect, but compared to anything in my area it’s golden.

[@its-probably_fine]

Loved seeing you and the bike ride! Come back soon!

[@rossbleakney3575]

That's wild that you grew up in Maple Leaf. I live in Pinehurst, and walk up there all the time. It keeps getting better in lots of little ways, but yeah, it could use more sidewalks (just like Pinehurst). I think you nailed all the highlights. One thing worth noting is the bus situation. It was a transit center in large part because of the freeway itself. The 41 was a major bus route that would go through the neighborhood, then get on the express lanes right there. If you think the train is fast, you should have seen the bus (at least when the express lanes was in its favor). Of course the bus didn't go to Roosevelt, the U-District or Capitol Hill, which is the strength of Link. There should be more stops, but at least they have a few. If you look at a map, you can see that while the station is challenging from a TOD standpoint, it is also challenging from a bus standpoint as well. You can't go east-west (the freeway is in the way). If you are trying to get there from Maple Leaf, the bus has to wrap around the hill. To the northwest is a very congested freeway interchange, so the buses avoid it. The only direction where a bus could avoid a detour while serving the station is in the northeast/southwest direction (Greenwood to Lake City). It will likely be served by other buses, but that is the most direct path (even though it involves a lot of turns). Because of this, I except it will become less important as a transit hub (compared to other, more easily accessible stations). Even from a bus-train network standpoint, the choice of stations is less than ideal.

[@tc8135]

Having lived in the building adjacent to the station, that parking garage really gets used during ballgames (both to downtown and Husky stadium). When we lived there we used to see hundreds of people walking from all over the neighborhood in jerseys. The train would be absolutely packed! So at least its drastically decongesting the city on weekends. Also, first time viewer and loved the video!

[@wturner777]

That’s a great thing that the city isn’t choked up by cars.

[@Bioniking]

Thanks for covering this! I was also raised in Seattle, my parents used to live in Crown Hill, so this was my station, even when it was just a bus terminal

[@sandiegofun1]

San Diego did exactly the same thing with the recent expansion of the trolley. It's absurd to run next to the 5 when they should have routed it through neighborhoods.

[@garyholt8315]

stations beside the fwy are still better than calgary, AB where the train runs in the median of Crowchild tr (fwy) so u have noise and fumes on both sides, not pleasant.

[@thedapperdolphin1590]

I visited Seattle over the weekend a few months ago. I was surprised by how easy it is to just not pay to take the light rail. You don’t see any operators, and there’s no on operating ticket booths at stations, so you can just walk on through.

[@mishibird]

They have ticket checkers who board the trains and buses with considerable frequency and you better have your Orca card ready.

[@steadystate4015]

I think that changed just recently, probably delayed due to the pandemic. There are now frequent “Fare Ambassadors” that check for usage but they’re not dressed up as military one-man tanks like “Fare Enforcement” workers were, pre-pandemic

[@mishibird]

@@steadystate4015I don’t know about that. They were regular on the buses and the trains before the pandemic.

[@onesob13]

It's the same in Berlin and most (all?) other German cities. It's not a big deal

[@LitchAustin]

This has been a subject of political discourse in the city, especially when the outrageously racially imbalanced nature of the ticketing given out by fare enforcement came to light after Floyd and before the transit restart. Free transit was seriously discussed, but the homeless issue pretty much ended that idea.

[@liberatedturmoil]

Yeaaaaah Seattle! :) Love it. I live hear and still am very excited seeing it in the video. Thank you for posting and also for the mention of the Lake Washington Boulevard renovation project I didn't know about and would love to be done.

[@grantzke]

as a fellow city nerd who is currently at north for the same gpa boosting reasons you were, i salute you good sir

[@DannerBanks]

Couldn't disagree more about sports teams - after the Sonics left Seattle, I realized that these are just businesses touting themselves as communities. I love watching sports but owners' complete disregard for the cities they operate in will forever make me unwilling to support them.

[@barryrobbins7694]

Al Davis has to be one of the worst.

[@anderswennstig5476]

Thats why I support the Sounders. I completely trust their organizational structure and love their close ties to the actual community.

[@texaswunderkind]

There's nothing worse than billionaire sports team owners threatening to move the team unless they get yet another billion-dollar stadium from taxpayers. Best of all, they tout the wonderful creation of 200 minimum wage-paying food service and custodial jobs, as if that is going to revive the local economy. Let's be honest, it's a scam. I would say college sports still provided some sort of amateur athletic competition to enjoy, but they have now sold out to big money as well.

[@kevadu]

As somebody who used to live in the area and actually took a bus from Northgate to Bellevue everyday, I thought it was worth pointing out that there's a pretty major bus hub at Northgate that the light rail connects to. Some of those buses do then use the freeway and I think that's part of the reason this site was chosen. So maybe it's not the best land use but it is good for connections.

[@rossbleakney3575]

Not really. There is a good argument for having the terminus of your line close to the freeway (so that buses can connect to it) but that was never the long term plan there. Even before it was done there were plans to go farther north (next to the freeway). Northgate just isn't a good station for that anyway. The buses don't have to go very far to get to the station, but they still have to leave the HOV lanes, and navigate local streets. The only easy connection for buses is to the south (from Northgate towards Downtown Seattle) -- a trip that has now been made obsolete by the train. In contrast, Lynnwood Station will allow buses coming from Everett to connect to it without ever leaving the HOV lanes (or dealing with surface traffic). Northgate is actually an awkward location for buses from every direction. You can't go east-west (the freeway gets in the way). It takes several turns if you are trying to access it from the local neighborhood. Buses make weird, indirect, looping trips to serve it. No, the reason they added the station there was because it was easier. They already had the land. It saves money to run your train by the freeway.

[@erinsaunders9796]

Recent Link passenger and present Kraken fan here (still licking my wounds after last night's season opener). I appreciate how straightforward this video is -- not blowing any proverbial sunshine, but it gives me some hope for the future. Looking forward to more!

[@TukaihaHithlec]

You have a real way with words. I like that.

[@mistertrick]

I think up to this point Seattle’s roll out of ST1 and ST2 have been quite good minus delays which happen. I do feel if anyone has been paying attention to ST3 and what’s going on with Chinatown/International District and this new preferred alternative being pushed by the council seems at best super short sighted not having a transfer station to Amtrak It honestly looks more and more suspicious given links between the Mayors office and land developers, and possibly illegal as it’s running up against Title VI of the Civil Rights Act not putting a voter approved connection in Chinatown. While the original alignment was reconsidered as too disruptive and destructive, the reasons to not implement 4th Ave Shallow are vacuous at best and the new preferred alternative is looking to permanently hurt the viability of the system It feels like some deep investigation needs to be had if the city council or the mayors office is tipping the scales and possibly illegally so

[@sluggo206]

"not having a transfer station to Amtrak": A bigger issue is the transfer between light rail lines. It threatens to be a 10-minute walk and going both up and down several levels of escalators. They really need to rethink that, or put all lines into the first tunnel, or make Ballard a shuttle terminating at Westlake.

[@wwbaker3]

The problem with the escalators stems from Sound Transit getting low-quality, non-transit-grade escalators. Combine that with rampant vandalism in/around the stations, yeah, they're rarely functional. This forces people to use the urine-soaked elevators or resort to using the stairs and hit their weekly Stair Master goal in one go.

[@christophernoto]

Thanks for this video, and all the others that you have done! ❤Though I was born in Chicago, I now live in an eastern suburb of Atlanta, so there’s a lot of wish fulfillment in my viewing of your work! I was in the Seattle area for most of a week, last month, visiting family and the Port Townsend Wooden Boat Festival. From Coupeville, on Whidbey Island, to SEATAC, was, by car, a two hour drive. In an especially stressful moment I looked up my independent escape route, and found that it was an almost 24 hour trip by public transportation! Yikes!

[@veronicaaristeguieta3072]

Hello fellow Seattliette, really enjoyed seeing this pop up on my feed about the Seattle public transit in the same region as where I'm from as well also North Seattle. Really enjoyed just seeing video of the local area as I'm away in college so it reminds me of home.

[@ozarkharshnoisescene]

come to STL to roast our transit system and ignorance, but to enjoy our beautiful streetscapes and architecture

[@willcwhite]

My dream is that the Link's extension along I-5 will the the Trojan Horse, forcing the demolition of the highway.

[@alexrusso6456]

Seattle native/local here - love your content! Thanks for a fair look at the link!

[@Veilure]

I rode the Link today! Glad to see it covered 😊

[@marksando3082]

Damn, I moved out of Seattle about 15 years ago and it's wild to see that they're STILL having problems keeping the escalators running consistently at elevated Link stations..

[@EricaGamet]

I get an email about outages and it's all day, every day. "Westlake elevators are out. Westlake elevators fixed. Capitol Hill escalators out. Oops, we fixed them."

[@aronenark8184]

It’s almost a rite of passage for medium-sized cities to constantly have non-functioning metro station escalators.

[@brianbeach3024]

Seattle is unique in that transit is heavily adopted, but journeys are almost always bookended with driving to/from the Park & Rides. P&Rs are part of larger transit hubs in the suburbs, where people either start/end their transit journey or transfer between transit lines. Generally larger P&Rs serve multiple transit types, such as the Lynnwood P&R serving as a major bus station and the future Link Light Rail.

[@garysimonson1135]

Depends on the station - most of the subway stations in Seattle proper (Roosevelt, U District, Capitol Hill, Beacon Hill, etc.) people do walk to.

[@rickusa3617]

Given the housing as it exists today we need more P&Rs (and cheaper, $25 a day is a joke for people earning average incomes) it's basically subsidising the rich city dwellers at this point ignoring how their starbucks baristas are supposed to get to work from where they can afford to live

[@MrBirdnose]

@@rickusa3617 Any transit-oriented development is going to be massively high-rent, so the only way people are going to be able to access the line is via park-and-rides.

[@sambird7]

I take take the 512 to Northgate quite often. They are extending it through Lynnwood to my home town of Everett...by 2039! can't wait lol. We really do have excellent public transit around Puget Sound (for America anyway, I would kill to have China's public transit system)

[@selbygunter3522]

I actually lived in Thornton place when it opened and they had just decided the location for the light rail station. I worked down town at the time and would have loved the quick light rail as opposed to the slow, stuck in traffic bus. The day-lit creek was a huge highlight because everything else was paved. I'll go back to visit in 5 or 10 years to see what it looks like then. Thanks for the very interesting and detailed video.

[@MarkWaltersSeattle]

I live 2 miles from there, and my only complaint, really, is that there's no bus that goes directly from Greenwood to Northgate, yet, since they changed the Route 5. The 5 used to have every other bus go to Northgate, but it hasn't done that in years. I hear there's a plan for a bus from Greenwood to Northgate at some point in the future, but, for now, it's easier for me to take a bus to the Roosevelt station, even though it's farther away. I can walk, of course, over the pedestrian bridge, but, I'm not gonna lie, Marge, walking over the Freeway isn't my favorite thing, bridge or no bridge.

[@steadystate4015]

Yes, this! I probably live just west of you as I’m right near a 40 bus stop, but it wound be nice to have a 40/5 hybrid path bus

[@rossbleakney3575]

A bus from Greenwood/Northgate/Lake City is long overdue. They were planning on adding it with the Northgate Link restructure, but it got cancelled (because of funding). I am pretty sure they will add it with the next restructure (that will occur with Lynnwood Link).

[@LitchAustin]

There need to be a E-W BRTs at Northgate and probably 145th, maybe 85th too

[@MarkWaltersSeattle]

Seems to me that extending the D line out to Northgate vial Holman Road would be a useful thing @@LitchAustin

[@steadystate4015]

@@MarkWaltersSeattle I think this is the clear winner. Right now, the D ends near Carkeek Park and behind a QFC - far less useful than having it go to Northgate Station

[@nickberry5520]

I just have to say this. When the up escalator is out of service, the down escalator should absolutely be reversed. If there is some reason why this can't happen, please tell me.

[@charliesullivan4304]

I suspect the reason is that the exiting passengers come in waves while the entering passengers a steady trickle. So the capacity is needed more for exiting.

[@nickberry5520]

@@charliesullivan4304 I was speaking generally.

[@jazzcatjohn]

Excellent overview of Northgate station. Looking forward to the downtown video.

[@seanedging6543]

Oh hey - One of the guys in the meetup is someone who was a classmate of mine at Portland State! Of course you are drawing us urbanist nerds from around the PNW.

[@gmbigger]

One of my biggest issues with Link (and this is by no means unique to Seattle) is that it’s trying to be both metro rail and regional rail but it’s not really good at either of those things. Sound Transit is already expecting overcrowding during peak hours when the Lynnwood extension opens next year. Light rail trains just don’t have the capacity or speed to be effective regional or commuter rail. What’s worse is they’re planning to take it all the way up to Everett and down to Tacoma.

[@eechauch5522]

Not only is it not particularly good at one or the other, it isn’t even in the middle. Capacity wise it’s a tram, infrastructure wise it’s a metro and the stop spacing is regional rail. It has about the capacity of a German Stadtbahn line, but with much bigger and therefore more expensive infrastructure and none of the local connectivity. At the same time the German system will have an S-Bahn to supply the capacity and speed needed for longer trips, while this system tries to fill both rolls at the same time in a region much too big to do this. Basically, if you’re forced to couple 4 trams together, you probably need something else.

[@fidesius8316]

@@eechauch5522 You've hit the nail on the head. What you're seeing really is Seattle's tram being sold as a regional system so neighboring cities and towns will help subsidize it. I don't see how the capacity will be able to keep up with projected growth in the region enough to start pulling cars off the interstates and highways the way a lot of folks want to see. We need proper metros and regional rail, but nearly a century's legacy of affluent, car-obsessed NIMBYs fighting transit set us back in getting something like the LINK in, so I can't imagine how much longer we'll need to get anything more robust built. I'll hope for the best but expect to see everything as congested and miserable in 2100 as i do in 2023, just with one more transit system jammed with people.