I grew up about a half-mile from Cynwyd Station, and as kids, my friends and I found the train to center city Philadelphia much more convenient than relying on our parents to cart us around to movie theaters, sporting good stores, and other attractions. But it wasn’t just those of us with youthful vigor who frequently hoofed our way to the rail stop, for every morning as I prepared to walk to school, I’d see a stream of business suit clad men lugging their briefcases down the street in the other direction, some of whom routinely walked to the station from more than a mile away.
These weren’t granola crunching tree-hugging hippies. These were doctors, lawyers, businessmen and other professionals who, weather and circumstances permitting, left their cars at home in the driveway most days, not because it was the right thing to do, or the less expensive thing to do, but because it was the obvious and natural thing to do. Why battle traffic on the Schuylkill Expressway each morning when the train was a 10 minute walk away?
The commuter suburb of my youth grew up around the station, not by accident, but by design. Built in 1886, this short spur of the Pennsylvania Railroad was as much a real estate development project as it was a transit line, and that rail-centric ethos survived at least a century, before SEPTA budget woes resulted in drastically reduced schedules. The point is, people didn’t take the train because they had to, but because they wanted to, and with parking always limited at the station, many were happy to walk a mile or more for the convenience.
So when I continue to read news reports about complaints over the lack of free parking around most stations on Seattle’s soon to be opened Link Light Rail, I can’t help but shrug my shoulders. Build it, and they will walk. And if the folks who live there now aren’t willing to hoof it, over time these neighborhoods will attract new residents who will.
Which gets me thinking about my own relationship to the Seattle light rail system I’ve so passionately advocated, and how far I’m willing to walk to use it. I’ve half-jokingly complained for years about the elimination of the Graham Street station from the final plan, which would have been a mere 10-15 minute walk from house, quite possibly close enough to bump up my property value. I’ve also wistfully talked about moving into Columbia City to be walking distance both to its business district and its light rail station. But I’d never actually measured the distances myself.
As it turns out, the little map app on my iPhone says that Othello station is about a mile away, only a quarter mile further by foot than the corner of MLK Jr. & Graham, so my dog and I decided to walk it today for ourselves. At a comfortably brisk pace we clocked 18-minutes there, and 20-minutes back (climbing the hill from Rainier Ave. on the way home), and we could probably have made it a little faster but for the need to obsessively mark the path with urine, and briefly stop to pick thistle from our paws.
So, will I walk to light rail?
Well, at least for the moment, I don’t commute, so it’s kinda a moot point in the context of this discussion, but if I were a commuter, and the rail line took me reasonably close to my workplace, yeah, I’d be willing to walk a mile in each direction, weather and circumstances permitting. If it was really hot or really cold or raining very hard, I don’t know that I’d be up for that hike, and if my afterwork plans took me inconveniently off-route, I’d probably take my car. But some days—perhaps most days—I find it a reasonable distance to walk.
Of course, if my circumstances were different, a daily walk to and from the train station would be more of a no-brainer. Before our divorce, we were a one-car family, and the opportunity to save the expense of buying and insuring a second car (let alone fueling and parking it) would make a walk+rail commute all the more attractive. But as a single father, going carless in Seattle isn’t as much of an option, and thus the cost savings of commuting by rail aren’t nearly as great.
As for my recreational use of light rail, the 2-hour parking restriction presents much less of a problem, as it’s only enforced 7AM to 6PM, Mondays through Friday, leaving the spots open nights and weekends for casual hide & riders like me. Meeting folks for drinks or dinner downtown? You can freely park your car near the station starting at 4PM, and make it downtown in plenty of time for happy hour. As a moderate drinker (even when Drinking Liberally), I’d likely choose that option over hiking it home late at night.
Opponents of light rail have long criticized it as social engineering, and to some extent they’re right. Like the commuter lines of the old Pennsylvania Railroad, the South Seattle segment is proving as much a real estate development project as it is a transit line, as evidenced by the massive residential redevelopment going on along MLK Jr. Way. Mixed income houses, townhouses, apartments and condos are being built for folks who want the convenience and economy of living a reasonable walking distance to a light rail station, and as these developments expand further out from the stations, so will the notion of what a reasonable walking distance is.
If anything, these quarter-mile restricted parking zones are too small, and neighborhoods will likely clamor for their extension when hide & riders cluster along the border. And after a while, the notion of healthily walking a couple miles a day to and from work, rather than driving to and from the fitness club for your daily workout, will become as commonplace around here as it was in the commuter-rail suburb of my youth.
And the best thing is, if you don’t want to be part of this new, socially engineered, walk & ride culture, there will always be plenty of Seattle neighborhoods without it.
I just threw up in my mouth a little.
Aspiring to be like the east coast isn’t a quality I think most Puget Sounders want to emulate.
Matty @1,
With regular exercise you’ll lose some weight, which will do wonders for your reflux. Try walking.
(And speaking of aspirations, the original name for Seattle was New York Alki, which meant New York “by and by.”)
“And if the folks who live there now aren’t willing to hoof it, over time these neighborhoods will attract new residents who will.”
=
“If blacks are too lazy to walk to the nearest station, over time this area will become gentrified with white liberals who don’t mind walking a few blocks.”
“Build it, and they will walk.”
Tell that to my 89 year-old friend who lives on 36th S. between Raymond and Juneau.
@4 – OMG! I know an old person, ergo your argument is incorrect.
Moron.
Everyone ask yourself a basic question about living in this part of the country…From November through at least May on average, how many days offer weather conducive to waking one-quarter of a mile, let alone two miles twice per day?
I remember having to walk some six blocks once in downtown Seattle on a cold, windy, and RAINY day in January that was so bad my suit pants were soaking wet from cuff to knee.
You bet! These boots were made for walkin’…
The Piper
Piper,
NOT Nancy Sinatra but Gene Kelly instead:
Cue Music:
I’m singin’ in the rain…………..
Who among the HA Happy Hooligans would walk any distance in weather like we had last winter?
What price new shoes?
The Piper
David, you must have lived in what became the inner city.
The Pennsylvannia, New York Central, various NJ, plus the New Haven railroad have train stations and parking lots
Even Newark, NJ has train stations and parking lots
Lack of parking and being five plus years behind schedule are just more examples of Greg Nickels and Joni Earls incompetence
@6 “how many days offer weather conducive to waking one-quarter of a mile, let alone two miles twice per day?”
Good grief.
“I remember having to walk some six blocks once”
Lordy, how you must have suffered.
Piper @6,
It doesn’t rain here, it spits. Who the hell even uses an umbrella in Seattle?
Now, back where I grew up, when it rained, it rained.
@8 “Who among the HA Happy Hooligans would walk any distance in weather like we had last winter?”
Oh, you weren’t done yet. Damn, Piper, what a weather-wimp you are.
Those stations are one mile apart. I know the lethargic and lacksidasical people of the Rainier valley. Two blocks to them is like two miles to normal people. They’ll stick to the bus unless Link is within two blocks of their home and destination.
Commuter @9,
When I was a kid, the Cynwyd Station had a couple dozen parking spots, and they weren’t free.
Oh, I’m not a weather wimp…I’m just not stupid enough to walk two miles in slush thus ruining a $250 pair of Allen Edmonds shoes or a $1,200 Brooks Brothers suit.
And the time it takes to walk a mile or two increases dramatically when you have to fight the weather.
But I do agree that those who use umbrellas around here are all from out of town.
And the six blocks? Only an illustration of how wet you can get in such a short distance.
Again…last winter…how many of you walked two miles twice a day when it was snowing or during the slushcapades we had?
I realize that Goldy’s Philly winters were worse than Valley Forge, and that he was so poor he had to walk in the snow barefoot carrying 100 pound bags of rocks with nothing to eat for breakfast other than his gnawed-off fingernails.
For the rest of you, however, onfession is good for the soul…
The Piper
Misnamed Train Commuter @9, yes, in the “inner city” (another name for Not Sprawling Suburbs) people get to the train station by walking, biking, or taking a bus (yes, horrors, a Bus).
“Lack of parking” not a failure of anybody but rather the result of successfully listening to citizens. Plain fact is that no neighborhood wanted more buildings torn down for rail transit; if anything they think Sound Transit tore down too many as it is.
Just imagine the outcry if Sound Transit had bought and destroyed hundreds more homes and businesses just to provide commuter parking at Seattle rail stations.
Piper Scott must not be a native; I’ve never heard a true local complain about having to walk in the rain. That’s a first. (Or maybe it’s just a Republican thing.)
@16…TV…
$10 says I’ve been here way longer than you.
The Piper
Probably not the outfit for the weather, Piper.
@17 Are you from around this area?
@18 & @19…Steve…
A kilt is perfect in all weather. You’d be surprised.
I moved to western Washington state in April 1963, and I’ve lived in Bothell, Tacoma, Longview (during Mt. St. Helens), Kirkland, and now Lacey ever since and uninterrupted.
The Piper
And when will light rail come to Lacey?
@8 Huh? You mean when it was impossible to drive?
As a matter of fact, the wife and I took a couple of walks to the grocery store. On snowshoes. It was great fun.
Commuter @9,
And just to be clear, I don’t mean to suggest that NE commuter rail is the proper analogy for Link. Light rail in Seattle is more like the subway and El in Philly, and of course there is no park and ride at the stations there.
Of course, freeways aren’t social engineering….
Piper @17, sorry but I’ve got more than a decade on you. How can I collect my $10?
Still can’t believe you’re really local; you’re old enough to know about galoshes. They might have to be had via the internet these days, but much better than spoiling your Allen Edmonds’. Blouse your Brooks Brothers trousers into the galoshes, and you’re ready to go.
Or do what the younger set do: wear sneakers to get to work and change shoes at the office.
@25…TV…
And you came to the PNW when? And how?
You can find me via google, ping me an e-mail, and I’ll mail it to you should you establish your bona fides.
Nobody who values their clothes does those kinds of dorky things. Besides, I never wear the same pair of shoes twice in a two-week stretch. Anyone who wears sneakers to where I work is drawn and quartered.
The Piper
If you want to see how and IF light rail works, come visit Portland. Check it out at wwwTrimet.com. There is a good reason why Portland’s TriMet won the award of “the best public transit service in the U.S.”
AND, it rains here too.
P.S. As a former resident of Philadelphia, I remember the great rail service provided by the PRR and Reading. Alas, SEPTA (the regional rail service) now is a shambles.
Greatest hits, Piper Scott (resident conservative airhead) edition:
Posted by Piper Scott
6:38 PM, Jan 08, 2008
Which part of no more light rail did they not get?
Oversold in the first place – check…
Overbudget all over the place – check…
Overbullying by the ST board – check…
Overhyped without a ticket ever sold – check…
Over all, people drive, they want roads – CHECK…
The Piper
Question for Goldy.
Walk & Ride?
You live within walking distance from the route 48 line that goes right by the Montlake Ale House. I’m curious, do you walk & ride to Drinking Liberally?
The PipeBrain also posted this in early 2008, before East Link was put on the ballot, and the Eastside voted for it OVERWHELMINGLY last November:
———–
To Eastsiders, ST and light rail are like how the ancient Chinese regarded the Forbidden City: The mountains are very high, and the emporer is a long way away.
To paraphrase a Jessica Lange line from the movie Rob Roy, “We will think of Sound Transit dead, and then we will think of it no more.”
———
Ooops, right the Piper?
Troll @29: the #48 doesn’t run into Goldy’s neighborhood after something like 7:30 pm – before DL even starts…
Not to mention, very few people will walk a long way to an unreliable bus that runs every half hour; on the other hand, people are a lot more likely to walk a long way to catch a reliable light rail train which runs about every ten minutes, 20 hours a day.
Furthermore, the 48 is going away next year. Metro can’t afford to run late night service on most of these runs…and light rail is going to help save Metro from worse cuts.
@31
You are right. Goldy would have to transfer to the 7 after he gets off the 48.
Once again, Goldy, do you “walk & ride” to Drinking Liberally?
Oh, and MarkS, can I see your data on Metro’s routes 7 and 48 being unreliable?
I’ve donated to Goldy before, so I pretty much own him.
Now answer my question, boy. You’re here on my tab.
@6, 8
I bike 2.5 miles to and from work. In an average year I bike about 75% of the time. Weather isn’t much of an issue.
If you’re worried about your fancy shoes wear a different pair while walking and put the fancy ones in a bag.
“Who among the HA Happy Hooligans would walk any distance in weather like we had last winter?”
Hmm… I seem to remember about 4 days in my neighborhood where walking WAS the only way to get around.
Some say gentrification is a form of racism.
@32 Troll,
You’ve obviously not ever tried to actually get anywhere on the 48. I’ve been riding Metro for 20+ years and I can’t think of a single route more unreliable than the 48 (aka the “forty-late”). Sure it is better than it used to be and during the times Drinking Liberally occurs it isn’t too bad, but I can understand why Goldy might want to drive.
@26
Yea Piper, I must be imagining all of those suit-wearing office workers who take transit to work downtown in all kinds of weather. Heck if anything MORE people ride transit when it rains or snows. Might have something to do with how bad the traffic can be on anything but bare and dry pavement.
@36 BusChick seems to manage quite well using Metro, so I’m not sure why Goldy couldn’t.
@26
Oh and another thing, where the hell do you work where you can’t wear the same pair of shoes twice in a two-week period or can’t get away with changing your shoes at your desk?
Besides as someone who lives in Lacey what is it to you how far Goldy has to go to get to the train? People in Thurston County for the most part will drive rather than walk to the end of their driveway much less a whole block.
Another too long, meandering post full of specious statements and run of the mill dogma. Cheer up. In eight more years, and billions and billions of dollars, that gold plated choo choo will actually take passengers somewhere other than the taint known as the rainier valley.
Cynwyd?
Was there a shortage of vowels in that part of Pennsylvania? You people couldn’t buy a vowel?
@40
Another too long, meandering post full of specious statements and run of the mill dogma. Cheer up. In eight more years, and billions and billions of dollars, that gold plated choo choo will actually take passengers somewhere other than the taint known as the rainier valley.
I used to live in the Rainier Valley and I don’t think that is something you would go down there and say. ‘Taint”? I got your taint right here, punk.
Chris @ 36: Troll celebrates his ignorance.
He thinks he’s tricky asking stupid questions. For instance, that moron hasn’t even figured out all Metro buses have real time transponders; as such, it’s quite easy to measure speed and reliability. If you have an internets connection.
Of COURSE that clown has never been on a #48 stuck in traffic. The #7 was so unreliable, they had to cut the route in half a couple years ago.
Buschick doesn’t have a choice. She doesn’t own a car.
exbusdriverMikeSkehan:
Thank you for the view from Lummi Island. We really appreciate your stale advice on transit down here.
We get it: the “powers that be” didn’t listen to your idiotic ideas 13 years ago. You like to grind axes…but singing the same old crap for a decade? Doesn’t that get a little old?
I forgot to mention to Mike Skehan : thank you for moving away.
@43
You do realize the title of this post is Walk & Ride, don’t you? In which, Goldy ironically chides valley residents who complain about walking distances to public transportation.
I just want to know if Goldy walks the talk. Does Goldy take nearby public transportation to DL?
@43
Ah yes, I found it. Busview. http://busview.org/busview_launch.jsp
Goldy can check online to see if/when his bus is coming. Reliability issue solved. Next excuse as to why he doesn’t take a bus to DL?
Why is it guvmint haters, conservatives, rail critics and general whiners all tend to be lazy, fat car addicts?
Well, for one, they are lazy, fat car addicts who like to project their problems on the rest of us.
Troll did research. That’s a first!
He’s still an idiot.
Reliability solved? When you need to transfer? As in, the bus that’s two minutes ahead of scedule is gonna wait for the bus that’s 10 minutes late? And both only run every half hour?
Seriously, Troll, you need another brain cell. That way, you can rub the two together.
@49
How do other people manage taking the bus and making transfers? Just admit it. Goldy is scared to walk from Rainier Ave to his home after dark. I don’t blame him.
Troll is an idiot. But he is making much more sense than you jerk offs right now.
You guys got your gold plated choo choo to taintsville. Be happy.
@49
With few exceptions (say 67 to 71/72/73 during the day) transfers are death when riding Metro and should be avoided if at all possible. If you do have to make a transfer it is best to plan it carefully beforehand.
Transferring bus to train shouldn’t really be a problem, the other way might be a bit more of a pain but shouldn’t be too bad as long as you leave enough time at the transfer point.
@50
I can’t speak for Goldy but I do think people are making way too big a deal over walking in Rainier Valley after dark. Frankly you are more likely to have a problem downtown, on Capitol Hill or in the U-District, even if you are a woman walking alone.
@51
You know they had to start somewhere and some portion of the system had to be the first to open. There are plenty of people living on Beacon Hill and in Rainier Valley and the buses serving the area are currently slow and packed during peak hours. Seems like a good place for a rail upgrade if you ask me.
For that matter Rainier Valley and Beacon Hill are hardly the ghetto, while there are some very poor people in that part of town, there are some very well to do people and quite a few middle class professional types. I mean somebody certainly is living in those nice homes around Mt. Baker and Seward Park, someone is shopping in the PCC, or eating and drinking in all those fancy bars and restaurants in Columbia City.
I lived on Queen Anne in the 70’s and walked 15 minutes to work as often as I could. The problem was I needed my car to visits clients. Walking is a good thing….but really not practical if you have a job that requires local traveling.
Goldy, let me explain to you what a job is.
It’s something most people get up and do every day. I know Goldy, kind of blows your mind doesn’t it.
If rail is so great, why is SEPTA a financial mess, as mentioned in the original post and also in the comments?
For that matter, why is Philadelphia’s economy such a basket case if rail is so great, if people can save on car expenses, and if they have all this transit oriented development in Cynwyd and elsewhere?
Something seems odd. I thought rail was the holy grail. Maybe instead it is fools gold.
Gabe@ 44, looks like busdrivermike didn’t appreciate you outing him as a rural San Juan Island resident. He hates Troll, yet agrees with him. What does that say about busdrivermike?
Mr. Cynical hasn’t been employed since the ’70s, and he/she/it is proud of that?
Between Commentator, racists like Mr. Cynical, disgruntled rural residents like Mike, and critters like Troll, it’s pretty obvious we have the Dori Monson brain trust with us here. As in, a bunch of broken rural and exurban manchildren who will never step foot in “scary” Seattle.
Yet they pretend they know what the hell is going on here.
And just so y’all know, I’m an expert on Moses Lake transportation policy, myself.
Chris Stefan @52, great comments.
All the hillbillies who revel in proving just how small-minded they are should see Clint Eastwood’s Gran Torino. That movie shows even ignorant redneck pricks can find redemption in the melting pot of America.
@6 Piper says:
I walked from Greenwood to work at the UW most every day for years. It’s about 3 miles. I was pretty surprised to learn how few times it was actually raining during my commute times. Light rain didn’t matter because I had a really good brolly. And it the rain really was poring down or it was icy or my feet hurt, there was always the ol’ #48.
Goldy gets smacked down from Joel Connelly in today’s P.I.
HAHAHAHAHA!
Dude, if you are still getting life lessons from Hollywood movies, you need to pick Up a book from the non fiction section.
An 18 minute walk is beyond what most people find convenient. 18 minute walk, 3 minute wait, 16 minutes to downtown, you’re taking 37 minutes to get some place 7 miles away? You should be getting to downtown in 37 minutes from Tacoma or from Moutlake Terrace or Edmonds.
Conclusions: The stations are too far apart.
Because it’s not underground or elevated, it goes slower, and it also messes up traffic, including the buses along the route and to the stations, making them slower and less convenient to uyse to get to the stations.
Building a few parking garages wouldn’t kill anyone btw.
And since when did the street parking in a neighborhood belong to that neighborhood? If someone wants to drive a mile then hop on the train, why not? IT’s nimfy to object, because actually it’s not even your front yard but a public street and if they serve to gather up another 500 people a day who would ride the multibillion dollar train, why not? All the density will happen anyway. And yes in the denser cities back east — horrors, yes, referring to back east is verboten, I know — they DO have garages near most train stations. Some of them are private garages, too. In fact, when you get to a certain level of density and on street parking you need a private garage to keep a car if you want one.
This is all called being a “city.” What we’re doing here is preserving low density suburbs in the Valley while spending billions on a city device, with the result of not getting all the benefit (ridership) of that expenditure.
Stations should be about half a mile apart.
@15,
I’m from here, your white crunchy techie Seattle suburbs liberal stereotype – but I lived in Washington DC for five years, and was a Metro commuter (bus, then train) for most of that time.
I walked through snow and cold, and muggy heat, that would make Seattlites collapse like Jello in a hurricane, to get to my train stations and bus stops.
And it converted me into being a transit advocate, because driving in all of that was worse. I sucked it up, learned I didn’t _need_ my car all of the time, and am a better person for it.
And @50, others, my neighborhood for my first three years in DC was scarier than anywhere in Seattle. Anywhere. You name the block. And I walked it routinely at night. I laugh at people who are afraid of the Rainier Valley or White Center.
Just to be clear, I wasn’t referring to safety there. My walk through the valley to Othello Station was perfectly pleasant, past homes that were for the most part well maintained, and a rebuilt Brighton Elementary that is as nice a school building as you’ll find in any suburb. This is not an area where I’d be particularly concerned about muggings, any time of the day or night.
Mostly, at 46, I’m just feeling a little old, and thus wouldn’t relish finishing off a late night of socializing with a 1-mile walk, the final three blocks up a steep hill.
I agree with the sentiments expressed by asdf @61… there really aren’t any bad neighborhoods in Seattle compared to most big cities… certainly nothing like some areas of DC, Philadelphia and New York.
Everywhere you look – progress… The fruits of patient effort by committed leadership. Still a lot of work to do though.
It must really suck to be the right wing these days.
Man,
what a bunch of bad-attitude blow-hards on this site. Author makes very valid points. I think most anybody of reasonable health with 1/2 mile or less walk at either end of their commute will find the train a very easy, fast, and healthy way to go.
I do realize that many of the commenters on this site don’t want to get that far from the gun rack in the back of their trucks.