Seattle Mass Transit

[RailFanLNK]

Will be staying in SEA in a year, I know this is early but was on thier transit sites and am really confused. When in Chicago I always buy a 1 day CTA pass or 3 day pass. Do they have these in Seattle? It seams kinda confusing on what works on what and where. Also, is there free transit in the downtown area? I plan on staying in the downtown area about 7 blocks from Pikes Place Market. Thanks!

 

[AlanB]

Al,

At present the downtown area has some free transit. All buses that run in the underground transitway are free, provided that you get on and off while still underground. Venture out of the tunnel and you'll have to pay. The light rail trains which also run in the tunnel however are not free. If you board the train, then you must pay!

As for paying for your fares, AFAIK they don't at present offer a visitor's styled pass. This may be do in part because you really have two different agencies that cover the downtown area, King County Metro and Sound Transit.

For the moment I'd suggest waiting to actually do anything, but assuming that they don't change things in the next 8 months or so, I'd recommend that you get ORCA cards for everyone and preload the epurse on them prior to your arrival. ORCA works on all buses, ferries, and Sound Transit trains including the commuter and light rail.

 

[RailFanLNK]

Alan, yeah, I looked at the ORCA cards but didn't know if that would be "over the top" on how much I would use it since it does cover everything. I really like just swiping a card and hopping on, not adding to it, having different cards etc. But if they don't have a visitor pass, I guess this will be what I will probably use.

 

[AlanB]

At least for now, it's either pay as you go either at TVM's or on the bus, or get ORCA.

ORCA is still very new, so new that my mom and I found it to be a great deal this past July since many of the transit operators aren't fully setup to handle the card, yet they had to accept it as fare paid even though they couldn't actually deduct any fare from the card. So we rode the Seattle Streetcar almost a dozen times for free, since they had to accept the card, but couldn't deduct any money from the card. We also rode one ferry for free too.

You probably won't be that lucky by the time you get there, but still ORCA is easy to use. Just tap it and get on whatever it is, bus, ferry, train.

And again, it is possible that they might get smart and come up with some sort of day pass by the time you go. Simply no way to know.