I'm a car-less Seattleite. New Link light rail extension is a gamechanger for commuting, convenience

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

by Callie Craighead, SeattlePI

The new Northgate Link light rail extension, which officially opened this past weekend to celebrations and praise from local and state officials, makes living in Seattle without a car that much easier — finally fulfilling one of the hallmarks of urban living.

Coming to Seattle after having lived in New York City, I found myself disappointed at the lack of a central mass transit system comparable to the efficiency of the subway. Sure, there are plenty of bus routes and street cars, but even those run late, get stuck in traffic and barely have any routes that go east-west.

That unreliability even became a persistent source of anxiety for me when commuting to Lower Queen Anne, so much so that I began the process of hunting for a used car last year, along with everyone else in the country amid the pandemic's impact to transit. So when King County officials announced earlier in the spring that three new light rail stations would open in the fall — including one just a 10-minute walk from me in the growing Roosevelt neighborhood — I told myself to hold out on that purchase just a little longer.

This past week, I took the new Link extension to run some basic errands around the city: a run to the downtown Target for household supplies, returning online orders to Nordstrom at Westlake and meeting a friend for dinner and drinks on Capitol Hill. Here's what it was like:

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https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/i-m-a-car-less-seattleite-new-link-light-rail-extension-is-a-gamechanger-for-commuting-convenience/ar-AAPjvhX

I took it to the Seahawks game Thursday. It's a lot quicker than the buses or the Sounder train.

[LisaM]

1. You can't get to Lower Queen Anne on light rail.

You also can't get to the Seattle Center from Northgate without backtracking and taking the Monorail from Westlake.

I live near the Northgate Station, but this is going to actually increase my commute time to downtown and I have lost the flexibility of some local buses. I don't know why they want this either/or. They are determined to force us onto light rail, and in some cases, the local buses were better (and safer at night because walking blocks and blocks and transferring weren't involved).

For no real reason, they also moved the bus stop I use coming back from the grocery store. Instead of being outside my door, it's now three blocks away!!!

[ShazamIam]

2. And now we have a nation with not much public transportation while the cost of owing a care is

slipping out of reach of the working and laboring class. Where the hell are the nation's working people going to live and how can they get to work with unaffordable housing and no transportation?

[msongs]

3. returning online orders...stop buying stuff one doesnt want/need saves that trip nt