Seattle's monorail gets a makeover ahead of Climate Pledge Arena's grand opening
One of Seattle's more iconic modes of transit just unveiled major upgrades: monorail service resumed Monday after a month-long closure in anticipation of Climate Pledge Arena's grand opening next week.
Construction on a series of projects, which included doubling the system capacity, increasing the size of the boarding areas and enhanced connections to the Link light rail and King County Metro, began earlier in April. The new completed features will give the monorail the capacity to carry 6,000 passengers per hour, reducing traffic congestion near Climate Pledge Arena during major events.
The National Hockey League announced a partnership with the monorail last year to provide free transportation to and from Kraken games at the Climate Pledge Arena, making a capital investment of $7 million to fund improvement projects. Kraken officials are hoping that 25% of fans would use the transit service in its first year.
"The use of public transit can become a unique part of the fan experience and will likely be the quickest and most reliable way to get to and from our games," said Rob Johnson, vice president of transportation for NHL Seattle. "Our data shows that from Westlake Center fans can transfer from light rail to monorail and be at the arena in as little as six minutes."
https://www.seattlepi.com/local/transportation/article/seattle-monorail-station-makeover-open-oct-2021-16525224.php
