Letter to the Editor - Kirkland loses Seahawk game day bus service

Dear Editor:

Hello Rob,

I just wanted to pass along my dismay to you and the Kirkland Views readers about an email I received earlier this week from the Seattle Seahawks regarding Metro and mass transit options to Qwest Field on home game days. 

I will quote from the email:

“This past April, the Federal Transit Administration ruled that if any private bus operators are interested in providing game day transportation services for fans then Metro would not be permitted to operate the bus service. The Seahawks were obligated to negotiate with those charter bus companies.

 The Seahawks received one bid which included an increase in passenger fares by $14.  In addition, the bid did not include approvals to use roadways, park-and-ride lots and staging areas that are necessary to operate the service safely and effectively.”

So, in effect we have one charter bus company that throws the Seahawks a bid, that in my opinion, is no better than a game day interception and we the fans are now stuck trying to find alternative transportation to the games.

What will the impact be to all of the Eastside fans or the rest of the regions fans?  The Seahawks give the following suggestions and again I quote from the email:

“For those impacted fans, the Seahawks recommend using regular Metro service, Sound Transit ST Express buses and the Sounder Train.  ST Express buses offer transportation from areas throughout Pierce, King and Snohomish counties with service every 30 minutes and stops within three blocks of Qwest Field.”

I looked on the Metro web site and the transportation options for Kirkland aren’t great.  They did, however,  make the comment that this restriction currently is effecting only the pre-season games and a decision has not been made about regular season games.  Based on what I found for normal bus service from Kirkland to Qwest field we need to hope someone will figure that the bus service is critical to all the fans for easy ingress and egress to the stadium.  One bus (the 255) every 30 minutes to the field and one every hour after the game is not going have the capacity to move all of Hawk fans back to the Kirkland area. 

I would really like to know what bus company forced the Seahawks hand and wish more media was aware of this potential gridlock making problem.

I am not sure what can be done at this point and not sure how handcuffed the Seahawks are by this new FTA ruling.  I assume they are working diligently on the problem but wanted to make your readership aware of what this might do to traffic should nothing get changed.

Let’s just hope this only impacts the pre-season and by the time the regular season rolls around someone figures out a solution to this problem and keeps the cars off the road and in the Park & Ride lots where they belong.

Just imagine if this same scenario happened at Husky Stadium!  Not a pretty picture.

Thanks,

Steve Shinstrom

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