"Will I see you tonight,
on a downtown train..."
- Tom Waits, "Downtown Train" (1985)
For the past several months, since mid-June, I've been commuting to work by bike and train. I live in Seattle and work in Kent. Driving to work sucks because, well, driving sucks. And I found that riding the bicycle all the way in and then home every day was just a bit too tiring. It's a 38-mile ride, door-to-door, round-trip (19-miles each way) and by Friday I was shot (especially since that last full mile is all uphill). I discovered that Sound Transit started running one "reverse-commute" Sounder train from Seattle to Tacoma in the morning, and one returning in the evening.
The first stop on this line is Tukwila, which is just under 4 miles from the Raleigh offices, so it works perfectly for me. I ride about 3 miles from the house, downtown to Union Station on the edge of Chinatown, put the bike on the train to Tukwila, and then ride the rest of the way into work. Do the opposite on the way home. It's about 13 miles of riding a day, plus I get to take the train, which is one of my simple pleasures anyway. They have a niche at the end of each train car with room to tie up two bicycles, so it's a really great system. It's only $6.50/day for the round trip, and I'm saving a ton of cash on gas. I've only filled up my tank 4 times since the middle of June, and I've only driven into work about 5 times - most of those being when I had to take Kaiser to the vet, or pick him up. If I drove every day I'd have to fill the tank about once every six days...
The detriment is that the one train I can take leaves Seattle at 6:10am, so I've been getting up at 5:00 every morning and leaving the house by about 5:45. Luckily, the powers that be have decided to add one more reverse-commute train to the line, so starting Sept. 22, I will be able to catch a train at 6:50am - which is really nice since I won't have to leave the house "in the 5's" anymore. Coming home I catch the 5:24pm and get in to Seattle about 5:40, ride back up the hill and finally home right around 6pm. They will add a second train in the evening which I could catch around 6:15pm if I had to work late or something, but I don't anticipate using that one very much.
I still try to ride all the way in, or home once a week or so - but it's been nice to have the train option.
KJT - Seattle (2008)
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