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Seattle's monorail wants you to weigh in on big changes

SEATTLE — Seattle Center and Seattle’s Monorail Services want to know: What would get additional people to hop on a train known more as a tourist destination than a crucial commuter step?

They’ve released a survey designed to “better understand some of the public’s opinion, usage, perception, and ultimately what ideas or what improvements they felt really resonated with them,” Monorail Services general manager Megan Ching said. The idea, she said, is to improve their experience and their access to the monorail.

The monorail was a marvel of the 1962 World’s Fair in Seattle and transported more than 8 million people during the six months of the big event. These days, more than 2 million people a year ride the rails.

Ching estimates about 350-400 a day are locals who use the train daily as part of their weekday commute.

“I’ve maybe used it one time in 30 years that I’ve been in Seattle,” Seattle resident Phillip Page confessed at Westlake station. “It just doesn’t seem very practical. It just doesn’t go that far, you know, from Seattle Center to downtown. It’s not substantial.”

So how does one combat that perception?

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“How do you shift people’s thinking, to take it from a tourist ride to part of the commute?” KIRO 7 reporter Linzi Sheldon asked.

“I think what it really comes down to is being able to inform people and remind them that we’re here,” Ching said. “Light rail is not coming to Seattle Center until 2036. So the monorail is a great way to connect from Westlake station to Seattle Center in the meantime.”

Ching said some changes are already happening: They have new ticketing systems coming online next month and will integrate ORCA cards next year.

The survey is also proposing improved connections to Link Light rail, station redesigns with features like an elevator from the monorail directly to street level at Westlake Center, and shorter wait times between trains.

That’s essential for mothers like Lis Christiansen, who takes her 17-month-old son, Elijah, to the Seattle Children’s Museum.

“The less clunky and more kind of streamlined the systems can be together, I think the better for us,” she said.

She added that the monorail and its connection to light rail could benefit from more advertising.

“I’m local,” she said. “I’ve been here for over 20 years. And I did not know that the two of them connected until a friend of mine showed me how that worked.”

Answers to the last question on the survey may reveal whether any of the work would really get more people on board. It asks, “If some of the changes described in the previous question were made, which of these options would be your first choice for getting to an event at Seattle Center?” It lists everything from driving and walking to buses and monorail to even ride-share.

Seattle resident Phillip Page was optimistic about the plans but skeptical about where the money for renovations might come from.

“It's quite possible I could slant toward no if it's really going to be tapping the taxpayer,” he said.

Survey results are expected in April and a feasibility study Ching said is funded by Seattle Monorail Services via its fares and federal funding will be released in May.

Ching said once they identify what people want, they can take a look at how much that would cost and pinpoint where that money could come from.