Seattle's King Street Station (felix_s, Wikimedia Commons)
Most people probably assume that Seattle, a green, progressive city that loves its transit and commuter rail, would be a national leader in multimodal connections. They’d be wrong.
Seattle’s issues may mirror those which pain advocates of multimodal connections in other locations around the country.
Seattle’s historic King Street Station (link to Wikipedia page) serves Amtrak, commuter trains, and a few intercity buses. It does not serve Greyhound, which has a facility across town. For years Greyhound resisted overtures to move to King Street station; other affected parties (Amtrak, BNSF, public officials) have had other priorities that took attention, and inhibited progress and collaboration. It also doesn’t serve QuickShuttle, a private operator with stops across town and at the airport.
Greyhound has now changed its tune, due to an eviction notice, and wishes to move to King Street.
The ultimately unsuccessful efforts of public officials to create a more robust multimodal station in the past, and the current, seemingly unenthusiastic attitude to the opportunity to preserve a Greyhound station in Seattle is chronicled by C.B. Hall in “Greyhound may test Seattle’s commitment to mass transportation,” in Crosscut. Hall also discusses the challenges inherent to the King Street facility.
Two neighboring cities show great examples of the possibilities to which Seattle could aspire and achieve. Portland, Oregon has incorporated a Greyhound station next to its historic train station. Everett, Washington, had the advantage of building an entirely new facility to accommodate trains and buses.
As Hall points out, the uncertainty of a Greyhound station in Seattle will test “Seattle’s professed love for coordinated public transportation.”
But it’s more than that. It’s also another test of our desire and will to have a transportation system that serves all segments of society. Having such a system is not exclusively an issue of funding.
Greyhound serves a different market. Will that service continue, and even improve with connections to other transportation modes, or will it slip away?
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