Seattle’s Monorail is still here, and it’s taking you to Climate Pledge Arena
Sep 10, 2021, 12:30 PM | Updated: 12:47 pm
Competitors run with the monorail and Space Needle in the background. This image has been converted to black and white. (Photo by Donald Miralle/Getty Images for Rock'n'Roll Marathon )
(Photo by Donald Miralle/Getty Images for Rock'n'Roll Marathon )
The Seattle Center Monorail is expanding its capacity in anticipation of Seattle Center’s Climate Pledge Arena’s Oct. 22 opening.
Coldplay will be grand opening for Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle
The opening is being celebrated with Coldplay’s return from a five-year touring hiatus. The Seattle Kraken hockey team will play their first home opener at the former Key Arena location Oct. 23 against the Vancouver Canucks.
The Monorail is currently closed for construction. Service will resume Saturday, Oct. 9.
Construction began Tuesday, Sept. 7, and will run through Friday, Oct. 8. Service will resume on Saturday, Oct. 9, at 11 a.m. Expanded hours of service will take effect Oct. 18, running between 8:30 a.m. and 9 p.m. daily.
“Hours of operation will be [further] extended for events at Climate Pledge Arena to provide transportation to and from Arena events,” reads an Aug. 31 Seattle Center Monorail release.
The construction involves $6.6 million of private capital investment. It includes infrastructure updates, among them added double system capacity, improved access in the form of passenger boarding through all eight doors, an increase in peak service capacity, and strengthening of the connection to light rail and the regional bus networks.
Trains without passengers start running on Northgate Link segment
It also improves the size of the passenger boarding area at Westlake. Passengers on the Monorail will be able to use their ORCA card for entry in the form of an updated fare gate system, representing a long awaited integration into King County’s ORCA transit network.
In theory, Kraken fans will be able to ride trains all the way from Northgate and Sea-Tac Airport right to the Seattle Center. Kraken season ticket holders have access to fully subsidized ORCA cards.
“Fans who ride the Monorail will be able to get from the Westlake station to the new arena’s front door in an average of five to six minutes, including a 90-second Monorail ride,” a news release from the Seattle Kraken outlines.
According to a Sound Transit project summary, the travel time from Northgate to Westlake station is an average 14 minutes.
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