Parkers are welcome in both General and Terminal Direct parking at the main terminal airport garage. Terminal Direct parking at Sea-Tac Airport offers the most convenient access to the airport terminal and quick connection to Link Light Rail. You’ll park on the 4th floor of the airport garage, an easy walk to the pedestrian bridge leading to the SeaTac/Airport station.

Parkers MUST present a Seafair $10/day parking coupon to a cashier upon exiting the airport garage. Parkers must enter the garage after 6 a.m. and leave before midnight. Parkers without a coupon will not be granted the $10 all day rate. A separate coupon will be needed for each day. Coupons can be found on the Seafair webpage as well as the Port of Seattle/Sea-Tac Airport Parking webpage.

The promotion will last during the weekend’s Seafair events August 5, 6, & 7.

Catch Link Light Rail on the Terminal Direct parking level and travel to the Othello Station, where a shuttle will transport you to the Seafair events on Lake Washington. Parking in the Airport Garage is a perfect way to make the connection to Link Light Rail and stay out of the traffic hassles on Seafair weekend.

Fans riding Link to the Seafair events can skip any post-game ticket lines by purchasing a round trip ticket ahead of time or by using an ORCA card from any ticket vending machine before boarding.

The Port of Seattle announced this week that Sea-Tac Airport is expanding its half-price parking offer to include all weekend Mariner, Seahawk, Sounder and Husky game days to connect with Link Light Rail.

Here’s the rest from a press release:

The 50 percent discount applies to parking in Terminal Direct on Friday, Saturday and Sunday games at Qwest and Safeco Fields, and it begins with this weekend’s home opening series for the Seattle Mariners.

Terminal Direct parking at Sea-Tac Airport offers the most convenient access to the airport terminal and quick connection to Link Light Rail. You’ll park on the fourth floor of the airport garage, an easy walk to the pedestrian bridge leading to the SeaTac/Airport Station.

During 2011-12 Mariner, Seahawk, Sounder and University of Washington Husky football home games, customers parking in Terminal Direct will enjoy a $2 per hour rate, 50 percent off the regular rate. The discount period begins three hours before game time and is a way to avoid traffic congestion and the hassle of downtown parking.  Discounted parking is available for up to eight hours and will automatically be credited at the special rate when you exit the airport parking garage. A minimum stay of three hours is required and you must park in Terminal Direct.

Catch Link Light Rail on the Terminal Direct parking level and travel to the Stadium or International District Stations, where you’re an easy walk to Qwest or Safeco Fields.  The airport’s Terminal Direct parking is a perfect way to make the connection to Link Light Rail.

Again, the special parking rate is valid for all Mariner, Seahawk, Sounder and UW Husky football home games. The discount will apply if you arrive to park at Terminal Direct within three hours before game time and stay a minimum of three hours, up to a maximum of eight hours.

Fans riding Link to the game can skip any post-game ticket lines by purchasing a round-trip ticket ahead of time or by using an ORCA card from any ticket vending machine before boarding. The round- trip fare from SeaTac/Airport station on Link Light Rail to the Stadium Station is $5.

The second annual “No Pants! Light Rail Ride” is coming this Sunday, Jan. 9th, from 3pm – 6pm, sponsored by Emerald City Improv, which encourages link light rail riders to ‘drop trou’ and ride like nothing’s going on.

This public prank is open to everyone, and to participate, you simply just show up, pay your fare, get on board and take your pants off while riding Sound Transit’s Link Light Rail; just be sure to wear a non-revealing undergarment of some kind.

Most pantsless pranksters are gathering just before 3pm at Westlake Center in downtown Seattle, but we encourage our Readers to buck that trend by boarding either at the SeaTac or Tukwila stations sometime between 3pm – 6pm, and riding the other direction. We think this will allow for more surprising reactions from unsuspecting travelers, and after all, humorous reactions is what this entire prank is about.

We also encourage everyone to take photos and/or video (without being too obvious) and email them to us for posting after the event.

This is affiliated with the “No Pants Subway Ride,” which is a global event started by Improv Everywhere in New York in 2002.

We sent our crew out in 2010, and here’s a video we produced of the event (read our coverage of last year’s event here), starring the frequently-pantsless Bart Bryan along with numerous other whimsical locals:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Here are other videos from last year:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Here are the event details:

WHAT: Second annual No Pants! Link Light Rail Ride.

WHEN: Sunday, Jan. 9th from 3:00pm – 6:00pm.

WHERE: Most are meeting just before 3pm at Westlake Center in downtown Seattle, but that’s not a requirement; in fact, we discourage our Readers from starting there, as you will have to wait to board the trains, plus, you’ll be stuck with dozens, if not hundreds, of other “No Pants!” riders. If you board from the SeaTac or Tukwila stations, we think you’ll most certainly garner a stronger reaction from unsuspecting riders.

INFO: Created by Emerald City Improv, Luke Greenway

From their website:

** Invite your friends!! **

Emerald City is proud to announce that we will again be having a No Pants! Light Rail Ride, as part of Improv Everywhere’s 10th annual No Pants Subway Ride. Cities around the globe participate. This year’s event will take place on Sunday, January 9th.

REQUIREMENTS FOR PARTICIPATION:

1. Willing to take pants off on light rail
2. Able to keep a straight face about it (or at least try really hard)
3. Wear non-offensive underwear
4. Pay your fare
5. Bring a small bag or backpack to put your pants in during the event.

WHERE TO MEET: MEET AT 4TH AVE AND PINE ST, across from Westlake Center, a little before 3pm.

After the event: right now we are planning to meet at Fox Sports Grill again this year to talk about all of our stories over a beer. It was a great time last year.

IMPORTANT NOTE: You may NOT wear any revealing or “skimpy” clothes. If deemed too revealing, we will ask that you put your pants back on. This includes thongs, jock straps, ass-less chaps, whitey-tighties that can be seen through etc. Please use common sense.

Check out last years media page here.

Last year’s facebook event may be found here.

Questions? Contact:

Kelsey Wildstone
Cell: 206-913-1140
Kelsey@EmeraldCityImprov.org

Luke Greenway
luke@emeraldcityimprov.org

The Port of Seattle announced this week that it will be offering a 50% parking discount for Mariners fans who want to park and take Link Light Rail to Safeco Field during the team’s initial homestand, which begins Monday, April 12.

Fans can park on the fourth floor of the airport garage for a discounted $2 per hour, then walk to the rail stop, beginning as early as Monday’s (April 12) home opener. The bargain rate begins two hours before game time, and lasts up to eight hours.

The cost for round trip fare from the SeaTac/Airport station on Link Light Rail to the Stadium station is $5.

The Port says that fans “will automatically be credited at the special rate when you exit the airport parking garage,” but we’re not sure how that works.

The special parking rate is valid for the Mariner’s first homestand, which runs from Monday April 12 to Wednesday, April 21:

• April 12 3:40 p.m.
• April 13 7:10 p.m.
• April 14 7:10 p.m.
• April 16 7:10 p.m.
• April 17 6:10 p.m.
• April 18 1:10 p.m.
• April 19 7:10 p.m.
• April 20 7:10 p.m.
• April 21 7:10 p.m.

For more information, visit the Port’s website here.

We know there are no excuses for posting this video so late, as the event took place last Sunday (Jan. 10th), but, um…we left our Flip camera in our other pants, and since we weren’t wearing any to begin with…

Actually, we hate to just throw up lame raw video, and editing takes time, and um…there’s that whole “other pants” thing again.

But first, a little interesting behind-the-scenes backstory:

Two days before the pantsless prank, we received the following email from Emerald City Improv‘s Kelsey Wildstone:

First, please remember that we’re trying to be inconspicuous here.

If you’d like to film the event with a motion camera, try to find a way to disguise your camera in a box or something to make it a sort of “hidden camera”.

Use some creativity here, but the point is that we’d like to avoid people seeing you openly point a camera around.

Considering that we respect the fine art of successful pranking, and that our Publisher used to work on a hidden camera TV show (“Totally Hidden Video,” Fox), we wanted to abide by this request (unlike some local TV news stations who just showed up and shot with their huge cameras and “Reporters”). The end result was that our shooter Mark Neuman went out of his way to “disguise” our Flip camera thusly:

Mark discovered that the Flip cam fit nicely inside an empty coffeecup. Just don't put it in a full one...

A little bit of cloth and tape secured the cam in tight.

...and with a hole cut in the side, it's hidden camera time!

Okay, so here it is (finally!)…with video shot by Neuman, featuring Bart Bryan, edited by Scott Schaefer and featuring the groovy public domain hit “Midnight Special” recorded by some long-dead dude named Bill Cox in 1933, ironically during the last Great Depression when not wearing pants wasn’t a prank, it was a way of life:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Also, we were very curious to find out what the MuckyMucks at SoundTransit thought of this pantsless prank, so we sent an email to Andrew Schmid, Sound Transit Media Relations director –here’s his response:

Q: Was ST aware beforehand that this was going to happen?
A: No, we were totally caught with our… (unless you lack internet access, it was almost impossible to not know about this event).

Q: Did ST security goes pantsless?
A: No.

Q: Was security worried about this prank at all?
A: Slightly – our security is worried about everything.

Q: Did this event increase ridership? if so, by how much? (have any estimate on the # of pantsless?)
A: Yes, but the infrared technology on Link’s Automatic Passenger Counting machines is not designed to distinguish between the pant-sed and the pants challenged.

Q: Will ST tolerate future events like this?
A: So long as folks follow our code of conduct (read it here).

Q: Will ST ever sponsor future events like this?
A: No.

Q: How about creating some ST underwear for folks to wear?
A: Sorta already been done – see this.

Q: Did you, or any other ST officials, attend?
A: NO COMMENT

And in case you haven’t seen the other videos, here they are:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

by Theresa Frasch

I emailed the link from The B-Town blog to my friend Pam a few days ago and said, “You are the only one I know that would do this with me. Want to?” After a little cajoling and the promise of boxers, she and her daughter agreed.

We were in the first group to get on the light rail. Everybody was assigned different stops to “de-pant.” We were stop number two. There were two guys sitting in our section looking very nervous. One of them said to the other, “I don’t think I’m going to be able to do this.” I asked which stop they were and he said, “Two.” “Well, so are we – so we’ll all do it at the same time. Remember, when the doors close”

At stop number two we were prepared. Just as the doors were closing and we were preparing to de-pant we heard a lady walking toward us. She was saying, “That is highly inappropriate.” She walked through our car repeating that phrase as we were taking our pants off. Guy number two lost his nerve! He regained it at stop number three with a little help from his new found friends.

All five of us got off at the Beacon Hill stop to mix it up a little and wait for the next train. That was pretty safe – it was underground. Then we got off at Columbia City – out in the real world, but still pretty protected. The ultimate test was the Rainier Beach stop – right in the middle of the street, nowhere to hide, traffic coming from both directions.

The train was rolling to a stop. We girls said we were going to do it. The guys said they weren’t. I told them they’d regret it if they didn’t. “Next year,” they said. The doors opened. “Come on,” I said. They protested. Finally I grabbed one and just pulled him out the door with us and the other one followed. We had so much fun watching the passersby faces! When we got back on for our final destination our new friends thanked us for “making” them go with us.

Thanks to Emerald City Improv for giving us such a good laugh and a chance to have some fun.

Here’s a Photo Slideshow of Sunday’s “No Pants!” pics, taken by various Flickr Photogs:

Click to View Photo Slideshow

Here’s a video from today’s “No Pants!” Subway ride in NYC:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Read our other coverage here.

Sea-Tac Airport will be offering a special discount for Seahawks fans, with a 50% discount on Terminal Direct parking for the final home game on Sunday, Jan. 3rd versus the Tennessee Titans.

The idea is to allow affordable parking and encourage fans to take Sound Transit’s Link light rail from SeaTac to the “Stadium” stop near Qwest Field for just $2.50 each way.

According to a press release received Wed., Dec. 30th:

Sea-Tac Airport offers special parking rate for Hawks Fans

$2 per hour in Terminal Direct for football fans connecting with Link light rail

Seattle-Tacoma International Airport invites fans to score a “TD” with a 50% discount on Terminal Direct parking for the Seahawks final home game Jan. 3 versus the Tennessee Titans.

Terminal Direct parking at Sea-Tac Airport offers the most convenient access to the airport terminal and quick connection to Link light rail’s new SeaTac/Airport Station. You’ll park on the 4th floor of the airport garage, an easy walk to the pedestrian bridge leading to the Link station.

On Jan. 3, customers parking in Terminal Direct will enjoy a $2 per hour rate if they arrive between the hours of 8 a.m. and 1 p.m. – plenty of time to experience the quick, convenient ride from SeaTac/Airport Station to stations near Qwest Field. Terminal Direct tickets during that time period will automatically be credited with the discount rate when you exit the airport parking garage.

Hawks fans riding Link to the game can skip any post-game ticket lines by getting an ORCA card from any ticket vending machine before boarding. ORCA cards can be used like cash or as a transit pass on trains, buses or ferries throughout the region. For a limited time, cards are available with no card fee. Starting Feb. 1, a standard adult or youth ORCA card will cost $5. ORCA – One Regional Card for All – will replace about 300 various passes, tickets and transfers with a single smart card. ORCA’s replacement of most paper transfer slips on Jan. 1 means ORCA can help riders avoid paying full price when they transfer. More information on ORCA is available at http://www.orcacard.com

The opening of SeaTac/Airport Station on Dec. 19 means easier access to ORCA and to Link light rail for thousands of visitors, commuters, and Sea-Tac Airport employees. Sound Transit and the Port of Seattle collaborated on the Airport Link project which included the new light rail station, pedestrian bridges connecting the station to the airport parking garage and a pick-up and drop-off area to the east serving the city of SeaTac. The Port also relocated and upgraded the Airport Expressway and the Return-to-Terminal roadway loop. A ride from SeaTac/Airport Station to Westlake Station is 36 minutes and costs $2.50.

More information available at Sound Transit’s website here.

Click to View Michael Brunk’s Photo Slideshow

From Sound Transit’s website:

The extension of the popular light rail service means holiday travelers will have a reliable, one-seat ride between downtown Seattle, the city of SeaTac and the airport, taking only 36 minutes. This new station provides a smooth, green travel option for the 20,000 people who work at the airport and the 30 million who travel in and out of it every year.

The SeaTac/Airport Station is connected to the fourth floor of the airport’s main parking garage. A covered, level walkway separated from the main parking area will lead passengers to the main terminal. Station amenities include boarding pass kiosks, and in the near future, a flight time information display.

The first 13.9 miles of Link opened in July with service between downtown Seattle and Tukwila. Link service runs from 5 a.m. to 1 a.m. Monday through Saturday and from 6 a.m. to midnight on Sundays.

SeaTac/ Airport Station opens just in time for the holidays: Sound Transit is the official transportation sponsor for The Radio City Christmas Spectacular, starring the Rockettes.

For Central Link light rail service info, visit http://www.soundtransit.org/linkschedule

Artworks at the station
The new Sea-Tac Airport Station features four art installations. “Flying Sails,” by artist Werner Klotz, spans the mezzanine and platform levels of the station. The plates feature the names of First Nation tribes from Washington state and cities from around the world that share the latitude or longitude of Seattle.

Other works include Fernanda D’Agostino’s “Celestial Navigation” at the International Blvd. plaza; Christian Moeller’s “Restless” along the International Blvd. pedestrian bridge; and an exhibit on Northwest tribal culture on the mezzanine’s north end. The interpretive exhibit by Pacific Studios showcases a cast concrete canoe, and a display explaining the history of the Native American presence in the Puget Sound region.

Friday morning (Nov. 13th), Sound Transit announced that its brand new Link Light Rail train station at Sea-Tac Airport will open at 10am Saturday, Dec. 19th.

This new station will expand the system from the current end-of-line Tukwila stop that opened in July, and will provide travelers the ability to travel from downtown Seattle (or other locations along the line) directly to the airport.

Prior to its Dec. 19th opening, in order to get to the airport, riders must board a Metro bus in Tukwila. Now they can just ride along to the final stop.

“With the opening of the airport line in December, Sound Transit is giving a gift to holiday travelers by providing a fast and easy connection to downtown Seattle,” Senator Patty Murray said at Friday’s ceremony.  “We made history in July by opening the doors of light rail to the public and since that time our region has enjoyed a new convenient, environmentally-friendly, and low-cost way to get around.  This new line will continue to seamlessly connect our region’s transportation system like never before.”

The new station is located near the main airport parking garage, by the intersection of So. 176th Street and International Blvd., and includes a skybridge that will connect pedestrians to the airport ticketing concourse.

Some of the art installed at the new Sea-Tac station. Photo courtesy Sound Transit.

By 2020, Sound Transit is projecting that approximately 3,000 riders are expected to board trains daily at the Airport Station every day.

The next big phase of this project will be a $1.9 billion tunnel that will reach the University of Washington by 2016. Voters have also approved spending $18 billion more to extend lines stops in Federal Way, Lynnwood and Redmond.

According to spokesman Bruce Gray, train testing will begin Monday, No.v 16th between the Rainier Beach Station and the new airport stop.

Adult fare to downtown Seattle is $2.75, one way.

So far, ridership on the recently opened Seattle-Tukwila line has averaged around 16,100 per weekday in October, showing growth but still 10,000 short of the number projected for late 2010.

Story by Ralph Nichols
Photos & Video by

With Sound Transit’s Link light rail trains running at last between Tukwila and downtown Seattle, it was time to experience this new commuter option. So with my girlfriend, I boarded a train for a round trip from the South 154th Street station late on a busy Seafair Saturday afternoon.

With lots happening downtown, we weren’t surprised to find the station’s main parking lot full. (Tukwila has Link’s only free park-and-ride lot, like those at several Metro bus stops around King County, although there is private paid parking near the Beacon Hill station.) But there were a number of empty spaces at the overflow parking lot across the street.

Five minutes after parking, we bought our tickets – $5 per person for the round trip – and one minute later boarded a train that had just come in. With trains running from Tukwila every 10 minutes at that hour, this gave us 9 minutes to look around on the inside before our journey north.

Each $4 million electric-powered car, with electricity from overhead wires, is 95 feet long – three times longer than one of Metro’s articulated buses. Each car can seat 74 passengers and accommodate a total of 200 riders with standing room only, and each train consists of two cars. The trains travel at a maximum speed of 55 mph on the elevated track near Tukwila and at 35 mph on the ground.

The train doors closed – rather quickly it seemed – at 5:50 p.m. Soon it pulled out of the station, right on time. Less than half a mile down the track, we agreed the ride was not as smooth as expected; still, the vibration isn’t bad at all. And the train moves along at a steady clip without delays for vehicles when streets intersect with the tracks.

Station stops took far less time than I expected. Passengers got on and off with ease and without delay, and we moved right along. Here is how our station stops went:

5:59 p.m. – Arrived at the Rainier Beach station.

6:00 – Depart.

6:02 – Othello station.

6:03 – Depart.

6:06 – Columbia City station.

6:07 – Depart.

6.10 – Mount Baker station.

6:10 – Depart … and head into the tunnel under Beacon Hill.

6:12 – Beacon Hill (tunnel) station.

6:13 – Depart … and back into daylight.

6:15 – SODO station.

6:15 – Depart.

6:17 – Stadium station.

6:18 – Depart … and enter the downtown bus tunnel.

6:20 – International District/Chinatown station.

6:21 – Depart.

6:23 – Pioneer Square station.

6:23 – Depart.

6:24 – University Street station.

6:25 – Depart.

6:26 – Westlake station, the end of the line.

Twenty-six minutes from Tukwila to midtown Seattle via the Rainier Valley. Not bad.

When we left Tukwila, there were about 12 riders in our car including us. Picking up more riders at most stations along the route (none at a couple), usually ranging from an additional 6 to 12 at each stop, our car was almost full of seated riders by the time we reached Westlake. No one had to stand. As we stepped off the train, it looked like its other car had carried about the same number.

Getting from the train to street level – at Pine Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues just below Nordstrom – is easy, as is returning to the train, which we did about an hour later. On the return trip, which took the same time, only 16 people were riding in both cars and only 8 beyond the Mount Baker station. It is logical to assume, given the number of cars still in the parking lot when we got back to Tukwila, that southbound ridership was much higher after events wrapped up downtown and people headed home.

Above ground, the view from a train car ranges from interesting, even scenic, along the elevated track north of the Tukwila station to very drab through part of Rainier Valley not far up the line.

A trip on Link light rail is comparable to a ride on Portland’s MAX, although a good stretch of that line parallels Interstate 84 – the major highway into that city – rather than winding through nearby neighborhoods along the way.

Sound Transit has reported that Link light rail carried an average of 12,000 riders per weekday in its first five days of regular paid service, and 16,900 riders on July 25 and 15,100 on July 26 during the first big Seafair weekend, when both the Mariners and Sounders also were in town.

With service on to Sea-Tac International Airport scheduled to begin in December, Sound Transit projects 26,600 one-way trips daily (13,300 round trips) along its 16-mile light-rail route by the end of 2010. The current trip from Tukwila to Seattle is 14 miles.

A footnote about our trip: While the actual travel time from Tukwila to Westlake was a reasonable 26 minutes, it took another 9 minutes to drive from my home and park, then another 14 minutes to get into the station, buy tickets, board a train and wait for it to depart. Riders who take light rail from other stations must walk, ride a bicycle or take a bus to get there since they have no park and ride lots.

Convenience, including time and destination, may be the determining factor for riding light rail for many commuters. I might take light rail from Tukwila to a Mariners game or dinner in the International District, but would not do so from, say, Columbia City due to lack of parking. At the same time, I probably would drive to SODO to shop or the Othello community to go to the park.

Regardless, once you’re moving on a light rail train, it’s a comfortable trip in good time to your stop. Still, at $2.3 billion for this line, it’s one expensive commute for the convenience it affords.

If you haven’t yet ridden Link light rail, here’s a video by Oran Viriyincy:

This section, approaching Tukwila Intl. Blvd., has the steepest grade in the system. You can hear the motors as the train climbs.

So…have YOU ridden Link light rail yet? Please take our poll or Comment below…