Friday, March 18, 2011

Adding A Walk in Mountlake Terrace

Studies have shown that transit users are more likely to get their daily recommendation of exercise than non-transit users. People are also willing to walk a little farther for high quality – as in frequent – transit service.

Mountlake Terrace riders will get both starting on Monday. The opening of the Mountlake Terrace Freeway Station means Seattle commuters there will go from walking across the parking lot to walking across I-5 (on a bridge) to catch a bus.

There will be three times more buses to catch there, and commuters will go from having primarily commute-hour only options to 15-minute service all day long.


Unfortunately, some of the riders who will have to walk further aren’t too happy about it. Canyon Park area bus riders went through a similar transition a few years ago. In both cases, keeping buses on the freeway saves transit agencies time – and money that’s in short supply .

It also costs riders time. But for myself, I think of that time getting to the bus stop as exercise, not added commute time. Remember hearing that even short bouts of 10 minutes of exercise can be good for you? It won’t take most people that long to walk to the Mountlake Terrace Freeway Station.

Enjoy the artwork along the way (some by local high school students, some by professionals).

4 comments:

  1. It's not the walk, but the stairs for the elderly that I'm concerned about...what's the plan for the elderly and handicapped?

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  2. The entire Mountlake Terrace Transit Center facility, including the freeway station, is handicapped accessible. There an elevator in the parking garage and elevators on each side of the freeway station to provide access to the platform.

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  3. More options? Yeah, the option to stand all the way downtown, or let several overcrowded coaches go by hoping for one with a few seats left. All that while standing in what is essentially a very noisy wind tunnel in the middle of the freeway. Yep, a fabulous "improvement" to my commute!

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  4. Thanks for sharing, it was interesting to read!

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