(The following article by Emily Heffter was posted on the Seattle Times website on September 18.)
EVERETT, Wash. — Commuter-rail service between Everett and Seattle will increase by two round trips each weekday under a deal announced yesterday by Amtrak and Sound Transit.
Starting Oct. 1, FlexPass or UPass riders or commuters who buy at least a month’s worth of rides will be able to ride Amtrak Cascades trains between Everett or Edmonds and Seattle.
The new RailPlus service is in addition to the Sounder commuter train that has been making the trip for the past nine months.
The agreement is a pilot project and will be reviewed in a year.
Sounder officials hope the new service will boost stagnant ridership numbers on the north commuter trains, which were added last December with much fanfare but average only about 300 riders a day.
Common complaints about the Sounder service have been over the fact that there is only one round trip between Everett and Seattle each day.
The existing Sounder trip doesn’t make sense for many commuters: It gets to Seattle at 7:39 a.m. and leaves again at 5:13 p.m., not providing the flexibility workers often need in their schedules.
The new program, called RailPlus, was modeled after similar partnerships in California.
“It provides Snohomish County residents with more opportunities and more options,” said Snohomish County Executive Aaron Reardon. “They’re not stuck to the one schedule that currently exists.”
Barbara Gilliland, Sound Transit’s deputy director of transportation services, said she expects the 5:30 p.m. train leaving Seattle’s King Street Station for Everett to be the most popular. “I think we’re going to see a lot of people being able to take those trains,” she said.
Darrell Ash, a Snohomish County employee who commutes by van pool to Everett from the Richmond Beach area, was encouraged to hear a northbound morning train had been added. He said riding the train appeals to him because of the views and legroom.
“It was always my secret plan to abandon the van pool and ride the train,” said Ash, who could board the train in Edmonds for the trip to Everett.
But he won’t be leaving his van pool yet. A one-way commute isn’t convenient enough to woo him, he said. He could ride the train south from Everett in the evening, but not until after 8:40 p.m.
“I think clearly we need to continue to work to provide more options and provide more service,” Reardon said.
Sound Transit plans to add more trips in both directions, eventually providing four Sounder trains each way by 2007.
In March, the agency will consider allowing one-time riders to take the Amtrak trains.