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Seattle Area Transit Pictures


Erubisu

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Hey All,

So I don't have pics to share, but this seems like the best thread to ask questions about good spots to get pics. So...

I'll be visiting the Seattle area (FINALLY!) for a few days towards the end of April. Obviously I'm planning on trying to fan and get photos of KCM, CT, ST, and also some of the other regional systems.

Questions:

  • ETB action is one of my major interests for this visit as so far I haven't been able to really ride any ETBs aside from a couple at the Illinois Railway Museum. So what routes are the best bets for trolley rides and are there some goods spots for seeing a lot of trolley bus action/getting photos? Also one of the days I'll be around is a Saturday, is Saturday still a good day to trolley bus fan, or should I definitely plan on a weekday for that? Equipment wise, should I expect solid XT40/60 or might there still be some Bredas and Phantoms sprinkled in?
  • Are there any recommended spots in downtown Seattle to go to, or avoid, for getting bus photos? From the maps it looks like 2nd Ave and 4th Ave are major corridors for express routes. I'm assuming I would see a mix of KCM and ST on those.
  • For Community Transit are there any specific spots or routes where the D40i tend to be found, or are they randomly assigned, or just bench warmers at the base?
  • In general, are there any good terminals, transfer points, or stations with a decent amount of action and good photo ops? Any transit accessible garages/yards with good views of parked buses from the sidewalks?

I don't expect someone to do all my research for me, and I certainly plan to research routes and schedules quite a bit as I make my plans. I'm just trying to make the most out of the 3.5 days I'll be in the area, so any advice is appreciated.

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Weekdays are best for the trolley coaches, very few phantom's left, still a lot of Breda's around. That may change by the time you get there though. The #2 layover at Madrona is a good terminal (next to Lake Washington), the #3 terminal in Queen Anne is good spot as well. Downtown is good for all sorts of action, plenty of spots to be found there, also UW at 45th and Brooklyn is good as well (70, 43/44 trolleys) plus CT/ST and if you wander around the u district you will find peak and daytime service by ST and CT as well. The tunnel is always fun with a mix of coaches and light rail, just don't use any flash and don't linger. Overhead views can be had at Pioneer Square and University St Stations. In the past there has been some incident there, however last time I was there with a camera (not even taking pictures) they said just don't use flash and kept on going. 3rd is mostly local, 2/4th and 5th are express routes. I don't think any of the D40i's go into town anymore but I see them pretty regularly at the Everett Station. Most of the yards in the area while on the street usually have some kind of chain link fence blocking the view which make them difficult to photograph. there are several yards in SoDo (Atlantic/Central, Ryerson, ST and CT daytime storage yards). Bellevue Transit Center can have some variety, I have taken pictures there before but never lingered. You will find older KCM diesel phantoms, and even the proterras out there on a good day. In Downtown you can find a lot of layovers on the streets around Westlake ave, ST laying over on Eastlake ave, and surrounding areas, just walk around and you're sure to run into something. that's what I can think of off the top of my head. Just keep moving and you should not have any problems.

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If you want to ride the new XT60s, I would recommend staying around the U District. There's a lot of them prowling around there on routes 43 [soon to be peak-only, though], 44, and 49. You can track them with OneBusAway, mentioned somewhere else in this thread.

3rd Avenue is the key transit corridor and will have tons of trolleys for you to ride on.

If you want to see double-decker buses, stick to 4th and 5th avenues, where most of the Community Transit routes go.

The CT D40i do not get assigned all that often on downtown routes, sometimes on UW expresses. I would recommend taking the 512 up to Lynnwood Transit Center to get your D40i fix. They're used on a lot of routes coming out of there.

The ST Link Light Rail and ST Express bases on Airport Way are pretty easy to get to (a ride on the ever-exciting 124) and are pretty open with good fences that allow you to fit a DSLR lens through them.

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D40i rarely run into seattle anymore, Lynnwood TC and Everett Station are your best bet. 201,202,280 are pretty much always D40i

To see where specific buses are use this website http://pugetsound.onebusaway.org/where/standard/vehicle-status.action?vehicleId=1_2412

2412 is the fleet number so if you enter 4506 it will show you where that bus is running. Useful to track the Proterras and the XT60s.

There are roughly only 10 XT60s at Atlantic Base, so the Breda's will be around. There are still around 40 Gillig ETBs running currently, there should still be a decent amount in April.

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Thanks for all the feedback folks!

For Everett Transit, can I just expect Gilligs, or might there still be some V around during a typical weekday afternoon? Do they still run their D60 at all? Well actually I guess I should pull up that bus tracker and the Wiki rosters and start plugging some numbers :)

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Thanks for all the feedback folks!

For Everett Transit, can I just expect Gilligs, or might there still be some V around during a typical weekday afternoon? Do they still run their D60 at all? Well actually I guess I should pull up that bus tracker and the Wiki rosters and start plugging some numbers :)

There are usually a couple of V's running around during the day you just have to look for one, sometimes just play the waiting game at Everett Station if you have to. They can pop up anywhere so just keep your eyes peeled.

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I posted the pictures i took yesterday during the U link opening to my Flickr. I decided since it was a popular subject right now to go ahead and skip ahead and post them, i still have plenty more other photos including older, never before seen negative scans to post as i find the time.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/busdudedotcom/albums/72157663874291223

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  • 5 weeks later...
  • 3 weeks later...

Thanks again for all the tips everyone. I had a really nice time fanning the Seattle region. I was able to get a ton of photos and vids of King County Metro, Sound Transit, Community Transit, Everett Transit, Pierce Transit, Intercity Transit, plus a couple shots of a Skagit Gillig, the Port of Seattle car rental shuttles, and Seattle Streetcar. This was part of a larger trip which covered Seattle, Lynnwood, Everett, Tacoma, Vancouver, BC region, Victoria, Chilliwack, North Vancouver, Portland, Vancouver, WA, and Olympia. So it'll be a bit before I have everything up on Flickr from my trip :lol: Anyhoo, I do have photos from the first two days up, so I'll post some of my favs:

26774995791_94d8efa45a_t.jpg 26748054752_e82045fe23_t.jpg 26569063320_02e8796a8c_t.jpg 26841737695_5f7f5f1c3a_t.jpg 26807259606_410779b9f7_t.jpg 26747679072_27a99614a2_t.jpg 26568385580_c9c7f5b114_t.jpg 26806950356_cb3437f9a8_t.jpg 26553485840_bc3cc1b5c6_t.jpg 26220678774_69a1c8d8a0_t.jpg 26825810895_f637eaebc9_t.jpg 26220277034_6ef86e4a7c_t.jpg 26220968713_63695ddee2_t.jpg 26220571663_cd6a806f30_t.jpg 26220366313_c493114015_t.jpg 26220352053_188b63210f_t.jpg

The new XT40 are nice. I didn't get to ride an XT60 this time, I got Bredas when I was riding the University-DT routes. Yeah those Bredas are bouncy... XT60 will be a good upgrade. Also was able to ride one Phantom trolley, although not for too long. That one was pretty nice too though. I took the Link in from the airport, those Kinkisharyo cars are pretty solid and quiet, unlike the crappy Bombardiers we have. I only rode the First Hill streetcar line, it sort of seemed like a toy in a way with how short it was plus the slow speed, and those automated announcements were kind of irritating. There were a lot of people using it though. The way it's integrated into the streetscape seems well done.

Everyone seemed pretty friendly and cool with having pictures taken. The only place I really had any reaction on this trip was at the Olympia downtown station, one driver asked me what was with the pictures, but seemed to understand when I told him I like buses and seeing the different designs. Then he went and talked to the security guard for a few minutes, who then came over and asked if he could help me with anything. I told him no I was just taking a few pictures of the buses, and then he just stood there like he wanted me to go but couldn't say anything. So I told him I'd be going soon, which I was anyways, and he said alright, thanks and walked off. Considering how sketchy the transit center area was (saw one poor woman flipping out in a nearby parking lot likely due to drug withdraw) I can understand how someone purposely hanging around for a few minutes taking some photos would seem a bit odd. I still got some nice shots of Intercity Transit though, so whatever.

 

I'll get around to uploading more to my Flickr in the coming days/weeks. For anyone who's interested here are links:

Community Transit: Vehicles

Everett Transit: Vehicles

King County Metro: Vehicles

SEA: Vehicles

Sound Transit: Vehicles

Others will be added to this collection once I open specific sets for the systems: Transit in Washington

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  • 2 months later...
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Figured I'd show pictures of the two buses that I rode today on the MEHVA Fall Foliage Excursion!

First is the 1979 Flyer D900 Bus #1657

1657.JPG

And the Other is the 1990 Breda Dual-Mode #5034

5034.JPG

They also ran the 1977 MAN SG-220 #1455 but that was it, I was told they had an issue with the 4th bus they were going to pull out but they didn't specify which one, and unfortunately they didn't run any of the buses that were from the 60's or older ('68 GMC New Look or '63 Flxible New Look as examples)

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13 hours ago, 19adam99 said:

Just saw an all white, unmarked, New Flyer D60HF on I-5 Southbound on Mountlake Terrace.

Any ideas on what it is?

If I recall correctly, King County Metro purchased a few D60HFs from Everett Transit. That may be one of them before they receive a paintjob in King County Metro's color scheme.

It also could be an old Community Transit coach with its decals removed.

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28 minutes ago, anonymous guy said:

If I recall correctly, King County Metro purchased a few D60HFs from Everett Transit. That may be one of them before they receive a paintjob in King County Metro's color scheme.

It also could be an old Community Transit coach with its decals removed.

That would explain the, what seemed to be, 5 digits on the far back right window. I was heading Northbound while it was heading southbound, so I wasn't able to get a good look at it.

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The D60HFs were never put into service for KCM, and from what I saw were sold to KCM in full ET livery. They were at Ryerson base being used for parts and than moved to South Base.

Its more likely an ex CT unit, or possibly Minneapolis as they were mostly white with a stripe and their used buses seem to get around some.

 

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 9 months later...

Some random shots from my short 1 day visit to Seattle back in June:

35829386683_e12f16817f_t.jpg 36241820800_8378054825_t.jpg 36433718492_dee45974a8_t.jpg 36205872190_9128c7b1f2_t.jpg 36205886470_eaf16cef9b_t.jpg 36433676732_857f4fd8fd_t.jpg 36532710395_445a2738c3_t.jpg 36486576556_60034f1c34_t.jpg 35661201554_ff298441a3_t.jpg 35661200374_8cbc917a06_t.jpg 36496234645_e77afdee96_t.jpg 36099152250_5329811a87_t.jpg 35655155074_535e70bcc1_t.jpg 36444135666_bc349245cb_t.jpg 36444138366_1c167b0a69_t.jpg 36352680951_ff49abff4d_t.jpg 35573687764_a0ff63200e_t.jpg

I stayed down in Federal Way during my visit, was interesting to see how congested those HOV lanes on I-5 get. Are they even enforced? Still it was a nice ride on the 177 (or was it 178?) with a D60 in the morning, and then another nice ride on the 590 to Tacoma with a BRTPlus CNG in the afternoon. (Wow that bus could move!) LINK was a bit nicer experience this time around with every 10 frequency. Glad they keep your light rail cleaner than Metro does here. Our trains simply reek sometimes. Also had a chance to ride a DE60LFA on the A down to Federal Way TC. I took the LINK from DT to Tukwila, and then A down to Federal as there was no way I was going to try taking my giant suitcase on board the D4500 on the 577 from downtown, and apparently they aren't allowed to take anything underneath. Makes me wonder how they handle luggage at SEATAC on ST routes with D4500 though... Also managed to catch what appeared to be the lone Enviro500 (MMC) on the 512 to Everett during the AM. Very nice ride. Was sort of funny as I saw it coming up 5th and was thinking, alright! Then the lady waiting there says to me, ooh, we get the double decker! :lol: I guess they are pretty popular even among the non-enthusiast riders!

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7 hours ago, MVTArider said:

 Makes me wonder how they handle luggage at SEATAC on ST routes with D4500 though... 

They don't handle luggage at all on the Sound Transit MCI's in regular service. There was one time a few years ago when LINK was shut down, and they used the MCIs on a airport-downtown shuttle where the port of seattle did hire people to swing the bags, but that was the only time they have handled luggage.

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