Abstract The Seattle Monorail is the first of its kind in many respects. Indeed, it is the first commercial monorail that is entirely complete and full-scale in nature. It is also effective in that it passes through or near many of the important landmarks of Seattle. The system is effective in that it passes by several important hubs of the city every ten minutes or so. There are also effective connections to many of the cultural and theatrical experiences of the city. Entertainment and fun are also parts of the city that are effective connected to by the monorail. The system serves as an example of a fully functional and fully featured system that helps people connect to their work, transportation and entertainment needs or preferences while at the same time being controlled properly in terms of costs, resources and so forth.

The Seattle Monorail in many ways serves as an example of how to install and implement a transportation system that serves the public. Since traditional subways and other subterranean transportation systems are not terrible practical to install in established cities, systems like trains, monorails and so forth are the way to go. The overall experience and feature set that the Seattle Monorail has are all great since the time it takes to travel, the costs involved and the overall performance metrics are all somewhat to very solid and advanced. Beyond all of the above, Seattle is very open and honest about how the system works, why everything is as it should be when it comes to how the system works and so forth. While there are some tradeoffs with all government-operated or ordained transportation systems, the Seattle Monorail is a very good example of such a system done well.

Analysis

General Information

The Seattle Monorail system stretches fairly far. Indeed, it goes from the Westlake Center Mall at 5th Avenue and Pine Street to the Seattle Center by the Space Needle. In between, there is only one stop. As such, having to memorize all of this does not take all that much of an effort. Getting lost is rather hard to do given the relative simplicity of the system. Hours of operation do flex based on whether there are certain events going on and/or the time of week. However, the general hours of the Monorail are from 7:30 am to at least 9 pm. When there are events or during the summer, the Monorail can be open as late as 11 pm. The only two “standard” days that the Monorail are closed are Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day. Beyond that, the monorail closes at 6 pm on Christmas Eve. However, the Monorail is open quite late on New Year’s Eve/Day. People that are out celebrating the new year should note that the Monorail remains open until 1 am, an hour after the turn of the new year. The main differences between summer/fall hours and the operations during January to April is that the Monorail is open two hours later on Sunday, until 11 pm rather than the usual 9 pm. The same is true for hours from Monday to Thursday. During the cold months, the monorail is only open until 9 pm. During the warm months of summer and fall, these hours stretch...

There are also “one-off” special events here and there that affect the hours. For example, on March 4th and March 26th of 2018, there is a “Unique Lives” lecture series at McCaw Hall. Due to that event, the Monorail will remain open until 9:30 pm instead of closing at its usual time of 9 pm. On the other end, the Monorail will open early on March 4th due to the Hot Chocolate 15k/5k that is happening on that day. In that instance, the monorail will open more than two hours early at 5 am (Seattle Monorail, 2018).
As noted before, the system is rather efficient. Trains depart the platform about once every ten minutes. This would be during regular volume times. When things are busier, the times of departure start happening at five-minute intervals. Once the ride starts, it only takes about two minutes to get from one platform to another. The system is handicap-accessible. There is an elevator for the disabled along 5th avenue between Olive and Pine. At the Seattle Center, there are ramps that allow for easy access. On the trains themselves, there are yellow gates that align with entrance points for wheelchairs. People that have dogs are also allowed on the monorail. The conditions associated with this include that the dog must be well-behaved and the dog must be on a leash. If the train is busy and crowded, it may be required that the dog be held on the lap of its owner. However, the website for the monorail is quick to note that there is no restriction on the use of service animals, as having such a rule would be contrary to regulations and laws on the books when it comes to the disabled and other people with service animals (Seattle Monorail, 2018).

Downsides

One thing that is not completely up to speed with the Monorail is payment. There is the open question from many as to whether the system accepts payment via One Regional Card for All (ORCA), King County Metro or Sound Transit cards. There is also the question as to whether people can pay via debit or credit cards. At this time, the answer to all of those queries is “no”. People must pay cash and they should also ensure that they have exact change when they wish to ride the Monorail. Further, there is no student discount for the Monorail unless one counts the group rates that can be procured in advanced. Unless prior application is made and students are traveling in groups, there is currently no discount to be had. Purchasing for large groups in advance is actively discouraged on the website unless the group exceeds 125 people. Short of having a group that large or student groups (as just mentioned), people are encouraged to buy tickets upon arrival. Something else that was mentioned before was that those purchases would need to be in cash as credit and debit cards are not accepted (Seattle Monorail, 2018).

Another downside is that the Monorail does not connect to Sea-Tac Airport, which is the major airport in Seattle. Sea-Tac stands for Seattle-Tacoma. That being said, people that take the Monorail to Westlake Center can then progress to the Downtown Seattle…