Westbound trains approaching Overlake have been reduced to 20mph due to pedestrians not waiting for the warning lights to stop and/or trains to clear the crossing, resulting in a few near misses since the crosslake opening.
It should not affect the schedule.
And this is why a lot of us want police officers instead of a 3rd party security firm doing fare enforcement, regardless of your stance, there isn't anything security can truly do.
Rainier Beach Station
BelRed Crossing Panel Installation (May 2)
Buses replace 2 Line trains from start of service until noon between Spring District and Overlake Village stations for crossing system modifications near BelRed Station.
Pinehurst Construction Resumes (May 4-29)
Starting Monday, May 4, 1 Line trains will share a track between Northgate and Shoreline South and 2 Line trains will turn back south at Northgate starting at 8 p.m. for construction work at Pinehurst Station. This work is scheduled for weeknights from May 4 to May 29.
Tukwila Curve Maintenance (May 9-10)
Buses replace 1 Line trains between Rainier Beach and SeaTac/Airport on May 9 and 10 to accommodate work on the track and power systems near Tukwila International Boulevard.
Monthly Maintenance Window (May 26-28)
Buses replace 1 Line trains during late night hours between Angle Lake and Federal Way stations.
Crosslake Connection Planned Maintenance (May 30-31)
Buses replace 2 Line trains between International District/Chinatown and South Bellevue Station on May 30 and 31 for planned maintenance on the Crosslake Connection.
As an operator, we see all sorts of people on the train. We know things can be rough, we are equally tired of the consistent issues that comes with certain passengers on the trains. It does come with public transportation but seeing the positive changes from BART and SEPTA, along with discussions from other operators and passengers who ask us when gates might be installed, we get it. We don't like having odors coming into the cab, stepping over vomit, feces, urine on the seats, passed out folks or stopping trains for people fighting as much as the next person. It happens more than most people realize. It is a small part of why so many hours (which equals more costs) are spent on cleaning, security, and maintenance.
I have been looking at the new SEPTA and BART fare gates, both using similar quick opening, 5 to 7 feet tall automatic barriers, read the pros and cons, the cost, and the overall benefits.
For the fates, BART uses theirs at the station entrances, SEPTA uses theirs on the platform and entrances. I would never want a platform option as it kills the space available.
So where would it work at?
On the 1 Line, Stadium, Beacon Hill, Mt. Baker, and Tukwila to Federal Way could use the gates easily at the entrance of each station. SODO and MLK stations would need a modified single entry, single exit setup that would be ADA accessible because of the narrow pathways but that wouldn't prevent somebody from jumping the fence on the street side. A 5 foot plexiglass barrier would be needed to prevent people from hopping over the low profile fence currently installed to eliminate access from the road.
On the 2 Line, all stations except for East Main would be workable with EMS needing a modified entry point on the West end of the station. East end as an entry point that will be simple to install gates. Wilburton only has a single access point and is wide enough to have 1 or 2 entry points and a single wide exit point. All other stations have entry points that would easily allow BART style gates.
IDS is the only station that would need minor modifications to the flow of surface traffic and direct passengers thru the gates. With the elevators and stations next to each other, an entryway into the station with a glass surround may be the best method.
Pioneer Square to Westlake is simple enough and have the fare gates at the entrance or mezzanine level of the station. For Westlake, likely the mezzanine level only because of the direct surface to mezzanine access.
Capitol Hill to Lynnwood would be easy enough to install gates at their entrances with the exception of Shoreline South with its weird configuration that would need multiple locations to have the gates install at due to how the station was designed.
But what about Sounder?
The same principal applies, each station has multiple entry/exit locations and installing fare gates would be beneficial with a controlled access. While they do not have the amount of incidents on those trains, they still deal with fare evaders, and if it were to go to all day service, you can expect it to become more problematic.
So in our thoughts, what would this resolve? Less maintenance, additional revenue, better sense of security, more clean stations and trains. It would likely decrease the turnaround time for trains in Lynnwood and eventually, Mariner, bearing any mechanical enroute issues. It would reduce the overall need for security, though it would not nor should not eliminate it.
If farebox recovery helps, the payback is increased ridership and gives incentive to continue Sound Transit's expansion. That would mean using that money to continue improving the system as a whole or simply debt service.
Now I know this is all controversial and I get it, seriously. Transit should be available to all but doing so also brings the headaches that come with that. More and more agencies are moving to fare gates, not to just recover revenue but as stated above and as BART has proved, savings on personnel costs to be more focused on more important items in the system that should be taken care of. If it were up to me, this would've been done from day one after ST visited Vancouver's SkyTrain back in the Sound Move days.
Becoming an operator has been eye-opening for myself and many that have joined the ranks. On the bus side, we dealt with a lot, fare gates would never work on the bus but we can do something on the rail side to make things better and safer for everyone. Fare gates are only a small piece of the overall cog in the wheel but something *needs* to be done.