📓

Getting Around: Seattle, WA

✔️

Seattle Essentials

Buy and load an ORCA card when you arrive.
Bring cash, sometimes the machines don’t accept cards.
Tap when entering.
Transit app seems accurate.
$3 for the card, plus $3 per ride. Includes transfers for a couple hours.

October 2024, May 2025

Seattle light rail platform, train approaching toward us on left.

Airport to Downtown

Signage at SEATAC is limited. You’ll need to get to the 4th floor of the parking garage. This is between the arrivals and departures level (so when you’re in the airport, it feels like the 2nd floor, and isn’t marked 4 anywhere). There’s a skybridge. Some elevators were under construction, so I had to walk to the next one.

It’s a bit of a walk in the parking garage, depending on which terminal you’re in. About a 10 minute walk for me.

SEATAC airport parking garage, with people walking in the direction of “LINK Light Rail”

Walkway to LINK light rail in SEATAC parking garage.

ORCA machine at SEATAC

Bought an ORCA card at the machine. There was a line for machines, except for the one with a broken card reader that accepted cash only. I had cash, so I did that (RIP my double Amtrak points for transit).

Had to step back toward the entrance to tap for the ride. Not the best placement of readers.

LINK Light Rail

Riding LINK Light Rail from the airport to downtown was easy. The train was fast and efficient. Same/similar model as Minneapolis. Got crowded downtown, but manageable. Bike friendly.

View from LINK as it heads downtown

Bus

The ORCA reader is a bit low and to the right on the bus, and it’s black with a black screen. I didn’t see it at first. There are three other readers in the usual “fare reader” area, none of which are for ORCA.

Once the bus driver pointed me to the reader, it worked without issue.

Some of the buses are trolleybuses. They’re electric, and run with overhead wires. Really environmentally friendly, but some people don’t love the wires.

Two buses in downtown Seattle, connected to overhead wires.

Trolleybuses in downtown Seattle and their overhead wires.

Looking uphill on sidewalk on a steep hill in suburban Seattle. Street at left, with green city bus and overhead wires.

Bus took me up a fierce hill heading to the Queen Anne neighborhood.

Bus came fairly quickly (a couple minutes behind Transit app estimates), stop was well labeled, bus was efficient and not too crowded. Good experience.

Streetcar

Seattle also has streetcars. They’re pretty standard, similar to Tacoma and Portland. Good accessibility.

Streetcar near downtown

Inside Seattle streetcar, looking down at the area that can extend into a wheelchair ramp.

We love to see a good ramp

Plaza in downtown Seattle. Streetcar in background with open doors.

End of the line, downtown

Monorail

Transit-wise, Seattle is most famous for having a monorail. It’s still running. It goes from downtown to the science center and back, no intermediate stops.

Monorail train passing overhead

Monorail at the station

Inside Seattle monorail, with several passengers, facing forward. City visible through side and overhead windows.

Inside the monorail. I really love the windows on the ceiling; transit should have more of that.

It’s a fun ride, though it kinda feels like it’s there for nostalgia more than anything. It’s fast, and the ride is kinda rough. You go up and down a bit between each pillar, and the turns bank pretty heavily.

Transfers

Transfers were very generous. When you tap in, it seems like you get unlimited rides for a couple hours. I took a train, got a burger, fries, bubble tea, and samosas, and walked around for about an hour, then got on a bus. The bus ride was free, still within the transfer window.

💡

There’s an app, Transit GO Ticket. It’s messy and more expensive. May have a use case for locals but not for visitors.

Google Pay is also now an option, apparently. Have not tried it.

🥇

I could pay easily: 4/5

I could find where it stops: 4/5

It came at a reasonable time: 5/5

It went where I want: 5/5

I liked riding it: 5/5

Home

🚎Transit: Getting Around