The shiny new Sound Transit Link light-rail system stretches 14 miles, taking passengers from downtown Seattle and eventually stopping at Sea Tac airport by the end of the year. (lightrailblogger news on the debut here)

Passengers can connect with the light rail system by bus.  People could even ride their bikes to hook up with a train.  And of course, you could always hoof it to the nearest station.

However people in Seattle may want to think twice before taking their cars in hopes of parking at or near a station
considering there’s only one park and ride.  One.

People in Phoenix are probably scratching their heads as they read this.  Only one park and ride?   Here in the Valley, park and ride lots are built to get people off the road and onto mass transit.  The lots are a place to meet up with co-workers, and hopefully carpool into work.  Transit leaders here have reason to believe this takes one less car off the road.

“I don’t see building parking lots as getting cars off the road,’”  says Steve Ray, spokesperson for Sound Transit, who explained this intriguing concept in the Pacific Northwest.  Does Seattle know something the rest of us don’t?

“There are established bus routes and other alternative transportation modes for getting to the light rail.”  says Ray.  He points to the transportation modes mentioned above.

For years, the Seattle Transit Blog has followed everything rail.  STB’s Ben Schiendelman points out Seattle has high density zoning around all their stations, so there’s no point in having park and ride lots.

“People are really curious about how they’re going to get to these stations,” says Schiendelman.  “People who are excited about light rail, and not about buses, want to ride the train.  But they are not interested in riding the bus to get there, so these people really want park and rides.”

After thinking about it, the concept is logical, but could something like this work in Phoenix?  Weigh in and post your answer below.

Sound Transit has been testing the trains around Seattle for several weeks, however this was the first time the general public was able to ride the latest light rail system in the United States.

“I think it’s just incredible,” says Seattle resident Sherilee Alexander.  ”It’s really smooth, I’m really impressed!”

Alexander is one of tens of thousands expected to take part in the opening weekend festivities.  Read more in the Seattle Transit Blog here and see the KING 5 coverage here.

The 14 mile system was more than a decade in the making and cost more than $2 billion to build.  Just as in Phoenix, the system didn’t come without some setbacks.  Many taxpayers were apprehensive to shell out millions of dollars to construct the line.

The Link Light Rail system will end at Sea-Tac airport by the end of the year.

One woman I spoke with says she was upset the line comes close to her home, but not close enough to warrant schlepping suitcases during a 15 minute walk to the nearest station in her neighborhood.

On the other hand, Alexander says she can take a bus downtown and then eventually she will be able to take the train to the airport.

The last system to make a debut in the United States was the system in Phoenix, Arizona.  As you may recall, I started this blog because of the Phoenix debut and covered the inaugural trip here.

Stepping out of reporter mode for a second – what an amazing day for Seattle!  I couldn’t help but think of all the emotions the day light rail started carrying passengers along the streets of Phoenix, Tempe, and Mesa back in December.

Today was like Christmas in July for the state of Washington.  The look on the faces of people riding the Link light rail was priceless. I’m happy for the city and wish you much success in extending the line.

Below you will find my favorite features of the line.  For example, I totally dig the design of every station and how architects incorporated the surrounding landscape – like in the steel and glass structure at the Mount Baker station…

The inside of the trains were similar to those in Phoenix…

Love the ‘oh shit!’ handles – we could use some of those on METRO / Valley Metro trains!

The seating is basically the same as in the Phoenix trains – with the exception of a glass divider between sections here in Seattle…

At every stop, passengers were leaning out the doors for a brief second to snap shots of the stations…

And taking pictures from the inside…

Snapping shots of points of interest along the route – like this public art display – poles for the trains which appeared to be designed to look like trees (??)

Meanwhile – indulge me here for a second – check out this lucky shot below!!  I wasn’t paying attention to the design features of the station.  Just as the doors were about to close I stuck my arm out and snapped this picture.  Freestylin’ photography FTW!!!  :)

Anywho, the best part about today was seeing all the happy Seattleites welcoming their new light rail system.  Cheers, Seattle!

For more news and information about Sound Transit click here, and click here to learn about transportation choices.

My mom and I are off to do a city tour, but I wanted to post a couple of pictures I took this morning of the new Link Light-Rail system here in Seattle.

Everyone is so excited here about the new Link light-rail system.  The stations are beautfiul!  More on all that later today when I post about the nuts and bolts of the festivities.  Coming up tomorrow, I’ll talk about the interesting way Seattle is getting people to use mass transit instead of cars.  Ciao for now!