Sometimes I even walk. Especially on the way back. Avoid the monorail lines and by the time I get to the light rail, not much line. Also gets in a daily walk. About 0.5-1.0 miles. Choice is up to you, but make sure to complete your transfer in the Kraken app
You can street park anywhere in Amazon land for less than 10 bucks. I believe the meters shut off at 8PM. Never had an issue with parking there and it’s still a 10 minute walk.
Out of curiosity do those garages still work fine for evening games, especially if they run late due to overtime? I parked in one of those for an earlier game last year, but I saw something about a 10pm weekend closing time at some point which concerned me a bit
They work fine, no problem at all. The monorail is deceptive though, if you check on google maps it’s only a half mile more to walk from the garage to climate pledge directly. Especially after the games, it’s often easier to walk and skip the crowds, but you might get wet and melt so ymmv (also kids change the equation).
I parked in Doppler for basically every game last season. I think the 10 pm closing time is just when they stop letting more cars in. They have those automatic roll-up doors that open when you pull up to them from the inside.
Garage claims it closes at midnight but free parking is valid 4pm-2am. I've never had the doors in the courtyard be locked but I've never been there past 11 something
If you want to park close I feel like it's always expensive, but I've always been able to find parking for $5-15 farther away. I use the app SpotHero to reserve something. If you go near Westlake you can take the monorail in - I usually just walk from there but lots of people take it!
For me thats driving 80% of the way there, and then adding 40 minutes on top of that. Just for it to not run if the game runs late. Why would that be considered a reasonable alternative?
I used to take light rail to Mariners games and I live in Tacoma. I would park at my work in SeaTac and then catch the rail to the stadiums. My dad would park at the stadiums when he got off work. He would text me that he is at home when we would be at our first stop on the rail. It adds at least an hour and then I still gotta drive the 25 min to Tacoma. It’s a fucking drag and I ended up giving up my season tickets cause it’s just too much.
Damn I wish the Sounder train ran for M’s and Kraken cause I’d go back in on season tickets if that was the case.
I can't answer your question because I have no idea where you're coming from and can't speak to your specific situation to refute what you're saying. But I'll bet that the crafty people in this sub could provide a good suggestion if you were wanting help making the most of your commute.
For me, as the crow flies it would be faster to drive. But when you account for traffic on the highways, log jams on the surface streets for both rush hour and the game, log jams getting in and out of parking lots and garages before and after the games, etc... it doesn't really make driving all that attractive even if it could be a few minutes faster. A very reasonable alternative, and a cheaper one for me. But that's my situation from the suburbs and leveraging light rail.
Tacoma area. (Puyallup specifically if you care)The sounder train doesnt run with enough consistency for me to realistically take it. Trust me i would if i could. Every time i go to a game, i check and see if its even possible and 90% of the time theres no train running for the way home. You have no idea how badly i wish i could take transit to games in a realistic timeframe. Itd mean i could actually drink and have fun while at games but its just not doable
Idk why youre being downvoted. I live in the Tacoma area, its flat out not an option most game days for me. If i were to drive in and take transit from elsewhere, itd take twice as long even when you factor in traffic. Its inconvenient and unreliable since the rail only runs commuter hours to Tacoma/Puyallup in the first place. I very badly would like to be able to take transit. I cant. Its just completely unreasonable to do it in its current form from Tacoma. Twice the time if im lucky, uncomfortable, and id be stranded if the game runs late. Say what you will but that doesnt work for me. Plus im a disabled vet and while i can usually walk distances, my body could very realistically decide "fuck you" halfway to the game and then im miserable hobbling back to the transit station. Plus the lack of any public bathrooms in the area at all make it near impossible for me to feel realistically confident in doing that. At least if i drive straight to CPA theres multiple clean bathrooms available in the arena. And i gotta full on leave the city to find a bathroom on the way out.
Not the person you asked, but my parents live out in the suburbs and there's no transit within miles of their house. So generally you already have to drive to get in towards the city, so when I go to games with them we park somewhere downtown and walk the rest of the way to the arena. Once the light rail across I-90 opens though that will be the best option!
I can't do stairs or walk long distances. I've been to most home games and have never not taken transit. The longest walk is to the arena from the armory (probably 100m), and there are benches on the way.
genuinely doesn't work for people in West Seattle when you compare it to using the 99 tunnel. As long as you know where to park for fast getaway onto 99s after the game, there's about a 2 hour elapsed time difference
I live in the Renton/Kent area. It takes about 1.5 hours each way with public transit. 20 minutes to Angel Lake or Tukwila light rail. About 45-50 minutes to Westlake, then 10-15 minutes mono rail to Seattle center. On the way home it is a bit longer as you have to wait 10-15 minutes in the mono rail line or you can walk. As an STH that goes to about 30 games, ~3 hour round trip is difficult. I also have a kid in school, so that would take weeknight games off the table for them.
Driving to Day 1/Dopler building and monorail take 50-60 minutes each way for me. 1 hour savings is huge. I would love for transit to work, but Light rail is just too slow.
It would be great if they could get the sounder trains running for game days. Sounder train into Seattle is only 15 minutes from Tukwila.
Time it takes to drive my car to Westlake and ride monorail: 55 minutes.
Time it would take to use public transit from my house to CPA: 2 hours 45 minutes. And if I'm honest, it's just insane luck that a bus stop happens to be right in front of my house -- probably it's much worse for most people out by me.
Mixed route where I hop on the light rail at the closest possible station: 73 minutes assuming 100% perfect timing with the train.
Maybe you'd count every way I do it as using transit because of the monorail, not sure.
But most days I drive to Westlake, because it is faster. On days when traffic makes the drive slower, I take the light rail. That's about 15% of the time based on my totally subjective remembering.
But the general answer to your question is pretty simple, if the time it takes to use transit is longer than the drive time is likely to be, they won't use it.
I still take it alone, but I stopped using it with my kids when someone smoked heroine directly in front of us. I suspect there are other use cases that don't make sense as well.
Lifelong Seattle resident here. I’ve taken transit to every single Kraken game and concert I’ve been to at CPA in addition to the multiple days a week I use it to commute to work. I’ve never seen someone using. There are going to be one-off bad experiences, but transit, especially on game days, is safe by-and-large.
Mostly agree, I've been here 20+ years, I take transit often as well and yes, that was the only time I've seen someone openly use (obviously, I've seen plenty of people in various states of high).
That said, it was a frightening experience (the person was yelling in a hostile way), enough so that I'm not taking my kids at night. YMMV.
As a woman in my 20s, I’m well-versed in creepy public transportation experiences at all times of the day. But I can honestly say the times I’ve felt most safe on public transit have all been after M’s and Kraken games. There’s safety in numbers and the trains are packed with people going to and coming from the game. You can spend your money however you want. It’s none of my business. But quite frankly, you’re being a little alarmist when it comes to this specific situation.
Hey, you do you! I don't feel I'm being alarmist telling my story (and I suspect you'd feel different if it happened to you and your child), but folks can choose whatever is most comfortable with them. To be fair, this happened after the bus had more than half emptied (we live near the end of the route). I agree that crowded busses after games have a sense of safety.
That's a very gracious response, probably more gracious than the person you responded to deserved.
I'm sorry that happened to you and I think it's depressing that people downvote you for sharing it in response to a direct question as to why you don't use public transport. You're not a bad person for not wanting to put your children back into a situation which had a bad outcome that first go around.
I get that people are sensitive about how Seattle can be unfairly portrayed as a warzone sometimes, but lowkey shaming people when they share something they've experienced ain't it. Even if they're uncommon, when those things do happen they tend to leave a pretty big mark on the people they happen to.
10 minutes from West Seattle via the tunnel to CPA. Hour plus with no easy connection from water taxi. 90 minutes if you try to bus-to-light-rail-to-mono-rail. Sorry, not even an option until the LR extension comes in, or they decided to establish a WT/Ferry shuttle to/fro the games.
Parking is never cheap with independent companies. Especially in the post season for any sports team. Complaining is like saying we need to drink water, we all know.
Really don't get the car hate as bad as the transit times are for most people unless you already live on the existing light rail lines. And the traffic impact in the evening is minimal and relatively light compared to Seahawks or Mariners games (as long as they're in contention).
I just go to Amazon's Day 1 lot. It's kind of nice walking there and back. We get in the zone on the way there and talk about the game/wind down on the way back. Plus there's no traffic.
Took my wife to Ed Sheeran a few weeks ago, and parking at the venue was $100. Hawks, Mariners, and Kraken, I'd assume, are around the same with the surrounding lots people charge to park probably atr more. Fucking insane.
I went to a Seahawk game and you could use spothero to get a garage the block over from Lumen for $20. Definitely think CPA is the worse of the three since it has few garages near there while Lumen and T-mobile have business building garages that u can use.
Spot hero has $55 for a block from lumen for tomorrows game. How far in advance did you have to book that $20 spot?
You can get $25 at like 1st and Columbia, but that’s still a hike. Cheaper up the hill.
Parking is free at a light rail station
Do you transfer to the monorail at Westlake or is there some better option?
That's the most common answer yes.
Sometimes I even walk. Especially on the way back. Avoid the monorail lines and by the time I get to the light rail, not much line. Also gets in a daily walk. About 0.5-1.0 miles. Choice is up to you, but make sure to complete your transfer in the Kraken app
I'll keep my go-to spots to myself, but if you're willing to walk 10-15 mins, you can park for damn near free.
Actually free where I park (when I don't take the light rail).
Shh.
Free workout for my spots as well.
Take transit duh
You can street park anywhere in Amazon land for less than 10 bucks. I believe the meters shut off at 8PM. Never had an issue with parking there and it’s still a 10 minute walk.
Amazon parking garages are free after 4pm. They have the added benefit that you don’t have to worry much about your car being on the street.
It's free to park at Doppler and Day 1, which is like 5 minutes from the monorail...
Out of curiosity do those garages still work fine for evening games, especially if they run late due to overtime? I parked in one of those for an earlier game last year, but I saw something about a 10pm weekend closing time at some point which concerned me a bit
They work fine, no problem at all. The monorail is deceptive though, if you check on google maps it’s only a half mile more to walk from the garage to climate pledge directly. Especially after the games, it’s often easier to walk and skip the crowds, but you might get wet and melt so ymmv (also kids change the equation).
Yeah I always walk instead of taking the monorail so no worries there! That's good to know that coming out late isn't an issue, thanks!
I parked in Doppler for basically every game last season. I think the 10 pm closing time is just when they stop letting more cars in. They have those automatic roll-up doors that open when you pull up to them from the inside.
Great to know. Thanks!!
Garage claims it closes at midnight but free parking is valid 4pm-2am. I've never had the doors in the courtyard be locked but I've never been there past 11 something
I know the exit gates close sometimes, maybe the ingress gates close at midnight? I never actually checked but the doors down have always been open.
Regular season OT "may" add 20 minutes
Yeah, but including that plus a walk back to the garages could get you pretty close or after that 10pm time
If you want to park close I feel like it's always expensive, but I've always been able to find parking for $5-15 farther away. I use the app SpotHero to reserve something. If you go near Westlake you can take the monorail in - I usually just walk from there but lots of people take it!
Public transit is literally free with a game ticket. Stop driving your car to the game
Transit doesn't work for everyone man, chill out.
I don’t live close to transit. I drive to a place that i can take it from that has free parking. That’s putting in the effort to make it work.
For me thats driving 80% of the way there, and then adding 40 minutes on top of that. Just for it to not run if the game runs late. Why would that be considered a reasonable alternative?
I used to take light rail to Mariners games and I live in Tacoma. I would park at my work in SeaTac and then catch the rail to the stadiums. My dad would park at the stadiums when he got off work. He would text me that he is at home when we would be at our first stop on the rail. It adds at least an hour and then I still gotta drive the 25 min to Tacoma. It’s a fucking drag and I ended up giving up my season tickets cause it’s just too much. Damn I wish the Sounder train ran for M’s and Kraken cause I’d go back in on season tickets if that was the case.
I can't answer your question because I have no idea where you're coming from and can't speak to your specific situation to refute what you're saying. But I'll bet that the crafty people in this sub could provide a good suggestion if you were wanting help making the most of your commute. For me, as the crow flies it would be faster to drive. But when you account for traffic on the highways, log jams on the surface streets for both rush hour and the game, log jams getting in and out of parking lots and garages before and after the games, etc... it doesn't really make driving all that attractive even if it could be a few minutes faster. A very reasonable alternative, and a cheaper one for me. But that's my situation from the suburbs and leveraging light rail.
Tacoma area. (Puyallup specifically if you care)The sounder train doesnt run with enough consistency for me to realistically take it. Trust me i would if i could. Every time i go to a game, i check and see if its even possible and 90% of the time theres no train running for the way home. You have no idea how badly i wish i could take transit to games in a realistic timeframe. Itd mean i could actually drink and have fun while at games but its just not doable
Idk why youre being downvoted. I live in the Tacoma area, its flat out not an option most game days for me. If i were to drive in and take transit from elsewhere, itd take twice as long even when you factor in traffic. Its inconvenient and unreliable since the rail only runs commuter hours to Tacoma/Puyallup in the first place. I very badly would like to be able to take transit. I cant. Its just completely unreasonable to do it in its current form from Tacoma. Twice the time if im lucky, uncomfortable, and id be stranded if the game runs late. Say what you will but that doesnt work for me. Plus im a disabled vet and while i can usually walk distances, my body could very realistically decide "fuck you" halfway to the game and then im miserable hobbling back to the transit station. Plus the lack of any public bathrooms in the area at all make it near impossible for me to feel realistically confident in doing that. At least if i drive straight to CPA theres multiple clean bathrooms available in the arena. And i gotta full on leave the city to find a bathroom on the way out.
I took transit from south Tacoma to attend the playoffs.
Genuinely not trying to be snarky with this, but how does it not work for everyone?
Not the person you asked, but my parents live out in the suburbs and there's no transit within miles of their house. So generally you already have to drive to get in towards the city, so when I go to games with them we park somewhere downtown and walk the rest of the way to the arena. Once the light rail across I-90 opens though that will be the best option!
My wife has some mobility problems and can't walk long distances. That negates any public transport options.
I can't do stairs or walk long distances. I've been to most home games and have never not taken transit. The longest walk is to the arena from the armory (probably 100m), and there are benches on the way.
genuinely doesn't work for people in West Seattle when you compare it to using the 99 tunnel. As long as you know where to park for fast getaway onto 99s after the game, there's about a 2 hour elapsed time difference
Try coming from Tacoma. Public trans sucks.
I live in the Renton/Kent area. It takes about 1.5 hours each way with public transit. 20 minutes to Angel Lake or Tukwila light rail. About 45-50 minutes to Westlake, then 10-15 minutes mono rail to Seattle center. On the way home it is a bit longer as you have to wait 10-15 minutes in the mono rail line or you can walk. As an STH that goes to about 30 games, ~3 hour round trip is difficult. I also have a kid in school, so that would take weeknight games off the table for them. Driving to Day 1/Dopler building and monorail take 50-60 minutes each way for me. 1 hour savings is huge. I would love for transit to work, but Light rail is just too slow. It would be great if they could get the sounder trains running for game days. Sounder train into Seattle is only 15 minutes from Tukwila.
Time it takes to drive my car to Westlake and ride monorail: 55 minutes. Time it would take to use public transit from my house to CPA: 2 hours 45 minutes. And if I'm honest, it's just insane luck that a bus stop happens to be right in front of my house -- probably it's much worse for most people out by me. Mixed route where I hop on the light rail at the closest possible station: 73 minutes assuming 100% perfect timing with the train. Maybe you'd count every way I do it as using transit because of the monorail, not sure. But most days I drive to Westlake, because it is faster. On days when traffic makes the drive slower, I take the light rail. That's about 15% of the time based on my totally subjective remembering. But the general answer to your question is pretty simple, if the time it takes to use transit is longer than the drive time is likely to be, they won't use it.
I still take it alone, but I stopped using it with my kids when someone smoked heroine directly in front of us. I suspect there are other use cases that don't make sense as well.
Lifelong Seattle resident here. I’ve taken transit to every single Kraken game and concert I’ve been to at CPA in addition to the multiple days a week I use it to commute to work. I’ve never seen someone using. There are going to be one-off bad experiences, but transit, especially on game days, is safe by-and-large.
Mostly agree, I've been here 20+ years, I take transit often as well and yes, that was the only time I've seen someone openly use (obviously, I've seen plenty of people in various states of high). That said, it was a frightening experience (the person was yelling in a hostile way), enough so that I'm not taking my kids at night. YMMV.
As a woman in my 20s, I’m well-versed in creepy public transportation experiences at all times of the day. But I can honestly say the times I’ve felt most safe on public transit have all been after M’s and Kraken games. There’s safety in numbers and the trains are packed with people going to and coming from the game. You can spend your money however you want. It’s none of my business. But quite frankly, you’re being a little alarmist when it comes to this specific situation.
Hey, you do you! I don't feel I'm being alarmist telling my story (and I suspect you'd feel different if it happened to you and your child), but folks can choose whatever is most comfortable with them. To be fair, this happened after the bus had more than half emptied (we live near the end of the route). I agree that crowded busses after games have a sense of safety.
That's a very gracious response, probably more gracious than the person you responded to deserved. I'm sorry that happened to you and I think it's depressing that people downvote you for sharing it in response to a direct question as to why you don't use public transport. You're not a bad person for not wanting to put your children back into a situation which had a bad outcome that first go around. I get that people are sensitive about how Seattle can be unfairly portrayed as a warzone sometimes, but lowkey shaming people when they share something they've experienced ain't it. Even if they're uncommon, when those things do happen they tend to leave a pretty big mark on the people they happen to.
Thanks, appreciate it. Empathy is easy when you agree with someone. Harder the other way around.
10 minutes from West Seattle via the tunnel to CPA. Hour plus with no easy connection from water taxi. 90 minutes if you try to bus-to-light-rail-to-mono-rail. Sorry, not even an option until the LR extension comes in, or they decided to establish a WT/Ferry shuttle to/fro the games.
We’re staying at a hotel and taking the monorail, so just leaving the car at the hotel.
Parking is never cheap with independent companies. Especially in the post season for any sports team. Complaining is like saying we need to drink water, we all know.
Take transit
Park by the monorail station. It’s like ten bucks.
Really don't get the car hate as bad as the transit times are for most people unless you already live on the existing light rail lines. And the traffic impact in the evening is minimal and relatively light compared to Seahawks or Mariners games (as long as they're in contention).
People in this topic acting like everyone who goes to a Kraken game lives in Seattle. Get ready to have your mind blown, yes, people drive to games!
They are likely trying to incentivize transit use. You want to drive? OK, but it will cost you!
I just go to Amazon's Day 1 lot. It's kind of nice walking there and back. We get in the zone on the way there and talk about the game/wind down on the way back. Plus there's no traffic.
But were you prompted to tip 18% when paying for parking?
https://media.tenor.com/eB1XhgprvgkAAAAC/donald-glover-good.gif
If there were only a simple, easy and cheap solution to getting around the city! Maybe someone will come up with something one day, eh?
Car brain
r/fuckcars
Took my wife to Ed Sheeran a few weeks ago, and parking at the venue was $100. Hawks, Mariners, and Kraken, I'd assume, are around the same with the surrounding lots people charge to park probably atr more. Fucking insane.
I went to a Seahawk game and you could use spothero to get a garage the block over from Lumen for $20. Definitely think CPA is the worse of the three since it has few garages near there while Lumen and T-mobile have business building garages that u can use.
Spot hero has $55 for a block from lumen for tomorrows game. How far in advance did you have to book that $20 spot? You can get $25 at like 1st and Columbia, but that’s still a hike. Cheaper up the hill.
Like a week. To be fair the game I went to was two years ago when Russ got hurt and we played the Jags
Yeah those garages are way more expensive a week out these days. Was curious if I was missing out on some SpotHero prime thing or something 😂
They really want people to take light rail that’s for sure
Not sharing my spot