Sound Transit has been installing new signage at the north entrances to Pioneer Square Station this week. So the escalators at 3rd Ave and at James Street have been closed. The stairs and the elevator on 3rd have been open.
Those stairs are not that long, really – probably no longer than the stairs on University Street at University Street Station – but they feel long. Maybe it’s the switchbacks. The elevator is okay, but it needs a renovation. It’s slow and shakey and noisy.
So, this week, in the mornings, I’ve been exiting out of the south entrance.
It’s a spacious and bright entrance, opening out onto a small plaza between 3rd and 2nd. It’s escalators all the way up. It adds a block or two to my walk into work, but it somehow seems better than those stairs.
In the evenings, I’ve been using the stairs at the north entrance. Going down isn’t so bad.
This has been the week that Fare Ambassadors have begun checking fares on the station platforms. I’ve been wanting to see this in action, to see how it works. Will there be waves of passengers moving down the platform to evade the Ambassadors? Will the Ambassadors be roaming around the platforms at random, or will they be doing the each one at each end of the platform, moving toward the middle thing?
On Monday morning, I didn’t see any Ambassadors on the platforms at either Capitol Hill or Pioneer Square. I didn’t spot any, through the train window, at Westlake or University Street.
On Monday evening, I saw two Ambassadors walking along the southbound platform at Pioneer Square Station. (I was on the northbound platform.) A train had just left, so there weren’t any passengers waiting.
On Tuesday morning, an Ambassador checked my fare – on the train between Capitol Hill and Westlake. (That answered that question. They are still doing fare checks on the trains.)
I didn’t see any Ambassadors on Tuesday evening, on either trip on Wednesday, or Thursday morning.
On Thursday evening, I thought I’d finally encounter a platform fare inspection. There were two ambassadors on the northbound platform. As I walked down the platform, however, I saw that they were Transit Security officers, not Fare Ambassadors. They were wearing green jackets, not blue vests. It made me wonder if those were Transit Security I’d seen on Monday evening.
I had my fare checked this morning, on the train between Capitol Hill and Westlake.
I didn’t see any Ambassadors on my commute home today.
Feeding Squirrels On My Way To Work 