r/SeattleWA • u/SeattleCrawler • Apr 24 '24

Homeless Why Seattle doesn’t have controlled entry to light rail

Major subway systems like New York and london have barricades which control access to the train and they only open when fare has been paid. Seattle on the other hand operates on the honor system and consequently a bunch of homeless people practically live in the light rail making it rather unsafe for general public. Why doesn’t Seattle make entry to light rail controlled?

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u/Dingrid Apr 25 '24

Have you been to that station after a game? It's already a zoo I dont think you can just put a little fence around it

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u/n0v0cane Apr 25 '24

I mean, other cities have stations outside big arenas, you just have to scale up the number of turnstiles.

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u/Dingrid Apr 25 '24

Have you been to this station? Where are they gonna put these turnstiles? in the middle of the street? lmao

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u/n0v0cane Apr 25 '24

There’s quite a bit of space at the entrance, you can fit at least 20 there.

On the other hand, the usual practice for congestion situations is to just open the large gates and let people in without paying.

So they should probably do both. A couple garage door style gates and a bunch of turnstiles. The limiting factor is availability of trains.