I’ve been thinking about putting together a set of blog entries that describe Seattle. In particular, I’d like to provide some decent information and a decent set of links for people who are thinking of moving to this area. My first step was reviewing books. My next step was describing all the mapping technologies focusing on Seattle. This entry gives a real broad overview on the transit system. My next few entries will be more difficult as I’ll try to focus on different neighborhoods within Seattle.

No matter where you live and work in Seattle, you will rarely be far from good transit service. I’ve lived in a few different cities, and as much as residents love to complain about lousy transit service (a past-time of downtown commuters everywhere), Seattle’s transit is relatively comprehensive and reliable. Metro Transit, Sound Transit and Community Transit all offer bus service in the City. Metro Transit operates all the local routes (and most routes throughout King County, including Bellevue, Redmond and Kirkland). If you are living in Seattle, almost all of your transit riding will be on Metro.

In addition to regional bus service, Sound Transit also operates a train between Tacoma and Seattle and another train between Everett and Seattle. Sound Transit has already begun construction on a light-rail line that will connect the Sea-Tac Airport with Downtown Seattle.

And the white elephant in the room is the monorail. On Nov. 2004, Seattlites voted to keep the monorail development and construction moving forward. The plan is to have the first segment, the green line, completed in 2009.

Is there a major transit component that I’ve missed? Let me know by leaving a comment!