SEATTLE - Soon, you'll be able to take a train to catch a plane.
Seattle's Link light rail station at Sea-Tac International Airport opens this Saturday at 10 a.m., just in time for Christmas travelers.
The line from Tukwila to downtown Seattle opened last July. For political and financial reasons, the Sea-Tac extension had to be built separately, meaning getting this extension open comes six months later than the rest of the line.
But even with the gap travelers, including Dave Yager who's staying in a hotel near Sea-Tac, caught a bus to ride it.
"I actually used it last night and it was awesome. It worked great," said Yager.
Just how many passengers will drag bags on board remains to be seen, but Sea-Tac Airport officials say it hopes many of the more than 20,000 people who work at the airport every day will use the service.
"We're already seeing that as it is now, with folks who are taking transit to Tukwila and taking a shuttle in. So we're expecting a lot of employees to be able to take advantage," said Perry Cooper, Sea-Tac Airport.
Link light rail crews are doing training runs now, but in just two days riders will be able to go the final mile all the way to Sea-Tac airport.
But if you're planning to ride to the airport to catch a flight, be sure to factor in a little extra time. It's about 1,100 feet from the station platform to the nearest ticket counter at the north end of the ticketing level. It takes about four minutes to walk that distance at a brisk pace, not carrying any bags. To put that in context, Sea-Tac says that's very close to walking from the ticket counter to the outer end of some of its concourses.
The pathway cuts along two sides of the parking garage, the Port of Seattle says the structure of the garage prevented them from installing people mover or moving sidewalks, because there is no clearance underneath.
All 13 stations of the Link light rail will be open for the close to 16-mile ride from end to end (Westlake Center to Sea-Tac).
Dip in light rail ridership
The Seattle Times reports there were 14,399 average weekday boardings in November, compared with 16,192 in October and nearly 15,000 in both August and September - the lowest level of ridership in four months.
Sound Transit spokesman Bruce Gray says the dip isn't surprising since October tends to be the best month for bus and commuter-rail lines. Usage is expected to increase after airport service begins Saturday. Gray says a better picture will emerge one or two years into the rail service.
The light rail line from downtown Seattle south to Tukwila cost $2.3 billion.
KING 5's Tim Robinson and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
