What is wrong with this picture?
2010-02-01 21:06:27 ET

Went to the Westlake center in Downtown Seattle today to get an ORCA card , since by the end of the month, Seattle will require the ORCA card to use the transit system. Well, I went there expecting the Westlake ticket center to be closed, as it always has been every other time I went there. To my surprise, It was open!! Lucky me, Otherwise it would have been another trip to the Metro Transit headquarters, and waiting in line there is almost an exercise in futility.



WOW!! Westlake center was actually OPEN!!


2010-02-01 21:26:12 ET

i still don't see how this is actually going to be functional if you can't refill your card on the buses. seattle is silly.

2010-02-01 21:40:17 ET

You can refill your ORCA card pretty much anyplace u can buy (for now anyways) bus tickets. that includes Bartel's, Rite Aide, ect ect. So either way, it is a big plus for me. beats having to carry cash, or worry about running out of tickets. Just throw $10 - $20 on the card, and your good for awhile.

2010-02-01 21:41:35 ET

Plus, You can use the ORCA card on the light rail as well. Beats having to buy one ticket for the bus, and yet another for the train.

2010-02-02 12:27:11 ET

my issue is (unlike los angeles and every other city who has been using a similar system for a while now) that you can't just, for example (and maybe they're changing this now) get on the bus, pay your fare on the bus, and then immediately transfer it to your card on the bus. you have to go to a kiosk somewhere or a ticket place. seems like a runaround and more inconvenient than the current transfer system for me.

in los angeles, you can put money on your card actually *on* the bus when you get on and pay your fare. here it would seem the only way to do this is putting money on the card before getting on the bus.

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