SEATTLE — NHL Seattle and Seattle Monorail Services announced a significant partnership to improve the World's Fair-era train and include ridership costs in game tickets.
The announcement is part of the first phase of the new franchise's transportation plan to get fans in and out of the new arena at Seattle Center.
The plan will include another capital investment from NHL Seattle of up to $7 million to upgrade the Westlake Monorail Station. The money will be used to improve the Monorail platforms, electronic fare gates for ticketing, and provide additional elevator access.
The idea has long been floated as a potential solution to avoiding the Mercer Mess and congestion points around the Seattle Center.
The subsidized transit pass, which will be a part of season and single-game tickets, will be a first for a Seattle-based sports franchise and is believed to be a rare element in North American professional sports. NHL Seattle is only the third professional sports organization in the U.S. to offer a free public transit benefit for fans.
The Seattle Monorail can transport up to 325 people per trip. NHL Seattle said the train can transport 25 percent of the capacity of the new arena at Seattle Center in less than 40 minutes.
"The Monorail is generally thought of as a tourist attraction or ride," said Lance Lopes, NHL Seattle executive vice president and general counsel. "We plan to re-introduce people to the idea that the Monorail is still what it was designed to be--high-speed transit. It's an existing last-mile high-speed connection from downtown to the arena that any number of sports teams would love to have in their cities."
Photos: Seattle Center Monorail improvement renderings
"We expect around 25% of fans to use public transit in our first year," said Rob Johnson, vice president of transportation for NHL Seattle. "The use of public transit can become a unique part of the fan experience [including 90-second bursts of fun information] and will likely be the quickest and most reliable way to get to and from our games. It's about a system which will both be efficient and build culture."
The monorail was built in 1962 to move people between downtown and the Center. It is also a few floors above the Westlake Station, which has existing light rail access. Northgate will be connected by 2021, with the Eastside, Federal Way, and Lynnwood all expected to be connected by 2024.
The Monorail has long been discussed for possible upgrades as it relates to the Seattle Center. In fact, Seattle Monorail Services Owner Tom Albro argued against a competing SODO arena proposal as a former Port of Seattle Commissioner and later announced he would not seek re-election as negotiations between the Oak View Group and city of Seattle heated up in 2017.
Seattle’s new NHL franchise will play in the new arena at Seattle Center in 2021.
