Image: Mike Holm
Bus
More Seattleites commute via King County Metro than any other way, and downtown sits on a network of bus tunnels. Remember that the six lines of RapidRide buses are more like a subway—pay before boarding; missing your stop is a time-consuming mistake.
Light Rail
It’s not just for the airport anymore. Seattle’s Link opened in 2009 and next year service will expand to Capitol Hill and UW.
Streetcar
People love to tell you that our South Lake Union line was originally called a trolley, but the “S.L.U.T.” story is probably apocryphal. A First Hill streetcar will begin service from Capitol Hill to Pioneer Square any day now.
Bike share
It’s called Pronto, but that’s hardly the word you’ll mutter after pedaling the 42-pound bikes up a classic Seattle incline. Fortunately the share program reshuffles the seven-speed cycles by van when they accumulate at the bottom of hills. Helmets—legally required—are rentable at every Pronto rack.
Car share
Fun fact: You can brag about being carless but still grab wheels to buy toilet paper in bulk. Zipcars live in assigned spots and are rented by the hour, while Car2go offers tiny, by-the-minute Smart cars that occupy up to 710 of the city’s parking spots at once.
Jaywalking
The best way to travel in Seattle. The upside: Hardly anyone does it, so you’ll have room to play Frogger with traffic. The downside: It’s illegal, and cops wrote 484 citations in 2014 alone—though vigilance has paled since the 1980s (7,000 in one year!).
Published in the The New Insider’s Guide to Seattle issue of Seattle Met.
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