Your guide to navigating Climate Pledge Arena at Seattle Center

0
762

Are you planning to go to the Climate Pledge Arena for an Kraken game or concert? You want to charge your phone and plan ahead.

SEATTLE – Two new physical and virtual transportation projects will make their public debut in Seattle next week, in response to longstanding concerns about building a new sports and entertainment complex at the Seattle Center.

Transportation was a leading issue during the debate about the location of a new facility and resulted in months of work by the Climate Pledge Arena team and the Seattle Kraken organization.

“I don’t think it’s going to be a headache,” said Rob Johnson, former Seattle city councilor and now vice president of transportation and sustainability for the arena and team.

Johnson has worked for months developing a plan that includes an app to help ease parking issues and build partnerships with traffic managers.

The Seattle Monorail, for example, is just finishing a nearly $ 7 million refresh with new seats, mechanics, and a Westlake station, all of which will be open to drivers on Monday, October 11th. The Westlake station hadn’t been updated in years and only affected a few entry points and ticket offices. The new train station has several “tariff gates” for customers to cope with larger loading and unloading of cars. The station is a few flights from the Link Light Rail Station, which is now connected to three new stations in north Seattle.

RELATED: 3 new Seattle Link light rail stations are now open to passengers

The Kraken worked a deal months ago to allow ticket holders to get a transit pass, which means anyone can get a free ride on Sound Transit, Metro, or the Monorail to get to the Seattle Center.

All of this will be linked in a new app, which will also be published by the arena and the team on Monday, October 11th, and will allow event owners to pay for parking months in advance.

“Uptown has less parking space than you’ve seen before, in part because a lot of that space has been converted into apartments, which is a good thing,” said Johnson.

This means that most event goers and fans are likely to rely on the app.

“We don’t want people to come up to the building wondering where to go, what’s more affordable, and circle around,” said Becca Elliott, director of digital and fan experience at Kraken.

Elliott worked on the platform, which also shows travel times to the arena via four different modes of transport, as well as available parking spaces and prices. That means people may be using their phones in addition to parking for tickets, transit passes, vaccination certificates, and payments.

“Make sure you charge your phone, it’s your ticket and the key to everything in the building,” Elliott said.

Johnson said the monorail will be open for at least an hour after the Games, and the Light Rail Link until after midnight. He also said the arena wasn’t trying to stop people from driving, but he said “plan ahead.”

The first test will take place on October 22nd, when Coldplay officially opens the Climate Pledge Arena. The next evening the Kraken play their very first home game.

RELATED: Inside EA Sports’ New Video Game Featuring Seattle Kraken, Climate Pledge Arena