Local operator vows to try again

SEATTLE Major League Baseball fans wanting to avoid the traffic around Safeco Field when they head to a Seattle Mariners game this season have to either hike from remote parking lots or grab a slow-moving city bus that can drop them off anywhere from in front of the ballpark to several blocks away.

Thats because the ball club refuses to buy into the year-old federal charter bus rule and allow private motorcoach companies to operate a game-day shuttle service.

"They just werent going to let us operate them," said Gladys Gillis of Starline Luxury Coaches of Seattle, which sought the contract but was rebuffed by the team at the last minute.

Although her proposal was sent to the club a month before the teams April 14 home opener, she said the ball club held off until the day of the first game before sitting down with her to talk about the proposed contract.

She said the teams attorney briefly discussed the contract and then ended the meeting by asking her if she would be willing to withdraw the contract so King County Metro Transit, Seattles public transit agency, could continue to run the shuttles as it had been doing for years.

"I told them it was something I wasnt about to do," she said.

It was the last she heard from the ball team, which opted, instead, not to have any shuttle service this season and let fans either walk from the parking lots or use Metros regular daily bus service, which has one route that stops in front of the ball yard and several others with stops several blocks away.

Team spokeswoman Rebecca Hale said the Mariners rejected the contract because it would have cost more than what it had been paying King County Metro in past years, and there were concerns about the private company being able to accommodate people with disabilities.

"It was not a complete contract," she said.

The stalling by the Mariners was similar to last year when the team refused to negotiate with Starlight until just before the start of the season so King County Metro could seek a last-minute charter rule exemption from the Federal Transit Administration. (See Sept. 15 and Aug. 1 issues of Bus & Motorcoach News.)

The FTA granted the request, first allowing the transit agency to provide the service for 60 days and later extending the permit to cover the full baseball season. The decision cited concerns that Mariners fans would be without any service if the transit agency were not given the contract.

The action by the FTA drew objections from the United Motorcoach Association, which filed a federal lawsuit against the federal agency, arguing that the charter bus rule applied because private companies were available to operate the shuttle service. The suit is pending in U.S. District Court.

This year, King County Metro did not make an attempt to provide the shuttle service, leaving the ball club with the option of turning it over to a private company or having none at all. It chose the latter.

"So far it has not been a major issue," said Hale. "A small number of people contacted us about it before the season started but they have dropped off since."

She noted, though, that complaints are likely to be heard from time-to-time throughout the season as people attending their first game realize the shuttle service is no longer available as it had been in the past.

Random complaints have turned up on Mariners fan websites.

Meanwhile, Gillis said that during this years meeting with the Mariners she suggested that the ball club sell advertising on the bus video system that could be played while fans were being driven to and from the games.

The advertising, she said, possibly could have produced enough revenue to offset the cost of the shuttle service.

"You have a very captive audience there, and I think it would have worked out well for them," she added.

Gillis also suggested that pickup locations be moved further from the downtown ballpark, which would help reduce traffic congestion and automobile emissions in the area, as well as limit the number of motorists on the road who drank alcohol during the game. The sites could have been at shopping malls, restaurants or other retailers that were interested in having increased traffic before and after games, she suggested.

Although Starline missed out on operating the shuttles for the Mariners games, Gillis isnt giving up. "Well give it a go again next season," she said.

Also, she plans to operate shuttles for the University of Washington football games this fall and will be meeting soon with the Seattle Seahawks football team in hopes of running its shuttles this year, too.

Last year, Starline took over the university shuttle service from King County Metro and shared it with the transit agency for the Seahawks.