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Metro’s game plan provides winning service for
football fans
When it comes to Seahawks football, no one puts together a winning game
plan better than John May, Lance Benedict, Mike Lemeshko, Jerry
Johnston, and their dozens of teammates. But, don’t look for this squad
on the 50-yard line at Qwest Field. Instead, you’ll find most of them
outside the stadium loading, unloading, directing and routing all of the
King County Metro Transit buses
carrying Seahawks fans to game.
When the Seahawks are on a roll, so are Metro’s special shuttles and
regular service to and from the game. Almost 12,000 Seahawks fans used
Metro special service for the two home games in November. And, at
least another 6,000 fans are expected to travel by bus for this Sunday’s
1:05 p.m. game against the 49ers, and maybe even more for the Dec. 24
big game versus the Colts. That means far less congestion to contend
with around Qwest Field.
 The transit plans for special service to the Seahawks and University of
Washington home football games are just as complex as any spread offense
you see on the gridiron. And, they play an important role in relieving
game-day congestion throughout the region.
Special Service Coordinators John May and Lance Benedict served as the
“general managers” in 2005. Months in advance, they were working with
the Seahawks, Huskies, Seattle Police Department, University Police, and
the Seattle Department of Transportation to develop a plan on paper that
will move buses full of football fans quickly and efficiently through
the stadium areas to outlying park-and-ride lots.
“We put the playbook together, and then send it off to the bases,” says
May. “It’s a lot of work, but once the season rolls around I’m actually
able to put my feet up and watch the games on TV.”
That’s not the case for the Metro crews on the ground at the stadiums
and the park-and-ride lots putting the plan into action. They rarely get
to see any of the football battles because they are too busy moving
buses into place to best serve the fans.
The Husky plan is the more complicated of the two schemes. Because
parking is so limited near Husky Stadium, more people take the bus to
the games. This year, despite the overall losing season for the Dawgs,
Metro carried 138,410 fans just on the special service shuttles – or
about 20,000 per home game.
The team that oversees the Husky service is “coached” by Service Quality
Chief Paul Rodgers, with Catfish Louie taking on the “quarterback” role
as “Husky 1.” In that position, Louie directs the efforts of 17 other
supervisors stationed at the stadium and the park-and-rides.
Rodgers says it is a challenging assignment because you are trying to
get 180 buses and thousands of people staged into the constricted space
near Husky Stadium. There are seven separate bus loading zones, each of
them color-coded to help passengers find the right bus and to help
supervisors line them up in the right zone. And, not only do the Husky
transit supervisors have to coordinate with police, but they also have
to check in with the Montlake Bridge tender to make sure the drawbridge
doesn’t raise at the worst possible moment.
Louie says working the Husky games is a great assignment. The
supervisors pick it based on seniority, and it’s considered one of the
best extra-duty jobs in the organization. He’s been doing it for 18
years, ever since Metro first started the service.
“It’s a good assignment, because you get to work with so many people
both inside and outside the agency,” he said. “It really helps to have a
good crew, and the UW fans are great too. It’s a tradition for them. It
doesn’t matter if they win or lose, they are just die-hard Husky fans.”
 The number of Seahawks fans on the buses tends to ebb and flow with the
team’s win-loss record, which is one reason transit ridership is strong
this season. In addition to the fans riding the bus, another 4,300 took
advantage of the Sounder Seahawk train service for that last home game.
So, 15 percent of the sell-out crowd arrived at the game using public
transportation.
Metro’s Seahawk team is headed up by Service Quality Chief Mike Lemeshko
and “Seahawk 1” Jerry Johnston. They are in charge of 50 buses, 10
supervisors, and five park-and-ride lots.
“For the pre-season games, when ridership is light, you’re like an
offensive coordinator,” said Johnston. “Then for the first two regular
games, you turn into a defensive coordinator tackling all the problems.”
He says by this point in the season everything is working well, but
there is always some little glitch to contend with like an unexpected
Sunday closure of the Interstate 90 express lanes or bad weather that
sends fans scurrying for the homeward bound buses early.
“What makes it work so well is our teamwork as a group,” said Johnston.
“I am the least senior of the 10 supervisors working the Seahawks games,
and I’ve got nearly 20 years as a supervisor. When these guys see a
problem, they know how to fix it.”
Lemeshko says the key to making the football service run like clockwork
are the Metro resources backing up the service. Metro bus drivers are
the ones scoring the touchdowns by delivering passengers safely. On
defense, you’ve got the vehicle maintenance workers who have the extra
coaches ready to go each game day. Special teams consists of the dozens
of people working in Rider Information, Metro Online and Customer
Service keeping the fans educated about the special service. And in the
“booth,” you’ve got Communications Coordinator Roger Cady doing
play-by-play, with the rest of the Service Communications Control Center
staff keeping
everyone in radio contact and alerting the Metro team to trouble ahead
on the road.
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