The Seattle Center Alweg Monorail was built to be the train of the future for the Century 21 Exposition also called the 1962 World's Fair. In late 2012 its website claimed to be the nation's only fully self-sufficient public transit system, since it is owned by the City of Seattle but operated by a for-profit concessionaire without subsidies. This was an interesting claim but it the train is along the questionable line of is it a tourist attraction or actual public transit? and has a narrow guideway that runs a mile above the streets of Seattle from the Seattle Center fairgrounds to the Westlake Center, a shopping mall north of the station. The trip takes less then five minutes running upwards of 50mph and monorails run every ten using one of two vintage 50 year old cars, one is red the other blue, and their both in excellent condition. The system is not driverless and there is an operator who sits in an open cab. Today's trains have there own separate fares (adult's are $2.25 for a ride, $45 for a monthly pass) and it is the only train line in the Puget Sound area that doesn't accept ORCA (altough there are signs for it inside the Westlake Transit Tunnel Station). As of 2011, about 1.5 million people ride the monorail every year.
Finally in 2019 the Seattle Center Monorail became integrated into the Seattle transit system by starting to accept ORCA, including free transfers, Regional Day Passes and monthly passes. As part of these changes fares were raised to $3.00 one-way and are $3.50 one-way as of June 2024. The Monorail (and all public transportation) is free for all events at the Climate Pledge Arena including Kraken Hockey Games and Storm WNBA basketball games.
