Earthquakes and Light Rail

Today has been a day of firsts for my family and me.  We've experienced our first earthquake.  And we rode Norfolk's light rail, The Tide.  Earthquake first.

We were on the second floor of the MacArthur Memorial, a large marble and brick museum in Downtown Norfolk, when the floor shook.  For a split second I thought something heavy had been dropped on the floor above, but it then occurred to me...I can feel it through the floor...it's an earthquake.  The cover of an exit sign fell down.  I saw the walls swaying slightly.  I was just about to push the family under an archway when the shaking stopped.  We finished our tour of the museum and went to exit.

It was outside that we came to understand just how startling it was.  Dozens of people had exited nearby high rise buildings and were milling about, buzzing about "the quake." 

We walked the short distance from the MacArthur Memorial to the MacArthur Square light rail station and caught the train.  We had planned to park at the Newtown Road station and take the train into Norfolk, but a long line there led us to drive to Norfolk.  We rode west from MacArthur Square to the end of the line, at Eastern Virginia Medical Center, and took the return trip to MacArthur.

First impression:  pretty nice.  The ride is smooth, the seats fairly comfortable, assuming you can get one.  The train was packed, as have most of the light rail trains since the system debuted last week.  The passengers were generally courteous; I witnessed more than a few people offering their seats to others. 

They were also very chatty.  I had a hard time hearing my wife, sitting across the aisle from me, because of the din.  Quite a change from my few experiences on the D.C. Metro, where the passengers mostly kept to the themselves.  It may have been the buzz of the recent earthquake; some, but not all passengers sitting around me were talking about the tremor.  Or it could have been the novelty of light rail.  I'm looking forward to seeing how The Tide is on future rides.

I have a number of questions for Hampton Roads Transit about light rail.  Once the free trial ends this Sunday, how will passengers buy and turn in their tickets?  Why did we have an extended stop, about five minutes, at the York Street station?  And, perhaps most importantly, is The Tide earthquake proof?