How does one rate suburbs? By number of strip malls? Ease of freeway access? Proximity of Olive Gardens? It’s tough to gauge. What isn’t tough to gauge is how the Sounder fills and empties each day; based purely on ridership, Monday through Friday during peak commuting hours, Kent is where it’s at. I know, right? Sure, a few straggle on and off the train in Auburn, as in Puyallup and Sumner. But the Sounder swarm—the suburbanites who come to work each day in the city, Orca cards in hand—are coming and going predominantly from Kent. My suspicion is it has something to do with the quality of life. Or the number of Wendy’s. MATT DRISCOLL ci.kent.wa.us