Seattlest: Change This Commute

LarryB

Thu, 10 Jan 2008 16:27:14 -0800

I wonder if passing Prop 1 would have helped. I was perfectly happy to get the money and then fight over how much really went to transit, rather than being where we are now - with no transit plan and no funding. We may get one more stop on the light rail courtesy of the feds, but nada across Lake Washington and only one stop north of the Ship Canal for the foreseeable future. Are there no politicians with both vision and guts in King County? Maybe we should create an incentive for Paul Allen to build the thing. He got his trolley after all.

Geoff

Thu, 10 Jan 2008 13:17:03 -0800

I'm pretty fed up with the bus after this morning's commute. 7:25am - Hop on the ALWAYS packed #36 near Amazon.com HQ up on Beacon Hill. How they justify making most #36 runs a single car instead of a double beats the living hell out of me. 7:38am - Get to 5th and Jackson to make my connection to the #256 in the bus tunnel. 7:53am - #256 arrives; 12 minutes late. 8:10am - We get to the convention center stop and a stalled #550 is blocking the exit ramp. A guy is directing busses to an alternate exit from the tunnel. Our driver somehow misses his directions and ends up back in the bus tunnel...going the other freaking direction we just came from. You can't turn around anywhere until the other end. Have to make all the stops still. People start yelling at driver. Fucking awesome. 8:30am - Get back to 5th & Jackson/King St. station stop. Turn around(while getting honked at by another bus for cutting them off). Have to wait 5 minutes with no one in front of us for some reason. 8:55am - Back to convention center and the exit is cleared. Take exit ramp. 1 hour and 17 minutes after entering the tunnel; we are finally leaving. 9:00am - Stuck in traffic pretty much as soon as we get on I-5 north to head to 520. 9:30am - Finally get to my office in Bellevue near 140th and Bell-Red. I can't wait to see what the ride home holds for me.

Charles Redell

Thu, 10 Jan 2008 13:04:09 -0800

The first time I took that 33 I was so confused i got off before Dravus and was trying to get to Emerson. For those unfamiliar with Magnolia (everyone I know) that's a good long walk, in the cold, in the rain. All thanks to non-talking, mumbling drivers. To top it off, I think metro drivers are supposed to announce all stops because of ADA laws. Makes it even more messed up that they don't if that is true.

mattwright

Thu, 10 Jan 2008 12:53:44 -0800

I miss even the mass transit system we had in England, and back then everyone bitched about how rubbish it was.. Little did they know! - I would love to have that system here.

TroyJMorris

Thu, 10 Jan 2008 12:31:35 -0800

I hate the dark, new route stop guessing. You always wind up three stops early which is at least half a mile away. And, of course, it's rainy.

Jack

Thu, 10 Jan 2008 12:09:52 -0800

I've noticed about half the metro drivers either barely mutter into the mic, or refuse to use it altogether -- as if in some kind of protest. I almost always end up sitting (or standing) up front for this reason.

jessejb

Thu, 10 Jan 2008 12:07:14 -0800

We need a city leadership with balls.

Michael van Baker

Thu, 10 Jan 2008 12:01:52 -0800

Oh, if I had a bank of Recommends, Charles, I'd use 10 of them on this post!