Results tagged “bus”

The default screen is a location-based map with nearby stops highlighted, which can be crucial when you're in a hurry and on the verge of powerwalking. Bookmark your frequently used stops and find out how many minutes you have with 2 taps.

The Seattle Times has a complaint from a Redmond woman who was taking two kids to the fireworks on the Fourth. On holidays, Metro's policy is that kids ride free with a paying adult. But it turns out the Fourth is not a holiday...well, not a Metro holiday. Metro's holiday was the Third of July, which as you know celebrates the day the Founding Fathers settled on the parchment for the Declaration of Independence.

We can vouch for this because we've been IMing with a friend of ours who is on the Amtrak Cascades train to Portland, and other than getting false disconnection notices, it's working like a charm. We filled him on the Seattle Metblogs story about Seattle atheists buying ads on Metro. That seemed like a good use of WiFi. Tell Portland! The atheists are coming!

Nice! This reminds us of the decorated buses in Mexico. Thanks for uploading it to the Flickr Pool, prima seadiva.

• Big Blog won points with a post about The Bachelor's ex-wife and her YouTubed guest spot as a groupie on local band Out From Underneath's Seattle-heavy music video. Onwards and upwards, Gas Works Park.
• The blog formerly known as bigasscity is quoting none other than ZZ Top while crunching the numbers about Metro's projected budget shortfall and how much money the city could have saved by rejecting the bored tunnel viaduct replacement option.
• Cliff Mass thinks it's "pretty definite": we're looking at more snow, probably on Sunday. Actually, that works well with our schedule. How kind of the gods to check with Seattlest HQ's Google Calendar before sending the cold front!

At about 6:50 this morning, Metro's bus tracking service crashed, which meant that MyBus and OneBusAway were not delivering fresh data. Meteorologist Cliff Mass was having none of it, and made a call: "They promised that they are going to replace the servers of the bus track information system and this problem, which inconveniences hundreds or thousands of us unnecessarily, will be taken care of during the next month or so." Metro's press release sounds appropriately chastened: "Metro is already looking to next season by pursuing additional steps that can be taken to keep riders better informed of transit disruptions. Those actions include: redesigning elements of the Metro Online website; beefing up emergency event staffing plans for the Customer Information Office; adding additional staff to track and post bus reroute and service disruptions online; and exploring the use of emerging public communication tools to help disseminate information." Ooh, exploring! That's like when you get on a bus operating on an unpublished reroute!

A $100m shortfall in sales tax may cause Metro to cut service by 20 percent. Metro General Manager Kevin Desmond--who obviously just saw The Wrestler--called it "a body blow." Why linger at Forever 21 when it's not all that hard to get into Ft. Lewis if you're a teenage girl? But children are the future. And somewhere out there in the Puget Sound, J-pod orcas are still trying to lose the baby weight. Welcome to the world, J44 and L122.

The son of former Seattle mayor Charles Royer is running for mayor himself, and that's straight from the HorsesAss. On the plus side, it looks like Jordan Royer is more together than mayor Nickels' son, Jake. West Seattle is sort of freaking out about the snow, while the Rainier Valley Post is freaking out for another reason: the Lakewood Seward Park Community Center is in danger of closing--there's a meeting about it Thursday. But where one door closes, a produce stand is poised to open. MyBallard reports that Top Banana should soon be back in business. And PhinneyWood has the 411 on how to find out when your bus will arrive.

Seattlest looked up at a snow-covered skylight and wondered whether anyone would catch their bus. Sure enough, some are running late. Good thing we went to REI on December 26 and scored some of these.

We can't help but laugh at the news from snowed-in London, especially this bit: "As London ground to a virtual standstill Mayor Boris Johnson also faced questions over the inability of the capital's infrastructure to cope with six inches of snow. Mr Johnson admitted London did not have enough snow ploughs to keep the roads clear and defended the decision to suspend all bus services, which left thousands of angry commuters stranded." Seems like Seattle's Mayor Nickels could provide some detailed messaging help for Boris Johnson on 6-inch snowfalls, a paucity of snow plows, and suspended transit.

A friendly message from your favorite only bus system: due to conditions caused by the S-word, only half of Metro's fleet is out and about today, almost exactly the same as on Friday, so service will be spotty. Says RPIN, "Metro is focusing on providing bus service on cleared highways and arterial roads, and to major transit centers and park-and-ride lots." They'll add more buses into the mix if the roads clear up later this afternoon, but for now, "Please dress warmly, wear appropriate footwear, and be prepared to wait." Bah. Here's how to ride a bus in the snow, but it sounds like you'll be much better off just walking.

      

Still a little shaken by the charter bus collision yesterday that almost sent one (if not both) buses full of Job Corps kids plummeting 30 feet onto I-5, we walked back down to the scene, East Thomas Street and Melrose, this morning. The buses had been towed away last night. The west end of East Thomas was vigorously sanded to give the trucks traction, and a temporary guardrail installed. Thank god for the days of plentiful rebar.

            

Today, two charter buses slid down icy, cobblestone East Thomas Street on Capitol Hill, across Melrose, and crashed through the guardrail, almost plummeting onto I-5. One bus made it several feet past the guardrail before coming to a stop. Buses frequently use East Thomas Street--they exit I-5 at Olive but can't make the left turn down Denny, so they go two blocks up, turn left at East Thomas and then right on Denny to get to the Greyhound station. This time it appears two of them attempted East Thomas at the same time, and the results were heart-stopping. At this point we're not hearing of any major injuries. Updates to come.

You think the buses are bad now? Check out this shot from 1953! We do love the Penney's sign. We found this classic in our incredible Flickr Pool

We know how bad this whole crashing economy is. Really, we do. But every cloud has a silver lining, and we're pretty sure the sparkle you can see just past today's bankrupt financial giants and tanked WAMU stock is increased transit ridership translating into more routes and added runs on existing routes so you don't have to drive (or pay for gas) anymore.

Metro just can't make up its mind about fare increases, so we say bring another quarter just in case. Just a few weeks ago, Metro said it wouldn't be increasing fares for a second time this year, but as of yesterday they'd decided that a fare increase is indeed necessary and imminent. Starting November 1, it may cost you an extra 25 cents to ride the bus. Another 25-cent increase may come in January 2010 as well. Like we said, with all the "may"s and "maybe"s, better to be safe and bring a couple extra quarters the next time you're riding Joe Metro.

• White Center Now reports that King County Executive Ron Sims has proposed two staggered fare increases for Metro buses on his blog. In other news--Ron Sims writes a blog?!
• Yesterday's late afternoon thunder and lightning struck a little too close to home for a West Seattle Blog reader. A cedar tree in their neighbor's back yard was split in two by a lightning strike, sending cedar chips flying everywhere.
• PhinneyWood wants to let you know that, if you've had trouble with getting a green building permit, there's a meeting scheduled just for you this Wednesday at the Phinney Neighborhood Association.

Okay, okay, we'll hold on, just don't scratch us with those bloody talons.

So there's an article about bus fares over on Crosscut--by the Cascadia Center for Regional Development's Matt Rosenberg--that suggests raising the one-zone peak bus fare to $3.50, an amount to make even the most evangelical of bus riders clutch their wallet. (We throw in "evangelical" because the Cascadia Center is a division of the intelligent-designing Discovery Institute.) But it could be a very good idea, we think, against our skinflint judgment.

"You know what I have to say, based on my last couple bus rides? I'm so glad I don't do speed anymore. And that's all I have to say about that."

By coincidence, it was while we were sitting in the over-crowded number 14 bus on the way to work when we came across this gem of an article in the : "Drop in Miles Driven Is Depleting Highway Fund; Loan From Mass Transit Is Urged." Our sneering disbelief was interrupted by being smacked in the face by the laptop bag of the guy standing next to our seat in the aisle; the 14 is standing room only by our stop, the third on the line, from about 8 a.m.-10 a.m.

Even folks who don't drive are being affected by the rising cost of fuel. Plane and train tickets prices have been raised recently to cover the increased cost of gas and, as we noted last month, it was only a matter of time before we'd be adding Seattle Metro buses and Access vans to that list.

You know the problem. You're on the bus and you have a choice: You can get off in two stops and make a transfer to a bus that will get you to your destination, or you you can stay on and transfer to a different one at a second stop.

In case you got slowed down on I-90 this morning, and were cursing to yourself in the car, we thought we'd help calm you down with a little on-the-scene info. This just in from Seattlest Tera, who was stuck on the scene for an hour:

"I have a hilarious bus story. Our bus broke down on I-90 and we are all stuck on Mercer Island. Our 'rescue' bus missed the exit. Good job, Metro. Here is a pic."

With the ever-increasing cost of gas, the Seattle P-I seems to have taken an extra keen interest in public transit. A quick perusal of the local news on the P-I's site found more stories about taking the bus than any other topic in the local news. It sounds like an exaggeration, but these were all headlines for different stories, from the same day.

Seattlest is grateful for our bus pass and our Zipcar membership. Paying more than $4 a gallon just doesn't sound enticing for us, but we're not surprised when we hear about rate increases and other ancillary fees (like having to pay for our baggage when we fly) being passed onto us for using public transportation.

Wednesday morning, Route 301 from Shoreline to downtown Seattle. Waiting patiently, sweating profusely, standing on an over-crowded bus yet again.

Damn, this is the kind of story that really makes our stomach churn. This morning, a skater was hit by a bus killed when he fell under a bus wheel in the U-District. The 20-year-old skater, according to the Times, "ran into the side of the bus and fell under the rear wheel...He was pronounced dead at the scene." Apparently the bus driver didn't even realize she'd run over the kid until the cops stopped her a block later.

STOP WHINING by ChrisB in SEA

"Third and Pine, rain or shine," the bus driver almost sings to his passengers.