Results tagged “commute”

There are some up-sides to unemployment. For starters, you can sleep in a little bit and take as long as you want in the shower (at least until the hot water runs out). You can make your ramen noodles at any time of day, and you have a lot more time to psychically deal with the stresses of commenting on vicious message boards (or the Daily Weekly, which extends an official invite to now-homeless Sound Off commenters). You also don't have to fight traffic, and as the Times helpfully points out, all the laid-off people not fighting traffic makes the commutes of those still employed just that much easier. How nice for the still-employeds, you're thinking! It's especially kind of the article to highlight the venti cinnamon dolce latte one of the interviewed still-employed, still-commuting people purchases daily, an extra that costs just about as much as two week's worth of ramen. Ouch.

If you've ever suffered through traffic on Seattle's major freeways, then you've already thought about it. Why not just buy a big doll, set it up in the passenger's seat, and use the HOV lane? It would be perfect! You wouldn't have to actually deal with another person (read: listen to whatever radio station you want), but your commute would be cut by at least ten minutes just as if you had offered to drive your neighbor into town. Every once in awhile, someone implements this genius strategy and inevitably gets caught, like this smart guy did on I-405 yesterday. We absolutely do not blame him for trying.

CommuteSeattle is an "initiative of the Downtown Transportation Alliance (Downtown Seattle Association, King County Metro and the City of Seattle)" which is responding to the fact that driving in and out of Seattle on a regular basis begins by giving you a twitchy eye and ends with a Glock in the glovebox which you promise to only use on people who drive up beside you and try to merge. It's for commuters, employers, and property owners, and it tries to assemble all the information any of them might need to help people choose life (outside a car). We count ten little car-alternative icons on the home page for commuters. Ten! Maybe they should add one for Snow Day.

Your old ride may be more eco than you know. Microsoft's green guru Rob Bernard crunched the numbers and found that a 2001 Volvo was the most energy efficient vehicle for him to drive. Take that, Prius pious. Businesses can now get the company's carbon calculatin' dashboard which is cool, but you'd think that first they'd find a way to let more employees work from home. Oops, did we just type that?

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 first noticed it a few weeks ago and assumed that maybe all the gravel they threw down on the road was obscuring the lines, but this weekend we again made a rare trip up to Fremont on Highway 99 across the Aurora Bridge and, no joke, the line separating the right-most lane from the center lane appears to be gone. The painted lines have disappeared, and all that remains of the reflectors are gouges in the asphalt, both north- and south-bound.

The state ferry system could float two ways in the next chunk of the future: either stay pretty much as is, full steam ahead with plans to build ten ferries, or slim way down and increase fares. It's hard for us to get too worked up about this, maybe because we can't even imagine leaving the house, let alone driving to Mukilteo, this week. Or maybe because we've been reporting on the multi-millions of dollars cut from Washington state health and human services, for God's sake, and we'd rather see the ferry system build only five new ferries and kick up the fares than to see more cutbacks in health care for kids and poor people.

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.

• Did somebody say bacon? Yes, someone--Beacon Hill Blog, to be exact--actually said the magic words: half a ton of bacon-y goodness.
• Capitol Hill Seattle has a handy list of tips and facts called "everything you need to know about snow on the Hill."
• While CHS gave us a thoughtful list, Hillku gives us a panicked haiku entitled "Cap Hill Snow Death Watch 2008!!!"

Yes, Virginia, there really is a viaduct decision. "After years of debates, arguments and advisory votes the replacement for the Alaskan Way Viaduct will finally be chosen next month," says the P-I. The viaduct is all over both dailies, with the Seattle Times pointing out that the state's projected $4.6 billion deficit isn't likely to affect transportation decisions as much as you'd think: "Transportation has a separate budget with its own source of revenue — primarily the gasoline tax, which is more stable than the sales tax." The surface street option still pencils out as the least expensive, fastest-to-buid choice, but at $800-$900 million and five years of construction, would still take quite a toll on the north-south commute.

We catch some flack around the Seattlest newsroom for being too snarky sometimes and felt like we should trumpet some of the pride we honestly do feel about our city. It's hard not to love this place what with our staggeringly cool views, great live music scene and vociferous yet generally congenial civic debate. Now we can add generous service for the public good to that list.

The state is trying to figure out just how much you'd be willing to pay to cross the Evergreen Point Floating Bridge without being deterred by the cost to change your route. According to a study released yesterday, most drivers would continue to use the bridge, even in the face of fees up to $6.85 per roundtrip. Apparently, the state believes if you have a job on the Eastside, adding nearly $40 to your weekly commute—plus the ever-increasing cost of gas—is no big deal financially. The proposed tolls would vary throughout the day based on traffic volume—from $2.15 during lighter times to a $3.80 one-way fee during peak hours. Tolls on 520 could begin as early as 2010. Similar tolls are also being discussed for I-90, Seattle's other floating bridge. The tolls would go to funding a new six-lane replacement bridge for 520.

As a driver, we admit we've cursed our bicycle brethren more than once and occasionally blamed them for things far beyond their two-wheeled control. That being said, we've never blamed cyclists for interstate or highway traffic, but after an incident on I-5 yesterday, that may change.