Here’s a pretty enlightening op-ed piece from Karen Steinberg, a Snohomish resident, about taking the bus downtown. The summary: parking downtown sucks (big surprise), the bus to downtown is convenient (another big surprise) and park-and-rides facility easy bus rides from the suburbs. Some highlights (and nothing I am saying is meant to be facetious):
My 11-year-old son had never been on a bus, so he was excited. We easily found a spot in the Park & Ride lot, walked over to the clearly labeled bay, and waited to board.As we zoomed down Aurora Avenue North, stopping occasionally to drop off and pick up passengers and chatting with seatmates, I realized that although I’d grown up using buses and trains in Chicago, my son had never interacted with his communities in this way and was having a great time.
You know, I grew up on Capitol Hill and in Wallingford, so my experiences with the bus are clearly different than an eleven-year-old who grew up in Orange County and Snohomish. But it’s great to see that modern-day kids love the bus, even from Snohomish. It’s a different experience, and you never really get to see your neighborhood if you’re in a car the whole way.
Our day cruise was splendid, with crystal-clear views of the Olympics, Mount Rainier and the Cascades, and after doing some shopping, we found the northbound bus stop for our return trip. Within five minutes, the 358 pulled up, and we hopped on. On our trip back, a fellow rider offered us a newspaper he’d finished, and we had an interesting conversation about the paper.
Yup, you can enjoy your environs from the bus in a way you can’t when you are staring at the breaklights in front of you.
But, the gorgeous weather on Martin Luther King Jr. Day tempted me, especially when I contemplated a day cruise out on Elliott Bay. I logged onto Metro’s online Trip Planner, spent half an hour figuring out my options, and decided to go by car to the Park & Ride at the Aurora Village Transit Center and take the No. 358 downtown. (Had there been more time, I could have caught Community Transit’s 131 just a block from my home to the transit center — or, during regular weekday rush hour, taken CT’s 416 all the way downtown, no transfer or car required.)
Now, I hope Ms. Steinberg takes the bus when she commutes as well. But the point is great: the bus can be convenient, and even, dare I say, more convenient than driving. And, I think, the article gives more credence to the mayor’s center-city strategy: put more people and jobs downtown, and it becomes easier to plan infrastructure.
For an alternate viewpoint, I know a few otherwise bus-riding people who go out of their way to avoid the 358 specifically owing to the number of times they’ve smelled the fine scent of vomit on a 358.
To decide you like the bus based on a 358 experience is a big step indeed.
I’ve never had a vomit experience on the 358, but I’ll watch out.
I think that the bus interactions are worth the fare alone! I have become adapted to Metro and ST, so I know a good majority of routes to get around. Currently I am dog sitting and taking a whole mess of buses to get where I need to go. I take the 27 to dog sit and it is always cool to ride a new route that is packed with people talking about their lives, work, the city, some new restaurant as was the case today. I would miss that greatly in my car alone. I can’t eavesdrop on myself. However this week with my added responsibilities, I couldn’t drive to the dogs, park my car because it is only residential(Zone 7)parking. I would have to pay $20 to park at work additionally. It is just easier to ride the bus. The downfall being with every transfer I lose some precious time. It isn’t lost completely, I am reading a good book. I think also, that the volitile smells is 1 in many many rides. Or at least that my findings.
16, 358, 174…any Pill Hill or Belltown Crackhead bus. Not for the casual transit rider.
I enjoyed the writer’s perspective, but this “snapshot in time” approach ignores two longer-term challenges for long-haul bus service:
1) a lot more cars on the road in 10-20 years – even more congestion if those cars are cheap/green hybrids or electrics.
2) the insanely huge operating costs associated with loading a bus full of people, taking it 30 miles, and then going back empty (oftentimes without HOV lanes) to pick up the next load.
My kids both went to Montlake Community Center teen camp in Seattle. Every day the camp met at Montlake and they all took a bus somewhere different each day. They really got exposed to getting around by bus!
BTW: I suggest a glance at the book by Jacob Hiis (spelling?): “How the other half live”.
The other half in his book is newly arrived immigrants in grinding poverty in the tenements of New York!
We tend to think of the “other half” as those richer than us. It weren’t.
It seems we’re getting ripped off at King County if snohomish residents drive down and take our buses.
No, we’re not. Because the bus is paid for by sales tax, so as long as they buy something, they are pretty much paying for the bus they’re riding.
I’ve only ridden the 358 during daylight hours and never noticed vomit – though I’m probably just lucky. The crowd was a little rough around the edges in the ride free area (surprise, surprise) but nothing way out there compared to some of the stuff I’ve seen on the 174 and the U District buses.
I think most casual transit riders would be more put off by the goings on in bus shelters and the bus tunnel elevators than anything during most actual daytime/commuter rides. Admittedly this is only personal experience but the share of deuces and (fresh) piles of vomit, plus the “normal” urine smell and drug deals seems to favor the area outside of the bus rather than in the bus.
Oh yes, the few public restrooms (urban or suburban) in the system are an absolute atrocity even by public restroom standards. More and more, I think that we should hire restroom attendants to sell toilet paper for a dime or some other nominal fee as in some parts of Europe.
Max – With the longhaul going back empty, such is the logistics when you have a unevenly distributed system. Sure the deadhead is costly, but how else would you fill the bus?
I’m sure there might be some opportunities along the lines of hauling mail or something, but this would be far less than ideal from a loading standpoint.
Wait until she discovers Lynnwood or Northgate Transit Center.