As I was wheeling back to my house the other day, I saw someone standing at my home bus stop and told them to head to 164th (where I was dropped off on the adverse route) only to find the next bus passing my house down NE 8th.

Flexibility = chaos and confusion.

If Metro stops running a route that has earlier been running in adverse weather, they should at least let other bus drivers know that the route doesn’t exist for the time being, so the people waiting can at least take a bus halfway to their destination. I shouldn’t have to check Metro’s website multiple times a day to see if my bus home still exists or not.

The roads were so icy this morning that I didn’t even feel comfortable crossing the street to get a commuter bus, so I took a bus to Kent Station (so far relatively no problem)

I get there and immediately head for the commuter bay No more commuters as the 162 is cancelled.

I head for Sounder. Oh yeah, holiday schedule. No train for two hours.

564? Nope cancelled.

FINE! I’LL TAKE THE 150! I waited 50 minutes for one to show. With so few Seattle options, and three 150s missed, the line to get on the bus was insane.

The 150 took twice as long as normal to get to Seattle, and of course we lost our chains on the freeway.

Downtown was very slick walking and after waiting for almost an hour a 511 came along. It took almost a half an hour to get through downtown before hitting the freeway.

Luckily, someone picked me up at LTC or who knows what I would’ve run into on local CT routes.

Total trip time: Almost five hours. Normally that trip takes around two hours. I managed to keep from falling on my face until later in the day when walking back to the car. Not leaving this house for a few days.

I can’t emphasize enough how tough it is to walk out there. I didn’t have any issues all week, but today was VERY VERY TOUGH.

We do have our moments though, short as they might be, when switch heaters wouldn’t be a bad idea. Oh I know, “what does a Florida guy know about cold?”

I worked in Portland, and the Andes for several years, so don’t be shocked when I tell you I’ve seen +8 degrees HERE in JAX! But not this year … so far so good.

BOB

To the rider who cleared the stop of snowplow drift so the driver could operate the lift, a big thank-you. To my neighbor who cleared the stops in front of my house: thank-you as well

The doesn’t specifically say the 230 is using the adverse weather route today, but I would bet it is, especially since the page still mentions another detour that I saw Sun. night (using Bel-Red instead of NE 8th west of 148th Ave.).

Conditions today are better though . . . I would expect the 230 to be more or less on time, but expect to catch it at 164th Ave.

Saving up a little for this kind of situation is a small price to pay for the savings inherent in just taking it slow for a few days now. The just-in-time culture has become a monster devouring our civilization, and for no reason at all when it comes to stuff like canned beans that can be delivered months in advance.

And if anyone is going to stay mobile, let’s start with the people who work in hospitals, homeless shelters, and clearing the streets. Some years the nursing home I visit sends a chained-up van around to pick up employees. This kind of program should be supported and general.

And, sure, I’d like to just scatter some salt to clear my drive. That would sure beat shoveling. That, and every hardware store in the region stocked with salt and pesticides, plus $22, will get you a pound of salmon- from Alaska. There used to be salmon in Puget Sound, but you don’t see much for sale now.

Cheer up. A fair number of readers will have moved somewhere else before the next big storm. Or, if not, at least they’ll be stocked with candles and food- right?

(1) Communication is key and needs to be improved. I’ve heard that at least a half dozen times in the past 3-4 years. What’s noticeably changed?

(2) Articulated buses don’t do well in ice and snow. Same as (1). The “learning” process would be to communicate to customers ahead of time that under a snow plan, artics will be pulled and service reduced but at least 40-footers will show up somewhat regularly, and people, drivers and equipment won’t be left stranded for the maintenance people to have to go retrieve.

(3) Snowstorms are “rare” but they do happen. Have an emergency plan decision tree with more than just a trunk… also, be prepared for the urban/rural flooding that will happen afterwards as it always does. Mostly the same roads and locations flood and are impassable. Announce the reroutes now…

(4) In each neighborhood, establish “guaranteed” or “primary” stops that will be served in all types of weather. While buses end up rerouted all over the place, they generally tend to pass through a number of key points in the system that are still on-route. If a stop is not signed as a “primary” stop, the closest one should be listed. This way, passengers can self-lead themselves to a spot where bus service is possible, or Metro staff can at least post updates semi-regularly.

(5) Accountability. The loudest sound during every storm is the hand-slapping-forehead sound from Metro management. Late into this storm they “learned” that maybe the top-brass, who haven’t taken a bus in 20 years and know little about the geography of various routes in the system, shouldn’t be making the decisions – rather those decisions should be made by front-line supervisors, etc. Drive accountability up the Metro management chain for their management failures, rather than blaming those on the ground for unavoidable/collateral operations failures.

The way to improve Metro service in any adverse scenario lies not at the extremes, but instead towards the middle. Buying 50 more snowplows and other equipment is just not reasonable; neither is throwing up our hands every time the weather turns and saying “well, this doesn’t happen that often, so we’re screwed”. It’s time to push for a little more professionalism…