I waited 25 minutes for 545, and when it finally came, it got so packed that every seat was taken (not unusual) at least 25 people were standing, and people had to be turned away.

Other than that it was a nice commute. How about you, did the snow screw your commute up?

20 Replies to “Interesting Bus Day”

  4. The 271 left the U District for Bellevue promptly at 8:28am. Arrived on time with slightly fewer passengers than usual. Tomorrow may be more interesting if the weather forecasts are to be believed.

  5. I was on the jack knifed 159 this morning while attempting to go up Kent-Des Moines Road. At least we took out a Ford Excursion and guard rail in the process. The driver of the land tank by herself was fine…

  7. The 230 from Bellevue to Redmond was running right on time this morning, and only half full (as usual).

  8. “I know better than to brave the snow in Seattle”

    There was very little snow in Seattle proper. And the streets were fine.

    At one point (before leaving my apartment) my bus was 5 minutes late, no big deal. (I am obsessive about mybus.org.) However, when I checked a bit later the bus was listed as 5 minutes EARLY. And yup, it appeared 5 minutes early. It got stuck in some other bus traffic though so it eventually evened out, but my guess is some people probably missed their bus because it was way ahead of schedule at one point.

  9. I think more people take transit when there is snow because they realize how much drivnig sucks…

  12. Bunch of 255’s stuck at Brickyard P&R this morning (I count three). The usual group of people waiting for the 311, without a shelter. For some reason, Metro took it out and replaced it with traffic cones. Strange as they just replaced it not long ago. Alas, I carpooled to Capitol Hill. Saw only one bus stuck on 405 near NE 70th and it was signed “TO TERMINAL”.

    I checked the Tracker and several buses were 9 min early to 93 min delayed.

    More people take transit in situations like this but then downside is that it completely unreliable and frustrating, even with mybus.org. Plus the sound of the snow chains really annoy me.

  13. Today didn’t go so well for me. In order to bypass the traffic on I-405 north of Canyon Park, I had to get a ride directly to Lynnwood via my father, which was haphazard at best.

    Once at Lynnwood, many of us had to wait a long time for the bus which was intended to be the 855. The bus itself had been stuck at the bottom of a hill, and lost a chain on its way. In order to go on the freeway, they had to be removed, but the driver couldn’t radio in for that due to the channels being flooded with accident reports.

    In the end, a late 810 came and we all had to endure an overcrowded bus (taking the load of itself, the 855, and the 871) and a long, winding route until Mountlake Terrace. The entire endeavor, from home to UW, took three hours; two hours than longer.

    Getting back, however wasn’t eventful in the least.

    – Neil

  14. Waited over 45 mins for a 17 – it never showed up. Hiked to the closest 18 stop (Ballard Ave & Market), waited 10 more minutes, then finally got on an 18. It was completely full after that – so we bypassed most of the stops to downtown since there was no room.

    People had been waiting for over an hour at the Ballard & Market stop – not a single 17, 18, 44, or 75 had shown up. WHEEE!

  15. I was bad.. I woke up late so I drove to work. (Having that fall back means sometimes I’ll use it.. Yes I already said I was bad.)

    Being from areas that get much more snow than this I wasn’t too worried about the weather, instead I was worried about the other drivers. My fears came true when I was heading down a moderate hill in Redmond and some guy was going 5 miles per hour, which didn’t jive well with the rest of us who were doing 20. Barely missed hitting him, and the person behind me managed to twist the car parallel to the roadway..

    So yeah it was a fun morning, even without the bus.

  18. Oran – yeah mybus.org must have been down for a while. I texted the server twice but didn’t get a reply until 3pm saying that it failed to deliver the message.

    A 373 passed up a bunch of people including me, but then 2 more of them came right after each other about 5 min later, so all was good.

  19. Waited for my 33 that never came. I then walked down to 15th and Dravus to catch the often running 15/18. There were about 30 people at the stop, my guess was that no buses were coming through. The buses that were coming weren’t even stopping cause they were too full by the time they left Ballard! AWESOME! Finally, some really nice lady in a Mercedes SUV stopped and asked if anyone wanted a lift so I did! I justified it cause it was packed full of people, and she is a regular bus rider! Thanks to her I made it in. Last year someone else did the same thing. Going home was better both years. PT, do we ever need rapid transit. I would say this will make Seattle wake up and realize that buses aren’t always the answer especially in inclement weather, but this is the second year in a row. Who knows, but one can hope! At least ridership is up on the buses.

  20. WTF is up with the #358 bus. It’s horrendously overcrowded and its ALWAYS late between 7 – 11 am. I’m sick of it! WTF should I have to catch an earlier bus (and pray that’s on time and not overcrowded so I get passed up) when the bus I should be taking and should get me to my destination on time is late? Does anyone else take this godforsaken bus?

    What’s the deal? Is it just too crowded? Is the route too long? I don’t have any other choice but this dumb bus where I live as far as a reasonable time to get downtown. THanks for letting me vent. I hate that %^^$$#&@@ route. There have been times when the bus I was supposed to take NEVER EVEN CAME. And transit wants to raise fare. They can kiss my A**.

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