A coffee, et cetera (actually, more like et cetera and coffee) shop on Admiral Way, west of California:
How could I not stop? It had a door–actually, window–bell–and a very friendly owner. That figures. Anyone who designs his business for pedestrians has got to be good people.
Today, on our visit to the Montlake library (five stamps down, 21 to go), Chicklet and I met another mother-daughter bus team in the children’s section. I chatted for a while with the mother, who lives in Eastlake, is part of a one-car family, and uses Metro to get around town with her 19-month old daughter. She’s expecting another baby in March, and she and her husband seriously considered buying a second car to accommodate their expanding family.
“But then I saw one of those new Metro ads,” she said. “They say, ‘I do make a difference by riding the bus.’ And that’s what I believe. I do make a difference. That’s me.”
“Actually,” I said. “That’s me.”
If you’re a library geek like me (libraries might actually beat out buses on my list of favorite things), you surely already know about the Seattle Public Library’s passport program. For everyone else:
The library is issuing passports with a page for every library in the SPL system. The goal is for patrons to bring their passports to each branch to have them stamped, and in the process, to check out our new and improved community resources.
Cool idea, no? It gets better. Every entry in the passport includes a list of Metro routes that stop at that branch.
This might seem like a small thing, but to this bus chick, it is huge. Every effort to challenge the assumption that one must drive to get around this town is worth recognizing. And since Chicklet and I are participating , the passports can serve as our travel cheat sheet.
So far, we’ve hit up Douglass-Truth (no bus ride necessary), Sally Goldmark (3), West Seattle (55), and Greenlake (48).* Montlake (48) is next on the list, followed by all of the other branches that are served by Metro’s heavyweight.** After that–who knows? I’ve never been to the ID branch, or Ballard, or South Park…
My plan is to coordinate our visits with individual branch story times–to make it worth Chicklet’s while. Then again, she hardly needs encouragement to visit a library. Twenty minutes in the children’s section reading books about farm animals and/or big vehicles, and she’s good.
Participants in the challenge have until January 2nd to turn in their completed passports. And, “…there will be a prize drawing on January 7th for booklover’s baskets full of goodies and lunch with the new city librarian.”
Shoot. That almost rivals partying with Busfather.
* Note that the Greenlake branch is currently closed due to a mold problem.
** Six total: Rainier Beach, Columbia, Douglass-Truth, Montlake, Greenlake, Greenwood
Would-be bus (stop) mackers in the ID will have to start getting more creative (but not too creative!) with their opening lines. The time, you see, is available to everyone (everyone who can read roman numerals and tell time, that is), now that the clock at King Street Station is once again functional.
As if I wanted to know the exact number of minutes late my post-TAC 14 is.
Yesterday, the bus fam (that is, Chicklet, Nerd, and yours truly) hopped the 4 and headed to Seattle Center to attend a retro birthday party for my friend (and world-famous author) Sundee. Fellow natives of the 2-0-sickness: Remember back in the day, when the Center was the place to hang out in the summer (at 9: ferris wheel! at 13: cute boys!), and those rides and games at the Fun Forest seemed at least as good as Disneyland’s? My perspective has changed a bit since the 80s (about the Fun Forest and Disneyland), but I’m still sad that the park won’t be around for little Chicklet to enjoy.
I digress.
Instead of taking the 4 home from the festivities, we took the Monorail and transferred downtown, because, 1) I was in one of my nostalgic moods, 2) Chicklet had never ridden the Monorail, and 3) we wanted to save time. (The two-minute ride to Westlake beats any bus, and stopping downtown gave us the option of catching a faster route up the hill.)
We used our extra minutes to visit the new(ish) Kress supermarket on 3rd & Pike. I’ve been waiting for about a gazillion years for a grocery store to open downtown, and it was long past time for me to check it out. Plus, we were out of wine.
We get our produce (and a lot of other staples) from an organic delivery service, and we live within walking distance of a grocery store, so I won’t be using this Kress for major shopping trips. That said, it’s got a pretty good selection and reasonable prices. And since, like most transit types, I’m downtown a lot, I’ll certainly be using it for quick stock-ups (they carry my favorite crackers!) between transfers–and for grabbing something (chocolate) to share at a party.
Of course, as I learned on my very first visit, I’m not the only bus rider who appreciates the new Kress.
Captain finished shopping at the same time we did (which is to say, just in time to catch the 27), and all four of us enjoyed a speedy ride home with our purchases.
Climate Lab – Transportation Shift
What: A sustainable transportation workshop hosted by Sustainable NE Seattle and the UUC Green Sanctuary Committee
When: Saturday, October 11, 2008, 9:30 am – 2:00 pm
Where: University Unitarian Church: 6556 35th Ave NE, Seattle, WA
How much: Free
RSVP: www.ClimateDialogues.org/labs
***
MEHVA Fall Foliage Tour
What: “A four-hour trip through the Cascade foothills along the quiet back roads of east King County”
When: Sunday, October 19 (My Gail‘s birthday!), 11 a.m.
Where: The tour starts at 2nd Ave S. & S. Main
How much: $5 for adults, $4 for seniors and children 2-11
I went on this tour (he-ey Warren, Jeff, and John!) in 2006 and highly recommend it. Did I mention there’s a stop at a bakery?
***
Community meetings to discuss south-end route changes
What: Meetings for riders to comment on service changes that are being proposed to accommodate light rail and BRT. Potentially affected routes: 7, 8, 9, 14, 32, 34, 35, 36, 38, 39, 42, 48, 60, 106, 107, 126, 128, 140, 154, 170, 174, 175, 180, 190, 191, 194, ST 574, and ST 594.
When/where:
• Thursday, Oct. 16 – 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
Rainier Community Center, 4600 38th Ave. S., Seattle
• Tuesday, Oct. 21 – 1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.
New Holly Gathering Hall, 7054 32nd Ave. S., Seattle
• Tuesday, Oct. 21 – 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
New Holly Gathering Hall, 7054 32nd Ave. S., Seattle
• Wednesday, Oct. 22 – 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
Federal Way City Hall, council chambers, 33325 8th Ave. S., Federal Way
• Thursday, Oct. 23 – 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
Fire District #20 training facility, 12424 76th Ave. S., Seattle (Skyway/West Hill)
• Tuesday, Oct. 28 – 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
Jefferson Community Center, 3801 Beacon Ave. S., Seattle
• Thursday, Oct. 30 – 1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.
SeaTac City Hall, 4800 S. 188th St., SeaTac
• Thursday, Oct. 30 – 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
Foster High School, 4242 S. 144th St., Tukwila
If you live in southeast Seattle or Southwest King County, I strongly suggest you attend one of these meetings. Don’t wait until the service changes have been finalized to let Metro and Sound Transit know what you need.
Update: If you can’t attend a meeting, you can provide feedback virtually:
SE Seattle questionnaire
SW King County questionnaire
Despite the fact that global warming, energy issues, and the economy are top-of-mind for most voters (the last day for online/mail-in registration is tomorrow, by the way), there’s been precious little talk about public transit in this election. Odds are, it won’t come up in either of the remaining debates, and that’s a shame–especially since campaign coverage focuses more on the “horse race” than on the candidates’ records and ideas.
Thankfully, the Brookings Institution has published a comparison of McCain’s and Obama’s transportation philosophies/policies. It covers, among other things, congestion pricing, the gas tax “holiday,” public transit incentives, and smart growth.
If you want more, Obama has a transportation white paper on his website. Some excerpts:
On transit funding:
Barack Obama and Joe Biden will re-commit federal resources to public mass transportation projects across the country. Obama and Biden will work with state and local governments across the country on efforts to create new, effective public transportation systems and modernize our aging urban public transit infrastructure.
On transit incentives:
The federal tax code rewards driving to work by allowing employers to provide parking benefits of $205 per month tax free to their employees. The tax code provides employers with commuting benefits for transit, carpooling or vanpooling capped at $105 per month. This gives drivers a nearly 2:1 advantage over transit users. Obama and Biden will reform the tax code to make benefits for driving and public transit or ridesharing equal.
On smart growth:
Our communities will better serve all of their residents if we are able to leave our cars, to walk, bicycle, and have access to other transportation alternatives. As president, Barack Obama will re-evaluate the transportation funding process to endure that smart growth considerations are taken into account.
Obama’s site also has a Public Transit/Mass Transit online group.
There’s no mention of transit (that I can find, anyway) on McCain’s site, and (unlike Obama), I’ve never heard him mention the issue in a speech. I could make assumptions–based on his Amtrak position and his general world view–but I’d rather have facts. Anyone got any?
Two twentysomethings are sitting in the back, discussing job prospects and financial woes.
Twentysomething woman: “I’ve been hitting up everyone I know that works at Sound Transit, asking them to hook me up with a bus pass. Just hook a girl up! They’re like, ‘dude, we’ll get fired.'”
[…]
Twentysomething man: “You should get, like, a whole bunch of old bus passes–from, like, way back–and sell them for like, five bucks… That’s just the kind of thing liberal douchebags would buy.”
There’s another deserving co-recipient of Cari’s award: her employer, Children’s Hospital. Thanks to some incredibly creative and hardworking Commute Services employees (and, I assume, a strong commitment from management), Children’s is a leader in encouraging (and facilitating) its employees’ alternative commutes.
Children’s was the very first Transit Now partner and worked with Metro to increase the frequency of the 75 and 25, two routes that serve the campus. (It’s the frequent service of the 75 that makes Cari’s bus commute possible.) The hospital also runs a shuttle, called the Green Line, which transports employees to and from downtown (simplifying some bus commutes) and to and from Children’s satellite clinics (eliminating the need to drive for work-related daytime travel). Last month, the good folks in Commute Services launched Children’s InMotion.
As I mentioned yesterday, I met Cari at the “Car-free with Kids” event the hospital hosted, which was open to employees and patient families and aimed at helping parents explore options for getting around with their children. (I found this event especially impressive, since alternative commuting is often seen as the province of young, single types–not for people with precious cargo to transport, or daycare drop-offs and clarinet lessons to facilitate.)
All these efforts are paying off. Even before the InMotion launch, almost 65% of Children’s employees were using alternative commutes.
“Children’s staff has really embraced the health, community and financial benefits of leaving the car at home,” says Matt Bullen, a car-free parent who also happens to be a member of the hospital’s Commute Services staff. “We understand that, in a sense, Children’s ability to grow responsibly depends on us all.”
Indeed.
This month’s Golden Transfer goes to Cari A.: nurse, mom, and alternative commuter extraordinaire. I met Cari back in August (and she would have won the GT in August, had I managed to post the entry on the 31st), at a “Car-Free with Kids” event hosted by her employer, Children’s Hospital. Cari was one of the event panelists, so I got to hear firsthand how she buses to work with her two children, four-year old Ava and one-year old Grayson.
Ava and Grayson, who attend the Children’s on-site daycare and must commute along with their mom, deserve to share equally in this illustrious award. Ava, like most four-year olds, is obsessed with buses, and her repeated requests to ride eventually motivated Cari to try (and like!) leaving the car at home. Grayson, despite occasional attempts to, as his mom puts it, “lick the pole,” is a well-behaved bus passenger, who brightens the commutes of more than a few fellow riders with his squeezable cheeks (see below).
Cari and her kids live in Bothell and ride the 75 from a Children’s park & ride in Lake City to the hospital’s main campus in Laurelhurst. The 75 runs every eight minutes during peak hours, which means they don’t have to adhere to a strict schedule. And as for the actual bus time? The coolness factor (driver! bell! lift!) keeps Ava entertained for the 12-minute ride; snacks and toys keep Grayson in check.
Says our winner, “It’s not as difficult as you might think. It’s actually harder to get organized to go to the zoo for half a day than it is to ride the bus with my kids.” (Source: Children’s Hospital internal website [article author: Alison Link])
Thanks, Cari, for showing us (and your children) that getting around–even for a busy, working mom–doesn’t always mean hopping in the car. After all, “a bus is like a massive, pimping SUV with 4000 horse power and lots of 45 inch wheels.” And you never have to fill up the tank.
