Eastbound 14 (et al) stop, 5th & Jackson

A 60-ish, somewhat disheveled man approaches and addresses me in several languages (Amharic, Spanish, Italian) trying to figure out which I speak. We finally settle on a mix of French and English, and (thanks to my growing belly) immediately start talking parenthood. He tells me I remind him of his daughter, who was recently married. “It was in the New York Times,” he says, fishing a crumpled piece of newsprint out of his wallet.

He points to some text under the photo of the handsome, smiling couple, the part that tells about the bride’s family in Seattle, then pulls out his license to show me that his name matches the name of the father listed in the announcement.

“See? That’s me,” he says. “Me.”

We talk for a few minutes longer, about Chicklet, and my due date, and how I am feeling.

Abruptly, he pulls a wilted, slightly blackened red rose from his coat pocket, thrusts it into my hand, and prepares to leave.

“Take care of the babies,” he says, smiling. “Take care of your precious babies.”

His eyes are filled with tears.

Southbound 1, 3:55 PM

Westbound 14, 6:15 PM

A bus newbie, to the driver: “Hey, do they always gas the buses up at night or something? Because I never see buses at the gas station.”

Happiness is…

Sliding onto the 4 in a basic black dress and your favorite vintage shoes* after an evening of Dwele and chocolate cake at Triple Door with your love, only to find that that 4 is being driven by none other than Smooth Jazz, who’s broadcasting just the right tunes to help you (and your love) continue the Triple Door/Dwele vibe all the way home.

* We won’t speak of the incident running for–and almost missing–the 27 (pregnant!) in said vintage shoes on the way to Triple Door.

Link: Our first “real” ride

On Saturday evening, I finally caved to Nerd’s nagging to ride Link again, and we decided to head down to Columbia City for something to eat. It was our first time riding for real–as in, not on a opening/celebration day–and I am happy to report that (despite the rumors I’ve heard about empty trains) we had tons of company on our ride. If anything, we had too much company; we had to stand for the first several stops.

We also hit our share of new-travel-mode snags. For example:

• Payment was confusing. When we got to Pioneer Square station, we first thought we had to use our Orca cards in the ticket machines upstairs. We struggled to figure out what to do until a nice ST employee (who was servicing one of the machines), told us that we didn’t need tickets. We only needed to swipe our cards on the card-reading machines–once before boarding and once after debarking–inside the stations. He also warned us that if we forgot to swipe on the way out, our cards would be charged $2.50, which is the cost of the most expensive ride.

Soon after we boarded the train, the ST fare police came aboard and asked us to demonstrate proof of payment. Everyone in our car held up their tickets; we held up our Orca cards. It’s not clear how the guy knew we actually swiped them, and it’s really not clear how this proof of payment system will work as more and more riders get Orca cards. Maybe I’m missing something?

• The train had “technical difficulties.” Midway through the climb to the Beacon Hill Station, our train stopped at a little booth-type thingie, and two official-looking men with orange vests got on. They stomped their way through the train for about five minutes (without explanation), then left. The train continued to Beacon Hill Station, at which point the driver came out of his booth and kicked us all off with a short, barely intelligible explanation. One of the other passengers told me that the bells were not working, so that train could not be driven with passengers.

Fortunately, we didn’t have to wait long for the next train (after all the drama, ours was only a minute or so ahead of the one behind it), and the rest of our trip went smoothly–except, that is, for all the stops at lights.

We decided to skip the train ride home and instead opted for the trusty (ahem) 48. The ride was without incident, except that when I swiped my Orca–a little over an hour after paying my fare on Link–I was charged the full $1.75 fare. Guess the “transferrable fares” part isn’t up and running quite yet.

One Link photo I didn’t post

No, I haven’t been hitting Three Girls too hard this summer–well, not any harder than usual, anyway. I decided, since I had so much fun (ahem) busing while pregnant in ’07, I’d give it another whirl.

Yes, folks, Bus Nerd and I are expecting another little one early next year–January, to be exact–and facing what will surely be the greatest test of our car-free life thus far: busing with two babies.

The obligatory (busing in) hot weather post

In the summer, I add an item to my long list of reasons to avoid the 4: Trolleys don’t have AC. Apparently, neither do most of Metro’s “wireless” coaches.

I’ve spent the last decade believing that all of Metro’s diesel buses were equipped with air conditioning. I’ve spent the last couple of months believing that all of my drivers were either mean; abiding by some official recession fuel-savings policy; or really, really cold natured. What I learned today, my friends, is that only 30% of Metro’s fleet is air conditioned. (Wonder if a perk of being OOY is driving a bus with AC?)

I’ve ridden on about five air conditioned buses (out of a zillion) since mid-June, and I’m starting to get a little cranky. I’m not mad at Metro for not investing in buses with AC*; we don’t (or at least, we didn’t) need it much in Seattle. I’m just hot.** Hot walking to buses. Hot waiting for buses. Hot riding on buses. Hot walking from buses. And, like almost everyone else in the city, hot at home.

Thank God for the library.

* I am, however, a bit curious about where else these older coaches were sold. Alaska perhaps?
**For those who are interested, the agency has a few (rather obvious) beat-the-heat tips on its website.

KC Metro’s finest

Ineke DeBoer, 2008 Operator of the Year Congratulations to Ineke DeBoer, Metro’s 2008 Operator of the Year. (Yes, I know I’m late with this.) Ineke may be the newest OOY, but she isn’t so new to driving buses. She’s a 30-year Metro veteran (currently driving the 31 and 68) with an excellent safety record and a personnel file full of commendations.

DeBoer, a native of the Netherlands, has been a full-time driver for Metro since 1979. She immigrated to the United States as a young bride, but sadly was widowed at age 21. She first found work as an interpreter for an airline based at Sea-Tac, and then joined Metro a few years later.

“Ineke speaks four languages, but most of all she communicates care and compassion in delivering her passengers safely to their destinations every day,” said Metro Operations Manager Jim O’Rourke. “Her safety record is great, and customers regularly take the time to call or send an email to tell us how much they enjoy her being their driver.”

DeBoer’s warm heart is well known in the community, too. She has been active in the Big Brothers Big Sisters organization for many years, and in 2002 was honored as “Big Sister of the Year” for the Pacific Coast region. She and her second husband, Metro Operator Richard Jensen, have an active family of children and grandchildren. They are known for their warm and friendly home, where any kid is always welcome.

A two driver family? Very interesting. Guess there are all kinds of bus couples.

Want to know more about King County’s new favorite bus driver? Read the full article, or watch a video of the ceremony.

Car-free with a kid: the challenges

I’ve spent the past 20 months (well, on and off anyway–I know not everyone’s as interested in hearing about my kid as I am in talking about her) telling you how much I enjoy busing with Chicklet. And I really do. I love spending one-on-one time on our travels. I love having extra time to read and talk to her. I love experiencing the excitement of riding through her eyes. I love that I am teaching her many of my values–conservation, equality, community engagement, thrift, to name a few–without having to say a word.

But, you know all that stuff. You also know that I wouldn’t have started this post reiterating everything I love about my car-free, child-full life, unless I was about to tell you about something I don’t love.

There are, in fact, several things I don’t love about car-free parenting. As improbable is it seems (given that most of my life is spent not driving) the issue that causes me the greatest amount of inconvenience, stress, and anxiety is: car seat drama.

You see, although we don’t own a car, there are occasions (about once a month or every other month) when we need to use one. In the old days, this was a cinch: 1. Reserve car 2. Walk to car 3. Drive car 4. Return car.

These days? Not so much. The new routine: 1) Reserve car* 2. Schlep Chicklet, Chicklet’s car seat, and Chicklet’s stuff to car 3. Install car seat in car while ensuring that Chicklet doesn’t push any of the car’s buttons or make a beeline for the busy parking lot where the car is parked 4. Strap Chicklet into car seat 5. Drive car 6. Return car 7. Remove Chicklet and unstrap seat 8. Schlep Chicklet, seat, and stuff back home.

If Nerd is around for the car trip, the process is somewhat easier, since one of us can go get the car (sans Chicklet) and bring it back to our place to install the seat. Still, it wastes precious time that we’re paying for.

And I’m not finished.

On my father’s 70th birthday, the family met at a restaurant on Alki Beach to celebrate. After dinner, everyone wanted to head to my dad’s place–not far from the restaurant, but too far to walk–for dessert. Because the bus service in that part of town is abysmal, there’s no service from Alki to my dad’s place (at Seacrest) in the evening. Pre-child, this would not have been an issue. Nerd and I would have ridden to my dad’s with some family member or other, and, after dinner, walked up the hill to catch the 55 or hitched a ride downtown with my brother, who would have been heading that way anyway. But, since we had Chicklet with us, and since we didn’t happen to bring her 15-pound car seat along on our outing, we missed the after-party.

The next Saulter family gathering was for Father’s Day bowling at West Seattle Bowl. This time, we anticipated a post-bowling trip to Pegasus and so dragged Chicklet’s enormous seat along with us on the two-bus trip to the bowling alley. With two parents and two fairly empty Sunday-afternoon buses, we managed it. Certainly, though, it’s not a reasonable regular practice.

And then there was the time back in November of 2008, when we attended an election party at our friends’ place in Kirkland. On the way home (per usual, we had to leave earlier than everyone else to catch the last bus), we miscalculated the location of the bus stop and missed the route we were supposed to take back to Seattle. Pre-Chicklet, we would have called a cab. That night, we were forced to take a convoluted series of buses and spend a lot of time waiting outside in the dark. Did I mention that it was cold, and we had a baby with us?

I’ll spare you all of my other examples, since I think you get the picture.

Yes, I do know about the car seat/stroller combo (wish we’d done our homework before we bought the one we have), but that only really solves the Zipcar problem. What I need someone to invent (and pronto!) is a collapsible, portable car seat that a bus parent can carry in her bus chick bag–a sort of “car seat for emergencies.” Who’s got me?

***

* * If the only car within reasonable walking distance of our home is reserved, I skip the trip. Trying to time a rental around a bus schedule and then drag the seat and kid on the bus (and still walk at least a couple of blocks) is just more trouble than it’s worth.

Link opening, part II (or, Less talk, more pictures)

Disclaimer: As y’all already know, I’m no photographer, so I apologize in advance for any visual offense I might cause. Any halfway decent photos in this post were probably taken by Bus Nerd. On to the trains:

On Friday afternoon, I took a preview ride from Westlake Station to Tukwila Station and back. It was a good overview of the entire line.

Stadium Station

SoDo art

View on the climb to Beacon Hill

Beacon Hill Station

View of Franklin from Mount Baker Station

Racing the 194

Gaining ground

End of the line

On Friday evening, Bus Nerd and I attended Tuxes and Trains, a black tie train celebration/fundraiser for Transportation Choices Coalition in Union Station’s Great Hall. We had a blast. Did I mention that Union Station is air conditioned?

My handsome date

A commemorative root beer from the event

On Saturday, Link’s official opening day, Nerd, Chicklet, and I rode the rails as a family.

Chick and Chicklet on the train

First Stop: Othello Station

Chicklet, digging the toddler-safe seats

Othello Street Fair

Transportation Choices had a booth at the fair, and they were giving away “day one” stickers and other fun swag. They also had cool “travel light” t-shirts for sale. I bought one and then left it at the booth, so I don’t have a photo.