Practice your clarinet:
It’s for your own good
I am so not feeling Governor Gregoire right now. (OK, so I’m not really ever feeling her, but whatever.) Counties can’t ask their citizens if they’re willing to pay a car tab tax to fund transit? Now cut that out!
Barefootin’ on the 18
A couple of nice, sunny days, and folks in Seattle start acting a fool:
And I thought it was just 48 riders.
A nice ride if you can get it
This evening, we Saulter siblings (well, three of us, anyway)–along with our respective SOs and Chicklet–convened in our original neighborhood of West Seattle to celebrate our father‘s 70th birthday. The plan was to meet at a restaurant on Alki–as good an excuse as any for Bus Nerd and I to try the Water Taxi shuttle for the first time. (Yes, I’ve been riding the Water Taxi for years, but since my dad lives across the street from the Seacrest dock, and I only ride my favorite floating bus to visit him*, I’ve never had occasion to use the shuttle. I digress.)
Some advice to Water Taxi riders who have to get somewhere (for example, a restaurant that doesn’t hold reservations and won’t seat a party until everyone has arrived) by a specific time: Get your tails off the boat and to the shuttle stop ASAP, or have a backup plan.
We were somewhere in the middle of the pack of passengers disembarking, and by the time we made it to the shuttle, it was full. The driver told us she only had room for one more person, and–oh yeah–hers was the last shuttle run that evening. Have I mentioned that bus service from Seacrest to the beach is all but nonexistent? Back in the old days, Nerd and I would have probably just taken a cab, since we didn’t have time for a long walk, but, of course, we had Chicklet in tow and no car seat.
Fortunately, we had a rarely available option: nearby family. I rode the shuttle with Chicklet while Nerd hightailed it to my dad’s place to hitch a ride with him. The reservation was preserved, and a good time was had by all, including–and especially–the guest of honor.
P.S. – For those who are wondering: We took the 56 home.
*I usually ride the bus to other destinations in West Seattle, since riding the Water Taxi tends to take longer. Pier 55 is a decent walk from 3rd Avenue, and the WT schedule rarely lines up well with the schedules of the buses I ride downtown.
Northbound 48, 10:15 AM
A bus family (mom, dad, preschooler, toddler, and baby) is sitting in the very back, near a group of three teenage girls. After the family gets off, the girls begin to ridicule the children’s clothes, which are, to my eyes at least, perfectly unremarkable.
Girl 1: “I can’t believe they take their kids out looking like that.” [pause] “Then again, they didn’t look too hot themselves.”
Girl 2: “Yeah, it would be all wrong if they looked good and they let their kids go around looking shabby.”
Girl 1: “Yeah, if that was the case, and my kids didn’t have clothes, I would dress hella grimy.”
Transit envy, part II
Last weekend, Chicklet, Nerd, and I got our Vancity bus (and Skytrain!) on and loved every minute of it. We rode lots of shiny new trolleys, eavesdropped on Canadian conversations, and walked our tails off.*
As promised, the highlights:
• Creative digital displays:
Polite Canadian bus drivers apologize when they can’t pick you up.
Guess this one didn’t work out so well.
These messages alternate with the standard stuff: the route number, “out of service,” and et cetera. I imagine that the Canucks messages are annoying to some people, since it means you have to look longer to see which bus is coming, but we tourists enjoyed them very much.
• Amazing views**:
Not a bad view from the C21
Not a bad place to wait for a ride.
• Shelter ads:
The ads are tasteful and attractive (as ads go), provide additional light (and thus, improve safety), and most importantly, provide an additional source of revenue to Translink.
Metro has a demo shelter ad in the International District, but it’s the only one in the county. Metro can’t sell shelter ads because of city sign ordinances that prevent advertising in the public right of way. These ordinances were written to prevent billboards and absolutely need to be revisited. Surely, some sharp lawyers and legislators could craft language that would allow for this particular exception.
• Lots o’ true transit geeks:
Bus chicks like Ikea, too.
And bus nerds occasionally purchase house plants.
Folks up north are apparently not shy about transporting stuff on the bus. Methinks (and this is just a guess) it is because a fair number of people who live in the city live without cars.
Next time we visit, we’re staying for longer than 24 hours.
*Chicklet also got lots of beach time, and (while Chicklet napped in the Ergo) Nerd and I saw a cool exhibit at SFU about black communities in BC. Thanks for hipping us to it, Paulette.
**Of course, for this bus chick, Seattle’s views are number one on earth, but Vancouver is just a hair behind.
Transportation safety, part V
I know I’m late, but I feel compelled to weigh in on the bus safety issue everyone’s been buzzing about for the last couple of days. According to this Seattlepi.com article, “incidents” (which can range from theft to disruptive behavior to actual fights between passengers) reported by Metro drivers have doubled in the last ten years and have risen faster than ridership.
Despite the article’s rather provocative introduction, its basic conclusion is that KC Metro buses are extremely safe. There were fewer than five incidents per million rides in 2008, and less than half of those involved violence. Believe me, driving a car is a lot more likely to result in an injury (or, for that matter, a death) than riding the bus. I digress.
Just for fun, here’s the list* of routes with the most driver-reported incidents:
174 (ahem): 60
7: 52
358 (a-hem!): 34
106: 21
36: 18
120: 16
150: 15
14: 15
18: 11
2: 11
I’ve ridden all of these routes–a few of them I ride regularly–and yes, they have more than their fair share of trife. But for what it’s worth, I’ve never felt unsafe on a bus in Seattle.** Annoyed? Frequently. Bothered? Sometimes. Harassed? On occasion. Unsafe? Not even on the 174.
* I’m surprised there weren’t more trolleys on the list (3 and 4 are conspicuously absent). No disrespect, but those things are slow as all get-out, usually crowded, and hot in the summer.
** OK, except for that time on the 2 when I was in 4th grade.
Speaking of suburbs…
Car-free living: not just for city folk
VAUBAN, Germany — Residents of this upscale community are suburban pioneers, going where few soccer moms or commuting executives have ever gone before: they have given up their cars.
Street parking, driveways and home garages are generally forbidden in this experimental new district on the outskirts of Freiburg, near the French and Swiss borders. Vauban’s streets are completely “car-free” — except the main thoroughfare, where the tram to downtown Freiburg runs, and a few streets on one edge of the community. Car ownership is allowed, but there are only two places to park — large garages at the edge of the development, where a car-owner buys a space, for $40,000, along with a home.
As a result, 70 percent of Vauban’s families do not own cars, and 57 percent sold a car to move here.
(Source: NYT, via Bus Nerd)
Apparently, plans are in the works for something similar in the Bay Area called Quarry Village.
Yes, please.
Speaking of strollers…
For a variety of reasons, Bus Nerd and I are not especially big on baby gear. Most of what we do have we either borrowed from friends or purchased used. So it is particularly ironic that the one piece of baby gear we bought brand, spanking new–and paid a small fortune for, I might add–is the one we almost never use: Chicklet’s car seat.
Like all parents, we wanted our kid’s seat to be safe, and we were concerned about buying a used one. (When an environmentalist tells you it’s not a good idea, it gives you pause.) But here’s the thing: In order to use the seat, which weighs 15 pounds and is big enough for me to fit in, I have to get it–and Chicket–to an actual car. Let’s just say that renting a Zipcar (the nearest one’s a quarter of a mile from our house) without the help of Bus Nerd is less than enjoyable.
Ah, but if I’d done my homework, I would have known that there is a better option. Car-free parents, behold:
A car seat/stroller combo
A car seat with wheels?! Who knew?
I learned about this fabulous invention from fellow TAC member–and fellow parent–Tina, who uses it on those occasions when her family takes a cab to the airport, and when they travel to places where they’ll need a car. Tina says the seat’s not especially comfortable, but, given that Chicklet rides in a car an average of once a month, that’s hardly a deal breaker. Did I mention that both of the brands I researched got high marks in the safety department?
Anyone in the market for a (gently) used Britax?