Recently spotted in transit

Either a bus veered way off course, or some sad souls have too much time on their hands.

At least the schedule’s still intact.

So much for the cool, new signal light at this freeway station.

Speaking of cool…

Relief for bus riders who want to know where the heck their bus is already:

Time to install those updates!

This monitor at Overlake Transit Center shows Tracker’s location view for all the buses that stop there. The monitor is displayed through a window of one of the OTC buildings. Here’s an attempt at some context:

That’s Bus Nerd in the reflection.

Love it! Maybe I’m dreaming too big, but I’d like to see something like this at every major bus stop.

Speaking of bus stops…

E-waste at the 8 stop on Yesler & 23rd

Maybe they thought the sign said, “Bottles, cans, and printers only.” The saddest part: There was a monitor on top of a trash can at one of the later stops on the same ride. Just foul.

Speaking of fouls…

Getting comfortable on the 27

Who needs a sofa when you can put your feet up on the bus? Not feelin’ this situation at all.

I am, however, feelin’ this situation:

Hipster-geeks swapping music on the 545

Wonder what song it was?

I’ve been saying that the bus would be a great place to test Zune’s wireless file sharing. No word on whether this particular test was successful.

Can bus chicks hibernate for the winter?

I have a pretty cool work schedule: On Mondays, I don’t have to go to my office, and I get to spend the entire day working on personal writing projects. Today’s agenda: A morning coffee in Belltown with a new friend (hey, Cherie!), a few miscellaneous errands in NoDo (my new name for Belltown/SLU/Lower Queen Anne), and then an afternoon of writing at home.

I woke up this morning with a sore throat and a stuffy nose but decided to brave the rain anyway. Would that I had just stayed home!

I was early for the coffee and so decided to use the extra time to stop at Nordy’s and pick up a recently tapped pair of boots. This meant a wet walk (balancing bus chick bag, paper shopping bag with fixed-up boots, and umbrella) back to 3rd Avenue; a soggy, steamy ride up to Belltown; and another wet walk (dodging puddles and traffic tsunamis) over to the appointed meeting place on 1st. After coffee, I stopped at a knitting store a few blocks south of the coffee shop. There, after purchasing a book of patterns for my mother (though not a bus rider, my mom is a hardcore practitioner of the new “it” bus pastime), I exchanged my soggy and rapidly disintegrating Nordstrom shopping bag for one of theirs (also paper) and then hoofed it the four and a half blocks to the nearest (shelterless) 28 stop. At this point, I called Bus Nerd (balancing the bus chick bag, new soggy paper bag, umbrella, and phone) to find out the exact address of the projector repair place I was headed to. Fifteen minutes later, the 28 came. (It was on time; I had just neglected to check the schedule in advance.) The windows on the 28 were so fogged up that I missed my stop and had to walk two wet blocks back to the repair shop. Then, it was another four-and-a-half block walk (wind whipping, cars splashing, bag ripping) to the 8 stop on Denny and Aurora. Four hours (and a couple of lifetimes) after I had left my house this morning, I finally arrived home.

I realize that this insanity was as much about bad weather and bad decisions as it was about buses, but daaaang. I spent too much time, got too little accomplished, and got a little too much exposure to the elements. At no point during the ordeal did I find myself wishing for a car. (Driving in the city in the rain and searching/paying for parking? I’ll pass.) I did, however, find myself wishing for summer (Oh August, how I miss you!), and maybe a train–anything with indoor stations and predictable schedules.

This week in transit blogs

On Friends of Seattle: A discussion of Neal Pierce’s December 4th column. An excerpt from the column:

Yet, as expensive as new and expanded transit may be, the ultimate question isn’t money (indeed the federal government’s “New Starts” fund is swamped with 200 applications and shrinking dollars). Rather, it’s whether we have the will to reshape urban America in more compact, livable, energy-conscious ways. That means organizing regionally on multiple fronts …

On Cars Are Evil: A thoughtful analysis of L.A.-style sprawl:

If we are to believe that Southern California’s great triumph is giving people exactly what they want, then the region is the mirror by which we can view our true selves. Like the drunk who takes a hard, cold look at himself the morning after another night of overindulgence, we can’t like what we see. The crowded, unsightly landscape of Los Angeles is the logical conclusion to notion that everyone can have room to escape to their own private Eden. Add in the massive inefficiency and destruction caused by congestion, the untenable dependence on other people’s water, and the city’s role in the demise of the ubiquitous streetcars throughout the country, and the triumph of Los Angeles is as hollow as the sappy ending in a Hollywood movie.

On Streetsblog: Shocking news! Seoul got rid of a highway and improved (among many other things) traffic.

As the debate over traffic relief heats up in New York City, take a look at how the demolition of an elevated highway motorway the center of South Korea’s capital and the restoration of a river and park in its place shows how taking space away from cars and trucks can lead to less traffic congestion, a better local economy, and a healthier, more livable city.

Bus-chick-friendly weekend events

Another library celebration/historic bus tour combo:

Saturday, December 9th

MEHVA, our favorite historic vehicle preservation organization, is hosting its annual Holiday Lights Tour. I’m pretty sure they’re going to use the cool buses this time.

Where: Begins at 2nd & Main
When: 7:00 PM
Cost: $4-$5, depending on your age

Sunday, December 10th

Floating Bridge Press celebrates Metro’s Poetry on the Buses program with readings from (and a reception for) their newly released anthology: Poetry on the Buses: An Anthology of Poetry on Wheels 1995-2005. Bus Nerd totally should have submitted his bus stop spoken word.

Where: Central Library
When: 2:00 PM – 3:30 PM
How much: Free! (The book costs $10.)

A (hopefully) final word about bus wraps

Sharron Shinbo, project manager for Metro’s bus wrap program, sent me this in response to my question about “clear-window” bus wraps:

All of Metro’s 25 wrapped buses have the same type of perforated vinyl on the windows. The 3M products specified for use in King County are the current transit industry standard used throughout the United States, Canada, and other countries worldwide. On the Breda trolleys the window tint is lighter than on the other types of coaches so even with the black IPOD ad on the outside of the bus one can very easily see outside and through the windows.

I’ve inserted a recent article from the Puget Sound Business Journal, in case you had not seen it. Heidi Dietrich wrote a very factual piece. There is only one small error…… She wrote, “The bus wraps currently generate $700,000 a year for Metro, out of a total of $4.6 million in revenue from all forms of bus ads.” Actually, the bus wraps currently generate over $ 700,000 a year for Metro, in addition to $4.65 million in revenue from the framed ads on the buses.

The Council adopted a 2007 budget that contained the following proviso,” The transit division shall not enter into, or authorize its contractor to enter into, any new agreements, or extend any such agreements, for exterior bus advertising that involve covering any portion of a bus side window. ” Titan Outdoor, Metro’s contractor, is allowed to honor any contracts that were in place at the time the Council adopted the budget. They have sold 25 wrapped buses for 2007.

Some excerpts from the article Sharron sent:

“It’s a good program that provides desperately needed revenue at a time when fuel costs are accelerating,” Desmond said.

Phillips countered: “We realize there’s a revenue loss on this, but our first responsibility is to the public.”

Council members decided to eliminate the window-covering ads because riders complained that wrapped buses were dark and the wraps greatly reduced views, Phillips said.

Between January and September, Metro received 12,400 total complaints, and only 103 were related to the advertising wraps, Desmond said. He acknowledges that far more people are probably dissatisfied with the wraps than have officially complained. Still, he said, the wrapped buses are reassigned to different routes each day and a single rider would not often ride in the same wrapped vehicle. Metro allows wraps on just 25 of the fleet’s 1,300 buses.

It’s unfortunate that 3M can’t develop a technology that allows Metro to earn revenue and riders to see where they’re going.

Speaking of Santa…

For you holiday shoppers, last week’s Real Change column:

Ah, the holiday season: the time of year when we gather with family, give thanks for our blessings, and spend as much money as humanly possible. What better time to review my bus-chick-tested shopping tips?

Tip 1: Buy less. The simplest and most effective way to avoid the hassle of shopping without a car is to stop shopping so doggone much. Your decision to try life as a bus chick means you’re probably interested in conserving — your money, the world’s resources, or both — and spending less time at the mall will surely help you accomplish this.

Tip 2: Use a different kind of highway. If you don’t need a particular item immediately, consider ordering it online. If it’s a gift that has to be shipped, you save two trips: the first, to the store to buy the gift, and the second to the post office to mail it. In cases where you want to see an item before you buy it (or you don’t want to pay shipping costs), you can still use the Internet to research products and prices. That way, when you’re ready to buy, you’ll only have to make one stop.

Tip 3: Concentrate! The bus-based life is not well-suited to the “running around” that has become the norm in our consumer-oriented, car-centric culture. (And who says that’s a bad thing?) Shop in places that have a wide variety of stores concentrated in a small area, so you can take care of several purchases each time you make a trip. I tend to shop downtown, mostly because it’s the concentrated shopping area that is most easily accessible to me. And speaking of downtown…

Tip 4: Shop on your way. The next time you’re in the center of our fair city waiting for a transfer, try using that time to take care of business. When I’m downtown and in need of a particular item, I decide how much time I’ll need, check the schedule of the bus I’m waiting to catch, and then head to the nearest store that has what I need. If I’m not in the market for anything in particular but the wait between buses is especially long, I’ll use the down time “pre-shop” for stuff (greeting cards, vacuum-cleaner bags, printer cartridges — whatever I’m closest to) that I know I’ll need in the future.

Tip 5: Be Flexible. Most of the items people regularly shop for can be easily reached and carried home on the bus. (Note: If it’s big enough to take up a seat of its own, consider traveling during off-peak times.) For those times when you want to purchase an item that is outside the bus’s coverage area or that exceeds your carrying capacity (and the limits of your fellow riders’ patience), rent a Flexcar. For all you Craig’s Listers and garage salers: They even have pickups.

What Bus Chick wants for Christmas

Dear Santa,

I’ve done my best to be a good bus chick this year. I always have my fare ready when it’s time to pay; I keep my headphones turned down; and I never, ever take up more than one seat when the bus is full. I’ve held up my end of the bargain, Santa, so I’m hoping you’ll get started on yours. Remember that congestion-pricing plan I’ve been asking for? …

Thanks to my incessant nagging, Santa knows what congestion pricing is. In case you don’t: It’s a system that charges drivers for entering busy city centers during certain hours. A number of cities, including Singapore, Stockholm, and Oslo, have congestion-pricing plans, but London’s is the largest and easily the most well known. London’s effort is, of course, imperfect and controversial, but there is no disputing that it has reduced congestion and raised considerable revenue for transit projects.

As far as I know, congestion pricing hasn’t been introduced in any U.S. cities (New York is arguing about it, at least), so this is Seattle’s chance to be a pioneer on the driving-reduction front. And why not?

Boiled down, the benefits of such a system:

1) It would get people out of their cars (nothing like the sting of a $10 fee to make the short walk to the bus stop seem more palatable), thereby reducing pollution, aggravation, and–oh yeah–congestion.

2) It would raise money, which could be used to get even more people out of their cars. The fees would quickly recover the cost of implementing the system and then could be used to pay for stuff like: more and better transit service, bike paths, and even road repairs.

3) It would require people who choose not to get out of their cars to pay more of the real cost of their destructive habit. (Yeah, I said it.)

We could start by charging folks for driving downtown (given that it’s really the only place in the city that almost everyone can reach easily without a car) and expand the “charging zone” (perhaps even create one on the Eastside) as we raise enough revenue to expand transit options.

What say you? I’m pretty sure Santa’s down.

Thanks for the ride!

I have this thing: I can’t get off a bus without thanking the driver. I started doing it when I was little (my parents were big on manners), and it just stuck. By now, it’s a reflex. I say it if the driver is rude or reckless, if he or she is too busy or too preoccupied to hear me, even if I get off the back door (in that case, I yell it). Other riders say it doesn’t even cross their minds. Why thank someone for doing her job?

What do you think?

Riders: Are you “thankers”?

Drivers (if there are any out there): Do you appreciate it when riders thank you, or do you get tired of saying, “You’re welcome” to overly polite Seattleites all day?

A special guest star

With the help of a few cool, food- and drink-minded folks from TCC, Bus Nerd and I threw a party last night. Early in the evening, I learned that one of our guests was well acquainted with Metro’s Operator of the Year, John Fabre (known to most of you as Busfather). A short phone call (and short walk–turns out he lives right down the street) later, Busfather was standing in my living room. I even have proof:

Busfather with some of his fans

More coincidences:
1) Busfather drove the 2 when I rode it to school back in the day. (I knew he looked familiar!)
2) My friend Kelley, who also attended the party (and the same elementary school), is Busfather’s dentist.

Busfather’s presence definitely added flavor to our little gathering. And my brother had the nerve to leave early to go to a party for Devin the Dude…