Monthly Archives: June 2007

What I learned from a bus poet

It’s been a hard first half of the year: losing my mother, preparing to become a mother, and watching one of the people I am accustomed to mothering move 3,000 miles away. When I haven’t been feeling sad, I’ve been disoriented, rudderless, unsure.

On Tuesday, I saw this poem (written by Barbara Wolf) on the 48:

Changes

What I’ve learned from water
is to welcome change,
flow when I can, become snow when I must
then a mist, hovering over the Earth
or a fog, snarling traffic, or even an ice cube, tinkling in your drink.

It helped.

Eastbound 27, 2 PM

A twentysomething man and woman are preparing to get off. The man starts to count out their fares.

Twentysomething woman: “We don’t need all that. I’ve been paying 50 cents all my life. For real. I’ll be 30 years old paying 50 cents–talking about, ‘I’m 16.'”

A cocktail with the commute?

In NYC, workers who commute from the suburbs don’t need to bother with Transitman-style flasks; they can buy drinks while they ride.

From Sound Transit Andrew:

The city banned cigarettes in bars, and the smokers trooped out to the sidewalk. Trans fats in restaurants were next, and the French fry addicts mostly shrugged. But since the Metropolitan Transportation Authority announced that it was considering banning alcohol on commuter trains, it has been a different story.

Bankers and brokers and blue-collar workers spoke out in defense of the tradition of a Scotch and soda or a cold Budweiser on the ride home to Huntington or Greenwich.

[…]

“It’s one of the things that makes this slog north or east palatable,” said Richard Shea, a public relations executive who helped start a group called Commuters Allied for Responsible Enjoyment, to defend what he described as “the romantic ideal” of the suburban commuter enjoying a drink on the way home — in his case, a Bud Light on the 6:52 to Chappaqua, in Westchester County.

(Source: New York Times)

Wow. I know commuting can be tedious, but…

Guess they don’t have any good mountains in New York. (Come home, Jeremy!) I’ll take a nice view of Tahoma over a can of beer anytime.

No bench? No problem! (part II)

This is what happens when they put “lean bars” in shelters.

Here’s a closer view:

Ah, the resourcefulness (and creativity) of bus riders!

By the time the 48 was 15 minutes late, I was wishing for a TV (or something) to sit on, too.

Seacrest Park, 5:55 PM

The Elliott Bay Water Taxi pulls into the dock.

A four-year old boy, to his mother: “Mommy, can we ride the Water Taxi?”

Mother: “No, not today, sweetie.”

A classic, four-year old tantrum ensues.

Can’t say I blame the kid.

Service changes start tomorrow

Saturday, June 2nd, the new (green!) schedules come out. Transportation Today lists the changes.

Biggest news:

• Added service (courtesy of Transit Now) on three South County routes: 166, 180, and 181
• Reopened Fremont Bridge (affects routes 26, 28, 31, and 74)

A question: Why does Metro start putting out the new schedules before they take effect? (Well, I guess I sort of understand why, but I don’t particularly like it.)