I’ve been reading a lot about how Seattle needs a light rail system so people are able to get out of their cars and onto public transit. This is supposed to be an improvement over the current bus system. I’m definitely a bigger fan of the Sounder train than I am of the bus system. The trains run on time and they only have to contend with the occasional mudslide during the rainy season. Okay, this is the Northwest. I should probably say the occasional mudslide during the heavy rainy season, but this is beside the point.
Today, I wanted to go to Fremont after work to listen to a presentation from a new Seattle company called OneHub. This presented a bit of a problem for me because I work downtown and the Fremont neighborhood isn’t exactly walking distance. This also means that my normal commuter train routine wouldn’t work. Initially, I thought I would take the commuter bus from Lynnwood but that would mean taking a bus to Fremont for the presentation and then back to downtown to get home. This isn’t exactly the quickest route. Plan B would be to drive to Fremont and then take the bus from there to work which seemed decent until I realized that I could try and take advantage of the bus system that is so badly in need of an upgrade if you read the papers.
To my surprise, there was a Metro Bus Park and Ride just up the street from our house and there were buses heading downtown every 15 minutes. The frequency of the buses was actually the surprising part. That’s pretty convenient I thought to myself, but a little too easy. Why not try and do this without a cell phone (accidentally forgotten at home)?
It was actually pretty smooth. I got to work without any problems and I was able to get to Fremont, catch a bus from Fremont to Shoreline and transfer back onto the bus to bring me to my car at the Park and Ride. Pretty smooth. Pretty easy. I’ve got to start using the Metro system more often. And yes, I did just make a monster post about riding the bus. Pretty exciting things happening for me today.
The bus! The bus! The bus! I, for one, think the bus is exciting. More bus posts, I say!
I’m with ya, Barry. The bus rocks. Truly. Like you, though, it took me about two hours of research (even talking to real bus customer service agents) to figure out how to get from greenlake to everett on one bus, not four like the trip planner originally indicated.