Riding The Bus

A news article in one of the local papers said bus ridership was up significantly, and I believe it!

I take the bus to work. It's not bad - there is a bus down the hill, and another one to work. The transfer is quick. Lately, however, transit has been packed. On a normal early day, (9:30am-6 pm) if the first bus is too packed, I have waited for next one 10 minutes later. Now IT'S packed.

I take both a SoundTransit bus and a King County Metro bus.

Part of it must be the rising gas prices. Even so, there seems to be more riders in the Seattle area.

Today I took a little earlier bus. I left a half hour earlier for work, and got off an hour earlier (took a short lunch). I don't usually do that, but with no ride from Renton there was the choice of leaving at 5 and getting home by 6:30, or leaving at 6 and getting home at 8:30. The Renton Transit Center is NOT where a sane person wants to hang out for an hour.

The first bus down the hill was packed. The bus to work was an articulated bus. It was my first ride in one since - who knows when. It was nice. And it was packed. On the way home, the bus back to the bottom of the hill was so packed I had to stand the whole way! I was shocked.

It's not the standing - more when I began taking this bus, oh, 15 years ago, there weren't many occupants. Riders had their choice of seats.
My favorite is the one across from the back door, on the driver's side. In case you were wondering.

Now, one is lucky to get a seat. It's good though - a packed bus means overall less carbon in the air, and fewer drivers on the road. Go, bus riders.