27 Replies to "Bus changes, big and small"

• Christopher Boffoli September 16, 2007 (11:52 am)

  I want to be the first to go on record to say I’m completely against any new bus shelters in West Seattle. I for one do not want any fancy-shmancy shelters in MY West Seattle. I mean, they’ll only be used to shelter skateboarders. First come the fancy shelters and then come more condos. Send all of the fancy shelters to Bellevue, I say. Let’s keep the spirit of West Seattle alive in leaky, rusty bus shelters that smell like pee. Yuppies of out of West Seattle NOW! SAVE WEST SEATTLE!!!

• seattle golfer September 16, 2007 (12:01 pm)

  The new route for the 54 and 55 busses will be a great improvement. My bus stop between 36th and 37th on Alaska is dreadful and dangerous. It was moved from in front of the American Legion Hall where there is lighting and flat concrete to exit the bus. Now we must step off the bus in front of Lien Animal Clinic, into mud, tree roots that have come to the surface and, yes, into dog poop. Lien employees clean up, however people going to and from their appointments make no effort to pick up. We need our bus stop moved back to the American Legion Hall location and move the sound transit bus that sits empty to the Lien location. To see around the Soundtransit bus one must walk well into the Alaska street traffic while dodging the fire trucks! How do we get this situation addressed?

• Jiggers September 16, 2007 (12:23 pm)

  All new bus shelters do is attract a nice sleeping place for the homeless and we don’t need that crap around here.

• MargL September 16, 2007 (12:25 pm)

  What does closing stops to ‘improve spacing’ mean?

• flipjack September 16, 2007 (12:59 pm)

  I couldn’t agree more Christopher….fancy bus shelters are the first step to a slippery slope leading first to skateboarders, then pot, then pills, then crack, heroine, or meth. Probably the fancier the bus shelter the fancier the drugs, not to mention prostitution…maybe that’s why the SPD refer to these as fancy bust shelters.

• carraignasplinkeen September 16, 2007 (1:04 pm)

  Service Development is the group at Metro to contact for all questions related to service and facilities, which include stops:
  http://directory.metrokc.gov/EmployeeDetail.asp?EmpID=37231

  My guess is that ‘improve spacing’ means fewer stops for buses but longer walks for passengers to get to the stops.

  And, I really got a chuckle out of the first post. Imagine the blog entries from the Native Americans living near Alki when the settlers first showed up! How do you say fancy-schmancy in Native dialect?

• Katherine September 16, 2007 (1:42 pm)

  I have a depressed immune system. When I stand in the rain waiting for a bus, I end up sick for up to a couple weeks. Bus shelters aren’t just for druggies and prostitutes. They don’t have to be fancy, just shelter. Christopher, I’d guess you have the timing of fancy bus shelters and condos backwards. You’re fighting the wrong battle.

• Alvis September 16, 2007 (2:10 pm)

  How come there’s no northbound bus stop on California Avenue halfway between WS High School and the Admiral Theater?? How come the bus zone exactly kitty korner from Lafayette is reserved for bus layover parking instead of so riders can get on and off the bus?

  Makes me wonder why Metro doesn’t shut down the northbound bus stop on California across from the Admiral Theater. I mean, that way Metro could remove all northbound passenger connections to the Admiral business district, not just the half of the business district that’s in the quarter mile stretch between the high school and movie theater.

  Grrr…

• *t* September 16, 2007 (2:15 pm)

  I think I’ll start keeping count of the WSB comments that equate civic improvements with skateboarder hoolum-isms. First the Alki plaza plans, and now this. What is the deal with this skateboarder paranoia? Is our neighborhood really at risk of having skateboarders take over all the public space?

• Sage K September 16, 2007 (2:47 pm)

  As a former bus rider ie. no car, I can tell that I love bus shelters, especially in our rainy fall and winter. Do you have any idea how crappy it is to stand out in the rain with groceries for up to 20min without a shelter??? I’m all for more bus shelters, and often the problem spots don’t have a bench, so as to discourage people from sleeping or loitering in them.

  Also I like the new blue color. It is way prettier over the old brown.

  As for skateboarders and homeless people taking over your bus shelters and neighborhoods. GET A LIFE, if it upsets you that much, call the police, or the transit police and ask them to come out and move them along.

• Jan September 16, 2007 (2:49 pm)

  *t*…if you’re referring to comments by Christopher and flipjack, better put your tongue in your cheek, as they have a wicked, sarcastic sense of humor at times… :)

• Jiggers September 16, 2007 (3:49 pm)

  I know in some citie’s they have bus stops with a heating source built to heat the waiting spcae inside of them with a timing switch. All that does is encourage homeless and druggie’s to hangout and monopolize the stop and intimidate the normal bus user who needs to get to work and back. How much is this costing us anyways? White Center was real bad not to long ago I remember. Drug dealers and users hungout right near them(by Bartell’s) and did their illegal activitie’s inside of them scaring off the normal public who uses metro. I am against any new bus shelters-just like the public restrooms the city supposedly thought was a good idea in Pioneer Square. But as usual, short-site-minded politicians don’t have a brain to realize that the 95% of the restroom users were all druggie’s. I do propose and would like to see some sort of a beautification process take place between KeyBank and the UGLY HAMM Building which is so ugly and smells like a sewer.

• Gina September 16, 2007 (3:59 pm)

  The reason the 128 has a layover at California and Lander is to block views of the crosswalk, and to make sure that anyone making a free right at that corner also impairs any vision of oncoming traffic on California.

  This serves a duel purpose. Keeps West Seattle body shops in business, and makes sure that commuters riding the 55 go straight home without stopping at the grocery store. No lingering in the business district!

  The other purpose is so that the 55 can have its comfort stop at California and Admiral, and block traffic at that corner.

• Bob Shields September 16, 2007 (4:03 pm)

  I’d imagine that, were there a bus stop by Safeway, the traffic backup from Admiral on Califoria would go past Lander when a bus was standing.

• miws September 16, 2007 (6:06 pm)

  As a bus rider, I have to say that the shelters with benches are neccesary. It’s nice to be able to sit down (when a seat is available) after a long day on my feet at work. It’s also nice to be somewhat protected from the rain. Being a smart rider, ;) I get to my stop close to ten minutes early, (which will end up being longer if the bus is running late) when I can control my time, such as leaving home. Since the time I leave work can be somewhat unpredictable, I might wait up to 20 minutes for the bus home once I get to the stop.

  However……[tongue in cheek] Yes, the new shelters attract the druggies, because they are made of a higher quality metal than the old ones, and therefore will hold up better under the high (so to speak) temps of being used as crack pipes. The crackheads are known to carry little mini-hacksaws, and cut away small sections to melt down and form into the pipes.

  And yes, there is a conspiracy by skateboarders to take over the world.

  Ever notice how the trees all along California Av are buckling the sidewalks with their root growth? I, for a long time thought, as many others likely do, was that it was due to poor planning 30 some years ago, when they were planted. No, it was intentional!!

  It was planned by the evil parents, and evil grandparents, of the current crop of evil skateboarders! They knew the sidewalks would eventually buckle, supplying the boarders with many opportunities at jumps.[/tongue in cheek]

  Mike

• Erik September 16, 2007 (8:33 pm)

  alright…I admit I’m responsible for skateboarding being as big as it is these days. I recall in my HS days in the late 70’s when instead of being ‘good’ kids and doing the football and prom crap we would steal wood to build bigger and better ramps. That’s when we infiltrated the SDOT to start our ‘tree-planting’ program, and to locate some skater rest stops (bus shelters) in the hood for our use. Our latest program is to get the new statue to our skating specs.
  Skaters rule

• Jan September 16, 2007 (10:33 pm)

  teehee :D

• NATINSTL September 17, 2007 (8:40 am)

  What about the stop by the 7 Eleven. It’s disgusting. They at least need to put out a trash can that isn’t covered in grafitti.

• JJ Hill September 17, 2007 (9:02 am)

  Christopher Boffoli’s comment made me laugh out loud! At first I almost growled to see that someone else used the expression “fancy-shmancy” (and in a way that was supposed to be taken seriously). Then the sarcasm was noticed.

• Ron Burgundy September 17, 2007 (9:14 am)

  What if they put doors on the new shelters with secret coded locks that only the good bus riders would know. Heaters, espresso machines and flat screen TV’s could be regular amenities in these new shelters. They’d be comparable to the frequent flyer lounges at the airport. You’d be able to board the bus first and sit in first class and force the pregnant lady with a cane to sit in the back, if at all. A mimosa would be waiting for you as you sit in your extra wide crushed velvet seat, custom fitted of course.

  A “New Rider Baptismal Rite of Passage” could be held at Alki every month for those worthy people to be sworn to secrecy of the new code. If you were ever caught giving this code to the druggies or skaters, you’d be banished to the wind and rain for life, probably causing you to turn to riding your skateboard high on drugs.

• Todd September 17, 2007 (12:48 pm)

  That 7-11 stop near Erskine is a great get-a-way vehicle for people who steal from 7-11. I heard a story about a guy who went in there and stole a bunch of stuff then walked out and sat at the bus stop until his “ride” came along. NICE! This GEM is also the joint that someone drove into with the stolen SUV they were “driving” a few years ago. The driver kept backing up and pulling into the store all the while yelling to the clerk, “Are you okay?! Are you Okay!?”

• Jiggers September 17, 2007 (7:00 pm)

  Skateboarders don’t bother me one bit. I live a few blocks from 7-11 and when I want to get a coffee their I have to dodge a homeless/druggie dude bantering me for extra change. That bothers me. Also, how come Safeway in the Junction hasn’t been more strcit with the couple of stragglers who are always panhandling you right in front of the store and right in the walk way when you get out from shopping. Now that pisses me off. I’m gonna bull one of them over soon and declare he wouldn’t get out of my walk space.

• Velvet Bulldog September 17, 2007 (7:49 pm)

  Aw man, who do I have to pay off to get a shelter at my dorky little bus stop? No really, I got ten bucks right here. Sure, I’ve got a couple of trees I can stand under when it rains, but you know what you get when you stand under trees? BIGGER water droplets. Very few good hair days in this town.

• Erik September 17, 2007 (7:59 pm)

  Velvet –
  Send your dough my way (small bills, unmarked brown paper bag, usual drop point), I’ll have some skaters..er SDOT/Metro workers get on it.

• GenHillOne September 18, 2007 (8:56 am)

  Aside from the visions of glam bus shelters :) – is anyone as excited as I am to have the tunnel open under the Westlake area? I’ve really missed the underground, out-of-the-elements option between Macy’s, Westlake Center, Nordstrom, and Pacific Place (did it go that far east?). I think it also connected across the street to Coldwater Creek, but it’s been so long I can’t remember. Catching a movie, eating out, and running errands on a rainy Saturday is definitely more appealing with the option back.

• John M September 18, 2007 (9:52 am)

  “Improved Spacing” also involves removing painted crosswalks (especially those near bus stops), replacing single family units with townhouses, renaming part of West Seattle as “Delridge” (this cuts down on the number of West Seattleites to deal with), closing schools, charging for parking and increasing the number of Starbucks to at least 3 per shopping center (like Westwood Village — is that West seattle or Delridge?)

• eileen September 18, 2007 (9:00 pm)

  Good thing they waited for the weather to get nice and wet and cold to remove those shelters cuz you know we would have really missed them if they took them down in the summer or something. Nice scheduling.

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