16 Replies to "Metro 'service change' on February 14: 2 West Seattle routes have non-WS changes; reminder of upcoming fare changes"

• enid February 7, 2015 (3:26 pm)

  I followed the link to the Orca Lift website, but my question was not addressed there. Does this card replace the Senior/Disable ORCA reduced fare permit? Is there yet another fare increase for seniors & disabled?

• m February 7, 2015 (3:50 pm)

  Darn. I don’t qualify for the reduced fair.

• old timer February 7, 2015 (4:42 pm)

  The existing senior/disabled orca card continues with a .25 increase.
  See info here:
  http://metro.kingcounty.gov/fares/fare-change-effective-03-01-15.html

• Rick February 7, 2015 (4:51 pm)

  Great news. Now bp readings will be better since I won’t have to hike up the hill from Columbian Way stop. It’ll make my docs happier too.

• Jim P February 7, 2015 (5:04 pm)

  Enid,
  You didn’t read the FAQ aparently. This is in *addition* to the existing reduced fare cards which aren’t going anywhere:
  “If a qualified adult already has a Regional Reduced Fare Permit ORCA card (senior or disabled RRFP), can the reduced fare be added to that card?

  No. The RRFP card already provides a discount on all ORCA transit systems in the region, and the trip cost is less than that offered by the ORCA LIFT card. The RRFP is a less-expensive option for those who qualify.”
  http://metro.kingcounty.gov/programs-projects/orca-lift/need-to-know.html

• Vincent Dakotah Langley February 8, 2015 (2:03 pm)

  I’m glad to hear that the #50 King County METRO Transit bus will now go up into the Veterans Administration Medical Center complex up on Seattle’s Beacon Hill. The bus used to go up there, instead of just dropping people off down on Columbian Way, South. It was the old #39 bus, which does not exist anymore, that used to go up into that hospital complex. I had a lot of trouble getting there to the VA and also leaving even then, when it was the old #39 bus going up there, because I use a mobility scooter and they had the old bus stop up there in front of the VA on a slope (on a hill, in other words) instead of on flat ground. And, in addition to that, there was not enough room at that old bus stop, down on the ground, for a mobility scooter or a wheel chair to easily get on the bus or get off from the bus there — YES, right in front of the VA Medical Center!!! When the new #50 bus stopped going up into the VA Medical Center complex, I could no longer go up to the VA for any medical care, at all, because I could not walk up the rather steep hill to the VA Medical Center complex, all the way from Columbian Way, South. The VA would do absolutely nothing to help me with this situation, which they created in the first place, so, for about a year or more, I received absolutely no medical care, at all!!! Over those months I ran out of medications and everything! I’m really quite ill today and, over the last year or so, I almost died because I could not any longer get my VA medical care! NOBODY would listen to me in this issue!!! Not the VA, not King County, Washington
  — not anybody!!! At different points in time, I had even tried to contact the local news media in this situation, too, hoping to get their help in the matter — however, no, they were not at all interested in it, either!!! Now, just this afternoon (02/08/2015), I looked at the West Seattle Blog again and here is this story that the King County METRO #50 bus is again going to go up into Seattle’s VA Medical Center complex, as it should do!!! HOORAY!!! …Now, if that bus will just stop on FLAT GROUND up there in front of the VA, WHERE THERE IS ENOUGH ROOM FOR MOBILITY SCOOTERS, WHEEL CHAIRS AND THE LIKE TO BE ABLE TO EASILY GET ON THE BUS THERE AND ALSO GET OFF FROM THE BUS THERE!!! OTHERWISE, I, FOR JUST ONE, SIMPLY CANNOT BELIEVE THAT EITHER THE VA, THEMSELVES, OR KING COUNTY METRO TRANSIT COULD OR WOULD DO THIS TO THE NATION’S VETERANS, AS THEY HAVE DONE FOR SO VERY LONG NOW — AND, THAT IS, TO MAKE SEATTLE’S VA MEDICAL CENTER COMPLEX, ITSELF, REALLY, TOTALLY-INACCESSIBLE TO CERTAIN VETERANS!!! THIS IS, IN FACT, WHAT THEY HAVE DONE!!! Through trying, anyway, to get help in this over the course of about the last year or more, DoD (Department of Defense) also reported that they have no records at all of me ever being in the United States’ military services!!! I was in both the United States Army, and then, after that, in the United States Air Force. And, I received an honorable discharge from each of these two, different branches of the United States’ military services. However, anyway, having DoD report that they had no records at all of me ever being in the United States’ military services stopped all of my VA benefits, about a year ago now. …What a HUGE mess all of this has turned out to be!!! …”Thanks”, King County METRO Transit, VA and DoD!!!!!!!…

• miws February 8, 2015 (7:17 pm)

  Vincent, have you checked out Metro Access as an option?

  .

  I know it has its disadvantages; costs more than Senior/Disabled Pass/Fare, also, my Sister has used Access on occasion, and she mentioned of at least one occurrence of going in kind of a roundabout way to her destination, due to someone else on board, or needing pick-up lived way out of my Sister’s area.

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  I ride the 60 from S. Delridge up to Harborview and back about once a week, and it used to go right up into the VA Campus, like the 50 used to, and will doing again, but they discontinued that just around a year ago, due to the construction of a parking structure.

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  Sure, it made it nice for me; saving a few minutes each way, but I felt bad for Disabled Vets such as yourself, to have to not only walk from, (or to, on their return trip) the McPherson’s Produce Stand area, and then up the steep driveway, to get to the Hospital. I have chronic health issues that make going up hills and stairs tough on my breathing, so can relate to others that struggle with hills.

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  Also, as you mention, the bus stop on the slant up in the VA parking lot. Last I was up there a year or so ago, they still had the nice bus shelter standing, on a nice level area, where the bus(es) previously stopped, (along with a “Bus Stop Closed” sign). But, the zone had been moved to the very inconvenient spot, to use the old bus stop area for Valet Parking staging. That bugged me as well, as the added distance, and hill, makes it tough for folks that struggle with hills and distances.

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  In any case, Vincent, I hope you get back into regular medical care.

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  BTW, were you able to get your scooter battery replaced?

  .

  Mike

• Vincent Dakotah Langley February 9, 2015 (5:21 am)

  Mike, I’ve never as of yet been able to get the battery pack in my mobility scooter replaced. I am quite low income. For a while, I tried a GoFundMe.com account and a WePay.com account on the internet. There, I was trying to raise the money to be able to replace the battery pack in my mobility scooter. No luck with that, at all
  — I didn’t raise one cent that way! So, for now, anyway, I remain nearly a 100% housebound person. Since DoD made a big mistake and got all of my VA benefits stopped, I cannot now prove to King County METRO Transit, either, that I am a physically-challenged (disabled) person. All of my medical records and so-forth were and are up at Seattle’s VA Medical Center! So, at this point in time, anyway, and into the unknown future, I CANNOT ride the King County METRO Transit ACCESS buses, either. In that issue, King County METRO Transit only says to me, basically, “For METRO Transit purposes, you are not a disabled person.” So, now, I’m a person with (type 2) IDDM (insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus) who can no longer get the two, different insulins that I need everyday, I have now-untreated, advanced CAD (coronary artery disease), or, so-called “heart disease”, now-untreated COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) and so-forth. …I just pray to God now that DoD (again, Department of Defense) will finally come up with my military records, that show that, YES, I WAS once in the United States’ military services and have honorable discharges therefrom!!!
  (Every time that I’ve ever applied to King County METRO Transit for being able to ride the ACCESS buses when I need to do that, “METRO” has said to me only that I am not a disabled person. That has been going on between METRO Transit and myself for around fifteen years now. I CANNOT afford taxi cabs, either, to get to places where I need to go. So, I at least need (the use of) my mobility scooter! On foot anymore, I’m only in the area of my apartment-home, where I live — and certainly not everyday, as I am usually too ill to go out anywhere, at all. This Seattle, Washington area is “the most-S-T-U-C-K place” that I have ever been in my whole lifetime, meaning, I cannot get any transportation at all, to get anywhere, around here!…

• Kathy February 9, 2015 (3:06 pm)

  There was considerable chat on the Seattle Transit Blog about how that pesky VA loop should be eliminated permanently to speed up the 50 bus. I thought that pretty heartless and unenlightened of some of those blog commenters. Even more mind boggling is how the VA management could displace a level, convenient bus stop with valet parking, and eliminate the bus stop entirely while constructing expanded parking. Just evidence of the pervasive attitude that the needs of people with the luxury of access to private transportation are more important than those of people reliant on public transportation.

• Mike February 9, 2015 (5:16 pm)

  Kathy– The transit network should serve the widest cross-section of the public, which means buses should go straight and fast and in a grid, not detour to parking turnarounds. The VA should put its front door next to a flat area where a bus can stop. In the real world, things are not ideal and there are legacy buildings, so sometimes bus routes have to compromise. But having buses turn into driveways should be a last resort, and a temporary one until the building can be modified. But that requires the building owner to recognize the need for modification and set up a timeline for it. The default should not simply be that the bus route and the majority of passengers have to bear 100% of the burden forever. That just drives people further to their cars, and costs more in bus operating hours, which makes the bus is less frequent than it could be, which again drives people to their cars.

  The VA could also have valet service to the bus stops, and swing by whenever a bus is scheduled to arrive. That would be appropriate mitigation for its front door location.

• Vincent Dakotah Langley February 9, 2015 (8:52 pm)

  I can’t believe that anyone would feel that a city or county bus getting veterans to a VA medical center is nothing more than a burden for everyone who rides the bus. Oh well, you are entitled to your opinion and you certainly have the right of free speech. Anyway, I guess that I am simply not a veteran anymore, anyway, because DoD (Department of Defense) has by now taken that last honor of mine from me. Why, I do not know at this time. I’m still kind of “in shock” over that, as I never knew that, in America, anyway, the country’s federal government can just simply take the very status of a veteran and take that away from an individual who is, in fact, a veteran. It really doesn’t make any sense to me. Especially in light of the fact that I didn’t do anything wrong while I was in the armed military forces of the United States of America. Buses really don’t mean a thing to me anymore, as, whenever I do get on a bus (which isn’t too often anymore, due to my serious, long-ongoing health issues), I am so ill that I have to get right back off from the bus again and simply try to make my way back to my apartment-home. Thus, I cannot much go on a bus — anywhere — anymore. I’m out of this conversation now, except to add only that, in my past, I have been all over this country, the United States of America, and, every VA medical center that I have ever been to, other than the VA medical center right here in Seattle, Washington, they all have city and/or county buses that go right up to the front, main entrance of their VA medical center! And then, right inside of the door there, they also have VA-owned wheelchairs that veterans can use while they are inside of those VA facilities, so that veterans who do need to use a wheelchair can get around, inside of their respective VA medical center complex. The VA medical center here in Seattle, Washington, up on Beacon Hill, they used to have those wheelchairs, too, for veterans’ use, however, a couple of years ago, they took all of those wheelchairs out, so that they are no longer there, for ANYONE’s use… I do wish that the VA had given me my mobility scooter. However, they did not — I bought my mobility scooter out of my own, personal money, when I had that kind of money, to be able to do that. (No, unlike what most-everyone says, Medicaid did not buy me my mobility scooter, either — I have never been able to get Medicaid in my entire lifetime, because my income is just a bit too high to qualify for it and also because I am a single man.) Anyway, had the VA been the ones to give a mobility scooter to me, then the VA would completely maintain that mobility scooter for me — including putting a new battery pack in my scooter whenever the scooter needs a new battery pack. My mobility scooter has sat idle in my living-room now since March of 2013, simply because it needs a new battery pack that I just cannot afford to buy, myself. So much for mobility scooters, with me, anyway…

• miws February 11, 2015 (8:34 am)

  Vincent, I can relate to the low-income situation. I really wished I could have helped out financially in getting you a new battery.

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  It has been suggested to me, by medical staff and others, that maybe I should consider using ACCESS myself.

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  Fortunately, for now, I am still able bodied enough that I can walk a few blocks, on flat ground, or downhill, to do nearby errands, or get to various bus stops. I think I mentioned upthread that my “struggle” is up hills/stairs. Carrying a load of maybe as little as ten pounds, (and that, at minimum is a frequent occurrence), forget about it. Even on flat ground, I’m stopping every several yards, to rest and catch my breath.

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  I think I also mentioned upthread that if the Metro cuts that were proposed for West Seattle would have gone through, I would have been pretty screwed. I still could have gotten by, but the walks between bus stops and Home would have increased significantly in distance, and time, adding even more time with more, and perhaps longer rest breaks. It would have thrown some hills in, whereas now, those walks from the bus stops is pretty much flat.

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  Anyway, if the cuts had happened, I may have had to consider ACCESS, but would fear going through the application process, because of what I’ve heard about how hard it can be to get the service, just like you related.

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  Kathy, spot on. I agree 100% with your comments, and had pretty much 100% the same thoughts, when reading comments like that on STB, (likely the same article).

  .

  To the other Mike: Yes, bus service should be fast. In the real world, among that cross-section of the public, are people of various levels of ability. Those levels of ability are very limited for many folks. And, specific to this discussion, we are talking our Veterans here, like Vincent.

  .

  In the real world, things are not ideal, and sometimes those that are able-bodied need to deal with a little “inconvenience” while accommodations are being made to assist a disabled person; deploying the wheelchair lift/ramp, having to give up a front bus seat to accommodate a chair/scooter, person with a walker, cane, or crutches. I think the “burden” of some able bodied people to be inconvenienced for a few minutes, so the very same transit service can be available for lesser abled citizens, is a pretty fair trade-off for them, for now, still being able bodied. If that’s such a “burden”, and drives them back into their cars, so be it. Let them enjoy the convenience of being stuck in traffic.

  .

  As far as the facility making sure their entrance is flat; can you imagine the logistics of that? Going through the DPD permitting hassle, all of the time and cost in making the modifications. That’s money the VA could hardly afford, and even if so, should be put toward care and services for our Veterans, such as paying for a replacement battery for Vincent’s scooter.

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  As far as valet service; again cost. Plus, the waste of time for our Veterans in transferring from Metro to the valet vehicle, including the time it takes to secure a mobility device.

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  So, Mike, should we simply go back to not having public transit accessible for citizens that use mobility devices? Should they all be confined to their Home, and not be able to access basic services on their own?

  .

  Mike

• Vincent Dakotah Langley February 12, 2015 (5:49 pm)

  02/12/2015@1710HRS, PST The Seattle Fire Department, who is very nice to me and I do appreciate them really very much, had me go over onto S.W. Alaska Street and Fauntleroy Way, S.W. in the night around midnight to catch that rather new “C Line” Rapid Transit bus to the downtown Seattle area because I was trying to get to a hospital emergency department “up on the hill” across town. That first bus blew right by me at that bus stop although I was waving and waving my arms for the bus driver to stop and pick me up, right in the bus’s headlights. So, I walked down to the next bus stop to wait for the next bus. When that bus came, it blew right by me, too, and just kept going, towards the downtown Seattle area. I walked to the next bus stop along that same route and then that next bus that came did the same thing — it only blew right by me and just kept going! At that time of the night, those “C Line” Rapid Ride buses only come once every one-half hour. I found that they don’t stop anywhere, either! After the third bus had blown right by me, I finally had to make my way, on foot, back to my apartment-home and so I never did get to a hospital emergency department on this night that I write of here! …Same thing: As usual, I’m S-T-U-C-K, right here in West Seattle!!! I was too ill to walk all the way up to West Seattle’s “Alaska Junction” this time, where I KNOW that that “C Line” Rapid Transit bus does, in fact, stop. While I sat at that first bus stop at S.W. Alaska Street and Fauntleroy Way, S.W., across the street at the Shell gas station I witnessed three grown men on the Shell Station’s south parking area outside of the building over there arguing and starting to fight, after they had come out of a bar right down the street (S.W. Alaska Street) from the Shell Station. I was trying to simply mind my own business, however, they were getting quite loud. I was looking at them and all of a sudden, one of them pulled a handgun on another one of them. I thought, oh, great. I don’t want to get shot again. I’ve been shot before and it hurts! So, anyway, I casually and kind of slowly got up and that is when I strolled on down to the next bus stop. I had to get away from them. It’s dangerous out there at night… That handgun that I saw pulled, it was a Glock “380” or some handgun of that nature. Anyway, it WASN’T some ‘funny’ little air pistol!!! This all happened just because those new buses won’t stop anywhere, even at METRO bus stops! They just leave you there where you are waiting, for what? — None-other-than a bus really quite simply!!! …It doesn’t matter, really. I know, ESPECIALLY to all of you people who have your own automobiles and plenty of gas money to get places in that private automobile of your own. You get on one of those new buses, anyway, and, in most of the bus, the seating is all sideways instead of front-facing (for medical reasons I cannot sit on a side-facing seat) and, here in the Seattle, Washington area, NO-ONE on a METRO bus will offer you a seat on the bus. These are the young, “able-bodied” people, most-usually. Their attitude in this is — well, I’m not supposed to say anything like that here. They ALWAYS take those forward seats that are designated for elderly and physically-challenged people. The bus drivers WON’T help in this, either. If you ask for their help (I have done this a number of different times, before) and they just totally-ignore you and just keep driving their bus! Then, they finally tell you to sit down, somewhere — and there are no vacant seats! At night, like, say, midnight, the buses are not full like this, though. I have to say that here with this, I feel. Inside of those new buses, the way that the seats are installed in there, there is so much wasted space on those buses, it is absolutely-ridiculous! …Anyway… I’m just sayin’ here. I DON’T even attempt to ride those buses too often at all, needless to say. And, this Seattle, Washington area IS THE ONLY PLACE, all across this country — the United States of America — where younger, “able-bodied” people consistently take those seats in the first place that are designated by federal law for older, physically-challenged people
  — and, even when politely asked, they JUST WON’T give up one of those seats for another bus passenger that gets on the bus and needs to sit in one of those seats. I know, because I ave been all across and all around this country. …My mobility scooter, FORGET IT!!! Most times, bus drivers blow right by me at bus stops when I’m on my mobility scooter because THEY DON’T WANT TO pick me up. And, once on a bus with that mobility scooter of mine — whenever that does happen — the other passengers on the bus, as soon as I have to so much as stand up or push my scooter into its place on the bus, they’re all “attacking” me verbally, saying things like “What are you doing with that scooter??? You can stand up!!!”, and/or, “You can walk!!!” Some of them oftentimes take it to the level of being really kind of threatening to me, even! Because of all of this, I HAVEN’T even tried to board one of these METRO buses, on my mobility scooter, for more than two years now!!! It is just way, way too hostile of a situation!!! So, again, I’M S-T-U-C-K, right here where I live, along Fauntleroy Way, S.W. in West Seattle. …King County METRO Transit says that I have five minutes ot get boarded on one of their buses with my mobility scooter and I have five minutes to get off from one of their buses with my mobility scooter. It DOESN’T take me anywhere near that amount of time to do either of these things
  — get on a bus with my mobility scooter or get off from a bus with my mobility scooter. And, those bus drivers DON’T help, AT ALL, either! They just want to go and so I would ALWAYS tell them, “GO!!! See if I care.” …GEE WHIZ!!!!!!! [Frown.]

• Bob formerly of west seattle February 13, 2015 (4:02 pm)

  I have a mobility scooter, and I would call the company who supplied the scooter, GOGO, PRIDE, GOLDEN. see if they can fix you up with a battery. I would also call the ADA (americans with disabilities act) and complain about your treatment. I am sure there are laws on the books to help and protect you. I know ramps and accessability is manditory, and this bit about five minutes to get on and off the bus is hogwash. You should be able to take as much time as needed. Someone up there who deals with DME, please help this person.

• Vincent Dakotah Langley February 14, 2015 (3:32 am)

  The company that I bought my mobility scooter from does not exist anymore. They were called “The Scooter Store” (out of a town called New Branfels — I don’t know how to spell it — Texas). They were at some point-in-time “taken down” (put out of business) by the United States’ federal government. They were frauds, to make a rather long story short, there. Anyway, even if they were still in business, they could fix me up with a new battery pack for my mobility scooter, alright — for a tidy sum of between about $500 and $700 !!! I don’t have that kind of money. You can’t call ADA (Americans with Disabilities). That is just the name of a federal law that exists, since 1990, in the federal law books. You can call the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington, D.C. or e-mail them from their government website, however, they WON’T help you in this kind of a situation, either. Right here in the downtown Seattle, Washington area, there is an office that is called The City of Seattle Office for Civil Rights. That is who I am supposed to contact in this matter. Well, I’ve been doing that now, actually, for many years (since about 2008) and this local office for peoples’ civil rights WON’T help me, either! So then, I go to the Seattle City Hall to make a complaint there, that The City of Seattle Office for Civil Rights WON’T help me — and, that, as well, goes ABSOLUTELY NO-WHERE!!! The Seattle City Hall office where you go to make a complaint (or a compliment) against or in favor of any service of the City of Seattle, well, they apparently never even contact the office within city government that you are either complaining or complimenting about! Honestly, after all of these years of getting ABSOLUTELY-NOWHERE with all of this, I just give up and I’ll remain
  S-T-U-C-K, right at my apartment-home. I’m very probably going to die pretty soon anyway, simply of my long-ongiong, quite serious health issues, so, getting anywhere anymore, for me, just doesn’t matter much, anymore. If I were still riding any of the King County METRO buses with my mobility scooter, I did appreciate that King County wrote me a letter at one point-in-time and, in that letter to me, thay had told me that I have five minutes to board a bus with my mobility scooter and I also have another five minutes to get off from a bus with my mobility scooter. However, as I’ve already said before in this conversation thread, I did not ever and I do not, today, need the whole five minutes at all, to either get on a bus with my scooter or get off from a bus with my scooter. These processes would take me way, way less time than that alloted five minutes to do either one of these two, different things. …Off-hand, I don’t know what “DME” is, however, if it is anything or anybody with King County METRO Transit or the government of King County, Washington, in general
  — I’ve been trying to get their help in all of this for many years now, too, and — well, unfortunately, it is just like they DON’T care, AT ALL and all that they want id for me to S-T-O-P continuing to so much as attempting to contact them again. …About that new battery pack for my mobility scooter, no, the VA WILL NOT supply me with a new battery pack for my scooter, either, simply because I did not get my scooter from the VA — I bought it myself, out of my own money, when I had money, after (FINALLY) being paid for earlier having won a personal injury lawsuit. Something like that happens just once, most-usually, in the same individual’s lifetime — if it EVER happens to someone, at all… I was darned LUCKY that one time in my life, which was in the year, 2008. Not I’m REDUCED to only being able to buy, say, maybe a total of $10 worth of lottery tickets a month, to try to win the Powerball jackpot or maybe the Mega Million lottery game — like most-all of the rest of us!
  [Grin!]

• Vincent Dakotah Langley February 14, 2015 (7:59 pm)

  …Sorry I can’t type too well anymore. I guess that I kind of feel like a fool now. Anyway, I feel that all who read this stuff are smart enough to figure out my “typos”. Please excuse me, anyway, if you will. I’m really very tired all of the time because I never sleep. I go — literally (not an exaggeration at all) — weeks at a time or even months at a time with absolutely no sleep. at all. …It is because of my long-ongoing health issues. This is why I shall be leaving this West Seattle Blog as a commenter on here before too much longer. I’m just too ill by now to stay on computers. I can’t do it much longer, sorry. I want to simply make it clear here that I certainly have nothing “against” the West Seattle Blog, itself. On the other hand, I think that this blog is a really very good public service here on the internet! And, YES, I do very much appreciate this blog — this news source — being here for everybody! That being said, I also just simply want to add here, as well — THANK YOU REALLY SO VERY MUCH FOR BEING HERE FOR EVERYBODY, West Seattle Blog!!! I’ve looked at other area’s blogs on the computer, too, besides just the West Seattle Blog and this is the nicest blog of this nature here on the internet that I’ve EVER run across in all of my past endeavors here, on the internet!!! So, West Seattle and even beyond (since the internet, itself, is global, of course), YOU ALL ARE REALLY VERY FORTUNATE AND VERY LUCKY — AND VERY BLESSED — TO HAVE THIS WEST SEATTLE BLOG!!! …YES, YOU ARE!!!!!!!
  …bye-bye to you all… Peace be with you all!!! And also with ALL of yours!!!

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