TRAFFIC/TRANSIT TODAY: 2018’s first post-holiday morning commute

(SDOT MAP with travel times/video links; is the ‘low bridge’ closed? LOOK HERE)

7:15 AM: Good morning! It’s Tuesday, January 2nd, 2018, and back to work, back to school, and/or whatever else is involved in your regular routine. We’ve just checked around and no incidents are reported in/from West Seattle.

1ST AVE. S. ROAD-WORK REMINDER: SDOT says NB 1st Ave. S. could close between Jackson and Yesler as soon as today for months of utility work related to the Center City Connector streetcar project.

8:18 AM: Metro sent an alert saying the 7:49 Route 56 didn’t operate, but then just now sent an update saying it did operate, but more than 20 minutes late.

Frustrated commuter January 2, 2018 (8:11 am)

Metro picks up right where it left off in 2017, leaving 56 riders stranded in the freezing cold waiting for the 7:49AM bus…

newnative January 2, 2018 (8:14 am)

Just received a metro alert at 8:07 am that the 56 leaving Alki at 7:49am didn’t operate.

WSB January 2, 2018 (8:16 am)

Thanks, got that and am adding for the record…
- newnative January 2, 2018 (8:19 am)
  
  now it is saying it is operating afterall and running 20 minutes late.
- NSAlki January 2, 2018 (1:25 pm)
  
  56 is ridiculously unreliable. I drove to work today and opted to pay for expensive Seattle parking because I knew this would happen and I didn’t want to be late to work first day after the holidays. It is almost a guarantee that they won’t have their act together on this route.
  
  Expect more last minute cancellations for the next month or so.

Meg January 2, 2018 (8:32 am)

That’s 20 minutes in Metro time. I was at the bus stop and the 7:49 hadn’t arrived by the time the 8:22 did.

Metro, I’m begging you to get your act together.

Eric January 2, 2018 (9:49 am)

Agreed. It definitely didn’t operate 20 minutes late.

nw January 2, 2018 (10:06 am)

Don’t any of you ever take the route 55 or route 37 seems like it is a more reliable route or take the route 50 then transfer at lander st to light rail into seattle.

newnative January 2, 2018 (11:07 am)

Taking the 50 would involve an extra change and is much longer. I already have to change buses once I’m downtown. the 37 doesn’t come anywhere near my neighborhood. The 55 adds at least 10-15 minutes to the ride to downtown. sometimes I take it on the the return trip but it’s a really long ride.
Eric January 2, 2018 (11:22 am)

I take the 50 to the 55 if i’m going to the gym first, but the combo takes significantly longer than the 56 (when the 56 doesn’t miss a run) getting on at alki. And it doesn’t happen often enough for the runs i most often take 8:21/8:56 to plan around it. If i were regularly taking the 7 something runs i might consider it more since those seem like they are particularly prone to not happening.
NW January 2, 2018 (6:57 pm)

I would find it being so unreliable that it would make me just take measures to access different routes or take longer and transfer on multiple buses. Something to consider is the empty park and ride under the West Seattle bridge if you have a vehicle to get yourself closer to other routes.

MJ January 2, 2018 (3:32 pm)

Maybe Metro in the name of customer service provide customer rebates for when they fail to provide timely service when its their fault, aka a major incident is beyond their control.

However when a driver fails to show up for work and they fail to have a back up driver this is their issue that should cause rebating of the fare.

DK January 2, 2018 (8:09 pm)

There is no assigned driver. It’s not people calling into work, it’s not having enough drivers to start with.

flimflam January 2, 2018 (4:43 pm)

hmm, missing driver(s) the day after a holiday eh? hmmm……

DK January 2, 2018 (7:58 pm)

Here it is folks, it’s a part time driver shortage. These routes are usually going to part timers who do the same route every day. That’s in a perfect world. Metro divides up the block and these routes are short. Sometimes they put 2 trips as a “piece of work” for drivers, but that’s only like 2 hours. It’s hard to fill that when there are longer pieces of work out there for us drivers that we can make more money on.

It boils down to the fact that we need more part time drivers. Metro is hiring like crazy trying to fill more positions.

I tell you what – tomorrow’s my day off. Maybe I’ll come in and drive it for you :P

Sorry, comment time is over.