TRAFFIC/TRANSIT TODAY: Monday watch; first week of Fauntleroy-Vashon-Southworth ferry-schedule overhaul

(SDOT MAP with travel times/ Is the ‘low bridge’ closed? LOOK HERE/ West Seattle-relevant traffic cams HERE)

6:59 AM: Good morning! No incidents or traffic alerts in our area so far.

Reminders:

NEW STATE FERRIES SCHEDULE: This is the first weekday of the overhauled Fauntleroy-Vashon-Southworth schedule.

MARINERS: The M’s play at 7:10 pm at home vs. the Angels. (That means extended evening service for the West Seattle Water Taxi.)

CLOSURE: The 4th Avenue SW closure south of Roxbury is scheduled to start today.

Eric April 1, 2019 (9:28 am)

It was another morning of no-show Metro buses out of Admiral. It obviously wasn’t traffic, just a typical disappointment from Seattle Metro, who can’t seem to get it together for West Seattle.

WSB April 1, 2019 (9:37 am)

Which bus(es) did you not get? There were no alerts this morning (we monitor both text and Twitter) for any Metro routes.
- Chuck April 1, 2019 (1:12 pm)
  
  It’s either the 116 or 118, but the 8:20 bus at Fauntleroy/Morgan never showed. Luckily there’s a station to catch the C line nearby, but this is not a rare occurrence. Maddening.
- Eric April 1, 2019 (1:36 pm)
  
  Routes 56/57. The 8:49am never came. I filed a complaint w/ Metro (Case #00198021). It’s frustrating to wait 45mins for a 25-minute commute. When there isn’t any traffic, we might as well drive our own vehicles to get to work on time.
- ARPigeonPoint April 2, 2019 (3:30 pm)
  
  I contacted Metro when I had this problem with multiple 120 buses not showing up. They said they only alert us to a cancellation when it’s a major cancellation (I believe they said the first or last run of the day – but it’s been a while) because “it’s a human who has to send the texts out.”

newnative April 1, 2019 (12:08 pm)

I didn’t get any alerts either but when I got to my stop it clearly looked like the previous bus hadn’t shown. Around 7:20am.

JCW April 1, 2019 (12:29 pm)

My regular route is having trouble with the new drivers. The 113 was pretty consistent for a while, but now is running habitually late and missing stops. Today on the 6:18am run, the driver nearly merged into another car after realizing she was passing a stop that had been requested. I keep sending good good things to KC Metro when these routes run well, but if the drivers can’t get it together for a consistent (and fairly easy AM) run, neighbors aren’t going to count on it for commuting!

AMD April 1, 2019 (1:41 pm)

Bus drivers got new routes with the spring changes on March 23. My driver announced that she didn’t know where she was going and asked for directions over the speaker the other day. The new driver stuff usually shakes out after a couple weeks. Although sometimes you just get someone who is slow and you’re stuck running late for 6 months until they rotate drivers again.
- newnative April 1, 2019 (2:35 pm)
  
  New drivers used to have mentors that rode with them, giving them tips and help with directions. I haven’t seen that this time around.
- Seriously? April 1, 2019 (2:42 pm)
  
  @AMD, do you (or anyone else here) know the logic behind changing drivers each time the new schedule comes out? Seems like it would make more sense to keep the same drivers on the same routes. Any thoughts or explanations are welcome. This inquiring mind wants to know.
  - AMD April 1, 2019 (7:45 pm)
    
    This is an educated guess (I don’t work for Metro). Routes change when the new schedules come out. This sometimes means big changes like added or eliminated stops or new routing. Usually it just means a run of a given route might be cut or new runs are added to routes. Which in turn means some drivers can’t necessarily stay on the run they had (if it was eliminated) or may be interested on a new run that was added (especially if it’s a more full-time position than the one they started in). Or maybe traffic just got annoying in the area they’ve been driving in for a few years and they’re looking for something new. The routes are selected on a seniority basis. So drivers get to choose if they want one of the new runs or decide where to go if their run is cut. It’s a more equitable way to get drivers onto runs than just giving the new guy whatever becomes available and leaving him there forever because the next available run might be a full-time gig when there are existing drivers on part-time runs who would rather be full-time. And so forth. Again, I don’t work for Metro, but I do know a bit about how UPS handles assigning drivers to runs and that Metro uses a seniority system, so that’s where the “educated” part of the guess comes in.
    - Seriously? April 1, 2019 (8:14 pm)
      
      @AMD – thank you for your theory. What you said makes a lot of sense. Nicely done :)

flimflam April 1, 2019 (5:28 pm)

huh. i thought metro said the doom, gloom, and chaos would begin if we didn’t pass the last levy? was it “move seattle”? can’t recall – i do recall metro fear mongering about how terrible service would be if the levy didn’t pass.

Canton April 1, 2019 (9:47 pm)

Yeah, you’re right, move seattle. There were also some articles, about how the city had the money for bus hours, and the county didn’t have the resources to accommodate.

Sorry, comment time is over.