Home › Forums › Open Discussion › Metro Bus Rage!
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August 21, 2011 at 4:14 pm #600254
JiggersMemberTraffic was so bad yesterday, combined with the bus reroute’s and Seahawks game, I caught the 55 on third ave at about 5 ish or so, the reroute has you heading East and on to 1-5 then back over to the W.S.bridge. I knew that ahead of time. I thought the driver was on time, but he was an hour late, and how did I know this, because there was another 55 right in front of us in the same traffic mess. It took 50 minutes to reach the Junction from third. This is becoming BS! I’m begining to really think that all of you like to sit in traffic for the fun of it. Metro better start adding more busses to popular routes. Bunch of pR*%*S!
August 21, 2011 at 4:21 pm #732669
redblackParticipant99 SB was closed. you should have tried the water taxi.
August 21, 2011 at 4:31 pm #732670
JiggersMemberSouthbound I-5 was gridlocked. I was just trying to get back into the Junction. Going to Alki is out of my way.
August 21, 2011 at 5:48 pm #732671
johnnyblegsMemberTook my wife 2 hours to get home from Queen Anne.
Mercer on-ramp closed. Viaduct closed. Seachicken game. How is that for city planning? She had to detour to Wallingford where I-5 was backed up all the way up 45th to Stone Way.
August 21, 2011 at 5:55 pm #732672
GenHillOneParticipantMercer ramp wasn’t closed yesterday (?) It took me awhile to get home from Queen Anne too though, around 4:30, but mostly because of traffic ON Mercer between the center & I5. Then there was an odd line-up to exit I5 to West Seattle…thought I’d see an Alki pilgrimage, but don’t know where all those cars went. A ton of drivers heading to Hempfest on both Friday and Saturday too!
August 21, 2011 at 6:07 pm #732673
redblackParticipantjiggers: the water taxi goes to seacrest, not alki, and there’s a regular metro shuttle to the junction (route 773).
http://metro.kingcounty.gov/tops/bus/schedules/s773_1_.html
http://www.kingcounty.gov/transportation/kcdot/WaterTaxi/WestSeattleRoute/Schedule.aspx
August 21, 2011 at 6:28 pm #732674
metrognomeParticipantyou guys are so funny. Yes, by all means, cancel all road construction, cancel all community festivals, cancel all sporting events.
And, if the government won’t do that, lets spend more taxpayer dollars putting more buses on the congested roads so they can waste money sitting in traffic that isn’t moving.
Its summer. That means road construction and community events and more chances for Seattle’s pro sports teams to lose. Plan extra time. Deal with it.
At least no one’s mentioned the Monoboondogglerail.
August 21, 2011 at 6:43 pm #732675
DianeParticipantI’m with jiggers on this one; this happened to me and about 30 West Seattlites 2 weeks ago, waiting for 54/55 after downtown parade on 3rd near Denny; we started as a few, grew to 30, as we waited almost 2 hours; problem is there’s no way to know if the bus will finally show up in 5 mins, or never; when it finally came at almost midnight, there were 3 (54’s) stacked up; we all got on the first; the next 2 followed us empty; while waiting, many of us talked about wishing we had gotten on the 56 which came by 3 times, but then we’d have to figure out how to get to our homes/cars from where 56 drops off; but since we all thought/hoped the 54 would come soon, we waited, and waited, and waited; a few people had smartphones kept checking “one bus away”; was really no help; at least it was a nice summer eve, and got to know some of my neighbors, who were also all pissed about the ridiculous bus service
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and don’t even mention the water taxi; it doesn’t run that late; and we were in Belltown, at least a mile from water taxi pier
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last week I tried to go to an event downtown in the eve, tried to take 56 from Admiral/Olga; waited 40 mins; bus never came, didn’t know if it ever would, my event would be half over by the time I got there, if I ever got there, so I got back in my car and went to the library
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very annoyed/frustrated with insanely unreliable Metro
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folks in charge who are raising our car tab fees, keep telling us to get out of our cars and use transit, but we’d all get fired for showing up late if we tried to depend on the bus; Dear Metro, Please get the buses running on schedule!!!
August 21, 2011 at 6:53 pm #732676
DianeParticipantalso, our only championship professional sports team, filled with Olympians, our fantastic Seattle Storm, beat New York last night, with Lauren Jackson finally back; many West Seattleites went to that game
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and Seacrest, Water Taxi landing, Alki Kayak, et al, is considered part of Alki; have you ever tried using those shuttles? bus rage inducing tiny unreliable, lines backed up with tourists; and how late do they run?
August 21, 2011 at 7:24 pm #732677
transplantellaParticipantI’m agreeing with Jiggers on this one. I think we were on the same bus.
Waited foevah for the 54 downtown which never came. Caught the third #55 that came by, at least it would get me to west Seattle where I can finally walk the rest of the way home if I have to. The whole juggernaut took hours.
Metro bus service on weekends is a total crapshoot, extremely unreliable. Always.
And I was traveling on a monthly Orca pass. The water taxi isn’t included on the pass, I would have had to pay full fare on top of my bus pass fee, not to mention hauling the 40 lbs of food I had bought at the market all the way to the water taxi pier. No.
Here’s an interesting aside. In my younger days I worked for several different public transit services in several US cities. As far as I was able to tell, no one in management (the big shots who made all the decisions) had ever actually used public transit. They all drove fancy cars to work.
I would venture to say that the reason public transit is so haphazardly run is because the people in charge have never been on a bus.
August 21, 2011 at 7:31 pm #732678
JiggersMemberredblack…I DON’T WANT TO GO NEAR, ANYWHERE NEAR THE BEACH OK.
August 21, 2011 at 7:34 pm #732679
transplantellaParticipantP.S.
A couple of weeks ago on a weekday afternoon we were waiting for the northbound #54 in White Center at 15th and Roxbury, the beginning of the route for the 54.
Its first stop and the 54 bus was 15 minutes late. How is that even possible?!
August 21, 2011 at 7:55 pm #732680
JiggersMembermetrognoame.. I didn’t say cancel events and such. I voted a big yes for the monorail to be built, it would have been done by now and way more efficient than busses, but the powers that run this city didn’t pass it. The tunnel project is not benefiting you or I, its going to hurt West Seattle more than any other part of the city. If you own a house in West Seattle and have to work in downtown, and get on the bus because you can’t afford to park, you better get your blood pressure checked weekly. You think its bad now, just wait…lol The point is, if you have to use the bus to get to work everyday, or often, you had better make some phne calls to the City, Metro or wherever, and let them know that it isn’t wrking out.All it takes is one bus ride from hell, and they’ll be many of them.
August 21, 2011 at 8:48 pm #732681
anonymeParticipantI’m with you Jiggers. The bus service out here in WS has gone from not very good to horrendous. Can’t even really be called a transportation system, because you have absolutely no idea when getting on a bus any more whether your trip will take 40 minutes or 3 hours. This has happened to me so many times in recent months, as well as being dumped off late buses so that they could skip the Arbor Heights loop – leaving me no way to get home. Senior fares TRIPLED for this BS?
August 21, 2011 at 9:12 pm #732682
JiggersMemberMy new idea is now if I am in downtown and need to get back into the Junction during peak afternoon business hours, I’ll avoid the 54 and 55 because they are so packed and wait for the 22. Its empty,less stressful and gets me to the Junction. The 22’s only problem is that it cuts early.
August 21, 2011 at 11:02 pm #732683
transplantellaParticipantJiggers, I believe I remember reading here on WSB reporting of Metro proposed cutbacks in July, that the #22 bus was slated to have its ‘peak’ and ‘non-peak’ service cancelled. That sounds pretty much like the whole #22 schedule.
August 22, 2011 at 12:19 am #732684
austinMemberIf you’re taking transit and you don’t plan your route very well, expect delays.
August 22, 2011 at 12:26 am #732685
The Velvet BulldogParticipantSeems like the #54 in general has issues. I’ve been taking it for the past three years and have had more trouble with this route than any other that I can remember. I’ve lost count of how many times the bus just never showed up–coming from White Center and coming from downtown. Or, when it does show up, sometimes it’s like, eight minutes early, so I leave my house ten minutes before it’s due. Compound what seems to be a problematic route with all the other issues and you have yourself a full-fledged Clusterf**k. Although to be fair, seems like any time there are road issues/community events/sports events/a butterfly flaps its wings–you have a public transportation Clusterf**k. (No offense meant to the drivers, who in general, seem pretty swell.)
August 22, 2011 at 12:26 am #732686
JoBParticipantwhat is the name of that new show where the CEO has to work at his own facilities for a week incognito?
maybe it’s time we insisted the city council and traffic planning mucky mucks took the bus to work.
August 22, 2011 at 12:33 am #732687
The Velvet BulldogParticipantJoB–the “Mucky Mucks” can’t rely on public transpo for the same reason a lot of other folks can’t–because they have to get to various meetings throughout the day at various places throughout the city, and riding the bus wouldn’t get them there efficiently, or necessarily on time.
I looked into taking the bus from here to a job I had in Wedgwood for a bit. Would have taken 2 or 3 buses and up to 2 hours to get to and from. During the day I had to go to job sites. Unfortunately the route 74, which served the office location, didn’t run during the day–only during peak hours. So–bam–I’m in my car.
I know that some of our elected officials take public transpo, but I’m sure even they are using those City-owned Priuses to get their work done during the day. Ironic, ain’t it?
August 22, 2011 at 1:05 am #732688
metrognomeParticipantyep yep and people who drive their cars NEVER encounter traffic …
I think a better idea is to have those of you who define the quality of transit planning by whether there is an express bus between where you are and where you want to go should be put in charge of transportation planning for a year — you wouldn’t last a week cuz you would have to deal with citizens with the same expectations you have … but they live spread out across the county.
No public transportation system is designed to provide service that meets everyone’s need for every single trip they might want to take. You couldn’t afford the taxes for a system like that. You have chosen to live on a peninsula with four lanes out and four lanes in. That’s kinda like moving to Vashon and complaining there isn’t a bridge to WS so you have to take the ferry.
August 22, 2011 at 2:42 am #732689
JoBParticipantmetrognome…
i will agree that no public transportation system will meet everyone’s needs…
but i have to tell you.. having ridden the public transportation systems in other large cities.. Seattle’s doesn’t come close.
whatever idiot thought running a major transportation corridor right past the stadiums was a good idea obviously hasn’t spent much time in that area on game days
but even they ought to be able to look at the stats and tell they have a problem
August 22, 2011 at 2:57 am #732690
JiggersMemberThe problem with route #54, it continues on up thru Greenwood when it turns into the #5 after it hits downtown. Traveling that long of a distance in multiple traffic mess passing Greenlake and up through Aurora avenue, visa back all the way to White Center, it makes predictability timing a joke. Same with route #55. Metro has to add another bus to the #54 route. The monorail would have eased that pain if it was built, but we have got nowhere in that regards being in West Seattle.
August 22, 2011 at 3:04 am #732691
GenHillOneParticipantI don’t think I fall into the “more/perfect” routes category as much as I wish they’d run on time. Predictability is key and the regular rider here avoids the bus TO work because it’s lacking. As mentioned, the 55/5 often has an actual window of 20 minutes around the published stop time, which is annoying just on the way home, but impossible when you have a schedule to keep.
August 22, 2011 at 3:30 am #732692
datamuseParticipantI think a better idea is to have those of you who define the quality of transit planning by whether there is an express bus between where you are and where you want to go should be put in charge of transportation planning for a year
But I don’t see anyone saying that, metrognome. I see people saying they’d rather the bus not show up an hour late. Is that unreasonable?
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