Did you know?
As a frequent bus rider, I’m often disappointed when I jump up excitedly at the sight of a Metro bus headed towards my stop, only to find it’s headed “TO BASE.” I’ve always wondered, why must the buses make a lonely journey back to base all alone when they could be filled with happy riders? And look what’s in the P-I’s latest Transportation Q&A:
Question: Ryan Maas wanted to know “why it is that when I am driving to or from work on the Eastside … I see most buses empty with signage on dictating that they are headed back to base. Can’t the buses pick up people headed across the water?”
Answer: They can. Passengers can flag a bus going to the base, though Metro says to be sure you want to go where that bus is going. [#]
I was genuinely surprised by this. Are Mr. Maas and I the only ones who didn’t know this? Is this like the Metro Transit equivalent of ordering In-n-Out burgers “animal style”?
Finally, a great tip that deserves reprinting for all of you Eastside cyclists:
One tip: O’Rourke says riding base-bound buses is particularly useful for passengers wanting to travel east on the state Route 520 bridge. Buses bound for East Base or Bellevue Base will pick up passengers at the Montlake stop in Seattle and take them either to the Evergreen or Yarrow Point stops on 520 or to the bus stop in front of the two bases on 124th Avenue Northeast in Bellevue. Bicycles aren’t allowed on the bridge, so this can be a quick way for bicyclists to get across Lake Washington.
Neat!
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Just a nit-picking note that “To Terminal” is NOT what is referenced in the P-I article. The article actually states that the terminal-bound buses cannot pick up passengers, only base-bound coaches are included in this phenomenon.
Also, I have done this, and it rocks.
One of the neat things about living on Vashon Island is that all of the buses that come to the island work in this informal fashion (although they’ve cut the number of buses that now go to the island). Basically if you see a bus just flag it down and just let them know where you want off on the stop. I was lucky as my stop was the last one for the night when I was going home from work. The driver would go off the route at the end and actually drop me off at the end of my driveway. I live in Woodinville now where bus service sucks.
King Jumpsuit, excellent eye, I totally missed that distinction. Edited accordingly!