Celebrate Earth Day by Riding the Bus for Free
| Speaking of Earth Day [mb], Metro Transit [site] is offering free bus rides all day long on Earth Day, in order to encourage people to get to know the bus system and start thinking about finding ways you can contribute to saving energy and reducing traffic and air pollution. |  |
We’re big fans of public transportation here at Seattle Metlblog, using it in varying amounts from “from time to time” to “primary mode of transportation”. For someone like me, a single, childless adult who lives in First Hill and lives a whopping 10 minute or less walk to work downtown, owning a car would be more trouble than it is worth, but just about everyone wins leaving the car at home at least some of the time.
Sure, I understand that some of you have commutes that would be next to impossible (and pretty much unbearable) by bus–I’m thinking here of a former co-worker who commuted to our workplace near Tukwila all the way from Gig Harbor and when she finally gave notice I wondered why it took her so long to get sick of a commute that was around three hours each way–but I’ve found that an awful lot of people who think their bus commute would be terrible just don’t know enough about the local transit systems to know that for sure. (Yes, I’m talking to you, Mr. “I rode a bus once back in ‘83 and it sucked”.) A lot of people have huge misconceptions about public transit in the Seattle area; why people who don’t take the bus insist on trying to tell me, someone who takes the bus daily,”what it’s really like” to take the bus, I’ll never know.
In any case, the bus has other uses besides taking you to and from work. Why throw yourself into traffic jams and $20 parking when you can take the bus or a Sounder train to that weekend Mariners (Seahawks, too, in season) game? You don’t have a deadline to get to the park to play frisbee Sunday morning and unless you’re bringing home a refrigerator or something, why not save yourself the hassle of parking at the ball by letting a professional drive you there?
During the next couple of weeks or so, I’ll be making posts from time to time about what it’s like to use the various public transit options around the Puget Sound, but in the meantime, why don’t you check it out for yourself on a day when it won’t cost you a dime?
For route maps, schedules and trip planning assistance, visit the Metro Transit site.
PS: You can also get a free ride from Community Transit [CT], Everett Transit [ET] Pierce Transit [PT], and Sound Transit [ST]
When I lived in Seattle about a year ago, I thought that something was missing because we didn’t have a car. We lived in the U-District and despite the fact that there are a million buses in that area, unless one is going downtown, it kind of sucked going to certain areas within the city via King County Metro.
I also must add that since fall my bf commutes by bus (Intercity Transit, Pierce Transit, and Sound Transit) to and from our house in Olympia to the UW. Crazy? Of course, but sometimes one must do what they have to do.
(BTW, we’re moving back to Seattle in about 3 months and I can not be more overjoyed to get out of here and get back to the real world, or at least that’s jut me.)
How long is your boyfriend’s commute? I hope he at least gets to use his time productively. I used to have a a co-worker who commuted to Seattle from Silverdale via a combination of carpool, bus and ferry who used her ferry time to read trade magazines that she probably would’ve never read if she didn’t have that ferry time free every day, so having that time helped her out.
I think it was a mistake to do the free buses thing on a Sunday, because Sunday bus service is pretty crap–there’s a bunch of lines that don’t run at all, and everything else is ultra low frequency–so I wonder if this is going to just reinforce the unfortunate “getting around by bus is an ordeal” impression.
Sunday service is “crap” if you’re looking at the commuter lines, sure, but at least within the cities of Seattle and Tacoma there are plenty of buses that run on a schedule not too different from their daily schedules. Sunday’s also a day when people tend to have more time in their schedule to be patient instead of freaking out that the bus comes only twice an hour instead of four times.
I do think having a free ride on a weekday would be a good idea, though.
C Ro and I cavorted around the city on the bus yesterday, and the buses were PACKED all day everywhere, unusual for a Sunday! I’m glad lots of people seemed to be taking advantage of the free bus day.
There are a couple pages that I’ve found to be really helpful in combating “taking the bus is haaaaard” syndrome: Neighborhood Routes and Service Frequency. Just having an idea of “oh, that bus goes near my house” helps tremendously, and knowing what you don’t have to worry about missing is convenient too. Oh, and mybus.org’s SMS feature is awesome.
oh yeah, I keep forgetting about mybus.org, which is a real shame because when I remember to use it I’m always pleased by how convenient it is.
Also, I forgot to mention that I rode the 594 between Tacoma and Seattle and back on Sunday and it was jam-packed, with several of the people openly talking about how they were taking the bus out of curiousity since it was free.
Hey Zee,
After reading your note on Sunday about the free buses (I admit I didn’t know about it) I decided to look up and take the 23 bus from Highland St/Holden St in West Seattle to the International District. I usually take the bus downtown that is half a block a way from me. After a leisurely five minute walk to the new bus stop, it took me 15 minutes to arrive on Jackson Street. My friends who drove to meet up with me spent that much time trying to find parking.
Even though it was a Sunday: if it gave people some curiosity about the bussing system I think it was a good thing. No harm done.
And if people enjoyed it, they should write to their local transit systems and let them know. I have a feeling our local bus transit systems are going to be doing the heavy lifting for a long while. Let them know what you need.
Drury
Drury, thanks for your comment and the great reminder to communicate with our local transit systems.