Thanks dude on the 15.
I heart the bus system. There are definitely major faults with it, like the fact that if you don’t know Seattle you most likely won’t have a clue as to what to take, the handy pamplets they provide don’t show all the stops and the drivers don’t always tell you when that next stop will be.
But besides that, I love it! (Especially the 2 and 15)
Take this morning for example, when I actually fell asleep on the 15. I do this from time to time, when I’m just too tired to read (Smart Women Finish Rich) or listen to my podcast (Keith and the Girl). But on those times that I do close my eyes, I usually am half awake and well aware when my stop is coming.
Today was not that day.
Luckily, the nice man next to me tapped my shoulder, probably because I was drooling on him. But also to warn me that we were at Pike Place, in case I had to get off there. I assured him no, but thanks for your concern and went back to sleep, this time with my ipod turned on full blast to Ratatat so that I couldn’t really be in dream mode.
When I opened my eyes, a few seconds before hitting my stop, the kind man was gone. But not forgotten.
Thanks random dude, on the 15. You weren’t crazy, but nice. You didn’t smell of alcohol and you didn’t ask me for change or get too close to my personal space. You were the perfect bus companion and I hope we can ride together again. If anything, so you can be my alarm clock on those sleepy mornings.
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I am reminded of my morning bus rides from Vashon to Fremont when I first got out of college. I had to move back in with the folks to save some money and got a job at a non profit that did rehab for the mentally ill that had drug and alcohol addictions (a very interesting place to work to say the least). Anyway, I started at nine AM, but to get to work on time I had to catch a bus on Vashon at like five in the morning (it was brutal). I was always appreciative of the kindly old lady who sat next to me every morning knitting. As she always woke me up at my stop so so I could catch my transfer. Thanks knitting lady, you were the best!
A woman on the train earlier this week actually made eye contact with me and asked if she could take the seat next to me. Refreshing not to be hit with someones bag as the mindless plop down and pull out the Ubuntu powered laptop and start loudly typing away with their headphones blaring.
I just about never sleep on the bus but one day when I worked out in SeaTac it was pretty evident that I was extremely tired so the woman sitting next to me on the crowded bus asked me what stop I was getting off at and said she would wake me up when we got there. Only she forgot. Which was okay because someone else sitting nearby had overheard the conversation and THEY woke me up, which was awesome.
When I used to ride that bus (the 194) regularly in the evening there would always be people on the bus for their first time in Seattle with a ton of questions and all the regular commuters took turns giving them tips to the city. I don’t miss going all the way out to SeaTac to work (particularly since I now work close enough to my home that I walk) and I really, really don’t miss that job but every now and again I do kind of miss taking that bus.
It has been my experience that the people in Seattle who complain the most about our bus system are the people who use it the least.
I don’t know Zee, Seattle’s transit system is pretty bad. I’ve ridden buses all over the country and while not all of them are good they all at least seem to exceed what Seattle can do (I rode Seattle Metro from 1999-2007). It’s really the roads that are to blame, they just were never meant to handle this amount of traffic efficiently. However a knowing the cause doesn’t really help me on the bus and it makes Metro look bad. It used to take me an hour and a half to get from Denny Park to 105th and Greenwood after work on a consistent basis. You should just sit there sometime and watch the number five buses pile up on each other because they are all late. It’s frustrating to the rider, but funny to the observer.
Last week at the international district, a young man left behind his wallet. Unfortunately, this story doesn’t end so well. A bunch of girls who boarded at the same stop jumped all over each other to see who could steal the wallet first. The worst part is that when the original owner walked back, these brats didn’t turn over the stolen wallet–there wasn’t even the slightest hint that these young women had any moral hesitation about their crime. Instead, they acted as if they had won the lottery. (I stood up to at least tell the guy to cancel his credit cards, but the bus was already pulling away.) I pretty much lost all faith in humanity from that.
Dream, why didn’t you speak up and tell the owner that the girls had his card and inform the bus driver? Sitting back and not acting made you almost as guilty as those girls.