Thursday, February 21, 2013

Why Yes! My Bus Did Just Hit That Car


I leave work anywhere between 4pm and 5:30pm depending on what I'm working on. I step outside, walk one block and hop on any of 6 different bus routes that pass by my office and go to the train station. Additionally, I can walk another 6 blocks and ride the light rail instead. Depending on how bad the surface street traffic is, this can be a good idea.

After today I may consider taking the light rail more often. I hopped on bus route 511 to take me down to the train station, but about two-thirds of the way there, the bus sideswiped a car (or maybe it was the other way around, who knows). It made an awful noise, and the bus came to a screeching halt.

There was some initial "huh"s from the passengers, but when the bus driver got on his radio, I knew I was not going to make it to the train station anytime soon. Fortunately, we were stuck on there for only about ten minutes before a kindly fellow in a fluorescent green jacket led us gingerly off the bus to safety on the sidewalk.

The bus system is pretty efficient during rush hour. We walked about a block-and-a-half and were picked up by another bus in less than 3 minutes. Overall, it was only about a 20-minute delay on my commute. Not too bad.
You must not know 'bout me
You must not know 'bout me
I could have another BUS in a minute,
Matter fact, he'll be here in a minute, baby
Downtown rush hour traffic in Seattle is crazy. There are a lot of cars, lots of one way roads, and many complex rules and signs that disallow certain kinds of traffic in certain lanes at certain times. I drove around in the fray a few times when I used to live in town, and it was super-stressful every time. I'll take my boring suburban traffic, thank you.

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