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Well I'm a little different because I take public transportation to work and everywhere else. Simply put, public transportation is inconvenient here save a few routes going downtown. Luckily the morning schedule isn't so bad, but the evening schedule leaves a lot to be desired. On the days I leave work early, I have to wait 20 minutes to get a bus. However if I work past 6, I have to wait almost an hour before I can leave. So basically what could be a 15 minutes car ride turns into 45 minutes on a good day and 80 minutes on a bad day. Heaven forbid if you have to go somewhere right after work. Right now I'm hoping that I can get to a downtown office before they close at 6. If I had a car, I wouldn't even need to worry about this. It would take me 30-40 min to drive there. With the bus, I have to wait 20 minutes then it will take another 45-50 minutes to get there providing that traffic is light and there are no delays with other riders. Then there's the rain. There is nothing worse than waiting for the bus in the rain. I can take the cold and the heat, but being in the rain is the pits. Also there is no room for error with the bus. Once I set my alarm clock for the wrong time and woke up late. Now I know that's completely my fault, but I could have made it to work on time if I had a car. With a bus it's a done deal because the next one arrives 40 minutes later.
I did take the bus when I was living on the north end of Seattle, and commuting to downtown. Was convienent, I picked it up and got off at timed bus stops (meaning, the bus LEAVES at a certain time and will NOT leave early), so thats a big help.
Seattle has a pretty good bus system in all honesty.
Never take public transportation. For one thing there is zero bus routes and the only thing close to public transportation would be a cab. Plus I need my tools and equipment every day, don't think a cabbie would like it too much if he showed up and I started to load a few thousand pounds of gear in his vehicle.
I can picture it though, might make for a good joke, something like you would see on some hidden camera show.
I did take the bus when I was living on the north end of Seattle, and commuting to downtown. Was convienent, I picked it up and got off at timed bus stops (meaning, the bus LEAVES at a certain time and will NOT leave early), so thats a big help.
Seattle has a pretty good bus system in all honesty.
oh come on now? Buses on a schedule? Timed? what is that crap?
Playing "bus roulette" is much more fun. You can stand there and guess if the next bus is going to come in 5 minutes or 20, and if there will be one of them or 3. I've never actually tried taking bets with others on it, but I do it in my head.
Buses tend to get bunched. There's a whole mathematical theory about it. In reality, there are three different kinds of bus routes.
A - where the headway (time between buses) is less than 7 minutes
B - where the headway is between 7 and 15 minutes
C - where the headway is more then 15 minutes
If the headway is more then 15 minutes and the bus is more then 3 minutes early/late, then it's the transit agencies fault and they need to rework the route schedule (assuming there is no reason - EG a car accident. Traffic is no excuse)
If the headway is less then 7 minutes, then forget about the schedule. In any city with a busy enough transit route to run this often, there will be enough traffic to screw with this route. One bus may be 3 minutes early while the next is 3 minutes late (meaning you wait for 13 minutes) and bunching can occur often. There is really no way to deal with this beyond hopping on the second bus, as usually it is far less crowded.
If the headway is between 7 and 15 you run into a gray zone that is somewhere between these two.
actually I have myself talked to some of the more "interesting" people on the subway. Usually you can tell by how they try to start a convo (EG does this train go west? VS is your hat to keep you hot, you look like a communist) if they are 100% nutso or only 50% nutso. I actually gave some job search advice to the lady who was a little directionless (in more ways then one)
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I can picture it though, might make for a good joke, something like you would see on some hidden camera show.
