Any good places downtown to rent a bike? and Bellevue transit by bus (Seattle: rentals)

[SwingVote08]

If Seattle had a better metro system (light rail whatever) then I wouldn't be asking this. Personally, I like walking the length of cities to get a good feel for them but I got a multiple hour workout last time that I did that in Seattle. The hills are killer so I'm thinking of maybe biking the semi flat parts and walking the hills. Question is, can I get a cheap bike rental for the day?

Also - the classic Bellevue question. Why is there no light rail to Bellevue?? Is a bus really the only economical way over there from downtown? I took a cab last time for a flat rate of $26...not too shabby but I'd rather take the metro..cheaper, greener, faster. Buses get on my last nerve since you have to time things perfectly and how's the crowd? Sketch or tolerable?

Last demand...please convince my fiance the bus system is safe and there's no "weirdos" on it. My threshold is pretty low but her's is pretty high, help please! I don't want to take a cab everywhere...plus she doesn't like getting sweaty from walking . Any advice is much appreciated

[southking500]

Sorry but there ARE weirdos riding Metro so you do need a high threshold for tolerating body odor, foul language, drunks etc. Although Bellevue routes are probably better than Seattle.
Sound Transit has frequent service from the Seattle bus tunnel to downtown Bellevue.
Sound Transit: 550 Bellevue—Seattle Weekday Bus Schedule (http://www.soundtransit.org/Riding-Sound-Transit/Schedules-and-Facilities/ST-Express-Bus/550-Weekday.xml - broken link)

[Ira500]

The buses to Bellevue are mostly just commuters. It's safe, it's not scary, it's fairly quick.
Light rail just hasn't been built to Bellevue yet, but it's coming.

[char00]

Not sure about bike rentals in Seattle but the crowd on buses in/from the Eastside tend to be tamer than Seattle only buses (not that Seattle buses get very rough or anything). The Bellevue school district uses the Metro bus system for transportation for middle & high school so I started really utilizing my bus pass and riding down to Seattle with friends when I was 14. Depending on the time of day it's a mix of commuters, students, older people, & other folks just looking to get around. The Sound Transit 550 is your fastest bet taking around 20 min from Bellevue transit center to the Seattle tunnels downtown and if I remember correctly the bus comes around every 15 minutes during the weekdays, 20-30 on the weekends and runs until 11-12 at night.

If your trip to Seattle is going to be short, around 2 hours and you don't mind a longer transit time I recommend going by only Metro bus since they have a 3 hour(I think) transfer they give you when you pay the fare allowing you to get back on the bus for free on your return route, only problem is that time flies by quickly & that transfer time limit includes the initial bus travel time. A trip to Seattle on Metro staying with in the transfer time is $2.75 during peak hours, but since Sound Transit does not issue transfers a trip back and forth would be $5 ($2.50 each way) regardless of time frame.
...I hope that helped more than it confused you...

I think they've been trying to get the light rail into Bellevue but there's been some fighting back and forth between Sound Transit/Light Rail and I think Metro & Kemper Freeman (real-estate mogul who developed most of downtown Bellevue). I remember hearing something about Freeman & others suing to keep Light Rail out but I'm not sure of the source.

[SwingVote08]

Originally Posted by char00

I think they've been trying to get the light rail into Bellevue but there's been some fighting back and forth between Sound Transit/Light Rail and I think Metro & Kemper Freeman (real-estate mogul who developed most of downtown Bellevue). I remember hearing something about Freeman & others suing to keep Light Rail out but I'm not sure of the source.

Yeah I keep hearing Bellevue is anti-mass transit which I think is about the dumbest thing ever esp. when it'll fuel lots of growth on the eastside, plus take a lot of cars off the street, ease traffic, yada, yada, yada...

The 550 sounds like a pretty good deal. Yes, your wording is a little confusing. So...I can still get a cheap bus ride ($5) round trip with no time limit. Half price with the 2-3 hour time limit, correct?

Where's the connection in Seattle again? I remember checking it out on the link posted but didn't recognize the location.

[Ira500]

The 550 in Seattle mostly runs in the transit tunnel under the 3rd Avenue:
Sound Transit: 550 - Downtown Seattle Route Map (http://www.soundtransit.org/Riding-Sound-Transit/Schedules-and-Facilities/ST-Express-Bus/550-Route-Map/550-Downtown-Seattle.xml - broken link)

It's 2.50 for a one way ticket, so if you're riding it back later in the day it would be 5.00 total...
I wouldn't say " Bellevue" is anti mass transit. a lot of folks from Bellevue ride buses. It's Kemper Freeman who appears to be anti mass transit. He's a big downtown Bellevue property owner. His grandfather campaigned for the rounding up and putting in internment camps Japanese Americans (many of them American citizens who didn't even speak Japanese) prior to WWII, and when Japanese Americans lost a lot of their property as a result of being interned, Miller Freeman, Kemper's grandpa swooped in and bought a lot of it really cheap. Maybe being on the wrong side of history runs in the family.

[Inkpoe]

Originally Posted by SwingVote08

Yeah I keep hearing Bellevue is anti-mass transit which I think is about the dumbest thing ever esp. when it'll fuel lots of growth on the eastside, plus take a lot of cars off the street, ease traffic, yada, yada, yada...

It's not Bellevue that's the problem. They've already passed the initiative and it takes time for the process (deciding on route and how to do it via tunnel or surface).

Kemper Freeman is doing all he can to stop it; some say its because he wants to keep the riff-raff out of Bellevue. He says his reasons here:

Local News | Kemper Freeman is suing to stop light-rail expansion to Eastside | Seattle Times Newspaper

[vandygirl]

Originally Posted by SwingVote08

Buses get on my last nerve since you have to time things perfectly and how's the crowd? Sketch or tolerable?

Last demand...please convince my fiance the bus system is safe and there's no "weirdos" on it. My threshold is pretty low but her's is pretty high, help please! I don't want to take a cab everywhere...plus she doesn't like getting sweaty from walking . Any advice is much appreciated

From Bellevue the bus is tolerable. You might find yourself next to a Chatty Cathy but it's nothing like a lot of big city bus systems where everything is dank and you might get hurt by kids throwing firecrackers in the back of the bus or some knife-wielding assailant. Seattleites wait in very well lit bus terminals. Everybody is plugged into an ipod, playing with a PDA or otherwise in their own little world. That seems to be the social culture there, unlike most big cities where you have to be en guarde every minute. Some of the teens can be obnoxious en route to Seattle from Bellevue but that's about as bad as it gets.