Public transit

[jwb123]

The monorail? It only serves to take people from the EMP/Seattle Center, to Westlake, doesn't it? And every year, there are incidents where the rail is having problems and tourists are evacuated from three minute ride, down into traffic.

Heh, monorail...

[AZ_singlemother]

Originally Posted by AngryTypingGuy

Just off the top of your head, how often do people take advantage of the trains/buses in Seattle? Is it sort of a joke to use public transit? How efficient in terms of coverage are the trains?

Lol, I love your profile name Angrytypingguy The buses are very accessible. In DT Seattle, there's practically no wait and several buses you can take. The Sounder trains; however, have limited station locations. I prefered the express bus since it was cheaper and more accessible. It's not a joke to take public transportation since almost everyone I worked with in a corporate setting took the bus. It was rare for anyone to drive to work since the parking and gas was outragious.

[neptune]

Originally Posted by AngryTypingGuy

Just off the top of your head, how often do people take advantage of the trains/buses in Seattle? Is it sort of a joke to use public transit? How efficient in terms of coverage are the trains?

I read somewhere Seattle ranked 5th in public transit dependence, and since then the school district started using city buses instead of school buses. I wish they would boost capacity and run later hours but there's plenty of demand and people taking transit seriously. And no they don't stink or exhaust like most buses, so you're free to enjoy the other smells waiting for the bus

[Traumer]

they try and encourage ppl to take the bus when they start so late so you arnt able to make it to your destintation. Im not to fonde of seattles buses. waiting a half hour for the next bus. they need to run eariler. i think. but i cant move out of my moms dinning room because of the bus system. i have to get a ride in the morning. or maybe im just use to the ny were the buses run 24 hours all day long its ranther nice that way.

[pwright1]

Originally Posted by mindsman

4rth, light rail is good for the inner city but wont curtail drivers from the burbs its a worthless deal.

Lightrail and subway systems have to start somewhere. I remember when D.C.'s subway opened with 1 line traveling about 1 mile. Seattle's is starting with 14 miles from downtown Seattle to the airport and serving south Seattle and the Rainier Valley. Like I said it has to start somewhere and this is the beginning.

As for waiting for the next bus my #2 runs every ten minutes.

[Woof]

Originally Posted by AngryTypingGuy

Interesting that an environmentally active city doesn't have an efficient train system installed. Hopefully, that changes by the time I consider moving out.

There is only so much taxpayer money to go around, and from what I remember Seattle opted to get more stadiums for sports action figures? I could be wrong, but I think instead of light rail there were several more frivolous financial black holes decided on 10-20 years ago.

[wsugrad03]

Ah, public transit. I've dealt with this before. Inner city bus transit is pretty good. You can get along, but it's not fantastic. many of the inner city buses are kind of ghetto. You have to deal with the typical late bus, and sometime the bus drivers are jerks and just leave you stranded if you're running to get on the bus.

The best metro buses are the ones that service the east side park and ride centers. They're quite comfortable and have air conditioning. These buses usually service the white collar workers who work in downtown Seattle who live in Redmond/Issaquah/Bellevue area. I used these buses when I first moved to Seattle and I would probably use them if I worked downtown instead of driving.

The public transit system can be pretty inefficient at times depending on where you want to go. This is mainly due to the geography of Seattle. It's easy to travel north/south, but more difficult to travel east/west due to Lake Washington and the bridge traffic. It used to take me 2 hours each way to travel 30 miles, and some of the buses were flat out scary. Some routes are routinely patronized by bums and hood rats. One route I used to travel had a homeless guy that used to sleep with his eyes open. Everyone thought he was dead. It was kinda creepy.

Once Seattle integrates in the light rail system, public transit will be much better. Other members have already talked about it. And the Sounder train is a good way of commuting from the North and South suburbs to Seattle.

Overall, it's not terrible. Bring a good book and your iPod and you can get by on public transit pretty well.