Category Archives: cool stuff

Fully embracing the role

After 11 years without a car, I have made a purchase that will enhance my bus cred by an order of magnitude–at least. For bus chicks of a certain generation (OGs—OB’s?—like my grandma), it is the most basic tool for shopping, one you wouldn’t think of living without.

I, on the other hand, have made do with backpacks, stroller compartments, biweekly produce delivery, and a lot of schlepping. I have carried so many heavy bags over the years that I am certain to develop some kind of condition in the future.

I digress.

I passed this beauty on my walk home from work every day for weeks. Eventually, its call was too strong for me to resist. Fellow bus chicks, behold.

new shopping cart

I have a new cart!

new shopping cart

And it transforms!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Of course what got me was the seat. (A built-in bus bench? Yes, please!). But, as it turns out, the seat is actually the part I don’t like about it. It’s rare that I use the bus to shop for groceries (I stick to the store within walking distance), so I don’t get to use it much. And, when I tilt the cart to pull it, the seat comes loose and drags on the sidewalk. (Looks like I’ll be “securing” it with duct tape until I can find a suitable Velcro strap.)

On the other hand…

new shopping cart

Transporting Father’s Day pie to Paw Paw

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The world is new.

Books + buses = goodness

Coolest stickers ever

Coolest stickers ever

Almost exactly a year ago, I started a job at a nonprofit I’ve admired for many years. I believe deeply in the organization’s mission and enjoy my work a great deal, but I almost never write about it here. This is because, up until July of 2011, my transit “advocacy” (such as it was) was completely independent of any organization and influenced only by my own opinions and experiences. I’ve never been paid to write my blog (or, for that matter, for any talks, panels, or other appearances related to it), and I’ve never accepted advertising on my site.

Now, for the first time, I’m affiliated with an organization that works on issues I write about. I don’t want the opinions I express outside of work to reflect on (or be confused with) those of my organization. And, I don’t want my personal musings to be motivated by any kind of work-related interest. So, I’ve held myself to a single, fairly simple rule: Don’t blog about work stuff, and don’t talk about my blog at work.

But folks, today I’m going to break my self-imposed rule, because there’s a project I’ve been working on at my day job that is just too cool not to write about, and I think you should sign up and participate and tell all of your friends to do the same. Fellow rider/readers, today marks the launch of the coolest book club in the history of humankind, Books on the Bus.

We are excited to announce Books on the Bus, a collaboration among Transportation Choices and King County Metro, King County Library System, Richard Hugo House, and Pacific Northwest Booksellers.

The Books on the Bus concept is simple: It’s a book club for transit riders. Here’s how it will work.

Every quarter, we will select a book for participants to read on their bus rides. (In the spirit of community, we will make an effort to select books written by local authors or that take place in the Pacific Northwest.) Our current selection is Hotel Angeline: A Novel in 36 Voices. Hotel Angeline was written live on stage by 36 of Pacific Northwest’s most interesting writers. Half of the proceeds from sales of the novel go to support local literacy nonprofits–this year, Powerful Schools and 826 Seattle.

At the end of the three-month reading period, we will host an event to celebrate and discuss the book. Then, we will repeat the process with a different book.

Though the final event will certainly provide plenty of stimulating book talk, it is during the reading period where the “magic” of Books on the Bus will happen. The magic maker, of course, is the bus.

Buses are perfect places to, as our friends at King County Library say, “take time to read.” Public transit allows you to use your travel time as you please, and for many people, daily commutes are the only times they find to read for pleasure.

But public transit also provides opportunities for interaction. Buses create spontaneous, mobile, and very diverse communities–all over the county, all day long. Buses can certainly lead to lasting relationships, but perhaps more meaningful, and certainly more common, are the incidental interactions: the good-morning nods, sympathetic smiles, and relinquished seats–the history lessons, sports debates, and occasional flirtations–that add richness and texture to every bus rider’s life.

It is these incidental interactions that we hope Books on the Bus will provoke and strengthen. We want buses to be places where people in King County “take time to read,” but also where they connect and communicate.

We hope you’ll sign up for Books on the Bus and make Hotel Angeline your summer ride read!

With so many service cuts (actual and looming) and no stable revenue sources on the horizon, I am grateful for this small bright spot in my bus life.

Stop that Alabama bus!

My most recent bus read was the autobiography of OG Detroit activist, Grace Lee Boggs. Come to think of it, it was the bus read before last; I finished Home last week. (I’m currently experiencing some rather extreme Toni Morrison withdrawal and am still carrying it around in my bag.)

I digress.

Among the many things I learned when reading Ms. Boggs’ book is that this amazing song exists.

I realize that it isn’t December 1st (or February 4th), but I couldn’t wait that long to share this. And really, is it ever a bad time to acknowledge the power and significance of the Montgomery Bus Boycott? Right. Moving on…

“Alabama Bus” was recorded in 1956, at the height of the year(+)-long boycott. The artist, Will Hairston, was a friend of Grace and her husband, James Boggs. Mr. Hairston, also known as “the Hurricane of the Motor City,” was an auto worked and preacher who was deeply involved in the struggle for social justice and economic equality.

Thank you for your contributions, Brother Hairston. And, as always, honor and respect to the Original Bus Chick, Mrs. Rosa Louise McCauley Parks.

The Bus Fam visits the Motor City (again)

Earlier this month, the four of us spent a week in Detroit (aka, my city-in-law), combining a work conference for me with a visit home (including a celebration of his childhood church’s 75th anniversary) for Bus Nerd. Per usual, I spent much of the visit indulging my Rosa Parks obsession, which included dragging everyone (including my Gail, who had actually already been) on a pilgrimage to the recently* completed Rosa Parks Transit Center.

On paper, the RPTC is everything a bus chick could dream of, and in real life, it lives up to the hype—at least, from the perspective of someone who didn’t actually ride any buses to or from it. It has a heated indoor waiting area; real-time arrival info; a booth selling passes, tickets, and et cetera; and (hands down best of all): a bathroom!

bus stop bathroom

The most important bus stop amenity

RPTC

Honoring Chicklet’s namesake

As most of you know, Mrs. Parks is one of my idols, for reasons far beyond the (often oversimplified) story of her refusal to give up her bus seat. To be able to bring my children (including my own Rosa) to an amazing public resource dedicated to her memory was an incredibly fulfilling experience.

It was also an incredibly depressing experience.

To say that Detroit’s bus system is in crisis would be an understatement. At one of the conference sessions I attended the day before my visit to the RPTC, I learned that Detroit is 9th in the nation in transit demand–due to the size of the city’s population and the fact that a third of its residents don’t have access to a private vehicle–but 109th in the nation in the service that is deployed to meet that demand. Vehicles are in such disrepair that, on any given day, over a quarter of the buses that should be in service aren’t running. The sytem is out of money** and failing Detroiters by almost every measure. The mayor recently announced that the city is seriously considering outsourcing its management to a private contractor.

So, Detroit has a state-of-the-art, envy-inspiring transit center, and essentially no transit service. Residents (the vast majority of whom are people of color) are regularly missing work, school, and medical appointments; being left stranded at stops at all times of day and night; and enduring unpleasant, overcrowded rides on poorly functioning vehicles.

Anyone who believes, as I do, that basic mobility is a civil right, has to wonder: What would Mrs. Parks think?

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*It was officially completed in 2009, which fits my definition of “recently.”
**City buses are operated by DDOT and are paid for out of the general fund. The city is in such dire fiscal straits that it must essentially choose between public safety and basic mobility. The regional bus system (SMART) is also facing major funding challenges.

Odd name, cool concept

My friend Stephanie, who also happens to be the founder of one of the most amazing arts organizations ever to exist in Seattle, recently hipped to a cool new website called Earthbongo. Earthbongo (yes, that’s the name) provides a place for people to “start and join projects that make the world better.”

Projects range from changing your habits at the dry cleaner to interviewing a family elder, and participants live all over the world. And yes, if you haven’t guessed it already, I started a project of my own.

If you have kids and want to drive less, join me!

Bus art is cool, part II

Back in May, Bus Nerd’s mama (aka my Gail) gave him a subscription to a Detroit city magazine for his birthday. (As you might already know, the man is rather partial to his hometown.) In last month’s issue, there was a profile of an artist who makes replicas of old-school Detroit bus scrolls.

On the old busses and streetcars passengers learned of the various stops by way of signs on destination boxes [which] contained a continuous, two-sided canvas scroll with an alphabetized list of street names. The destination boxes were manually operated by the drivers and operators, using a hand crank.

I sort of hate to admit it, since this will no doubt brand me a “pseudo,”* but we ordered one. (How could we not? Buses + the D + history = goodness x 3.) We chose one that included the name of one of the streets Nerd lived near when he was growing up, so now he has a reminder of home (other than the Vernor’s ginger ale that occupies a full shelf in our refrigerator, that is) out here in the 206. But back to the scroll. Fellow bus chicks, behold:

Detroit bus scroll

Of course, being both a transit geek and a history lover, I was immediately compelled to research the specifics of how the scrolls worked. I didn’t learn much about that (MEHVA types: a little help, please?). What I did learn is that having a bus scroll (or, at least, a bus-scroll-like poster) in one’s home is apparently a “thing.” They’re everywhere on the internets—in Etsy shops and on dedicated sites galore. One of these sites encourages visitors to “design your own scroll for that special someone.”

If your special someone is a bus chick, you probably should.

 

 

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* This is not a term for the bus glossary, since it’s not transit related (or transit inspired). It is, instead, a Saulty special. “Pseudo,” used as a noun in this case, essentially means a pretentious person. (My brother would provide a more colorful description, but I’m hoping you get the point.)

A diet this bus chick can get behind

I’m not big on diets (other than this one, that is), but I am a big fan of Zipcar’s Low-Car Diet, a program where “members from 12 Zipcar cities [come] together to take on the challenge of one month of low-car livin’.”

Unfortunately, I didn’t get around to writing about it while it was actually going on. The official program ended today, so instead of introducing you to the Seattle participants as I intended, I’ll just give you the recap.

This year’s dieters did lose a few extra pounds, but that’s the least of their accomplishments. Here are some of the more noteworthy:

1175 public transit trips
1207 trips on foot
708 trips by bike

All of the particpants recorded their experiences (through blog entries, tweets, photos, and videos). Check out this page to see what they thought of it.