Speaking of California…

Los Angeles has a bus riders’ union. Though they might want to consider narrowing down their mission statement, I like what they’re about:

The Bus Riders Union seeks to promote environmentally sustainable public transportation for the entire population of Los Angeles, on the premise that affordable, efficient, and environmentally sound mass transit is a human right.

They clearly recognize both the environmental and social-justice benefits of public transit, which is rare; most transit advocates seem to focus on one or the other. (Of course, there are also urban-planning and public-health benefits, which you could argue fit into one of the above categories. I like to call them out. But I digress.)

LA’s Bus Riders Union must be doing something right, because they managed to attract the attention of an Oscar-winning filmmaker. Apparently, in 1999, Haskell Wexler directed a documentary about the organization, which I have yet to get my hands on. I’ll report back as soon as I do.

About those system maps…

Bus Nerd noticed this at the southbound Montlake stop the other day.

Metro’s system map, posted on the back side of a stop timetable.

As I said back in August, it’s good for showing which routes go to specific neighborhoods, but because it doesn’t include most streets, I can’t imagine how it would be used practically–without supplementation by Trip Planner or a rider information specialist, that is. For comparison, check out San Fran’s and Vancouver’s system maps. Both are real street maps that also include bus routes. (Also, in both cities, it’s fairly easy to find paper versions of the maps. I don’t know where to find them here.)

For signs at neighborhood stops like the one at Montlake, I’m envisioning the big system map in the background, with the neighborhood in some sort of magnified call-out, a la Google Transit:

The bus-stop map could include all the streets and routes in the neighborhood.

Finding a man on the CTA

The folks at Boystowners share a story about a successful bus mack (which, it seems, has resulted in some good, old fashioned bus luh):

We’ve all heard stories about the CTA, the cramped morning commutes, late buses/trains and obnoxious riders. Have you ever heard of falling in love?

It happened for two lucky Boystown residents (they’re now in Wicker Park) on the No. 146-Inner Drive/Michigan Express from downtown to Belmont…

Their advice for finding love on the CTA:

One: Be open to meeting people on the “L” or bus. If you’re not, you could miss out on a new friend or a possible love match.

Two: If you do find love, even if it’s at a bus stop, hold on to it

They always say you’ll find love where you least expect it. We better remember to do our hair the next time we ride the bus.

Don’t make me say I told you so.

Northbound 48, 8:40 AM

Middle-school boys, on…

Fashion:
Boy 1, to Boy 2: “Your pants are hella faded. Your mom wash those or something?”
Boy 2: “You’re supposed to wash ’em.”
Boy 3: “Yeah, but you have to turn ’em inside out.”
Boy 1: “Well, it looks like she used bleach. Tell you mom not to use bleach when she washes your sh*t.”

Education:
Boy 4 (an outsider), to Boy 1: “You go to Meany?”
Boy 1: “Yeah.”
Boy 4: “I think you were in 6th grade when I was in 8th.”
Boy 1: “I didn’t go to Meany in 6th grade. I went to Triple A, but I got suspended.”
Boy 4: “Where you going next year?”
Boy 1: “Franklin or The Beach, I guess. I already know: When I go to high school, I’m getting suspended.”

Sexual orientation:
Boy 4, to Boy 1: “You have Miss Mendoza this year?”
Boy 1: “Miss Mendoza went to Mexico.”
Boy 4: “For real?”
Boy 1: “I think she left because everybody found out she was a lesbian. She told the whole class and told us not to tell anybody, but we went around and told everybody.”

Punctuality:
Boy 2, to Boy 3: “What time does first period start?”
Boy 1: “Second period started seven minutes ago.”

“Slugging” goes high tech

Wikipedia defines slugging as, “a form of commuting that…combines a variation of ‘ride-share’ commuting and hitchhiking.” Essentially, folks who need rides stand at designated locations (near bus stops, for example), and folks who need riders (for the HOV lanes) pick them up. Personally, I’d prefer to ride with strangers in a government-sanctioned context, but if it works for other folks…

Slugging is very popular in cities like Washington, Pittsburgh, and San Francisco. It happens occasionally in the Seattle area (it’s been happening at Overlake Transit Center for years), but it’s certainly not an established or common practice.

Yet.

Today I met with Zachary Corker of Goose Networks, a startup that’s brought Seattle’s special high-tech flavor to this ride-sharing phenomenon. Goose’s service “allows commuters to find ridesharing partners in real-time by simply sending a free text message from their existing mobile phones.” Instead of standing on the street and waiting for a stranger to pass, Seattle-area sluggers can sign up for Goose’s service (for free) and send a text message when they’re ready to leave. The system matches drivers and riders and sends a return text message with all relevant information. Users are also screened, so it’s more likely to be safe. Interested? Check out the tutorial on the Goose Networks website.

If you happen to work at Microsoft and live in one of nine central-Seattle zip codes (98101, 98102, 98104, 98109, 98112, 98119, 98121, 98122, 98199), you can participate in Goose’s three-month beta. They even offer incentives like free gas.

Of course, real-time carpooling can’t offer free wireless Internet access, like the 545. I’m just sayin’.

A sustainable Sunday

This afternoon, I headed over to Ballard (short walk+3+18) for the third annual Sustainable Ballard Festival. Sustainable Ballard is a nonprofit organization that has gained national attention for working to make Ballard the first carbon-neutral community in the nation.

Today was my first time attending the festival. I gave a short talk at the transportation tent and then spent the rest of the afternoon checking out the booths and learning from the other presenters.

Urban dsign booth Agriculture booth

Metro and the Ballard in Motion folks were there. They were giving away coloring books for kids. I took one for my Godson, Isaac (aka Zaky). And one for me.

Metro's booth Mannfred's First Bus Ride

Highlights:
• The talk right after mine, which was all about how to overcome your fear of riding a bike in traffic
• The solar energy and urban design booths
• The free samples at the SPUD (Small Potatoes Urban Delivery) booth and the stickers they were giving out: “Bite me. I’m organic.”
• Meeting a bus chick named Kristen (hope I spelled that correctly), who’s so serious about busing she’s doesn’t even have a driver’s license

All in all, it was an educational and fun event–a great way to enjoy a beautiful Sunday afternoon.

September Golden Transfer

Golden Transfer--designed by Zach Tucker

This month’s Golden Transfer goes to Metro’s only floating bus, the Elliott Bay Water Taxi, which completed its final run of 2006 just 23 minutes ago. From May 1st until today, the Water Taxi transported a record 118,000 passengers across Elliott Bay. Some of those passengers were repeaters, of course: commuters; frequent beachgoers; and me, a woman who likes to visit her parents.

In addition to being the cheapest scenic boat ride in the city, the Water Taxi is also a useful form of transportation. It provides a short, convenient route between downtown and Seacrest Park in West Seattle. And, in case you’re not headed to (or coming from) Seacrest, you can ride a free Metro shuttle between the park and Alki, the Admiral District, and Alaska Junction.

Taxi!

Waiting in line to get on

Bus Chick and Bus Nerd take one last ride.

Jeremy and Elizabeth at Matador

To celebrate the Water Taxi’s last night in service, we rode over to the west side to meet my parents; my brother, Jeremy; and his girlfriend, Elizabeth, for dinner. We ate at Matador, which I thought was a good choice: Good food. Nice crowd. Decent mojitos. (Note: You can follow red wine with mojitos when you don’t have to worry about driving.)

So thanks EBWT, for enabling so many of my summer adventures: sunset roller blading, Salty’s brunches, fireworks-viewing, and, of course, innumerable parental visits. It’s going to be a long seven months until I can ride again.

Buh bye

The bus driver who wanted to be God

Most bus riders know the joy of having built-in reading time, and this book-loving bus chick is no exception. I have my standard favorites (Morrison, Austen, Boyle, Senna, Durham, Smith), my list of “shoulds” (still haven’t gotten around to finishing Middlemarch), and my recommendations from friends (currently reading A Fine Balance, loaned to me by my friend Donna). Then, every once in a while, I’ll discover someone new on my own. This week, it’s Israeli writer Etgar Keret. Keret is not new to the literary scene (apparently, he’s been around for over a decade), but he’s new to me. He’s written a delightful collection of short stories, the most delightful of which is the story the book is named for, “The Bus Driver Who Wanted to Be God.”

Here’s an excerpt from the beginning:

This is the story about a bus driver who would never open the door of the bus for people who were late. Not for anyone. Not for repressed high-school kids who’d run alongside the bus and stare at it longingly, and certainly not for high-strung people in windbreakers who’d bang on the door as if they were actually on time and it was the bus driver who was out of line, and not even for little old ladies with brown paper bags full of groceries who struggled to flag him down with trembling hands. And it wasn’t because he was mean that he didn’t open the door, because this driver didn’t have a mean bone in his body; it was a matter of ideology.

Intrigued? Check this book out at the library. (I’ll be returning my copy this weekend.)

I tend to prefer novels to short stories, but I have to admit, stories are ideal for bus reading. Keret’s stories are really short, which means you can get through at least one (no matter how slowly your read or how minimal the distance) per ride. They’re also ideal for bus stop waits–unless you’re waiting for the 48, in which case you might want to break out that copy of Middlemarch you’ve been meaning to get to.

School bus

Yesterday marked the first day of classes at the UW School of Dentistry, and with it, this man’s return to the bus:

A handsome bus rider My youngest brother Joel, a brilliant, handsome, six-foot-four inch, iron-pumping, soccer-playing, second-year dental student, is also a bus rider. (Yes, I do know all the good-looking dentists–and dentists to be–in Seattle.) Joel’s not a full-time bus nerd or (necessarily) a transit advocate, but he is smart enough to know a good deal when he sees one. Instead of fighting traffic from West Seattle to the U District and paying for gas and parking, he pays a small fee ($44 per semester) for a U-PASS and leaves the driving to Metro. On his rides, he studies, naps, or catches up with people he doesn’t have time to talk to in the course of his busy-dental-student days.

The future Dr. Saulter, with denture-shaped salt and pepper shakers

Fellow bus chicks: If you want to catch a glimpse of this handsome rider, hop on the eastbound 55, or any of the northbound 70-somethings (he takes whichever one comes first) at the crack of dawn or the same routes (going south and west) late in the evening. You might even see him sporting one of those sexy bus rider t-shirts we talked about in the spring. When I finally get them printed, he’s agreed to be one of my models.

Some rules of the ride

Bus rule #1:
If your morning bus to work is late–really late–and you wait for what seems like forever (hours surely), and when it finally arrives, it is bursting-at-the-seams crowded, so packed with people that you can remain upright without holding on (if, that is, you don’t mind making a few friends on the ride), you will be rewarded, upon disembarking, with the sight of another bus, the same route number, but articulated this time, whizzing past your crowded bus–completely empty.

Bus rule #2:
If there is a person on your bus who is behaving oddly (speaking to an imaginary friend or prophesying the earth’s imminent demise or removing required articles of clothing), everyone else on the bus will stare straight ahead (or out the window, or at their books) and pretend that the person in question is not acting a stone fool–unless, that is, some of those “everyone elses” are the masters of public humiliation we know as teenage girls.