“Transit agencies around Seattle are having trouble keeping up with a surge in demand. On the most popular routes, buses are standing-room-only or so full drivers have to leave waiting passengers behind.
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“I refuse to stand up. It’s just crazy, we’re like sardines. You end up in somebody’s lap,” Stuart said. “It’s just hot and unsafe. We’ve complained.”
As a former resident of SF, this just makes me laugh and laugh.
Oh no! You have to STAND on the bus?? It is crowded????? Waaaaahhhhh!! Suck it up, you babies.
You bitches wouldn’t last two stops on the N-Judah at rush hour. You don’t even KNOW what crowded is.
“Some buses are so full they skip some stops, forcing commuters to wait for the next bus.”
A daily occurrence in San Francisco rush hour, for as long as I can recall. It sucks, sure, but rather that than roads crammed with single-passenger cars. Which is already the case in Seattle, which is 30 or 40 years behind the public transit curve compared to Washington DC, NYC, Boston, Chicago, and the Bay Area. As I said, time to suck it up.
People look at me funny sometimes when I choose to stand on the buses in Seattle. I don’t mind standing. It’s better for my back anyway. I sit all day long.
And these buses are not crowded. The other day I rode the 70 from work to Marion and 3rd. When I got on, okay, it was a little bit crowded, in that the aisles were full of people standing, with PLENTY of space around each person. This was the most crowded I had ever seen this bus — presumably because the previous one was late or not in service.
And all around me, people were grumbling about it: “oh my goodness, what a crowded bus!” etc etc. Seattle, if you are ever going to be a real city, you’re going to have to grow up and accept the reality of a real public transit system.
bahahaha
As a Londoner I kind of hate that I can laugh at this too, as it is no laughing matter to be crammed into a tube or bus and stand for 40 minutes with some guys armpit in your face. I just moved to central london so now I can walk to work if need be!
Re: bahahaha
Points well taken, and I admit to never having lived nor been a commuter in those “real” cities you mention. Also, I realize the reality of the poor urban planning that has resulted in the traffic problems we have now in Seattle/the Puget Sound metro area.
However, it seems to me the issue isn’t just individuals whining at having to stand on busses. I ride the 15 and the 2 regularly, both which are mentioned in this article as having increases in numbers of riders this past year. Several times per week during morning and afternoon rush hours these busses are full to capacity, sitting and standing. Meaning, there is absolutely no more room. This leads to having to wait for a second and sometimes third bus to come so that I can even get on to stand. I think that Metro and the taxpayers are definitely going to have to “suck it up” in order to provide enough public transportation for those of us willing and able, to leave our cars at home.
Re: bahahaha
In Tokyo, uniformed men in white gloves push commuters deeper into the trains when there isn’t any more room. And rush hour is seven days a week.
To me, crowded public transit means people are using it. The situation you describe, a full bus with no more room, is the norm for almost all transit lines in SF, during all peak hours. Because everyone is using it, and driving is not an alternative. In Seattle, driving and parking is still an option, I guess, for a lot of people (not for me, thankfully), even though it always costs more money.
Much as I can agree with the suck-it-whiners ex-SFer sentiment, people feel entitled to more personal space than in the Bay area here and have had it historically, so they are not going to get used to less space unless gas goes to $10. I also I think there are clearly points on the buses I have taken that are primary points of most of the passengers’ journeys. There should be shuttle/express services to these choke points (universities, hospitals). They are not paying attention to the ebb and flow of passenger traffic on the established routes. Too many milk trains running. Also, give Third Avenue to the buses, it’s unmanageable as is with mixed use and there’s plenty of alternative routes. HEY EVERYBODY, I’VE LIVED IN SEATTLE FOR ONE SOLID YEAR, I KNOW THINGS.
3rd ave is already “reserved for buses” during peak hours, but it’s still always filled with cars ignoring the “do not enter” signs, running red lights, and turning left where there are “no left turn” signs.
Metro could improve a lot, of course, that’s another part of the provincialism of Seattle.
part of it is that metro is a king county entity; so a lot of its funds go to the outlying areas and not just core transport for the city.
really, though, I just wish that overcrowded buses would skip stops rather than slowing down to try to cram more people inside. or implement something like tokens, separate doors for entry and exit, spacing stops further apart, or anything to speed up the process of getting on and off the bus.