Riding the Bus

There are a few rules bus riders should know about. These rules benefit us all, so if you don't follow them, you earn the ire of your fellow passengers.

Getting On

- You're at a goddamn bus stop. Don't act all surprised when the bus shows up. Have your money ready before the bus gets there. Usually it's even within 15 minutes of you getting to the bus stop, unless the stupid bus runs late because of others who don't follow these rules. If you absolutely cannot have your money ready and feel you need to root through your purse, at least let the other passengers waiting at the stop with you get on first.

- Don't try and haul your two 24-packs of bottled beer for your 52nd birthday celebration onto the bus if you look like you're 85 and can't carry a gallon of milk. Sliding them on the floor doesn't count.

- Don't get on the bus before 9pm if you haven't showered in six months. People need to smell good for work. If they smell like they've been in the dumpster in the morning, their boss will think they don't spend money the right way. People also need to smell good for coming home. If they come home smelling like they've been in the dumpster all day, their spouse will assume they are actually unemployed, or that they had the scent of another woman on them and needed to cover it up.

Riding The Bus

- I realize that was OMG THE CUTEST PUPPY DOGG!!!! Take a photo with your cell phone instead of calling up your mentally retarded deaf boyfriend and telling him. There are people who do know how to use the cell phone properly in public, but you don't notice them because they're not shouting.

- If your cell phone rings on the bus and you're a shouter who's following the rule above, I admire your restraint. However, your ring-tone is a shitty toneless version of J.Lo loud enough to wake the dead. When it starts ringing, go ahead and turn the sound off. Or better yet, put in vibrate to begin with. Doubly so if the person calling you is likely to keep trying to reach you, assuming that you can't hear the ringer while you ignore them.

- Speaking of calling back, if you're talking to someone on the phone and you let them go, if they call you back something went wrong. I've been on the bus where you answered, hung up, answered, hung up, answered, hung up, -- the entire time I was on the bus. Clearly your "friend" wants to talk to you and you don't. Turn the phone off, or hand it to me and I'll throw it out the window and take care of the problem.

- Using your PSP to play 30-second clips of music videos is fine, if you want to watch 30 seconds of a video before moving to the next one. But guess what? Holding it up to your ear and turning the volume down slightly is not a good substitute for headphones.

- Speaking of headphones, if you're using some and I can hear your crappy gangsta rock five rows away, you're deaf and music is of no use to you. So turn it off.

Getting Off

- Say goodbye to your friend/neighbor/random-stranger-you-just-met-on-the-bus before the bus gets to your stop. When it comes to a stop and the doors open, you need to be standing at the door ready to hop off. When the bus stops, the absolute last thing for you to be doing is starting to say your 5-minute goodbye. You're holding up 45 other people who need to get to work. I realize that sometimes a conversation is really enthralling and it is possible to not notice when your stop is coming up, but you just pulled the stop request cord! Yes, you old asian lady. The stops are like 45 seconds apart. You certainly didn't pull the cord then get back into your enthralling conversation and forget your stop was coming up, did you? Pull the cord, say bye, walk to the door, and wait until it opens. It really is that simple.

Ferries Redux

As I mentioned before, Seattle is prime territory for more ferries, especially ones across Lake Washington. The Seattle-PI reports this morning that a new ferry district has been created and is considering a route between UW and Kirkland. Woo!

Ferries

The west seattle blog has an article about the water taxi to west seattle. It discusses some issues regarding funding and the creation of a King County Ferry district, which apparently includes a possible UW-Kirkland route. Hell yeah!

When I was in Sydney, one of the best aspects of their public transportation system was that it was either on rails (trains) or on water (ferries). The ferries ran everywhere, because the water was everywhere. Seattle's very similar, but doesn't actually have all that many ferries. Plus none of the Sydney ferries carried cars.

Cost Of Living

Recently I took a weekend ski trip to Whitefish, Montana. Although the skiing was great fun, it's the nightlife I want to talk about. The first night we went to a bar where the drinks were $3 each -- except for fine scotch which was $4. I'm not just talking about cheap beers, but hard liquor too.

The last night we went to happy hour at a bar where you got a free pizza, enough for a meal for two or a good snack for four, when you bought a pitcher of beer for $8. We spent four hours in that bar while waiting for the train, having three or four pitchers of beer, four glasses of scotch, dinner, nachos, darts, foosball, pool and tator tots. All told, we spent $60. In Seattle you could get 6 drinks for that price.

Gas Prices

Summer is coming soon, and according to CNN, gas prices just spiked two weeks ago by 20 cents per gallon to an average of $2.55. The most expensive gas is $3.10/gallon in San Fransisco, and the cheapest can be found in Anchorage at $2.22/gallon.

I suspect we'll see gas in the $3.50 range in Seattle this summer (it's currently around $2.70), and the media will be full of articles covering how many hybrids are selling and how the big trucks (think: American cars) aren't selling well.

Voter Turnout

The SeattlePI has this nice visual aid of voter turnout by area:


Compare with Zillow's heatmap:



Notice how the areas with the most money have the most turnout. Is it because of the demographics, or because the richer people have more in taxes at stake? Or because poorer areas don't care as much?

Viaduct Breakdown

Viaduct Results

Sad as it may be, my predictions hold true with 100% of the precincts counted (with a total of 30% voter turnout):

70% of voters do not want a tunnel.
55% of voters do not want to rebuild the viaduct.

I had said more people don't want a tunnel, and that both options will lose. Woot.

The voters have spoken in this special nonbinding election. They'll speak again at the normal, binding election. Your move, idiot politicians, but tread lightly.

Seattle's Viaduct Election

Seattle's viaduct replacement election is coming up this Tuesday. I voted no and hell no, though I'm not sure that was entirely correct. The tunnel is definitely a bad idea. First, tunnels in general are expensive and often overrun the cost. Second, the way the mayor proposes to pay for the tunnel involves residents between Spokane St. and Denny. That's just too narrow. The people who are going to benefit most are the people in West Seattle and in Ballard. I'd be much less opposed to the tunnel if:

1. Finance the tunnel 100% by selling the land on top to developers. We all know that's what will happen eventually anyway, so at least make them pay for it. The land underneath the current viaduct is some of the most potentially expensive land in Seattle. Sell it.

2. Ditch the stupid "is-it-a-shoulder?" shoulders. It's either a lane, an exit ramp, or a shoulder. It shouldn't be all three at different times. That's just going to be a mess. We need a 6 lane tunnel, not a 4 lane tunnel. A four lane tunnel is going to be just like the 520 bridge is. Those of you who commute across it feel my pain.

So, like I said, definitely no on the tunnel. The viaduct proposed is going to be bigger than the existing viaduct. I like the existing one just fine. It has great views, but I worry those might go away if the new tunnel requires solid concrete barriers unlike the current visually light-weight barriers. The anti-viaduct campaign has scared me a little about the size (good for you guys!) but I really don't like the surface street option either.

Here's what wrong with the surface street option:














How is the surface street option any better than the proposed new viaduct, shown below?





It isn't. Sure, there are pretty flowers and all, but a 6-lane road isn't going to make things nice for pedestrians. It's still noisy and unpleasant to walk around. And it will be unpleasant to drive on due to the traffic lights. Maybe make it a surface highway, with a number of sky bridges for pedestrians to cross overhead?

Another problem is that the state is guaranteeing 2.8 billion dollars in funding for a new viaduct. If we get the same amount of money for public transportation if we don't build anything, then I'm all for it. But the surface street option means we'll see maybe $120 million, and Seattle will get screwed over so the state can send our viaduct money elsewhere. I hear Renton needs a new basketball arena, and Kitsap needs a new racetrack.

I love light rail. Let's use the $2.8 billion for more light rail, sooner. Or, here's a wild idea: replace the viaduct with one word: monorail.

Ultimately, I have some predictions about the results of the election:

1. The tunnel will have less support than the viaduct.
2. The viaduct and tunnel will have less than 50% support.
3. The mayor is going to ignore the election results, unless both options have less than 25% support.
4. If the mayor tries to build a tunnel, he won't get the funding.
5. If the governor tries to build a viaduct, she'll get wrapped up in red tape when the city refuses to issue permits.
6. The mayor will not be elected again.
7. The governor will struggle to get re-elected.