Reportback from West Seattle forum on our Transportation Future

i know it's a few days late, but here it goes.

The major things discussed were: the upcoming RapidRide line, light rail, the tunnel. No surprise here obviously.

RapidRide

 

For those of y'all that don't know, the RapidRide is a form of transit called BRT (Bus Rapid Transit). It's designed with fewer stops and more frequency to act somewhat similar to a rail line would. You can read all about the RapidRide itself here and BRT here. 

Cities like Seattle, that don't have the appropriate infrastructure or geography in order to have lots of rail options often resort to a BRT system. According to what was talked about in the meeting, the first RapidRide line that was introduced between Federal Way and Tukwila has already achieve 50% more ridership than the line that it replaced. 

The C Line will be replacing the 54 and 54X, the bus I often take home. My original concerns with the proposed line were that it was taking away stops from areas of West Seattle that are home to a lot of elderly care homes and doctors offices that serve people with limited mobility, specifically on California between the Alaska and Morgan Junctions. When I asked a question about that, I was assured that the 22 and 128 lines that serve that area normally just during rush hour, would have their hours extended to cover the times that the 54 normally would serve those stops.

Light Rail

So right now Seattle has light rail from the Sea-Tac Airport to the main shopping district in downtown that serves the southern neighborhoods of Seattle and Chinatown, Pioneer Square, and Financial District. That line is in the process of being extended to the U-District through Capitol Hill, and after that is planning on being extended all the way up to Lynwood. There is no official plan for light rail in West Seattle just yet. Two big reasons: no funding (obvz, isn't that what they always say) and the geography makes it hard. Light Rail is not designed to function on hills like Seattle has, that's why a lot of it in the hillier areas of town so far has been all underground. 

imma underneath your cities, transportin your poor huddled masses

There's two major reasons we don't have any funding for public transportation right now, the major one being that the state of Washington refuses to implement an income tax that would benefit things like public transit, and ALL of the taxes that the Department of Transportation takes in all go towards road expansion and maintenance. The second one is that federal government support for federally subsidized public transportation is really really limited right now. Cities that do have really good (or potentially good) transit systems like Portland or Atlanta (ATL doesn't really count anymore) all got federal funding from the government as far back as the 60s and 70s for implementing public transit. 

So, right now in Seattle the priority in public light rail transportation is being put on high density neighborhoods like the U-District, Capitol Hill, and those more dense residential neighborhoods north of the U-District. 

The Tunnel

Obvz there is a lot to say about that tunnel and i've already had my say about it. You can read that blog post here. There wasn't tons said about it except that it's basically inevitable and there's nothing we can do to stop it. There's already been way too much money and effort put into making this thing happen, and anti-tunnel advocates are just a little late.

The folks over at West Seattle Blog were there and videotaped the WHOLE FUCKING THING. You can watch the footage if you are that interested here.

For now I am done typing about this. If you have more specific questions leave them in the comments section and I'll respond.

xxxo

-jean

hella slacking

so i've been slacking off on updating this thing daily for the past week. i could make excuses, but i'm too lazy. this week has been by far the most "on time" week for buses in Seattle, despite the snow.

here's wednesday:

54 departs California & Barton at 1:18pm (on time)

54 arrives 3rd & Seneca at 1:49pm (one minute early)

71X departs University St. Station at 1:52pm (one minute early)

71X arrives 41st & University at 2:05pm (on time)

73 departs 41st & University at 10:24pm (three minutes late)

73 arrives University St. Station at 10:44pm (on time)

54 departs 3rd & Seneca at 11:02pm (one minute late)

54 arrives at California & Barton at 11:26 (five minutes late)

I totes forgive that last bus though, because by the time we got to my neighborhood there was like three inches of snow on the ground. it was amazing.

ugh, i'm getting sick of this format, so i think i may transition over to open threads for the day, and have specific threads for events, rants, etc.

-jean

tuezzzday

so this post is going to be short and sweet because i am putting most of my energy today into writing a post for the forum that happened last night about the future of West Seattle transportation.

54 departs California & Barton 12:49pm (one minute early)

54 arrives 3rd & Seneca 1:20pm (on time)

71X departs University St. Station 1:23pm (on time)

71X arrives 41st & University 1:35pm (on time)

later that night

71X departs 41st & Universtiy 3:44pm (one minute late)

71X arrives University St. Station 4:10pm (five minutes early)

21X departs 3rd & Seneca 4:06pm (two minutes late)

21X arrives 35th & Henderson 4:28pm (three minutes late)

-jean

dead prez day

so i don't really have a lot to talk about as of yet, or about my commute yesterday. it was fairly normal, but my night bus was actually on time for once (it usually isn't on Mondays).

I take that back. I do now remember that all of my buses ran differently than what Metro's Trip Planner told me. I am fairly certain that the online trip planner did not update itself with a holiday schedule (at least for the 54), which for most routes gives it the same schedule as the route would have on Sunday. Here is what the trip planner told me:

54 departs California & Barton at 3:33pm (two minutes early)

54 arrives 3rd & Seneca at 4:05pm (six minutes early)

72X departs University St. Station at 4:01pm (two minutes late)

72X arrives 41st & University at 4:14pm (seven minutes late)

Becaues I've had bad experiences with my later evening buses on Mondays, I walked down to a different bus stop that has the same buses plus another one that i could take downtown.

73 departs Campus Pkwy & 12th at 10:25pm (three minutes late)

73 arrives University St. Station at 10:44pm (two minutes late)

54 departs 3rd & Seneca at 11:02pm (one minute late)

54 arrives at California & Barton at 11:26pm (one minute late)

ugh, my acid reflux is being hella horrible today.

keep an eye open for my report back from tonight's forum on west seattle and transit!

-jean

lucky yesterday/blogging on the go.

So yesterday (Sunday), I was able to avoid my entire usual bus trips due to Kelley having Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence meetings from 1-6pm.

My only trip was from the U-District to Capitol Hill to meet him and it went something like this:

49 departs 41st & University at 5:19pm (one minute early) 

(ps: 15th ave ne is down on sundays for construction, hence me catching it on university way ne)

49 arrives at Broadway & Pine at 5:36pm (one minute early)

also, i think i might download the app BlogPressLite for my iphone. i'm still not sure if i want to treat these entries as maybe doing an open thread all day where i post about my trips and then maybe doing special interest posts separately. feedback?

-jean

Seattle to Vancouver, BC via public transit

So, I stumbled upon a blog post from a couple years ago by a Grad Student at UW talking about his trip to Vancouver, BC via public transit. PDF Here!

needless to say, i wanna try this.

-jean

new phone/coming up this week

hey everyone.

so i got a new phone yesterday, meaning that i'll be back to tracking my bus schedules. 

but what makes this so special is that i FINALLY GOT AN IPHONE!

I've been stuck with shitty non-smartphones since I got a cell phone in 2006, and now i'm officially a real 21st century faggot. Since Kelley is at a Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence meeting all day today, I was able to get a ride to work and hopefully a ride home as well.

In other news: I still don't have a working computer. Once i get my final W2 from the Census, I will have the money to buy a MacbookPro as soon as the new update comes out (hopefully the beginning of March). I also have a new email you can reach me at: jean.hella@gmail.com

Coming up this week: I will be attending the Sustainable West Seattle Monthly Transit Forum this Tuesday. If you live in or frequent West Seattle you should come with me and ask tough questions.

The SDOT just released their Transit Master Plan Briefing Book. I will be looking over it hopefully this week and probably releasing some sort of comments on it.

that's all for now

xxxo

-jean

ps: if you know of any good apps for mobile blogging, i am on the lookout for suggestions.

West Seattle's Transportation Future

Next Tuesday, Sustainable West Seattle is holding a forum from 7pm-9pm. I theoretically have class until 6:20, meaning I wouldn't make it back in time for this, but I think I may skip the second half of class.

From their page:

Our February Community Forum will be held in the Senior Center of West Seattle, on SW Oregon St. literally around the eastern corner from California Avenue SW.  Come at 6:30 pm to socialize, the Forum begins at 7:00 pm and will continue to 9:00 pm.
Our Transportation Forum confirmed lineup includes:

• Tom Rasmussen – Panel Facilitator, Chair of the Seattle City Council Transportation Committee;
• Chris Arkills - King County, Office of Dow Constantine, King County Metro, Rapid Ride and ST2 and ST3 plans;
• Brice Maryman – SvR Design, Transit Oriented Communities, Urban Impact of Transportation and Transit Planning
• Martin Duke – Seattle Transit Blog, Users perspective of West Seattle Transit and Transportation Options;
• Peter Hahn – Director, Seattle Dept. of Transportation, Overall View of Seattle Transportation and Specific View of West Seattle

wednesday is better, but thursday is not

ugh, due to my computer issues i just haven't been able to update as much as i'd like and only end up getting to update when i'm at work and don't have time to actually put everything down that I'd like. so here is just the basics for yesterday:

54 departs Fauntleroy Ferry Terminal 2:35pm (on time)

54 arrives at 3rd & Seneca at 3:06 (two minutes early)

73 departs University St. Station at 3:09pm (one minute late)

73 arrives at 41st & University at 3:24pm (on time)

and the ride home....

73 departs 41st & University at 10:24pm (two minutes late)

73 arrives University St. Station at 10:44 (on time)

54 departs 3rd & Seneca at 11:02pm (on time)

54 arrives at California & Barton at 11:26 (one minute early)

BUY ME A NEW COMPUTER

-jean

don't have a lot of time

will blog more later tonight when i'm at work. for now...


here's my trips from yesterday. needless to say, my evening commute was fucking disastrous:


my commute to work/school went fine, i fucked up my phone at some point yesterday and erased the data from my trip. As far as I can remember all of my buses were no more than one minute late.


but fuck my night commute. i know that most of the time bus drivers are not to blame for their routes being late. crazy passengers, badly timed bus routes, etc have a lot of influence. but the first drive i had last night was hands down the worst bus driver i ever had. HE WAS FOURTEEN MINUTES LATE!!! ON A BUS THAT RUNS EVERY TEN MINUTES!!!! HOW IS THIS FUCKING POSSIBLE!?!?


72X departs 41st & University at 6:25pm (fourteen minutes late)
72X arrives at 3rd & Seneca at 6:51pm (eleven minutes late)


theoretically, i should be able to casually stroll up the escalators to get to my bus stop in time for my transfer bus to get home eleven minutes after the 72 arrives. but wait, it was eleven minutes late, so i ran up the escalators and missed my bus by 30 seconds.


Then, SURPRISE!!! The next two buses i could take to get home didn't arrive, so here is what i took, it gets a bit confusing, and they were all late.


55 departs 3rd & Seneca at 7:17pm (six minutes late)
55 arrives at 35th & Avalon at 7:27pm (eight minutes late)


54 departs 35th & Avalon at 7:42p, (ELEVEN minutes late)
54 arrives at California & Barton at 7:59pm (FIFTEEN minutes late)


Needless to say, I should be able to catch the 6:45pm 54 downtown and be home by 7:15pm... a 50 minute commute. But instead, my commute was TWO FUCKING HOURS!!!! I literally wanted to punch out a bus window.

Big ole rant about the tunnel!!! (and more!)

heyalllll

so i've been using Daddy's laptop as my computer at home until i get my tax refund so i can buy my own. But i guess the computer doesn't like hipsters, because it totally went crazy in the middle of an episode of Portlandia and won't work. Because of that, my posting of my trips and comments will probably be the day after they actually happen. I am having to resort to sneaking in on the Daddies computers when they're not working or doing it at the library like I am now. 

So I have a few things to talk about today pertaining to the 99 tunnel in downtown Seattle and this packet I read that was put together by the LA Bus Rider's Union. 

First... the Highway 99 tunnel/viaduct thingy going on. For those of you that don't live in Seattle, there is a viaduct running along the waterfront that is a raised double decker highway. It goes from SoDo (south of downtown) to Queen Anne. It is falling apart and any large earthquake would probably destroy it. It was designed like the one that collapsed in Oakland back in the 90s. So needless to say it needs to come down. There's a big uproar going on right now about it's proposed replacement: a tunnel that would go underneath downtown and reemerge in the Queen Anne area. 

My biggest concern about the tunnel option is that it has no exits out of the tunnel into downtown, and exits just wouldn't make sense and it would end up costing way more than it already is costing (hella billions $$). It would provide another route besides I-5 to bypass downtown Seattle, but would eliminate the current way that buses get from West Seattle, White Center, & Burien to Downtown, forcing them to either deal with street level traffic, or go way out of their way to take the interstate. 

My solution: Don't build it. Tear down the viaduct, replace it with a bunch of really amazing shit that reinvigorates the Seattle waterfront, make the road that runs along the waterfront downtown transit only, and make the car drivers deal with it. Studies have shown that this tunnel won't even get used that often: read this article from the Stranger. We have to stop catering to an industry that takes away billions of dollars from a state that's cutting funds for ALL education, HIV/AIDS funding, mental health facilities, health care for poor kids, and so much more. It's so totally fucked.

Sure it'll probably take people a while to get used to not having that as an option, but they'll fucking deal with it, and in five years, people won't even remember about the fucking viaduct as an option.

Second... the LA Bus Rider's Union put out this packet called The Bus Riders Union Transit Model. It's a 60 page study on why LA is better suited for a bus system rather than a rail system and talks a bit about European cities that are kicking cars off some of their roads completely. I am not going to post my review about it just yet because I still have a lot of thoughts about how something like this could work in Seattle. So far now, I think all of you should read it. And yes, it is 60 pages, but there's lots of charts and pictures and shit so it actually doesn't take that long to read.

Third... here's my trips from yesterday:

54 leaves California & Barton at 3:33pm (four minutes late)

54 arrives at 3rd & Seneca at 4:05pm (one minute late)

73 leaves University St. Station at 4:09pm (four minutes late)

73 arrives at 41st & University at 4:24pm (four minutes late)

I had problems again with the same bus and same driver on Monday night though. Once again they were so late, that the next bus was only two blocks behind them (it was 13 minutes late, even though it runs every 14). I stayed at the bus stop, because I figured that the first bus was almost full. The next bus was absolutely empty and we passed the super late bus soon after departing. I figure if it happens again next week, I'm going to call Metro and report it.

73 leaves 41st & University at 10:24pm (13 minutes late)

instead i took the next bus a minute later which was a minute early and then four minutes early to the tunnel station.

54 departs 3rd & Seneca at 11:02 (seven minutes late)

54 arrives at California & Barton at 11:26 (eight minutes late)

The wind and rain last night downtown was absolutely insane!! just completely crazy, like lose your hat in a windstorm almost can't cross the road crazy.

xoxo

-jean

easy peasy

mike and kelley dropped me off at work today. i only had to ride home

71 departs 41st & University at 5:12pm (seven minutes late)
71 arrives University St. Station at 5:34pm (nine minutes late)

i really didn't mind it being late today, i was reading a novel for class that was really interesting and i didn't really have anywhere to be. the trip planner didn't give me the correct information as usual and i had to divide up my commute. by putting in my address as the end destination from the u district it didn't even list the 21 as an option, instead giving me three other options that would have taken me anywhere from 5-30 minutes more than the 21, but when i put in 3rd & seneca instead of 41st & University, it works, but gives it to me as the 2nd option instead of first. i really don't get how they prioritize this shit. i need some friends on the inside who can explain how they come up with this crazy shit.

21 departs 3rd & Seneca at 5:52pm (on time)
21 arrives at 35th & Henderson at 6:26pm (one minute late)

i love the 21 when it's on time.

xxxo
-jean

this is real

since i've been thinking so much about public transit lately, i've been thinking a lot about the politics of transit and ways to make change. the way a lot of people do it in large cities is by forming transit rider unions. seemingly the two most powerful ones are in NYC and LA. Check out this link to A FUCKING HUNGER STRIKE that the LA transit riders union did last year:

http://www.thestrategycenter.org/blog/2010/05/28/hunger-fast-showdown-mta-recap

supposedly seattle already has a transit riders union (www.transitriders.org) but it seems that their website hasn't been updated in months. i think i may attempt to get in contact with them and see if they are still active at all.

i'm probably going to be talking about this a lot now.

-jean

friday free for all

so fridays i normally don't ride the bus. i don't work and i usually just get a ride with Kelley to country dancing. But since Jesse was in town, i went downtown to hang out with him and Ronan for the afternoon. Lots of record shopping, boozing, and playing pinball at the FunHouse. 


DID YOU KNOW THEY HAVE DEERHUNTER PINBALL!?!?!


54 departs California & Barton at 11:54am (two minutes late)
54 arrives at 3rd & University at 12:28pm (one minute late)




today is saturday, and i am going to lay in bed all day (while taking a short break to clean the bathroom). if you haven't read this post by Lindy West via the Stranger's Slog then you need to READ IT IMMEDIATELY!


xoxo
-jean

crazy bus rides/sorry about yesterday

so somehow yesterday i managed to totes forget to blog at all about my bus trips. i have all the times for them and everything, but at this point, i'm really more focused on today's bus rides, and nothing out of the ordinary happened in that none of my buses were more than five or six minutes late, there was no good cruising, and i didn't die in a public transit accident.

but today was a somewhat exciting day to ride the bus. i will intersperse my adventures with the bus times:
starting with my departure this morning:

54 departs California & Barton at 11:24am (three minutes late)
54 arrives 3rd & Seneca at 11:56am (six minutes late)

this lateness was caused by a WHOLE FUCKING PRESCHOOL getting on the bus, each kid with a parent. it was fucking crazy. btw, one of the moms had the ugliest fucking shoes on ever and i'm really sad that i didn't take a picture. my bus was standing room only at 11:30 in the morning. this has never happened and i had to discontinue my book reading in order to listen to my ipod so i could drown out the screaming voices of 20 four year olds.

72 departs University St. Station at 12:01pm (three minutes late)
i had to run to catch this bus, and the only reason i caught it was because it was late.
72 arrives 41st & University at 12:13pm (six minutes late)

they just couldn't keep it together on either of these bus rides. i have no idea what was going on but both of them were just crazy.today. also, i'd like to point out that on metro trip planner if i enter that i'm leaving university st. station at noon, it doesn't give me the 12:01pm bus option it automatically skips to the 12:12pm bus option, because it's going to take me more than 60 whole seconds to step from the bus platform onto the bus obvz.

Here's where my night got a little crazy. My friend Jesse is in town this weekend from Montana for the Social Distortion show. I met him through my times in the Young Communist League USA. I met up with him and some of his friends who live in town in the far northern reaches of Ballard at a bar called the Rickshaw Restaurant. On Thursdays ALL DRINKS ARE ONLY $3!!!! $3!!!!! It was amazing, and totally made up for the kinda shitty bus ride there. I had never been to Ballard before so I had to take two buses that i've never rode to get there.

44 departs 41st & 15th at 6:29pm (on time)
44 arrives at NW Market and 8th at 6:53pm (five minutes late)

28 departs 8th & nw market at 7pm (seven minutes late)
28 arrives at 3rd ave nw and 105th at 7:09pm (thirteen minutes late)

i'd like to say a few things about this trip. first, when i was timing this trip, i first tried to use google maps because i was on my ipod touch and its just easier to use the maps feature than it is to open a browser. Google Maps trip planner didn't even recognize the 44 as an option for me, even though i was entering in the exact location of the bus stop. Like i say, always double check your sources with others. I check any route that i'm unfamiliar with, with both metro's trip planner and Google Maps.

I've never been to ballard or greenwood or whatever the fuck you want to call the neighborhood, but both of these buses were pretty shitty when it came to being on fucking time. the 44 got stuck hella in Wallingford. I've never taken the bus through that neighborhood, but the streets are really narrow and there were WAY too many cars in Wallingford for such a tightly packed neighborhood and they clogged the shit out of the roads there. Glad I don't live there. I was pretty pissed that the 28 ended up being 13 minutes late, i don't how the fuck that happened. There was no traffic at all once i got on the 28, it just didn't make sense. anyways, i had a really good time at the Rickshaw with Jesse and his friends. AND it turns out that Jesse has turned one of his friends on to my blog and he reads it too!!! Yay! I have more than three readers!

Next up is the ride home, I was SUPER fortunate in that the bus that runs half a block away from Rickshaw (the 5) turns into the 54 when it gets into Belltown, meaning that I didn't have to transfer and it only took me around an hour to get home from there, which i would've thought would've taken me two hours. A trip that, according to Google Maps, could have taken me up to 50 minutes in traffic if i was driving.

5 departs 105th & greenwood at 10:03pm (one minute late)
(turns into 54 downtown)
54 arrives at california & barton at 10:56pm (eleven minutes late)

they must have that route misconfigured because there weren't that many people on the 5 going into downtown yet it was still eight minutes late arriving at the bus stop i usually hop on the 54 at.

enough of this. hella long blog post, if you made it all the way to the end i congratulate you. and if you live in seattle, let's go to rickshaw next thursday to get wasted on $3 drinks (including liquor drinks) and sing hilarious laser disc karaoke!!!!!

xxxo
-jean

today: the usual + gay lord of the rings trivia

heyall
today went a lot better than it could've. i had a mid-term in my US Latino literature course which i'm sure i did fairly well on and they had a Lord of the Rings trivia night at a gay bar in town called The Lobby (it was called that, but covered info from all of Tolkien's books and the movies based on them). I was on a team with one of the Daddies (Kelley) and my friends Jim and Travis. We wound up in 4th place out of ten teams with the top five being within five points of each other. Overall it was a lot of fun and definitely showed me that there are WAY bigger Tolkien fans in this city than me, or that some of the teams that beat us used their smartphones to cheat. Either or, it was still a good night. 


Here are my bus trips for the day starting with the earliest:


54 departs California & Barton at 1:18pm (on time)
54 arrives at 3rd & Seneca at 1:49pm (one minute early)


71X departs University St. Station at 1:53pm (one minute late)
71X arrives at University & 41st at 2:05pm (two minutes late)


insert one hour at work and a mid-term, then onto LOTR trivia


49 departs 41st & 15th at 6:12pm (one minute early)
49 arrives at Pine & Broadway at 6:34pm (one minute early)


now all i have to do is fall asleep, wake up in the morning and write a paper before 3pm! and then i'll be done with major school work for a week or two. i need more self-discipline.


-jean

hella stressed

UPDATED as of 12am 2/7

i almost shit my pants on the bus today, and not in the poop kind, but in the almost had to wait an extra 45 minutes for a transfer because my first bus was FOURTEEN MINUTES LATE at 10:30 at night (it runs every 15 minutes). Unforgivable:

73 departs University & 41st at 10:24pm (14 minutes late)
73 arrives University St. Station at 10:44pm (15 minutes late)
(insert me running off the bus and sprinting up two escalators)
54 departs 3rd & Seneca at 11:02pm (on time)
54 arrives California & Barton at 11:26pm (one minute late)

The 73 was so late that the 71, which runs the same route from U-District to Downtown 15 minutes later, PASSED US!!!

-jean

*****************************

heyall,
so at work now, stressing because i have a mid-term tomorrow and a paper due on wednesday and i'm not really prepared for either of them and i work and have class tonight and tomorrow. kill me now.

today's commute to work:
54 departs California & Barton at 3:17pm (three minutes late)
54 arrives 3rd & Seneca at 3:49pm (one minute early)

71X departs University St. Station at 3:53pm (on time)
71X arrives at 41st & University at 4:06pm (one minute late)

One weird thing i've been noticing about the Metro Trip Planner is that it doesn't necessarily give you the quickest trip at the top or assumes that it's going to take you seven minutes to walk two blocks. I've been having to alter the way I put my trips into the trip planner just so I can get the appropriate information. Like today, when i planned the second part of my trip, I put in University St. Station to 41st & University at 3:50pm. The first Itinerary that pops up is for the 72X which wasn't supposed to arrive until 4:01pm even though the 71X is the exact same route eight minutes earlier.

If i just type in my address to 41st & University, it assumes that its doesn't even mention the 71X at 3:53pm. It either assumes that the first bus may be more than three minutes late, or that it's going to take me longer than three minutes to ride down an escalator from my bus stop. i totally understand how this may come into play when people who don't have as easy a time getting around as i do, but still, you'd think they'd at least offer it as an option.

-jean

sunday sunday sunday

ridiculous weekend. lots of country dancing and rubbing on hot sweaty bears. not really super excited to get back to work or ride the bus or read two books or write a paper on those books or take a mid-term on tuesday. here was my ride in this morning:

54 departed California & Barton at 11:31am (six minutes late)

54 arrives at 3rd & Union at 11:58am (five minutes late)

71 departs University St. Station at 12:15pm (one minute early)

71 arrives at University & 41st at 12:35pm (one minute late)

bleh

downtown bus service is getting EVEN CRAZIER

heyall,
i don't know if everybody pays as much attention to public transit changes as i do, but starting today there are some new changes coming to downtown on 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th. I won't go into detail because it's totes unnecessary, but i will say that i am cautiously stoked. Two of the buses i can take to get home run down 1st ave usually and i never take them because traffic is always ridic on 1st. BUT NOW, they will be running on 3rd while downtown. Which means... all of my buses home run down 3rd now, YAY!!!!

-jean

ps: Here's the link to the changes again just in case you missed it above.

thursday

UPDATED on Friday at 530pm. (oops haha)

i got home last night and instead of updating my home commute I watched West Side Story, which I had never seen before and was really good. I skipped the second half of my class yesterday to go get tested at Gay City Health Project. Don't worry, I'm negative, just went in for my once every 3-4 months HIV and syphilis test just in case. Gay City Health Project is really cool in that it provides free HIV/Syphilis testing seven days a week to gay and bi men, as well as trans folks. It's the place I have been going to since I moved to Seattle in Fall 2009. Here's my bus schedule from last night

43 departs 15th & Campus Pkwy at 4:27pm (on time)
43 arrives at Broadway & E. Pine at 4:55pm (on time)
(insert HIV test here/me walking from Capitol Hill to downtown)
54 departs 3rd & Pike at 6:17pm
54 arrives at California & Barton at 6:47pm (five minutes late)

second half of the day was much better than the first half

-jean

**********************
heyall,
been totes brain dead today. can't function, don't wanna go to class. would rather just lay in bed and eat and read forevs. my commute was supposed to be really easy, because Daddy was driving me to 35th & Avalon and everything was perfect, but oh wait, nevermind, buses only run on time when i don't need them to.

54 departs 35th & Avalon at 11:45am (seven minutes late)
54 arrives 3rd & Seneca at 11:56am (six minutes late)

i was supposed to catch the 12:02 University Express at this point, but my bus didn't get there until 12:02.

72X departs University St. Station at 12:12pm (one minute late)
72X arrives at 41st & University at 12:24 (four minutes late)

so i was late to work. ugh. #bigcityproblem

-jean

new idea for posts

so, i was just thinking after writing my last post that it would be really awesome to do a public transit fashion report if i see people wearing something really fierce and/or crazy. Just throwing that idea out there. this will obviously include things that i wear. yay!

-jean

PS: I'd also like to thank my friend Ian at One Angry Queer for sharing my blog with the world. thanks to him, i got more page views in 6 hours than i had the entire week previous. haha. anyways, you should read his shit like every day. if you look to the right, where it says followers, there's only two of 'em, he's the one named Ian. 

so much better

UPDATED as of 12am. night schedule at the bottom.

hey bitches!

today was attempting to be horrible but that shit totally turned around when i found Ben Sherman skinny pants (but black) on sale at Nordstrom Rack for $35 (from $119). My weight has brought me to a point where mediums aren't big enough for my chest or beer gut, but larges are WAY too big in the shoulders and arms, so I was getting really frustrated and body negative until i found these pants. i also found a REALLY cute Threads & Heirs wool cardigan. I've been super lazy about exercising except for walking since I moved out to West Seattle, which means I need to set aside money to get my bike fixed and get off my ass.

Anyways, because I went shopping with Daddy (those who know me, know who I am talking about, those don't, don't worry about it) i only had to ride the bus to meet him and he dropped me off at school. So my schedule went something like this

54 departs California & Barton at 11:54am (two minutes late)

54 turns into 5 and arrives at 3rd & Bell at 12:34pm (arrived on time)

The reason I was going into Belltown was to go to this little boutique called Kuhlman. They sell a lot of really cute clothing in the more British mod fashion (fred perry, ben sherman, etc.) and are the only store in this city that sells Fred Perry anymore. I didn't find anything I liked this time, but i'm also more into spring style shirts which won't be in until next month. Like most stores that sell fashion-forward clothing for men, they really only carry clothing for skinny guys above 5' 8", which i am not either. But they do in-store tailoring, so it could be a lot worse. I wouldn't really be able to afford anything there regularly, but I was promised a shirt of my choosing for Xmas. 

that's all for now until i get home tonight from work (maybe).

******
my ride home from work was a little complicated, but only because i made it that way. hurrritgoes:

71 departs University & 41st at 10:26pm (two minutes late)
71 arrives at University St. Station at 10:48pm (one minute late)

54 departs 3rd & Seneca at 11:02pm (on time)
54 arrives 35th & Avalon at 11:11pm (one minute late)

21 departs 35th & Avalon at 11:12pm (one minute late)
21 arrives at 35th & Henderson at 11:19pm (one minute late)

I switched to the 21 because it pulled up to 35th & Avalon right behind the 54 and gets me to my house 10 minutes earlier. Usually it's a lot later, but today it was just right! I tend to overcomplicate my bus rides just to save me five minutes of waiting on the bus, but it's a good thing to figure out where and general times of major transfer points. Hence why sometimes i will take the 55 to 35th and Avalon, because three buses that take me home stop there.

niteyall

-jean

xxxo

-jean

a few things before bed...

i've been thinking a lot about how boring my blog is, but i have to admit, it isn't as boring as actually riding this bus sometimes. do yall ride the bus? staring out the same window, five days a week, two hours a day. for me its not that bad, i get to look at the mountains, the puget sound, the cityscape of seattle, but for yall little city bus riders in the middle of nowhere with buses that only run every hour, i know its infinitely more boring for you.


i think there are a few things that could make this blog better. those things are:


1) more cruising
2) free booze


unfortunately i can't provide #2, but I can provide #1 in a hopefully not creepy kind of way. So far in my research there is no cruising potentiality at the bus stop by my house. But there is a little bit at the stops along 3rd at pike as well as seneca, and even a little bit every once in a while in the u-district. 


anyways, just had to get a few things off my chest before going to bed. hollerrrrrrr.


xxxo
-jean


ps: for those of yall that are queers, there's a band playing in seattle that i love called MEN on March 21 at the Crocodile. JD Samson from Le Tigre started it. I bought my ticket already, you should too.

big city problems.

today wasn't the best day, hence me not posting until now, haha. Though i did get these really fierce gray vinyl combat boots at Red Light.These ones to be more specific. The early afternoon commute was totally cool, outside of me having to sprint down University St. Station to catch the bus earlier than I was supposed to (I'm a fast walker yall). I accidentally deleted the times on my phone for when the buses arrived, but all of them were within two minutes of when they were supposed to me. No problem there. Grrrrls, my ride home from school was another story, lemme first give you the schedule:


71 leaves 41st & University at 5:45pm (it was on time, but the bus before it hadn't shown up, so by the time it got to me it was standing room only and it totally skipped all the stops between my stop and downtown. fortunate for me, not so fortunate for those ahead of me)
71 arrives at University St. Station at 6:10pm (six minutes early)


Here's where it gets nasty. The 54 was supposed to arrive at 6:19pm. But it didn't, for 15 minutes. So I took the 55 instead and got off at 35th & Avalon to transfer to one of three buses (21, 22, or 54). I got to 35th & Avalon at 6:44. The 54 that I was supposed to be riding didn't show up either so I ended up catching the 21 (which was seven minutes late on both ends). So my 45 minute commute turned into a hour and a half commute. 


anyways, rupaul's drag race episode last night was amazing, and the right person went home for sure. though i wish that shangela bitch wasn't on the show, she's ruining it for everybody. fuck.


niteyallll
-jean