By the Wanz
HAPPY
SUMMER EVERYONE!!
I know that this is a particular
truth for those readers in the Puget Sound Area cause there’s been actual
WARMTH and a little dash of something called SUNSHINE outside lately! WOO!!
So if you’re reading this today,
you may momentarily stop, and ponder “Why is this being posted on a Sunday?!”
And the reason, I start working on Monday. (RIP Funemploymnet.) And I start
work in… San Francisco!
Yes, as I’ve already noted, this
month I transition from Tacoma, Washington to the San Francisco Bay Area (cue:
screaming applause). This means that Bandito Betty will be holding down the
fort up in Washington while I report the transitfulness of the Bay. There will
be some new kinds of posts coming soon, so be on the look out for those.
So,
for my ode to the Puget Sound Area, I’m giving you my goodbye review / rant of
the public transit system for Metro, Sound, and Pierce Transit. Certain transit
lines offer more to review-rant (rev-rant?) about because of the kinds of
services they offer (i.e.: Sound Transit has the lightrail, the buses, and the
commuter train).
Rapid
Transit is not reviewed because I never really rode it, but I’m sure one day
I’ll have a chance to complain about it. And the busline to Olympia can be
damned, because it stopped accepting my ORCA card, so I rejected it from my
heart. (#scorned.)
So
let’s get this rantful review started!!
Metro Transit
Let’s
flatter Seattle and start there. First of all, I have never lived in Seattle.
I’ve only commuted in there for work and occasional social visits on weekends
or after work. Admittedly so, I’m a lot less familiar with it than Sound &
Pierce.
All
in all, traveling on Metro, I always get where I needed to go and there’s
usually a number of buses available to get me multiple places. The timeliness
of Metro is a double-edged sword; there is conveniently a shit ton of buses
running, but there’s a lack of accuracy to them. Buses arrive too early for my
bus-system or even horribly late. (My almost flawless technique of catching
the bus on time was frequently challenged by Metro.)
Metro
is sorta dirty and a little sketch. I remember sometime during my first months
working up in Seattle, I saw a girl get ambushed and mugged by two girls and
she lost her iPod. And the bus driver was just like “eh, whatever” and drove
off (minus the words, his gestures and silence spoke volumes). This shouldn’t
reflect all drivers. The bus drivers are hit or miss. Sometimes they were very
caring, but other times, the driver does not give a single flying fuck about
some of the passengers, cleanliness, how they drive, etc.
And
cleanliness was just… absent.
Metro
gets 2 out of 5 Proof of Payment Stars. It’s dirty, not super safe, hit or miss
with the bus drivers, but at least there were a lot of lines and you could get
where you needed to go in Seattle. Getting where you need to be, kinda
important.
Sound Transit
(I
must separate my eternal annoyance with long commuting with this review/rant,
since I was commuting between Tacoma and Seattle for like 2 years.)
Aside
from the 590, 592, 593, 594, and the occasional trip on the 595, I took Sound
Transit a few times to other cities around the Puget Sound Areas. (Definitely
took an Issaquah trip, ventured to SeaTac, meandered to Auburn, even up to
Snohomish.) The drivers are typically really nice, they got me to my
destination, and they even maneuver through traffic and haul major ass on i5
(which I very much appreciated).
Pricing-wise
though, it is a little expensive—ESPECIALLY when they stopped accepting
transfers for those who paid in cash because of the ORCA cards. Now, that’s
another major complaint, since you can only use transfers if you had an ORCA
card, but those with cash can’t. Just kinda feels like a douche-bag move.
Understandable why it was done, in order to make a push for the use ORCA cards,
but for those who like bill-to-bill, or were visiting the area, or any other
reason, that’s just uncool.
(And
yes, I did have an ORCA card, but it was paid by work, so I never paid for the $90
monthly passes.
Though this may be more of an ORCA card rant than a Sound transit rant… oops!
That’s right, I’m gonna rant-review-anger-rate them anyways. ORCA, you get a 1
out of 5 Proof of Payment Stars in my book! Now, re-routing rant.) Anyways,
Sound Transit is pricy and ORCA didn’t help.
The
buses themselves are very clean. Buses run very regularly. The one to the
airport almost runs throughout the night. The commuter train is cool, but it’d
be great if it ran more frequently than it did. And, lastly, there are the two
lightrail systems. *sigh* The Seattle lightrail is great, gets/connects
Downtown Seattlers with south Seattle (most specifically, the airport), and it
did it at a quick pace. It covers a lot of area. Now, the Tacoma lightrail is
free, probably because people wouldn’t pay to go from Downtown Tacoma to only 1.6
miles away to the Tacoma Dome Station. (I
accidentally capped that last sentence and rewrote it, but my anger definitely
subconsciously slipped into my typing.) Does “pointless” and “ridiculous”
summarize the idioticness of the t-town lightrail? Nay… justice hath not been
served by pointless and ridiculous.
Sound
Transit gets 4 out of 5 Proof of Payment Sars! Great drivers, clean buses,
plentiful routes, with bad pricing and one awesome lightrail system and a joke
of a lightrail system. Good job!! J
Pierce Transit
Sadly
I used to really appreciate these buses. They weren’t perfect, especially
compared to SFMUNI (which I had been taking prior to moving up to Washington),
but I actually get around parts of the city pretty reasonably price, and it was
fine. But, every year, the prices kept creeping and creeping, and at some
point, it matched and then surpassed the fare for San Francisco, but it in no
way matched the quality of the frequency of buses nor number of routes. Then,
when I became commuting more to Puyallup and Lakewood from varies areas in
Pierce County, I noticed that the lengthen of time getting places took forever.
(Getting from my house in Tacoma to Puyallup on Pierce Transit matched the
length of time it took for me to get from my house to Downtown Seattle on
Pierce & Sound Transit.) Plus the frequency of buses supremely sucked.
Then
came the great fire that destroyed a natural fuel gas tank right before the
major bus cuts/re-routes of 2011.
For
those who are unfamiliar with this event, here
is a news article explaining what occurred with the explosion. As an outcome of
this accident, Pierce Transit was forced to have limited usage and to borrow
vehicles from Sound Transit. I still theorize that this fire was set by Pierce
Transit themselves, to make their future cuts/re-routes appear to be less
shitty. This limited bus schedule resulted in overcrowded buses, confused
schedules, SOL passengers, and PO’d drivers.
From
this, we transitioned into the proposed route cuts and re-routing of nearly all
bus lines, which left riders without ways of getting home passed 10pm. :\ It
was slightly readjusted over time, cutting more routes, extending the time and
change the frequency for certain lines, but not very well. Suddenly, commuting
in Tacoma became the hugest pain in my ass. Walking seemed like a better fiscal
and life choice than the over priced buses in Tacoma.
The
buses are decent in regards to cleanliness, though sometimes seats were broken,
smelly, or messes were made. (But it’s a bus, those happen.)
HOWEVER,
their drivers majorly redeem services for Pierce Transit. Their drivers are by
far some of the most friendly, concerned, and customer-orientated drivers I’ve
ever had! I remember my favorite route-one driver, who was a
“take-no-shit-from-anyone” would always welcome me with a smile, check in on
me, noted how I lost weight (hella swoll) and would always honk as she passed
me to wave goodbye to me. (Right?!) It is a common trend. Or if drivers notice
issues or harassment on the bus, they stop the bus and address it. They clearly
care… well, most. There’s always room
for exceptions, but for the most part, drivers remember the riders and express
a genuine concern. Shitty routes aside, they helped and did their best with the
transition of the limited usage and the cuts/re-routes.
All
in all, Pierce transit gets 2 2/3 out of 5 Proof of Payment Stars! Bad prices,
ok buses, bad routes/times, but phenomenal drivers.
That’s ALL for you commuters in Tacoma / Seattle / all the
places nearby (*ahem* except Olympia). You will be missed and frequently
visited!! My ORCA card hath been retired for a CLIPPER card (yay area) since I
left my heart in San Francisco, but my liver will always be left in Tacoma.
Feel like you disagree with my ratings? Feel like I should
give Olympia a chance? Maybe have some insight into Rapid Transit? Well, like
always, I scoff with doubt and say prove it. Follow us!! On the internet. I dare ya. And leave us a comment! J
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