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advanced transit tips

December 19th, 2008 at 05:49 am

For your own snowy commute:

1. Buses have the usual issues with starting and stopping on hills. Of course you do not want to wait at a bus stop on the middle of the hill, but...
2. If you have the chance to pick your stop, from say, different places downtown (evening commute), the best stops are:
3. stops close to where the bus begins or ends. Buses lose time as they plow through the snow. If the bus is coming directly from the bus barn or from where it rests, its probably close to on-time. Because its at the beginning of its route you have an excellent chance of getting a seat.
4. stops where the bus transit time is measured. Lets say you are looking at a schedule and it says bus "comes from intersection x". Intersection x is better than where you are (unless you are at intersection x Big Grin) because it is usually is comprised of two arterials, multiple buses use the stop, its usually flat, and buses try to be on time for it. In snow that's an impossibility, but there it is.
5. better likelihood that a place nearby exists where you can get a hot cup of cocoa. You just don't want to be out there by yourself for hours.

And a tip for walking: if you do have to walk in the ice and snow, if you are walking on an east-west street, walk on the north side sidewalk. The north side sidewalk is going to be less icy because the sun, traveling along its southern course, is going to warm that side of the street and soften & melt the ice more quickly.

2 Responses to “advanced transit tips”

  1. creditcardfree Says:
    1229698828

    Those are some good tips!

  2. paulettegoddard Says:
    1229709588

    Here's another tip: although Sound Transit has GPS on each bus to track its whereabouts, its customer help staff will tell callers they don't know when a bus is going to come. Just because you see Sound Transit buses heading eastward toward nasty weather, you shouldn't expect them to head westward where the snow is less awful.

    Also, when you and a freezing/frustrated mob of abandoned transit riders are waiting like Vladimir and Estragon for a 545 bus to leave from WA-520/NE 40th to Seattle, make sure you mob an Audi Quattro or a vehicle with stickers suggesting it is from Eastern Washington where people know how to drive in snow.

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