#BusOnlyLane #TrafficCongestion #JourneyMap
RantWoman is delaying posting this item in recognition of the floods of news about how the #911 terror attacks impacted people's public transit experiences in both NYC and Washington DC.
#NeverForget
Phew. RantWoman was afraid she might have missed a big transit party, but the news that creating a bus only lane for part of the Metro Route 8 is only a couple days old.
RantWoman is happy to let the two items above tell the story with a couple asterisks.
Plus one stop; Minus One.
YAY! Back to having stops on both sides of Denny at Stewart Street. RantWoman was pleasantly surprised on a recent trip to REI to be able to get off the bus and find an easy smooth route to REI and a different slightly bumpier route back to her return bus.
And One down!
RantWoman did not get around in time to complain about Metro removing #8 stops on both sides of 6th and Denny. This kind of stop consolidation is a measure often done to improve ontime performance and the change predates Mayor Wilson's term. Sigh.
The westbound stop was sweet for times a group of blind people met regularly after work hours at a bar in Belltown. Those meetings are mainly virtual now anyway.
The eastbound stop is a bigger whine. RantWoman rides the E line downtown often enough that the stop at 5th and Wall was a really sweet way to connect with the eastbound 8 to go home. No streets to cross. Sidewalk in decent though never perfect condition. A wall to rest against if one did not want to sit all the way down on a bench.
There is an E line stop at 7th Avenue that would still connect with the 8--if one likes a couple complex street crossings. There are traffic signals but it is not an enjoyable experience crossing either Aurora or Denny there.
Instead, RantWoman can still get off the E line at 5th and Wall. RantWoman just has a longer walk N on 5th Avenue with either very lumpy cobblestones on the west side of the street or navigate a complex street crossing at 5th and Denny.
Sigh. Now RantWoman does her return trip by catching the 40 to the transit center, Link to a stop where she can catch the 8 OR RantWoman rides the E line a stop further to 3rd and Bell where RantWoman has several choices for the next leg of her trip and usually grabs whichever one comes along and takes her away from that stop as fast as possible.
Does RantWoman do bus or train? It depends. RantWoman tends to travel at times when Link is crammed inbound with people going to evening concerts or sporting events. RantWoman is glad Link is being used. Enough said?
Oh, and RantWoman agrees: it is a HUGE relief to see that the bus lanes also make it much easier for ambulances to get past traffic clogs.
