Data: The Bus Home. Late Afternoon

One of the perks of living in the same zip code as RantMom is unplanned encounters on the bus. Today's bus moment: data collection about RantMom's homeward bus routing. Sigh.  8, 48, 7. 

Alert transit nerd readers should recognize an "extra" transfer. Alert paratransit nerds might also recognize reasons (overcrowded courtesy area, buses jam-packed with rush hour  travelers) that people conditionally eligible for paratransit who actually like the bus a lot of the time might prefer paratransit sometimes.

It was late afternoon, a time when the 8 tends to fill sardine-style  with Amazonians and the route tends to get severely constipated in South Lake Union Traffic. RantMom was headed home from a medical appointment at Kaiser on Capitol Hill. She said she grabbed the first 8 that came along even though it had a lift instead of a low floor.

RantWoman was bussing it from one of her favorite (cough) intersections in all of Seattle, the lovely 4-way stop full of buses and noises and loud vehicles and nonstop traffic constipation, but conveniently located right next to the trauma ward at Harborview. Luckilythis direction RantWoman did not have to cross any streets to catch her bus.

RantWoman grabbed the 3, the first bus that came by. This meant a transfer to the 8 at Martin Luther King. RantMom cheerily said hello as RantWoman boarded. Aside from cheery mother / daughter chatter, RantWoman learned that RantMom planned to transfer to the 48 at 23rd and Yesler in order to transfer to the 7 at Walker St and hopefully get a seat in the courtesy area at the front of the bus. RantMom had ZERO desire just to stay on the 8 to the Mt. Baker transit center, cross Rainier, and meld into the southbound rush hour streams from the Light Rail and the Transit Center. An extra transfer sounded like a better idea. RantWoman hopes RantMom at least got a seat on the 7.