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| Pomegranates from the party before the party |
This post is about Christmas dinner, the day after the Christmas Eve party with pomegranates.
So there RantWoman was, feasting with RantMom and some of her neighbors.
(Feast highlights: the vegetables. Carrot rutabaga soup flavored with rosemary, squash parsnip mash rich in sage, baked cauliflower with capers. Other items.)
Anyway, conversation with one neighbor turned to bus connections. Neighbor is a senior who uses a mobility cane and has a hearing loss. Neighbor's car is apparently out of commission.
Neighbor: tell me about bus connections.
RantWoman to herself "Oh honey."
To neighbor: "What kind of phone do you have?"
"A land line."
"You need the number for Metro Flex 206.253.7739."
The exact reason a senior who uses a cane and wants to use transit needs the phone number for MetroFlex:
The nearest bus stop to 11440 Rainier Avenue S is on the route 107, at 87th Ave S and S 115th street. The stop is up an extremely steep street with no reasonable pedestrian infrastructure on either side of the street and a stoplight at Rainier Avenue just to ensure that there are cars turning up the steep hill at arbitrary intervals. RantWoman tried this stop exactly twice and then opted for plan B, described below.
Neither the Google trip planner nor the MetroFlex route picker knows this and RantWoman has realized that she needs to speak up, and preferably more politely than "No that is not an ideal routing you plonkers," That was rantWoman's thought bubble after the MetroFlex app said "We found you an ideal routing."
RantWoman has discovered another stop on Route 107 at 87th Ave. S and South 118th. There are a couple different combinations of streets between S 118th and S 116th and cross streets that will get one to Rainier with about a block to walk before the stoplight to cross Rainier at S 115th. Sidewalks are spotty and intermittent but the streets are walkable at least for RantWoman, but NOT recommended for RantMom's neighbor. Traffic is sparse enough to be reasonably safe. That is the walk RantWoman did for holiday feasting in the rain, after multiple Uber screwups and recommendation from the MetroFlex app to take the bus. RantWoman did not tell RantMom's neighbor all of this. RantWoman just encouraged RantMom's neighbor to call MetroFlex.
RantWoman spared her dining companion her long litany of vexations with Metro Flex.
The first time RantWoman tried to use it, she just tried the phone number and had not set up the app with complete information about her own traveler characteristics. The person on the line just hung up and did not respond when RantWoman tried to call again. RantWoman thinks that time she opted for a short Uber ride, but that was STILL more than her Regional Reduced Fare Permit fare.
Then RantWoman tried to look up some point A to Point B routings to see whether they fell within one of the MetroFlex services areas. Turns out the MetroFlex app will not answer such questions unless one is already within one of the service areas. BOO!
Another day, RantWoman was travelling at dinner time with a dying cellphone battery. There were MetroFlex vehicles swarming around the Renton Transit center, but without a working phone RantWoman in her trademark yellow raincoat with white cane could not even flag down a vehicle to see about a ride to RantMom's.
Somewhere in here RantWoman finished setting up her rider profile which CLEARLY SAYS RantWoman is a white cane user with a Regional Reduced Fare Permit. WHERE on planet earth is it reasonable to expect that a white cane user will be able to navigate a pedestrian routing that is insane on pedestrian amenetiy grounds in the first place???
Anyway, next RantWoman did use the app but the promised response time was over an hour. RantWoman opted to pay for a short-distance Uber ride.
So then comes Christmas day. RAIN. Some kind of hiccup about connecting with Uber vehicles. Try MetroFlex. "Please wait while we find you the ideal routing."
No! No! No!
RantWoman decided to cope with the walk in the rain, with one final hiccup.
Ring, Ring. RantWoman has regular old fashioned gloves with no modern flap on the index finger. The rain makes it hard to take gloves off. And...it's RantMom wanted to know where RantWoman is.
ETA 5 ,minutes, in plenty of time for dinner.
RantWoman will now share this rant and if necessary harangue relevant people....
Happy Christmas, Kwanzaa, Passover, Festivus....
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