Ah Expectations and more of an adventure than one hopes.

Yesterday RantWoman set out on one of her occasional "OK, let's just try it" transit expeditions. Delivering something time-sensitive to Lynnwood in person sounded like, oddly, more fun than just using overnight mail. RantWoman also wanted to get back to Seattle for a late afternoon medical appointment. RantWoman was optimistic based on a late morning start. 

RantWoman is a grown-up. MAYBE RantWoman could have planned better. Maybe.

RantWoman first used Google Maps to her destination or basically how to get from the Lynnwood City Center station to a street address in Lynnwood. Google suggested several bus routings, all of which involved some walking from the last bus stop. 

The Lynnwood City Center station does not have great signage about how to find buses. Even worse, there is no sign at all marking a RideShare pickup area. More on that in a moment.

RantWoman does not have a great mental map yet of the Lynnwood transit center or of a path to the buses. There is wordy signage at the Light Rail station but RantWoman yearns for a more graphical presentation, with large enough letters that someone like her could read it, of course. 

RantWoman does not know Lynnwood very well but has an overwhelming impression of many cars, wide streets, probably sidewalks and MAYBE accessible pedestrian signals. So RantWoman was NOT excited about any bus routing that did not say something like "Walk 50 feet to your destination" from the last bus stop.

At some point RantWoman realized that her destination was near enough to Alderwood Mall that it probably is in the service area for the Community Transit Zip service.

Clap clap clap. RantWoman has previously, a long time ago, had good experience with Zip and a friend also uses Zip. RantWoman knows how to find the Zip / paratransit pickup area. There are nice benches.

RantWoman also checked FindARide. Destination definitely in the service for Zip. RantWoman has not set up a full profile on Find a Ride, but RantWoman checked several categories that apply to her including age, disability, use of a white cane. Find a ride definitely suggested the Zip service.

None of those options appear to be available on the Zip app. File that.

RantWoman has previously, quite a while ago had quite easy positive experience with Zip except for that version of the app being useless in accessibility terms. The App is better now. RantWoman learned this after ring, ring, I would like to book a ride. The first call: we have no record of you and there is not a ride available. Try the app. Call back in 20 minutes.

The app is better behaved than long ago. The app also gave RantWoman the same set of routes that Google gave her. It took two more calls at 20-minute intervals to actually book a ride.  RantWoman had to persuade the call taker that she is blind / low vision and intended to pay with her ORCA card disabled pass. Then a Zip vehicle showed up. The driver did not have the name identified. He waited but a rider never showed up. RantWoman also got a message that a driver had appeared but not found RantWoman and had gone away. So SOMETHING is confused and confusing.

By this time, RantWoman was climbing the walls. Summoning an Uber was feasible financially, if only RantWoman could find the RideShare pickup area. If only.

RantWoman and the Uber driver did manage to connect because RantWoman was able to tell him where she was. Yay Uber driver. Good tip.

Based on the length of the ride, RantWoman realized the distance might be walkable, if RantWoman were not feeling pressed for time and willing just to set out and trust Google walking directions. RantWoman has uneven experience with Google walking directions and did not feel like experimenting. If RantWoman makes the trip again, she will also try to summon more enthusiasm for one of the bus options.

The destination also turned out to be a quite non-descript office park with decent sidewalk but pretty subtle signage. 

But Voila! RantWoman arrived, made one wrong guess about how to find the office she needed and at last connected with a very nice human she has been emailing with for a while.

RantWoman summoned an Uber for the return trip to Lynnwood City Center. Bravo. RantWoman now understands how to find the Ride Share pickup area. File that.

RantWoman also realized that she just needed to reschedule a medical appointment she had hoped to get back to Seattle in time for. Sigh.

And a closing note: the Zip phone line kept offering RantWoman a satisfaction survey at the end of the call. At the end of the third call, RantWoman asked the woman not to route her to the survey. RantWoman just figured the survey would not capture everything RantWoman was cross about. Word!

Do you REALLY want to know...?

 Dear RantWoman

Please rate your last visit.

Sincerely

Your Medical provider.

Dear Medical Provider

Do you really bleeping want to know? Because RantWoman has opinions but is reluctant to splatter them all over Google and is annoyed to be taken straight to the option to do a Google review instead of, say, being asked to provide more detail.

Yes, RantWoman means it: she would probably recommend the place to other people who need this provider, but the recommendation is based more on history than the last visit, the current location below street level inside a parking garage, the contrast between the new concrete environment and a previous location with lovely soothing green space between the street and the main entrance.

RantWoman had to reschedule her last visit twice because she had a cold and did not feel up to putting up with the routine of her particular checkup while tired, congested, and generally under the weather. RantWoman had decided over the weekend that the two previously scheduled visits were not happening but had to bound out of bed first thing in the morning to call and cancel.

Note to self: RantWoman MIGHT have been able to do something online if she had connected this provider to her MyChart or if she remembered the login for that provider. When RantWoman rescheduled the second time, she said please let's just move this routine visit two weeks out. That worked as far as RantWoman being over her cold.

But ring, ring. 20 minutes before the scheduled start of the visit, a call that went to voicemail: "we are running about 30 minutes late."

Fine. RantWoman is already nearby, but sure, an excuse to buy a mocha nearby and chill out.

In fact, RantWoman was finally called back more than an hour after the scheduled time for her visit.

Key points:

Ask RantWoman about her level of satisfaction with different elements of the visit BEFORE routing her to a Google recommendation. Word!

Yes! A summer bus route from Ballard to Golden Gardens

#NonDriver #KingCountyMetro #GoldenGardens 

RantWoman has once or twice walked from Golden Gardens south to Ballard. Not in a few years.

RantWoman is THRILLED to read this summer bus. RantWoman will check to see whether her ORCA Card and bus pass work to pay the fare, but RantWoman is THRILLED. 

Stay tuned for more raves.

MInimal walking plus bananas.

 RantWoman's consumption of bananas has everything to do with how she COPES with everything there is to cope with. Details matter, both the product and how the product gets stowed in shopping bags to come home.

RantWoman's banana preferences: on the small side, slightly green so that a bunch will last several days without heading toward banana bread. These details are not to be found when ordering online.

Banana happiness

A couple weeks ago, RantWoman had an opportunity to bananas across the street from an event she participated in. Buying bananas there would have made bus travel home a breeze via one easy transfer. The bananas were perfect size. The transportation realities were perfect. The bananas were already way to yellow AND the price, even considering the time savings from not having to travel, was through the roof. So no bananas that time.

Things went much better Friday, but first the other point of the journey.

Friday, RantWoman had a long-awaited physical therapy appointment in theU district. RantWoman, thankfully, was able to walk from the bus stop to the clinic without massive pain. Thank you, YouTube coaching; at the time of the referral RantWoman had been in too much pain even to think about an outside referral. The therapist observed that RantWoman "walk(s) like someone with arthritis. Right. So glad you noticed.

RantWoman's experience is that physical therapists are VERY good at analyzing what might need stretching and what might need strengthening. In a couple cases RantWoman came home with suggested exercises that amounted to "Do what you are already doing but add resistance." RantWoman can do that! RantWoman is going to have to schedule in a little more time daily to add new exercises. 

A really cool angle about the exercises. First step: demonstrate and practice at the clinic. Second step an email exercise routine from a resource called Medbridge. RantWoman happily gave permission to send email. The link arrived. Heaven. Each exercise labelled with the recommended frequency and number of reps. The images were presented in clear simple graphics, with both audio and text. There is a browser version and an app version. The app even appears to hound the user and RantWoman is dutifully going to figure out the data recording as well as which exercises to rotate on which days. RantWoman is SO excited to try things.

RantWoman is getting ahead of herself though. Physical therapy takes a lot of energy. RantWoman clearly needs to do her exercises because even before the PT session, RantWoman has trouble standing too long. RantWoman left PT a little sore but energized. RantWoman thought of tackling a couple errands but did not argue when her body thought that was not necessary. Instead, RantWoman walked out of the clinic, found the bus stop, hopped one bus that took her to a bus with a perfect connection to a favorite banana buying option.

Here we come to...RantWoman's recommendations about packing bananas.

1. Bananas NEVER belong on the bottom of the shopping bag.

2. Never make a bunch of bananas rest only on the back of one banana.

3. Excellent banana packing is a little bit of an architectural exercise. Pack the bananas on top of other grocery items so that both the stem end and the other end bear the weight of the whole bunch. Pack the bananas over something sturdy enough to support the banana bunch.

RantWoman also has been encouraged to look for a water exercise class. Figuring this out and scheduling will take more time. With banana needs well metand well packed for the trip home, RantWoman is on it.

Transit Corridors Ride Along Saturday May 30.

 Just to advertise RantWoman's transportation and sustainability cred, a cool sounding event that RantWoman will miss because of a conflict.

Apologies for the formatting peculiarities. One of these days RantWoman will either learn how to fix herself or get monetized enough to hire someone to help.

In the meantime, this excursion is Saturday and should be informative

Join us this weekend for a Transit Corridors Ride-Along!

 

Howdy  BEEP BEEP! The Complete Communities Coalition is bussing around Seattle with City Leadership and we’re coming to a neighborhood center near you. On Saturday, May 30th, the CCC will be heading to every district in the City where we’ll chat about transit corridors, our comprehensive plan, and more. Starting at 9:30am in West Seattle and ending in Queen Anne at 6pm, we’re excited to tour around Seattle and dream big for a more affordable, transit friendly, and vibrant city. Join us at your district’s stop and learn about how we can help move our city into brighter direction! Join us! Bus Tour Schedule District 1 (9:30am-10:05am) QED Coffee, 6080 35th Ave SW. District 2 (10:45am-11:20am) Hing Hay Park, 423 Maynard Ave S.  District 3 (12pm-12:45pm) Madison Pagliaccis, 3015 E Madison St. District 4 (1:30pm-2pm) Armistice Coffee, 6717 Roosevelt Way NE. District 5 (2:45pm-3:20pm) Broadview Diva Espresso, 10555 Greenwood Ave N. District 6 (3:55pm-4:25pm) Chess Park/Heart of Phinney Park, 6532 Phinney Ave N. District 7 (5:30pm-6pm) Sully's Bar, 1625 Queen Anne Ave N.  Thank you for being a part of this journey with us and supporting more housing across our amazing city!    In Solidarity, Jazmine Smith Director of Local Advocacy

Mind wandering again to the Metro fare enforcement report.

 RantWoman, as has already been established, is a bit of a nerd who spends a lot of time on the bus.

During today's bus travels RantWoman's mind wandered again to the recent King County fare enforcement officer report and to RantWoman's own experience riding around for more than a month with a demagnetized ORCA card, a card that only very occasionally produced the beep indicating that the card read properly when tapped. 

Adventures of RantWoman: Reporting on the Metro Fare Enforcement misses a number of points.

(Please do not tell RantWoman about paying her fare on her phone. Between a white cane, a purse, and whatever baggage RantWoman is carrying, taking out a phone and waking it up to pay a fare is more than RantWoman even wants to attempt.)

RantWoman currently has a small couch on a cord around her neck but the whole time her card was not beeping, RantWoman was pulling the card out of somewhere and trying to tap it. RantWoman is white and bathes regularly so maybe drivers just believed her when she said she had a pass. Or sometimes, the imperatives to stay on schedule outweigh more detailed inquiry.

That entire time, RantWoman had in fact paid for avalid pass, online through the MyORCA app. At some point, possibly after RantWoman encounterd a fare enforcement officer, RantWoman followed directions on the back of the card and called an 800 number. RantWoman was referred to her local transit agency. The person RantWoman spoke to looked up the number of transactions which had registered for the previous month. It was substantially lower than RantWoman's estimate of the number of her trips. Then it registered with RantWoman that she just needed to get her disabled pass replaced.

RantWoman imagines that her situation is probably a small minority of situations that look to drivers like someone has not paid a fare. RantWoman has no idea whether these comments are helpful in deciding what the report actually means, but here the info is anyway.

Reporting on the Metro Fare Enforcement misses a number of points.

Silly RantWoman. RantWoman still naively hopes that asking a search engine for a specific document will immediately yield a link to the document, AS THE FIRST LINK in the search results. Thankfully, the Urbanist article and the KIRO radio links below this video both have a direct link to the Metro fare enforcement report. 

For grins, RantWoman read the whole report. The report is presenting the raw numbers requested in the ordinance that requests the report. RantWoman still has questions not addressed by reporting that only looks at the numbers.

RantWoman has ridden every route addressed in the report at least once and usually on a round trip in the last 12 months. So RantWoman's opinions are informed by lived experience. RantWoman considers fare payment a mark of good citizenship, an indicator that she has her own act more or less together. RantWoman always just pays for a disabled pass because that is so much easier than payment for each ride. 

RantWoman may have encountered fare enforcement once on Metro and once on Sound Transit during the study interval. At some point RantWoman's disabled pass got demagnetized and whichever fare enforcement officer RantWoman met looked at the ORCA app on her phone, and told her she needed to get a new card. Since then, RantWoman's card has reliably beeped as expected when tapped.

RantWoman wonders where the estimate that 30% of passengers don't pay fares comes from. RantWoman's estimate would be more like 20% based on what she can observe. However, some of the routes surveyed are so crowded during peak times of the day that people literally cannot get to the card reader to tap their cards. These same routes have plenty of capacity at other non-peak times. By peak times, RantWoman means both regular commuting hours and times when there are concert or sport events RantWoman is VERY glad people take transit to.

All of the routes listed are heavily traveled frequent routes, with frequency as high as every 6 minutes. So, one obvious way to look at raw numbers of fare enforcement contacts would be to look at some kind of ratio, say, of contacts per 1000 boardings.

During non-peak hours when the bus is mostly empty. but when the bus is almost empty, if passengers are clean and well-behaved, RantWoman is just FINE with people using the service, especially if their destination is something like a governmental or social service. Well, passengers who get on the bus carrying a bathtub sized latte and can't pay their fare get a disapproving look and the acknowledgment that one can't pay a bus fare with, say a Starbucks gift card.

RantWoman is aware that transit services are paid for in large measure by sales taxes which are highly regressive. If people can't come up with bus fare because they have paid sales taxes, RantWoman still figures they have at least partly paid their way.

Several media reports note that many of the people who received citations are "experiencing homelessness." If they can't pay bus fare, is anyone surprised that they don't pay fines either? Clearly though, actual payment of fines is not necessarily a great indicator of program success. Fare enforcement officers are also supposed to help direct people to options to be able to pay fares and to other relevant resources. 

So one obvious question: what is the trend about people getting signed up for low income or senior / disabled fares? And can the trend be linked to the work of fare enforcement officers? RantWoman has seen firsthand how just having a bus pass, reliable transportation can help people manage all the inconveniences of homelessness and get them on to paths toward more stable situations. It is not obvious to RantWoman how one might illustrate this point with numbers, but it should be considered when evaluating the fare enforcement program.

Here though we also come to the public safety concerns that are part of the push behind fare enforcement and to driver comments that people causing problems tend also to be people who haven't paid their fare. RantWoman would definitely look more deeply at that concern. 

RantWoman is not at all charmed by drug use on buses or near bus stops. If it were up to RantWoman people also would not smoke tobacco or weed near bus stops. Worse than drug use though are assaults and verbal abuse. RantWoman would be interested to know whether presence of fare enforcement officers reduces on-board crime, either compared to runs when there is no office present or overall.

RantWoman also wants to know more about the increase in fares collected overall. Is that because informational programs are reaching the people they are intended to reach? Is it because more people have figured easier ways to pay their fare? Is it possible to quantify whether the fare enforcement program has contributed to the uptick in fare revenue.

Citations Virtually Nonexistent After Metro Resumed Fare Enforcement

Huh? King County hired 30 fare enforcement officers – they only issued 8 tickets in an entire year

Best sneering from local ragemonger Brandi Kruse

King County Metro faces scrutiny after only 8 citations despite 78K fare checks

on "WasteWatch"

Harger: King County hired 30 fare enforcement officers. They worked 40K hours, issued 8 citations, and voided all of them - MyNorthwest.com

A search will yield several  additional articles for readers who want to geek out in even more detail.

Potatoes, onions, bananas and delivery FEEDBACK for Amazon

RantWoman now has potatoes. RantWoman now has onions, in particular a bag with the kind of small onions RantWoman really prefers. RantWoman is about to run out of fresh bananas but the point of a recent Amazon order was bananas.

(RantWoman acquired the potatoes and onions at a street level grocery right next to a bus stop near an in-person meeting. So Amazon is out of the picture about that, at least this time.)

Here a confession: RantWoman quit shopping at in person at her neighborhood Amazon Fresh in connection with the last #No KingsDay protests. There are both food preference and political reasons: Before No Kings Day 2.0 RantWoman found herself looking on Amazon for faraday bags to protect her electronic lifelines while out protesting billionaires for doing billionairish things. At that point, RantWoman reality checked, decided that she prefers shopping in other places anyway, and also decided she did not have time to evaluate other delivery options. So RantWoman made a small in-person shopping gesture but still relies a lot on Amazon delivery. 

Stay tuned for a bananas reflection in connection with #NoKingsDay 3.0

RantWoman realizes that the vexations of an Amazon order are definitely "first world problems" when the news media is melting down full of lots of scary scenarios involving oil, fertilizer, ground troops and all like that. RantWoman also has TWO pleas from Amazon to interact with the Amazon data collection about satisfaction with the delivery. The pleas had links that took RantWoman to more ads, not straight to the comment options, unsatisfactory as they are. So here goes world.

When RantWoman is out of fresh bananas, RantWoman has this odd tendency to forget about all the other food in the house, including multiple packages of dried bananas. A few nights ago, RantWoman was out of fresh bananas. RantWoman fully intended to go replenish the supply of bananas and also potatoes and onions. RantWoman figured there is a short bus option, prices are affordable, and RantWoman could buy in a quantity she can carry home.

Nice thought. RantWoman got sucked into one of her YouTube rabbit holes and realized it was really too dark out even for the easy bus option she had in mind. RantWoman REALLY needed bananas. There the yellow Amazon icon was on her phone. RantWoman was even in a space to do the free delivery with a $100 order deal that comes with Prime. RantWoman simply REFUSES to pay $9.99 / month for free perishable grocery deliveries on orders over $25. RantWoman, though is quite happy making orders over $25 for non-perishables. But RantWoman needed bananas.

RantWoman has NO idea what she did, but she wound up in Amazon NOW, unable to get out and with no acknowledgement of one order. RantWoman did in fact include potatoes and onions in her selections but those selections apparently went into a different shopping cart. RantWoman also forgot the all-important bananas. RantWoman would REALLY have liked just to add bananas to the first order but wound up making a second order, partly because there was some kind of hiccup about the usual  order confirmation. 

Here is a summary of those two orders from a few days ago:

RantWoman has bananas. That is the important thing.

RantWoman does not have the russet and yellow potatoes and avocado she would also have liked to have.

RantWoman also has

4 packets of cheese slices when 1 or 2 would have been fine

5 c6 ox containers of raspberries or blackberries

2 packages of hummus

one package of two small frozen pizzas

1 box of donuts

1 6-pack of good tapioca pudding.

2 pints of Cherry Garcia ice cream at a price lower than usual.

RantWoman also has two emails asking wihether RantWoman was pleased with her deliveries

No.

The two delivery drivers were wonderful, courteous, helpful. The problem is definitely not the driver(s).

RantWoman's intent had been to start her grocery list, on Amazon. RantWoman got taken straight to Amazon NOW.

RantWoman previously rebooted her phone to get out of Amazon now. This time RantWoman went ahead.

RantWoman placed her order then realized she had forgotten the bananas, the whole point of her offer.

RantWoman also lost patience before getting acknowledgment of the order in the app.

So RantWoman did a duplicate order with several of the items. RantWoman added the bananas but could not see the potatoes.  They showed up in RantWoman;s shopping cart after the second order was placed and RantWoman was finally able to get out of AmAzon Now.

WTF

The bananas arrived in great shape but too ripe to last very long.

RantWoman definitely was not distressed to get several of the items she ordered at discounts over prices she has seen and / or paid in the past.

RantWoman's shopping cart leaned a little more toward treats than sometimes. RantWoman can definitely COPE.

Dissatisfaction with the Satisfaction survey

In other words, RantWoman is mostly fine except for the part about whatever UI issues are going on about getting out of AmazonNow.

Well and frustration about options for sharing feedback about where Amazon is doing great and / or falling short in contributing to RantWoman's happiness and nutritional needs.

The Opening Day /#NoKingsDay 3.0 angle

Digression: RantWoman spent her Saturday immersed in the hordes of transit riders celebrating the opening of the #2Line #CrossLakeConnection. By now RantWoman should know better about opening day hordes. RantWoman also had to adjust her initial travel thoughts based on howls of pain from her own body. That meant doing other errands and only then trying out the full opening day experience. The trains were packed. At one point RantWoman flashed back to the only other time she has felt that smushed on public transit, a long time ago on a subway from Brooklyn to Manhattan for another GIANT protest. Protest and Survive, indeed.

The opening day moment: RantWoman again needed bananas. By the time RantWoman did her day's train travel she was exhausted, and there were hiccups about bus connections. But RantWoman finally figured out minimal walking bus connections that yielded her preferred banana purchase: one banana ripe enough to eat the next day and a bunch green enough to feed RantWoman for a whole week.

By the way, a plea to Amazon Logistics

While RantWoman has people's attention, and if her rambling narrative has not driven Amazon readers crazy, a BIG request:

RantWoman lives in a building with over 100 apartments. Everyone has the same street address. Many people order from Amazon. Some of them have tougher mobility and budget considerations than RantWoman. Quite a while ago, RantWoman got a phone call from Amazon Logistics in connection with a delivery. 

There are two entrances to RantWoman's building. People making deliveries to the better entrance can phone residents to be buzzed in. However, driving directions to the exact street address in some GPS point people to the back door. Deliveries to the back entrance are difficult for everyone because someone has to know to come meet the driver. This means deliveries get dropped outside the door, stolen... RantWoman gave the Amazon Logistics person precise reliable driving directions. 

RantWoman's account repeats the driving directions and also makes clear her preference to have deliveries brought all the way to her apartment. At this point, RantWoman simply reports that the delivery was great when these directions are followed. We will not discuss the poor unfortunate drivers who deserve scorn from multiple customers when several packages all get dumped in a heap in the mail room.

Recently a number of neighbors have complained that they are having issues with drivers coming to the back door rather than to the front where there is a keypad and options to let the drivers in. Is there some way that Amazon can standardize the driving directions for all drivers? Or is the expectation that drivers will do whatever the GPS says and individual customers will just have to complain every time a new driver goofs up?  RantWoman would SO appreciate being able to help her neighbors out.

Line 2 Opening Day Adventures!

 First, please enjoy this lively commentary with some fun, yes, fun engineering details about how actually a light rail on a floating bridge actually stays afloat. 

RantWoman also enjoyed some hints of festivity at stations she did not make it to. For more on the RantWoman experience, please read on the other side.

First in the world: How Sound Transit built light rail on a floating bridge

First the wardrobe, with thoughts of POSSIBLY stopping by a #NoKingsDay event: Nothing organization specific. A #WhiteCaneDay T-shirt under a hoodie that said "ICE OUT" in a long-winded, pedantic and harder to read way: "the GPS coordinates of your mother's cervix at the time of your birth have no bearing on your value as a human being." The hoodie turned out to be a great weight, warm enough in the morning, not too warm when the sun came out.

RantWoman is thrilled that the #CrosslakeConnection is open. RantWoman appreciated mostly cheerful sunny weather. RantWoman definitely applauds all the parents getting kids started early, even the tiny ones who fell asleep on the bus or while waiting for the bus.

RantWoman probably has some "Dear Accessibility community...here is an opportunity to preview..." email she has not read. RantWoman and Ambassador Thwack the #WhiteCane caught a bus unencumbered by much knowledge of the day's schedule. Plus RantWoman wanted to check out the Rainier Avenue entrance to the Judkins Park station.

Meh. Whose bright idea is it to put the bus stop nearly a block away from the light rail entrance. RantWoman will be interested to see what actually happens about scooter and biker share users stowing their vehicles in the designated areas.

Also, issue a bullhorn for the nice woman whose job it was to stand behind the pull down barrier and tell people over and over that the opening of that entrance was going to be delayed.

Never mind the delay. Hanging out where RantWoman was turned out to be an easy way for friends to find her.  Excitement was contagious, even with the heavy crowds and long waits

RantWoman had an invite to an opening day meet and greet but realized that sleep was going to have to take priority. RantWoman also had to decide not even to try to get into a line to walk up the hill to the 23rd Avenue entrance where people were allowed to board sooner than from Rainier.

After about the third delay in the promised opening, with the line getting longer and longer, RantWoman decided to skip the thought of any inaugural ride. Instead, RantWoman did an errand involving the 7, the E line, a detour for lunch at IHOP and an ibuprofen, Despite some nasty pain issues, it felt good to walk to catch the 40 to Northgate. 

The southbound 2 line was already packed, but RantWoman basically zoned out. At every station, lots of people got off, but an equal or larger number got on. RantWoman was lucky to have a seat. RantWoman would have preferred to face forward, but managed with a side seat.

RantWoman would like to say the view over the lake was glorious. RantWoman would like to say that, but the train was too crowded to catch more than a glimpse of sky and open water, with views of trees as the train rolled through to Bellevue City Center. RantWoman decided that was as far as she needed to go before heading back to the Judkins Park station.

Score a couple bright spots:

--After seeing construction for quite awhile, it was nice to see the train actually serving downtown Bellevue.

--RantWoman likes that the platforms seem wider than  some other stations and that there is more space for people both to stand and to navigate along the tactile warning designs in the floor.

--It was fairly easy to find the elevator(s?) to go up and over to the return side of the tracks. One small grumble: RantWoman's glasses had turned dark but the hallway to the elevators could maybe use a little more lighting.

On the way back, RantWoman wanted to get off on the 23rd avenue side of the station so she purposefully headed for one of the rear cars. Again, the train was packed. A very observant guy indicated a seat next to him and then, when it was time to get off, stood and loudly asked people to move so RantWoman could get off the train. 

Next, walk the direction everyone was headed toward the exit. Locate the elevator(s), again in a hallway where RantWoman might want a tad more lighting. Out the door, across the plaza, hoepfully to catch the #8 bus southbound. That was not to be. After various wanderings and directions, RantWoman decided to just take the 48 NB from the stop she could actually find and pick up the 8 at Jackson as part of her quest for bananas.

From there, life was easy. The only minor hiccup: somehow the pavement in the crosswalk at MLK and Union is, um, worn unevenly. 

Teriyaki pizza? MUST Try soon.

It was a bright and sunny day and RantWoman...ALMOST...stayed on the bus to the Pagliacci in Columbia City to buy a slice of this month's seasonal pie, The "Waji." 

Look: Promo blurbs 

So here it is: The Waji features teriyaki chicken, pineapple roasted in chili crisp, pickled red onions, and mozzarella over an olive oil base, finished after the bake with green onions, furikake, and a drizzle of teriyaki mayo. It hits that sweet-savory balance, with some tang and heat, plus a little extra crunch and savoriness on top 

And from the Pagliacci blog:

This collab with Uwajimaya started with a simple question: what if we made an Asian-inspired pizza together? For Pagliacci co-owner Michelle Akiyama Galvin, the idea has roots that go way back. Growing up, Asian groceries were scarce in her town, so trips to Uwajimaya were youthful highlights. Later, as an adult, she found herself back in those aisles much more often, kids in tow. A few years ago she met Denise Moriguchi, Uwajimaya’s president and CEO, who mentioned how much her family loves Pagliacci, and that was the little spark. What if we built a pizza around that shared love of food?

Turns out, it was one of the quickest seasonals we’ve ever brought from idea to reality. And the best test panel we know came through fast: the kids in both families gave it an enthusiastic thumbs up.

“We are huge fans of Denise and Uwajimaya and are proud to collab with them,” says Matt Galvin.

And the toppings

Teriyaki chicken, pineapple roasted in chili crisp, pickled red onions, and mozzarella over an olive oil base, finished after bake with green onions, furikake, and a drizzle of teriyaki mayo. (Ingredients feature soy, sesame, wheat and egg.)

LONG ago during graduate school in another state, RantWoman had a disagreeable experience with chicken teriyaki pizza. The crust was much pastier than at Pagliacci. There was BROCCOLI, which in RantWoman's mind really does not belong with anything too sweet. Basically, as fusion cuisine, that long ago pizza was not it.

Still, RantWoman is intrigued by the Waji. Roasted pineapple on anything makes RantWoman happy. RantWoman had to look up Furikake - Wikipedia. So far, yum.

But why the bus trip and one slice at a time? RantWoman often orders a whole pizza for delivery, the large seems tempting for leftovers. There are plenty of leftovers. It's just that the slices are too big. RantWoman's budget can live with just ordering one small pizza at a time for now. But it hit RantWoman: RantWoman is not sure about buying a whole pie because of the bad teriyaki chicken pizza experience long ago so RantWoman WILL just try a slice SOON.

The Mom Report: transportation to a new destination.

Just when RantWoman was starting to groove on some new to her transit options in N Seattle (Yeah 365),  RantMom will move soon, hopefully to a lovely Adult family Home on Boyer Ave E.

Location. Location. Location.

Location is so important that the RantSisters opted to skip visits to other Lake City locations suggested by the consultant assisting the RantFamily. If the goal is "comfort and quality of life," the Rant Sisters spending more time with RantMom and less time on transit is exactly on point.

The closest frequent bus route, the Metro 48 happens to serve Little Sister on one end and RantWoman on the other end. First day preview from bus stop to location was in a car. Irrepressible Nephew is good at spotting curb ramps but not so good at noticing sidewalk issues from the car. 

Stops at Boyer on both sides of the street seem a little steep to RantWoman but Little Sister has a power chair. 

RantWoman walked the sidewalk between the location and the bus stop the other day. The sidewalk is not brand new so it's bumpy in places. Little Sister at first dismissed RantWoman's observations but after a visit today thanked RantWoman for the heads-up.

Next comes visitors from Lynnwood on Light Rail. RantWoman has not put the route into a trip planner but did realize that in terms of easy connection to the 48 the best option would be to get off the Light Rail at the U District station and walk over to 15th Ave NE to get the 48. RantWoman remembers some nuance about the 48 ending at the U District station at least some of the time so probably a visit to the trip planner with some different date time combinations would be fruitful.

RantWoman generally does not try to plan / replan trips on the fly but does like to have general contours of the schedule in mind from planning ahead.

Anyway, the other option of course is to ride all the way to the University of WA station. RantWoman realized that option is less preferable just because the walk between the station and the 48 stop in front of the UW Medical Center is a pain and worse a pain to explain to another low vision person. RantWoman also notes that she may sometimes opt just to Uber part of the trip especially because of a vexing issue RantWoman REALLY needs to schedule her own medical appointment about.

Gratitudes--and Irritability

image from Free Press Journal

#HAPPY THANKSGIVING 

Happy posthumous 91st birthday to RantDad. And special appreciation to all transit, deivery, and taxi etc. drivers, with a particular asterisk for resonance about a couple anniversaries of horrible tragedies. The tragedies never go away, even when there is much else to occupy people's souls.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone involved in food production and food distribution! 

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone however you do or don't celebrate.

 

The pink Christmas Cactus

RantWoman considers Thanksgiving at least as important as Christmas. Enough said.

This year, the prep got off to more of a rocky start than usual. Dial-a-Tirade available about software updates and AI that seems to fry RantWoman's phone and other forms of technological disdain for RantWoman's current realities. On top of that, RantWoman spent half an hour of her usual Wednesday morning hourlong webinar trying to figure out a new portal.

Another novelty: an invitation to dinner with nephew and woman friend in exotic LYNNWOOD, but not the part of Lynnwood in range of the Alderwood Zip service. (Earth to RantWoman: did you check Find-a-Ride to see whether the service area might have expanded? NOooo.)

Nephew is both chef and chauffeur, with an offer to fetch both his parents, RantMom, and RantWoman, all in one trip. RantWoman had to reality check this offer. RantWoman is recovering well, but is still feeling a little irritable after some surgery last week. The thought of being crammed in a car even with one's nearest and dearest just does not sound fun.  RantWoman really did not want to request two roundtrips to assemble the whole clan. Somehow a request just to fetch RantWoman from a nearby transit location is too much. RantWoman is quite happy with some exercise and public transit before a holiday feast. More on that in a moment.

RantWoman also learned that Little Sister just assumed RantWoman would be bringing cranberry something. It is a VERY good thing RantWoman discovered a big bag of cranberries stashed in the bottom of her freezer and has been able to assemble TWO kinds of sauce. Uncooked relish will have to wait for another holiday and fresh instead of frozen berries.

Off RantWoman went to Google Maps with the freshly supplied street address. The options with a couple nuances: either Link + the Swift Blue line plus a walk with suggestions to have realistics expectations about walkability or E line plus a Community transit line that runs once an hour on Sundays and holidays. Also, expect rain. 

The actual walking distance from a close bus stop to final destination does not look very long. It just involves interacting with Highway 99 and no indication of crosswalk options. So fabulous: just take Uber the last leg of the trip and expect that family harmony will last a little longer with the right transportation options.

Do you HAVE OPINIONS about SoundTransit? Join a Sounding Board.

RantWoman posts this SoundTransit Sounding Board notice FYI 

Tramsportation Sounding Boards are a great way both to make one's views known and to learn A LOT about our transportation system

Sounding Board | Sound Transit

Dear Amazon, Amazon Day means Amazon Day

The world is on fire, several ways, several places and RantWoman needs to take a break from all that world politics stuff!

Why? RantWoman's lips are about to fall off and she is running out of her much preferred lip balm. RantWoman's most convenient way to get her favorite lip balm is to bundle an order with other items and then to pick her Amazon Day, a day when she is usually home to receiver her shipments.

 RantWoman is just fine with Amazon Day delivery. RantWoman is just fine with collecting a bunch of orders and having them all come at once.

Some of the time that is great.

This post is not about the working great.

Well, one gripe is more of a question! What is the window before a delivery date gets kicked out a week to the next Amazon day? 

RantWoman would be JUST FINE if Amazon clearly said something like "get your orders in two days before your Amazon day. RantWoman could MAYBE endure mumbling about "we just don't have what you want in stock and we need a whole week. RantWoman would handle that GRUDGINGLY. RantWoman's expectation and preference though is that if she chooses Amazon Day delivery, that means her NEXT Amazon Day

However, when RantWoman says she wants her orders DELIVERED, she means to her building and preferably to her doorway. Ignore the naysayers. RantWoman is capable of deciding for herself what theft risks she is willing to run. More to the point, RantWoman orders a lot of things that people don't necessarily want to steal.

The main point: RantWoman does NOT want either some hard to read postal slip OR some long tracking code that she is going to have to type in to usps.gov herself OR an invitation to take two modes of transit followed buy a not terribly ped friendly walk to the nearest holding station. Besides, the last time RantWoman had a problem about a package, RantWoman typed the tracking number in several times on different days and never found her items.

So this time, RantWoman WILL try again about the tracking number, but RantWoman is also griping LOUDLY.

And while we're at it, RantWoman wants a more satisfying way to communicate the nuances of her opinion than picking a box or texting with what is either a bot or an earnest young person halfway around the world at their first job taking gripes from irate customers.

RantWoman also wants some respect because at some point Amazon logistics called up RantWoman for driving directions to her building and in particular to the only door where drivers should be coming to deliver packages. So you're welcome

and PLEASE believe RantWoman: get my things here ON MY AMAZON DAY and NOT THROUGH the post office UNLESS you are sure the package will fit INSIDE RantWoman's mailbox.

Thank you!

UPDATE

7-31-2025. SQUEAKY WHEEL Celebration

The very box RantWoman was ranting about!!!

Only one wayfinding oops.

 Hah!

Remember RantWoman's angst about construction at the UW Medical Center

Adventures of RantWoman: A wholesome alternative to World Events anxiety: CONSTRUCTION at UW Montlake.

RantWoman is VERY happy to report things turned out to be much simpler than RantWoman was fussing about.

RantWoman arrived on her usual Northbound bus on NE Pacific. Lo, there were both stairs and an elevator. RantWoman is a wimp about stairs, especially poorly lit ones but a friendly human helped RantWoman find the elevator.

Friendly Help told RantWoman to go down and there would be a walkway right from the elevator.

RantWoman did find the walkway on her second try.

First RantWoman just automatically pressed the button for the lowest floor. 

Oh fabulous. Parking garage. Hot. smelly, dimly lit. RantWoman foggeed around a little bit. No walkway.

So RantWoman decided to get back on the elevator and see what was what. This time the elevator stopped on the level that went straight to the walkway. Phew.

The walk to RantWoman's appointment was a bit of a maze, but especially after the procedure the walk was especially helpful in shaking out back spasms. And the exit through the Surgery center toook RantWoman straight to the stop for her bus home.

As an aside,Tips for mapmakers:

make it easy to print just the map on a whole sheet of paper, perhaps automatically landscape mode if possible.

consider using graphics instead of lines for paths. Maybe little round circles for wheelchair friendly and, say, triangles for the pedestrian route. And where they overlap alternate the little icons. Make the graphics different colors but realize that the routes still need to be identifiable if printed in black and white.

Jesus is dead and you want me to find my bus pass?

This post is dedicated to a former co-worker who always said, when declining to schedule a meeting on Good Friday, "Jesus is dead and you expect me to work." Further theological meditations belong on RantWoman's other blog. The point of this post is a small rant and a couple comments about shared dining.

RantWoman did not go anywhere to church for Good Friday. RantWoman did not go find a livestream. It has to be enough that RantWoman thought about the entire subject.

In particular, RantWoman rode the bus to a favorite neighborhood fried chicken place. RantWoman does not do fried chicken very often, but it seemed an easy way to get a couple bones to make chicken stock. RantWoman walked a couple bus stops toward home to a stop where there are two buses that between them come at least every 15 minutes and go straight to the best evening stop for RantWoman. RantWoman wound up actually dining al fresco with enough time to spare to wipe her fingers well before needing to find her bus pass for the return trip.

Except RantWoman could NOT find her bus pass, at least not where RantWoman usually puts it. THANK YOU to the driver who let RantWoman ride free. RantWoman was embarrassed and kind of in a panic. RantWoman has places to go this weekend and does not carry cash. Somewhere in this muddle, RantWoman remembered that AT LEAST she could do whatever is needed to link her MyORCA app to her Google wallet 

Honestly, RantWoman knows that paying one's fare from one's phone is supposed to be hip and wonderful. RantWoman, though, just finds the whole thought cumbersome. RantWoman almost always carries Ambassador Thwack the badly behaved white cane, a purse, another bag and of course her phone. RantWoman could probaby set her phone timeout interval longer, but it's just CUMBERSOM to have to wake the phone up, find the wallet and then wave the phone. 

But WAIT! later yesterday evening, RantWoman dug frantically through all the various pockets in her daily gear and, ta-da!, found her actual physical bus pass.

RantWoman is soothed! 

Bikes vs Peds Floating Bus Stops in City of Victoria in British Columbia, Canada

RantWoman is aware of several Seattle locations where there is a bike lane between a bus stop and the rest of the sidewalk. RantWoman often finds this placement annoying but has been able to get used to it.

Discussion on a recent committee call suggested that people need to look at whether the "floating" bus stops have flashing lights, no signal, or full Accessible Ped Signal.

Also to be argued about: "buses MUST always stop at the curb." RantWoman is unclear where this point is a legal angle that can be sued over. RantWoman is also openminded about whether boarding and deboarding passengers can be done safely with the right ped infrastructure and safety culture among cyclists.

At a BARE minimum, a lot of cyclists really need to be more courteous about using their bell, ROUTINELY, whether they see a pedestrian or not.

#Bikeshare companies could also definitely alert customers about this particular traffic safety consideration!

RantWoman has no idea whether there have been enough complaints to form any other opinions

Sunny Day Journey Map

 Friday afternoon RantWoman had APPOINTMENTS, two medical appointments across town from each other. The day was sunny and beautiful, as long as one does not count tree pollen. Scratch that: sun was almost too much and RantWoman needed to wash down itchy eyes multiple times with artificial tears RantWoman was fretting a little about timing, but it all worked out.

First leg of trip:  cross a street where the accessible ped signal now talks, a big improvement over the rat-a-tat that was supposed to be a woodpecker but that sounded to RantWoman too much like gunfire. Routing: 8 + 70 . Not surprisingly, the first 8 was just going by as RantWoman was getting to the stop light, but at that time of day the #8 bus has 10-minute headway. Short wait at Fairview for the 70. Rotten truth: RantWoman needed to go three stops. The distance would be easily walkable--except for the GIANT chasm in any plausible pedestrian routing otherwise known as Mercer St and freeway ramps. 

Nice day for uphill walk for a medical test. Cross the street at the marked crosswalk. Luckily traffic out of the parking garage was minimal. RantWoman is not crazy about driveways or parking garage exits and sometimes goes up the other side of the street to avoid cars. RantWoman has enough vision to pull this off but it's tricky because of no marked crosswalk.

Medical test was almost uneventful. Uneventful as in a form that made RantWoman want to grumble "can't you just put an electronic version in MyChart. Even more "fun," one always gets a plastic bracelet at check-in. Frequently there is this funny moment where the person checking RantWoman in somehow misses Ambassador Thwack the badly behaved white cane and asks RantWoman to verify that the info in tiny print on the bracelet is correct. Uhhhh.....

Test flew by and soon RantWoman headed back down the hill to catch the 70 on further north. Destination, the U District Light rail station and two stops on the train to Northgate. RantWoman long ago used sometimes to walk that distance but between timing and pollen and almost too much sunlight, RantWoman was really happy with the bus. 

Some of the time RantWoman feels a pang about an aging body. Some of the time RantWoman also reminds herself that a number of people in RantWoman's family tree did not even live to the age RantWoman is now.

Distance from Northgate Light Rail station to eye doctor's also is walkable but insane from a pedestrian perspective. Easy bus ride from the light rail station and a short walk with car minimizing street crossing options left RantWoman almost an hour early for her appointment so RantWoman...stopped at TARGET to see about a snack. RantWoman has two rants: the very minimalist snack options and Starbucks used to have an automated checkout. Friday automated checkout was gone and there was just one person at Starbucks and there was a bit of a line.

The wait made it almost too easy to Not Buy anything in honor of Blackout Friday. Almost. Besides the fact that RantWoman needed something for lunch, RantWoman's other rant is that the current anti-#DEI fashion is bonkers. RantWoman is not fully versed about the Black creators able to distribute their product through Target. RantWoman, though, is PEEVED on accessibility grounds: a few years ago, the National Federation of the Blind sued Target about inaccessibility of their stores. Target to their credit looked at the issues raised by the suit and at their elderly customer base and then took a number of steps to make Target someone friendlier to people who are blind and / or visually impaired. Target does not seem to have undone some of that though price tags are still....

RantWoman has no idea whether Target is just talked about rolling back #DEI commitments to appease the mobs horrified by some previous gestures, RantWoman emphatically wishes some of the companies falling into line with the current fashion would grow a spine and say "we are doing ..X;;; because it serves our customers. Plus, nutball pronouncements from the current administration aside, anti-discrimination laws STILL EXIST!

So Dear Target, thank you that I was able to pay for my snack and please consider this rant a free tip!

Eye Doctor appointment was decidedly low torture: just the blue light special to measure eye pressure. No dilated eyes or chasing weak lights around a circular background. Vision definitely not better but not dramatically worse than previous visits. Steady is good.

One easy street crossing to a bus back to the light rail and 3 stops to Capitol hill. RantWoman generally loves buskers but the Friday band at the station as a smidge too loud even for a sunny celebratory Friday. Anyway,  easy just to pop out lf the station, get on a bus and be done with street crossings for the day going home.

King 5 Procession for fallen Metro bus driver Shawn Yim in Seattle

RantWoman emphatically does not want to detract from the solemnity of tdays remembrances for murdered Metro bus driver Shawn Yim.

TL:DR Bus drivers sees is a continuing and worseniing public safety problem; redesigning buses would help a lot.

RantWoman has absolutely no problem with Metro alerts that reported that at times only 85 % of the network or even 80% of the network routes.

RantWoman found this 3-hour video and may or may not look for clips from all the extremely moving remembrances and calls to action she heard when she tuned in.

Instead, below the video, RantWoman is going to make some feeble attempts at audio description script and comment about one other #accessibility issue.

Task one:

attempts at meaningful audio description

(Please note: RantWoman knows at least one blind transit nerd who can probably identify by sound many of the vehicle models on the road. RantWoman is not that sonically adept.)

LOTS of visuals of buses either in motion, along the procession route or parked en masse all over the Lumen Center Parking lot and for blocks around the area.

Many of the participating buses had set their reader boards especially for the occasion: Shawn Ym and his radio call number 21882, Central Base, Atlantic Base, Ryerson Base, Pierce Transit, Community Transit, Vancouver Metro, TriMet, BC Transit.... Some just said "To Terminal"

Also present: paratransit vehicles, Bus-sized tow trucks and other vehicles RantWoman could not identify.

Actual indoor observance starts about 1:50: Bagpipes, large white floral arrangement, big smiling face of Shawn Yim on a screen with an even bigger ATU logo behind hiem

International ATU president: John Costa: "Who moves this city. We move this city."

LOTS of people in transit uniforms, hi vis safety gear, police...and just regular rain gear.

Task two: yell about #ASL interpretation.

WHY the ... was there no ASL interpretation of the main speakers? RantWoman has no idea whether there was ASL interpretation in the room but RantWoman always considers it really on point to do camera work so that the ASL interpretation can be seen in frame with the speaker. RantWoman is not a camera operator. RantWoman does not hesitate just to say "Make it so."

Please note: maybe there is expectation that autotext will be sufficient. RantWoman never makes that assumption. In fact, beyond noting the lack of visible #ASL interpretation in the streams RantWoman saw, RantWoman is reluctant to speak on behalf of #deaf and hearing-impaired transit riders

Rwmember Mark McLaughlin too.

Maybe RantWoman will be able to say more soon.

Memorial for murdered Metro Driver January 10 2025 PLAN AHEAD about travel needs.

 Dear transit riding public

If you need to travel on the morning of Friday January 10, please plan either to get where you are going before the beginning of the memorial or to arrange schedule for after the funeral.

RantWoman has a Zoom call or she would probably go to the memorial.

Here are more articles.

Metro Plans Reduced Service as Staff Hold Shawn Yim Memorial Friday

Author: Doug Trumm
Date: Jan 09, 2025 02:21 pm 

To allow staff to participate in a memorial for slain bus driver Shawn Yim, King County Metro has announced plans for reduced service Friday. Amalgamated Transit Union 587 is honoring Yim with a 10am funeral procession through Downtown Seattle and a memorial service at Lumen Field Event Center.

The post Metro Plans Reduced Service as Staff Hold Shawn Yim Memorial Friday first appeared on