Just imagine that you lived in a land with a lot of ice and snow, with temps down to -5F in the nights? You don't have an inclination to ride your bike, so how would you get to work, shopping, movies?

Would you take the bus?

Most people around my town tell me how rotten the bus service is. And I kind of agree... except that most people who tell me this have never set foot on a bus.

As it happens, the service is not stellar. There are 3 buses a day going in the direction of my work and 3 buses returning. Fortunately, a couple of them suit me just find and the service is mostly on-time. I have had to wait up to 10 minutes at a bus stop in 10F weather, but I now get around that problem by walking to the next stop (walking is much better than standing still, of course, in such temps.)

Although I did have to wait 40 minutes in a snow storm once. (Tip: bring a backpack with extra clothes...especially wool socks and maybe even tights... frostbite hurts!)

What's your bus service like? Does it work for you?

I've used the buses here and I can say with some authority that the service is fair but the buses themselves are crap, big aluminum boxes crammed with people that you wouldn't want to share an apartment building with much less an overloaded bus being driven by someone with less personality than the average disgruntled postal worker...

I think you can safely assume that I don't care much for taking the bus, I'd rather move under my power just to spite the weather.

I've ridden in all sorts of weather and never had any health issues, if I take the bus I can guarantee I'll spend most of the following week getting over something that makes my sinuses whistle and my chest feel like it's full of mud.

I work from home, but I went back to college in August. If I take the bus, I have a 10 - 15 minute walk to a bus stop, and then it's over an hour to get to school, and I have to make a transfer. I have only used the bus twice. I can do the ride on my bike in about 40 minutes, which is a lot faster than the bus! If I lived closer to downtown, or even midtown, I might use the bus more often, but I live in the 'burbs, and service out here is not good. I'd much rather get on my bike and ride. I know what you mean about not feeling motivated to ride. I pretty much hate the first 15 minutes of the morning commute, but after that my body warms up and I wake up and it's pretty good. I've lost 15 pounds in the last 5 weeks, so I'm definitely enjoying the results of my commuting and gym workouts. Bicycle commuting is one of the best things to ever happen to me, and I have no intention of quitting. Just FYI, a few things I have found to help: I ...
make sure everything I need for the commute is ready the night before. No hunting for gloves, helmet, etc.
dress warmly enough that I'm not freezing when I get on the bike. Sometimes I need to stop part way through and take something off, or open up the pit zips on the jacket to cool off, but I'm never freezing - that's just depressing.
leave with enough time that I don't have to kill myself to arrive on time.
bring a spare shirt to change into when I get to school.
make sure I have a full water bottle when I leave.
keep a positive attitude! I try not to take offense if some driver is not as attentive or courteous as I would like them to be. Just keep on rolling.

Bus service here is pretty good... my biggest complaint is not enough bike racks!

People on the bus vary widely depending on which route you're on... two routes in particular are the 'bar express' buses... others generally have a lot more upscale passengers and neighborhoods.

All in all, the bus makes a nice combination with a bike for getting around and getting stuff done... but I like the light rail better!

Here it is never on time. And when there are people riding it, which is not often because it is empty most of the time, they are the dregs of humanity; dirty, smelly, drugged out, or insane.

Last spring, the lease on my truck was coming up, and I was looking at my options for getting around. I really couldn't afford a new car, but living 3 miles from work, walking was a bit much. I looked at the bus routes, and figured that if I timed everything perfectly, and the buses were exactly on time, it would take me over an hour to go by bus. I could walk faster than that! Needless to say, I've never ridden the buses here, and don't really see myself doing so. Going in by bike, I actually get there faster than I did by car.

The people are fair, the service is crap, but i'm working on fixing that right now, with the local govt and bus company, who agree with my assessment. (The bus company is in the process of doubling their fleet so that they can reach what they consider -minimum- standards of frequency etc.)

Bus service is ok here, we received a light rail not to long ago so they have done some rearranging of the local lines, can't say if it's better or worse because I avoid it as much as possible, only because I rediscovered cycling a couple years ago. For years I lived via Metro (Houston's bus line) and did it very well, rarely late. My rules with riding the bus were leave one bus early and another bus early for every transfer I had to take, there were days everything fell though. Bring a book and headphones. I got to know my drivers on my regular routes and they would comp me a ride every once in a while. Park and Ride and local routes are two totally different ball games when it comes to the riders. P&R, wait in line to get on and systematically get off, local routes ever man for himself (local can be really entertaining like a bunch of extras from an old John Waters movie). It works but I bike when I can, I am planning on taking the bus this coming week to see my doctor because I think he is might be doing some local work.

Our bus service is designed to get seniors to and from medical appointments out of town. Anyone wanting to use the service must call to reserve a spot 24 hours in advance. There are just two buses a day leaving town and two a day coming back, Monday to Friday only and not on holidays. There are efforts underway to improve this service and when that day comes, I expect we'll see the service getting a lot of use by out-of-town workers and by youths who want to do something in the evening.

Bus service in my area is of two types, non existent and WTF were they thinking. I live over the county line from a town of 8,000 but it is pretty rough and mostly 'burbs. Immediately adjacent is a monster military base with over 30,000 people (and expected to double by 2012) the next town down the road is the one with bus service. The town has 125,000+ and the service is spotty at best. It is laid out on a central spoke system but there are no interconnections on the outside of the wheel. If you start on the north side of town and want to go to the western most point you have to ride to the center of town, then transfer and ride out to the west. It can take over 2 hours to go a straight line distance of 12 miles. Only few of the buses have bike racks on them and they don't run the same routes every day. They start running at 7 in the morning and stop by 7 in the evening...not much good if you are working retail and have to work closing shift at the local mall or work normal shift work at the big hospital in town. Next biggest town to the north of me (14 miles away) is around 24,000 and no bus service what so ever.

Aaron:)

Around here is easier and faster to walk than to take the bus. You could get anywhere in town in less than an hour on foot.

When I lived in a bigger city I tried taking the bus in the winter, instead of my car, and it took almost 2 hours to get to work, the car to 15 minutes. Of course I would take my bike the other 8 months of the year. I ditched the car when I moved to a small town, best thing I ever did.

I never had trouble on the bus when I used to take it more often. During the day it was mostly commuters and students. At night I liked to see the drunks and stoners on the bus, that way they are not driving.

The bus is also good to get a few winks before work. In my case you could get almost a few hours sleep before work, and still have time to drink a coffee. If I had to do it again I would definitely get a car, I hate the bus, unless I am drafting it on my bike. :D

Phoenix Valley Area Arizona USA

Could we put our cities down?
bus system
Free Paratransit
Point to point with some hub and spoke.
10mph average
1.25
2.50 day pass
run time 5am to 10 pm
bike racks on all busses with some having three bikes on a rack
Bike lockers at some transit stations
Light Rail end of the year
dial a ride for ADA
friendly bus drivers

the bad
Busses end at 10pm
with the spread of the valley spending 2 hours on the bus is easy to do
no reverse trips on rapid bus
bus pullouts

Naming the city for mine wouldn't help any but the whole area is "served" by NJ Transit.

There's a bus stop about a fifth of a mile from where I live. The problem is that it's for a route that runs five times in the morning, and five times in the evening. It's a route specifically for commuters.

The nearest bus stop for every half hour service is a mile away. There is only one route, other than the commuter only run. Either way, I would have to transfer in order to get to downtown Seattle.

I'd rather ride down to Southcenter Mall, and catch one of the many buses heading in toward downtown Seattle if that's my ultimate destination--or simply keep riding my bike :) .

I'm in Kent, Washington. Bus is King County Metro.

East Hill

Our busses here (Columbia, MO) aren't known for their timeliness. The city is throwing a lot of money at them as evidenced by a new downtown terminal though, so maybe it'll get better.


For now, I make it a point to roll my pedicab up to bus-stops 5 minutes before the bus comes, and I steal a couple of passengers. The bus never beats me.

We chose our home based on partly on bus routes, so we have no trouble getting around by bus. We have the option of two bus stops. Both are a five minute walk. Weekdays we have 4 buses to choose from most of the time. On weekends, we have two buses to choose from. Honestly, it takes about the same amount of time to bus, drive, or bike to work and most of our other destinations.

I actually enjoy the bus. There are limitations: it works very well if you happen to live close to a bus line, end up near one, etc. So there definitely are limits to the territory one can cover. But within its limits, there are plusses and minusses in taking the bus vs walking or cycling.

Bus Advantages:
- Sometimes faster than cycling
- More comfortable in foul weather
- It's easy to put one's mind at off for a while
- Some conversations, reading, etc. are possible.

Walk Advantages:
- It's easy to put one's mind at off
- One has the time to look at the architectural details, at the urban fauna, etc. (sometimes it's not too interesting too)

Cycling Advantages:
- Better carrying capacity (I'm not the one who lifts and carries the load)
- Faster than walking
- One can go exactly when and where one wants to go
- However, one needs to stay alert (unlike touring on secluded roads).

Bus service here is pretty good... my biggest complaint is not enough bike racks!

People on the bus vary widely depending on which route you're on... two routes in particular are the 'bar express' buses... others generally have a lot more upscale passengers and neighborhoods.

All in all, the bus makes a nice combination with a bike for getting around and getting stuff done... but I like the light rail better!
It's generally the same deal here in Seattle. We don't have light rail yet (it's being built), but bus service is generally very good. Some routes are terrible, some are fine. As a bicyclist it's fairly common for the bike racks to fill up during busy commuter routes (which sux because you have to wait for the next one).

So overall it's usually fine. Not perfect by a long shot, but fine.

We've got a good public transit system around here. We don't get snow/ice too much in the winter so the city doesn't make a huge investment in plows. (why bother?) As a result, the roads are pretty crappy for about 3 weeks out of each winter. They put chains on the buses and modify some routes to "snow routes". so they run more often and will drop you off at places that are not regular stops. Unlike the typical Oregon driver, the bus drivers have been trained to drive in snow & ice. I'm two blocks from a snow route bus line and it's very convenient.

The down side is if you live along a steep hill, the buses aren't going to go there when snow/ice makes those roads hazardous. On the other hand, if you chose to live on a steep hill knowing what the winter can be like around here, you ought to be prepared to be stranded for a while. You can ignore Mother Nature when you choose a place to live, but your existence is quite irrelevant to her.

Our bus system is okay as long as you are going to or leaving downtown. The buses are clean, reasonably on time, and each one has a bike rack. But the hours of service are pretty limited, so the bike racks are necessary if you want to go back at a reasonable hour.

And in my case, I live half a block from the nearest bus stop and there is a bus stop at work. But to use them, I'd have to take the bus all the way downtown and another bus back, a two hour ride. And the bicycle ride is only 20 minutes straight down one road.

The buses her seem decent. I get a free pass with school but still don't use it much. It seems to be a mix of working people, students, drunk/druggies/crazy people. I'd rather ride my bike.

I haven't used buses much since I moved to NJ, where there's excellent rail service. But before that I used to take buses all the time, and it was fine. I have certainly met some interesting people on buses, but that's really been a positive experience.

Keep in mind... riding a bus, like everything else, is a skill you have to develop. Once you know which bus you want, and you know when and where to catch it, you'll get comfortable doing it. Your ride will be more comfortable if you can get on the bus before it gets crowded, if you have that option; keep that in mind if you have more than one bus service or route or bus stop to chose from... and so on. So, I suggest: try it, you'll like it!

I live outside of DC, so our system is pretty good for the times I use it. The bus is free for enrolled college students so I take that when Im in classes since the school is a mile from me

The service is OK. My closest bus stop, about 400m walk from my door, is served by 3 bus lines going near my office (about 15kms from home), and a couple of more going to another destinations. If I walk to the next closest stop, maybe 200m further, I have 2 more lines to office, 3 more to other destinations. In total, the buses operating those 5 lines to my office stop at the bus stop about 190 times per day, Mo-Fri. A bit less in the weekends. It's OK. :)

Regarding waiting times, if I completely neglect to check the timetable, I may have to wait 10 mins in peak hour. 20 off-peak. Several hours, if it's 3AM. But there's really no reason to not to check, as the timetables are drawn for each bus stop separately. That takes a lot of guesswork out of my bus commutes, and in my opinion is an important detail in bus service. It's their job to guesstimate how long it'll take for their bus to reach your stop, they have better chances of doing it properly.

--J

I've not used the bus service much here in the Kanawha Valley, but I have heard good things about it. A couple of years ago they put bike racks on. Using them took a while to catch on, but I'm seeing more and more busses with the racks delpoyed.

The bus service here in Minneapolis is phenomenal. There is literally a bus that will get within about a mile or two of wherever your going in Minneapolis/St. Paul proper and alot of places out in the suburbs too.
We just got a light rail too, but it's route is really limited, it'll be nice when it gets expanded.

Pretty poor here. I don't ride it personally, but one of my tenants does. She's so aggravated with the service that she wants to start going to the other college instead, as its much closer. She almost missed a final last weekend because the bus arrived 40 minutes late.

Considering that she's not a cyclist, but she sees me riding in winter and wants to try it so she can escape taking the bus, says a lot to me.

The bus service in this city is a joke. It's like one of those novelty tourist attractions and serves little other purpose. On average around 60% of scheduled services don't turn up at all, and those that do are almost invariably running late. If I lived in an area where cycling was impossible due to weather conditions, it would be a choice of either using taxis or buying a car.

The CATA bus line here in Lansing is officially (according to the American Public Transportation Assoc.) the best in the nation. There're stops right outside my house. The coverage is good, with no place in the metro area more than two blocks from a stop. Frequency of service is fair. Hours of service are the biggest negative--they stop running at 10 or 11 PM, other than one route that goes a little later. I work second shift at a hospital, so this is a sore point for me. The drivers are great folks. They're pretty strict so the passenger's are well behaved. All buses have bike racks. New buses are diesel hybrids that are very green and quiet.

I rarely take the bus. I happened to take it today because my foot hurts a bit and I'm giving it a rest.

The bus service here in Minneapolis is phenomenal. There is literally a bus that will get within about a mile or two of wherever your going in Minneapolis/St. Paul proper and alot of places out in the suburbs too.
We just got a light rail too, but it's route is really limited, it'll be nice when it gets expanded.

I grew up in St. Paul; I left there in the mid-1980s, but even then the bus system was wonderful.

Buses are just big metal boxes of stupid evil.

Buses are just big metal boxes of stupid evil.

Please elucidate.

Not everyone can cycle. Some people are physically incapable of it. Some people have to travel farther than can be conveniently be done by bike. Some terrains are difficult if not impossible to negotiate by bike except, perhaps, by a trained athelete on a high-end machine. If we eliminate the private automobile, or restrict it to where it becomes the domain of the very rich or other specialty users, what, given that not everywhere can practicably be served by rail, do we have left except for the bus?

Now, granted, most busses are powered by diesel, which is very smelly and messy. However, various technologies can reduce the emissions of even those busses that are still diesel, and it is not impossible to have busses run on propane and other relatively clean combusticants.

Hence, I cannot understand your blanket condemnation of busses.

Around here the buses are usually full of the people the cops wont let congregate on street corners that also seem to have most of the communicable diseases in the book.

Last time my girlfriend and I were on one we both wound up with upper respiratory infections and I got a rash on my arm where it touched the person sitting next to me. (she and I were unable to get seats next to each other so it wasn't here, she's also got a touch of claustrophobia which didn't help matters any, she usually tries to get a seat in the front, all the windows help but this time the only seat available were towards the back.)

And the fumes coming from the engine were a spring breeze compared to the funk the filled the passenger compartment.

Let's just say I've never had a pleasant experience taking the bus so I avoid it like the plague it is.

Around here the buses are usually full of the people the cops wont let congregate on street corners that also seem to have most of the communicable diseases in the book.

Last time my girlfriend and I were on one we both wound up with upper respiratory infections and I got a rash on my arm where it touched the person sitting next to me. (she and I were unable to get seats next to each other so it wasn't here, she's also got a touch of claustrophobia which didn't help matters any, she usually tries to get a seat in the front, all the windows help but this time the only seat available were towards the back.)

And the fumes coming from the engine were a spring breeze compared to the funk the filled the passenger compartment.

Let's just say I've never had a pleasant experience taking the bus so I avoid it like the plague it is.

Sounds like you're kind of delicate.

Sounds like you're kind of delicate.

Nope, just hate buses, just like some people hate helmets, kickstands, or bikes with gears.

But over the next six years NJ Transit is supposed to be adding about 200 buses and, if they keep their promise, they'll be equipped with bike racks...

I'm hoping that will improve things somewhat.

Nope, just hate buses, just like some people hate helmets, kickstands, or bikes with gears.

But over the next six years NJ Transit is supposed to be adding about 200 buses and, if they keep their promise, they'll be equipped with bike racks...

I'm hoping that will improve things somewhat.

I'm not crazy about buses either. I prefer to walk or bike, almost all the time. But I think the myth that you'll get a disease on a bus, or be forced to deal with people who are from another culture or income level, is one of the big obstacles to public transit in North America. Fortunately, other cultures don't share this attitude, mostly just us Yanks and Canucks.

I'm not crazy about buses either. I prefer to walk or bike, almost all the time. But I think the myth that you'll get a disease on a bus, or be forced to deal with people who are from another culture or income level, is one of the big obstacles to public transit in North America. Fortunately, other cultures don't share this attitude, mostly just us Yanks and Canucks.

I don't have any trouble with "another culture or income level", it's just the ones that don't bathe or, just as bad, go through an entire can of Axe at a time... And getting sick on the bus is no myth, take an enclosed space full of people and if someone has something communicable you can be reasonably sure it'll get passed around, the last time I took the bus I wound up with bronchitis, most likely from the guy in the seat behind me that was coughing the entire time.

I have a couple friend (hard as that may be to believe) that take the bus regularly and they don't share my view, which is just fine, it is just my opinion after all, they've made friends on the bus and had no problems other than getting colds more often then they did before busing.

I just prefer getting there under my own power and on my own schedule, and without having to pay a fare. ;)

I take the bus regularly... the 'problem' passengers make up MAYBE 5% of the total passengers... and that's on the worst runs.

Then again... the other day I checked the schedule for the bus and realized that I had a half hour till the bus got there... so I just rode. Stopped at the store and picked up dinner, rode the rest of the way home. (about 10 miles total) and still got there 15 minutes before the bus!

The bus does make a great combination with a bike for getting around, though... I use it a lot when I'm just not up to riding all the way, or when I'm going the same way as a bus that has a faster route than I can ride... or even to the further rides... (Riding 30 miles to the start of a 100+ mile ride kinda sucks!)

But I think the myth that you'll get a disease on a bus, or be forced to deal with people who are from another culture or income level, is one of the big obstacles to public transit in North America. Fortunately, other cultures don't share this attitude, mostly just us Yanks and Canucks.

I think there are a number of myths about bus travel. The big one I see is that the routes are completely useless... compared to car travel! The fact is that even though the service could be better, you can actually do a lot of useful travel on the bus... in situations where your bike won't work. Most of the mythology comes from folks who have never set foot on the bus; they spread certain "facts" to bolster their feeling that the automobile is the only way. It's actually the same sort of bamboozlement that keeps them from travelling by bike (ie, too sweaty, too hot, too cold... whatever.)

1. Bring a Walkman.

2. If you find a baggie of something, don't smoke or snort it until you've let Mikey try it first.

Trust me on this.

I don't know why cities hate buses, but they do. People in the seattle area brag about the bus system, but in my opinion, it's a convoluted, inconvenient mess, and I think the government officials make it that way on purpose to push through their even more expensive light rail debacle.

The bus system could be top notch but as it is now I will never take it.

The earliest bus I could take wouldn't arrive at my work until 40 minutes after I usually start my job. It would also be impossible to get home in time to pick up my kids.

There's no way of telling when my bus is going to arrive, or if it will arrive at all. There's tons of places that have gps technology in their buses and have timers at the bus stops telling you how long you'll wait for your bus. It would be great to be able to punch that info up on a smartphone to track my bus before I even leave the house, or have it automatically send me a text message if the bus has broken down, or needs to be re-routed due to the weather. As it is now, you just wait and wait some more until you just give up wondering wtf happened to your bus.

Then there's the buses themselves. They are uncomfortable, aged, pieces of junk. If the buses were the same standard as the rail line they have up and running now, with padded seats, ports for your laptop, etc. then it might be more palatable. However, the last thing I want is to sit in some cramped, hard plastic seat (or stand, which is often the case) with no place to store my backpack or laptop bag (except my lap), and be forced to sit next to a crazy homeless person and take twice as long as driving my car (even takes longer than riding my bike the whole way).......no thank you.

It would have been nice if sound transit had poured even a fraction of the light rail money into buses to give us dedicated bus lanes, less transfers, gps notification, comfortable buses, and more buses to reduce wait times and more routes, but as it is now, the bus is just too inconvenient and frustrating. Oh, and provide more than 2-3 slots for bikes. I doubt it will happen in my lifetime however. Seattle area is determined to ride this light rail thing into the ground. I guess I'll have to buy a house twice as expensive somewhere along the line and get a new job close to that line so I can make use of the thing.

I ride the bus sometimes in L.A..It's not my favorite way to get around but it beats walking.

If they only had those damn ports for my laptop and someway to recharge the cellphone....VERY important you know!!!.....LOL!!!

If they only had those damn ports for my laptop and someway to recharge the cellphone....VERY important you know!!!.....LOL!!!Wireless LAN FTW! That's what our local transport authorities are riggin' up, maybe in an effort to make bus commuting more appealing. Really.

A typical commute around here takes about 30 mins or less. You would be better off leaving 15 mins earlier and spending that time in the office, where you can actually get some work done. As compared to swaying around on your bus seat (if you get a seat, that is) trying to keep your precious laptop from falling down, opening memos on the screen for you and a bunch of complete strangers to read etc.

I can understand recharge plugs and WLAN and whatnot in trains. There are people who commute +2,5 hrs daily by train, our train operator has special carriages for them where you can really work. But commuter buses... give me a break.

--J

In Winnipeg and Edmonton, the bus service was/is fine ... in some areas it was a little strange (3 busses to travel 6.5 kilometers from home to work) but there wasn't much waiting, it all happened fairly smoothly.

In Red Deer, the bus service isn't so good. It takes me 10 minutes to get from home to the college by car, but would take me over an hour by bus, and a good portion of that hour would be spent waiting at a bus depot downtown ... waiting there so long in fact, that when I was thinking of bussing to school, I actually debated about taking the bus to that depot, and then walking from there. I figured I would arrive at the college about the same time as the bus did if I walked. It's kinda sad when walking and taking the bus take about the same amount of time.

Now I wish there was a train service (fast train, like France has) between Calgary and Edmonton, with one stop in Red Deer. That would be PERFECT!! They keep talking about building it ... they've been talking for about 5 years now. Everyone has agreed it would be a great idea. It's gone to various levels of government and every time there's a report about it in the newspaper, everyone in power is in favor of it. The whole province seems to be on board. But do you think they're actually building anything yet ...... NOPE!

I took the light rail and bus here today to the doctor, over an hour for just 5 miles. Though I gripe about it and probably could have walked there faster, I was thankful it was available since I was unable to bike. I took a cab ride home from the doctors office, would have ridden the bus home but I just felt to violated after visiting the doctor, involving a pesky saddle sore, a scalpel and my bottom:(.

Gerv - I'm on board with you. The DSM metro system is not just poor, it's poorly planned. I used to use the bus, but when I moved, there wasn't service within a few miles.

But that's DSM. They can't get anything right when it comes to alternative transportation. From the outskirts of town, I'm hard pressed to have a good, easy way to commute downtown via bike, even on a good day.

I guess I'm one of the lucky ones. the Champaign-Urbana MTD is consistently recognized as the (or one of the) top small town bus systems in the country. If fact, there are likely more bus stops/services here than in several larger cities. They run on time, and can take you just about anywhere in town.

Having said that...I do ride the bus and appreciate it. However, in most cases it is still faster just to get on the bike and ride. It is nice though to have a completely viable backup mode of transportation when the weather or my body isn't up to par.

Fortunately, other cultures don't share this attitude, mostly just us Yanks and Canucks.
Just like in the US, Canada has regional variation. In larger, older denser cities the public transit is heavily used, and fairly efficient. In smaller, newer or more suburbanized areas it is not very useful. In Toronto the TTC used to be the best transit service in the nation (and maybe still is) but with forced amalgamation of the surrounding municipalities in the late '90s and the expectation that they all get the same service, it has deteriorated a bit. Still pretty good. I use the bus and/or subway to get to work about 40 days a year and bike the rest.

I am on the central corridor of the city, so a lot of the rush hour passengers are white collar workers and professionals, but people from all walks of life ride side by side with no problem. The Yonge St. subway shuts down for the night between 1 and 4 am, and the bus that runs that route during those hours is known as the "vomit comet".

But that's DSM. They can't get anything right when it comes to alternative transportation. From the outskirts of town, I'm hard pressed to have a good, easy way to commute downtown via bike, even on a good day.
I'd kind of disagree with you here. I think it takes a while -- and a lot of exploration -- to find a route that is fairly direct and safe. But that route is definitely out there for the finding. Good luck.

It would have been nice if sound transit had poured even a fraction of the light rail money into buses to give us dedicated bus lanes, less transfers, gps notification, comfortable buses, and more buses to reduce wait times and more routes, but as it is now, the bus is just too inconvenient and frustrating.

I had a similar problem. The lightrail was getting 1 billion in state money and the bus situaton was run by private companies who could care less. I got tired and moved 8 blocks away from the lightrail station. Now I have access to a train that comes every 15 minutes or less.