King County Metro: Weather Fail

Here in Washington state, there is a mission to reduce peoples’ reliance on cars and their impact. It’s strongest in Seattle where Mayor Greg Nickels is trying to incentivise people not to drive their cars. Part of the solution is to provide an alternate means of transportation. In Seattle, that comes in the form of buses, almost-here (coming in late 2009) light rail, monorail, and the SLUT.

I’ve been making the effort in my own life to minimize my driving. I walk a lot more. Typically if my destination is in downtown or near Seattle Center I’ll walk. Optionally I’ll ride the monorail or the SLUT. Outside of that I’ll take the bus.  Even after all that, there are still a few times I’ll drive my car. But I’m supporter of mass transit. I see it as essential for any city of significance. So I’m glad the city of Seattle is encouraging people to take mass transit. What I’m not glad about, is what I witnessed over the last few days.

There’s a snow storm going on now. While the amount of snow we’re getting is uncommon for Seattle (some are calling it Snopocalypse ’08) it’s pretty run of the mill for cities like Chicago, New York City, and Boston. I wanted to go to Lower Queen Anne on Saturday night so I went to over to 3rd street and Pike to catch the bus. Routes 3, 4, and 16 all can get me where i wanted to go, or at least close enough. I waited about 25 minutes before I pulled up the internet on my mobile to check the status. What I discovered was that many routes had been suspended.  I wasn’t the only one out there. There was a crowd of people all standing in the frigid night waiting for a bus to take them home. These people were failed by King County Metro. They need to realize that if you want people to rely on mass transit, it has to always be available. You can’t just take it away when the weather isn’t optimal. People still need to go places and have lives to lead. I’m disappointed that King County Metro failed these people. I’m sure they weren’t the only ones, and I’m sure it will happen again.