Central Link Grand Opening

Today marks the first day of the rest of Puget Sound's history: the opening of Sound Transit's Central Link, the first stage in the large-scale Link light rail network. I went for the ribbon cutting, since I always like firsts (search for "9:33 AM"). Note: while I do live in Bothell, I usually drive to Lynnwood on weekends.

I left early this morning via the first southbound 511, then transferred to a 7. I didn't know that they had shuttles for the occasion, but ran to a 97 shuttle to Mt. Baker Station. Note that the one I rode was a Metro DE60LF, not a Sound Transit bus. The shuttle driver missed the station, and had to turn around south of Columbia City station, and negotiate the small residential streets until we got back.

Now, I didn't actually have an inaugural ride ticket, since I had work at the time they were available, but I still managed to attend the ceremony behind the "public fence." Various people, including engineers and local activists and leaders gave their speeches. However, the most ceremonious act was when the mayor of Tukwila rode a Link train North and Greg Nickels rode another Link train South to Mt. Baker Station. They performed the ribbon cutting, then the inaugural riders, including the mayors, were allowed on the trains. To my surprise, I also managed to get a seat on the southbound inaugural train, which was a three-car train. There was plenty of seating.

The ride was quite smooth, with some great views and cool art. Everyone was very excited, and surprised at how comfortable the ride was. There's even A/C, which is likely what contributes to the most of noise that the Times was complaining about.

I rode from Mt. Baker, to Tukwila (the train turned around without forcing us to transfer at the end, which isn't normal service), back to Westlake Center, and lastly down to the International District. There was a lot of roundabout walking to transfer from northbound to southbound in the Tunnel, including exiting to the surface and re-entering.

I'm extremely excited to see what this new light rail line spurs. Who knows, I may be riding it from Lynnwood on my commute to Seattle!

Snohomish Bus Adventure

Today revolved around yet another bus adventure, this time to Snohomish.

I departed Bothell for downtown Seattle via the 120 and 522, and bought some new music at Uwajimaya, along with a snack. Despite taking my time, I still had an hour before my bus out came. To waste time, I rode the 36 up to Westlake Center, then the 194 in the tunnel back to the bus stop at Jackson.

When the 424 finally did come, I was dismayed to find out that the seats I wanted wouldn't recline, but did sit in them regardless. As my previous excursion via the 424, it was odd riding a CT bus over the floating bridge and through Kirkland. The scenery changed for the better as we got further out along SR-522, which itself turned into a super two closer to Monroe.

Just past Monroe, at the intersection with US-2, a train started crossing the road before the traffic light turned green, so we were stuck for five minutes or so. I was amazed, as I had never been on a bus when this happened before.

The trip back, via the 270, 201, and 535 was uneventful, though I do believe I saw someone from UW on the last leg.

Whidbey Island Bus Trip

Well, today was sure an adventure. I took my second bus trip around Whidbey Island ever.

The first bus in the run (532) wa driven by the same guy who drove the 535 I rode to Lynnwood in the mornings during the past couple of quarters at UW. He asked if I was trying to get to Lynnwood, since he recognized me too, but I let him know I wanted Everett. Also, the bus was number 9047.

Once in Everett, I had quite a while to wait, so I went to the cafe in the station building and bought this peach drink/dessert, which I quickly finished as the 412 came. The driver was kind enough to let me wait onboard while it was in layover.

Throughout each route past Everett, the views were amazing. So many trees, open fields, and places where the road was mere feet from the water. I took the 411C, 411W, and 1 to circumnavigate Whidbey Island. The same driver did the 412 and 411C, and let me stay onboard between the routes. The weather was amazing too, with deep blues in the ocean and bright greens everywhere. The bus even passed a black-tailed deer as it ran along the edge of the road.

The ferry from Whidbey Island to Mukilteo is free in that direction, so I was treated to a great boat ride. It seems odd riding in a car ferry as a passenger, since those particular boats don't have the pedestrian bridges.

In Mukilteo, I had a small lunch at Ivar's, which included prawn and fries. Fortunately, the 113 has short headways of only up to twenty minutes. My transfer in Lynnwood to the 121 was even shorter, as I didn't have to go all the way to the transit center.

The trip was a great deal of fun, and very relaxing. Can't wait until the next one.

Seattle Transit Blog: One of my Photos!

It looks like my photo was used in a Seattle Transit Blog post! The topic of the post involved bus transfer fares.

Marriage Proposal on CT (2005)

Well, this is unique. I've heard about the man who asked to marry another on Metro, but apparently Community Transit did something similar in 2005. Of course, Metro made it into the newspaper whereas nobody noticed CT, aside from those at the Lynnwood Transit Center.

Community Transit

It looks like Community Transit has new buses running, the 28100 series. These are the first new local buses since 1999. As far as I can tell, they're of the New Flyer D40LFR type, and feature amber signs in lieu of the green that is common to the local fleet. They may even have air conditioning, as the one I saw had a large grille instead of a window at the back. Something really strange was that the numbering on the back is vertical, not horizontal like the rest.

I wanted to take a photo, but by the time I got my cell phone out, it was already pulling away. Hopefully I'll get a chance to ride one of these sometime soon.

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It's hard to say, but it may have to do with these:

• Board to Consider Buying 12 New Buses

Seattle Transit Blog: ST Light Rail Testing

It looks like the Sound Transit Central Link is starting more comprehensive tests of its vehicles. The photos here are pretty good, too.

Riding Buses

I've been riding buses regularly for years now, and I still enjoy it. When I started, I rode local routes and was interested in the express routes. However, I mainly ride express routes to UW and enjoy local routes more. It's gotten to the point that I associate certain experiences with certain songs in my collection, because I listen to music on the majority of these journeys.

My local authority, Community Transit, has many routes covering a large area of Snohomish County. Just today I rode the 270 to Gold Bar and the 280 to Granite Falls. I've found that I really like those mountain towns way out there.

Seattle Transit Blog

Although it may not be obvious, I'm a pretty big mass transit nerd, and have been since public education's school buses were my conveyance. The folks at the Seattle Transit Blog are a good source for pro-transit news in the tri-county area. I check up on it regularly.

On a side note, they have some pretty cool photos, too.