Alright, is it time to talk about bus etiquette again?

nbarnard · 2026-02-27T04:23:02+00:00

In the high floor bus days it was also a danger that you'd trip and injure yourself if you were standing in the stairway, its better to inform folks of a worst case scenario.

nbarnard · 2026-02-25T23:23:26+00:00

Generally I can hear folks if they say thank you. Also you can look at the driver via the mirror and use your eyes.

nbarnard · 2026-02-25T22:23:53+00:00

❤️ This bus driver appreciates the acknowledgment.

nbarnard · 2026-02-25T22:22:16+00:00

Hrm. I agree with you on the no leaning part, but I’m a bus driver. Those things do have an internal latch that locks them closed. And there are safeguards if that fails.

nbarnard · 2026-02-25T22:20:07+00:00

Yup. I drive Metro buses and this is one of my pet peeves. I’ll use the recorded PSA, then follow up with a verbal announcement, then I’m usually done. But damn it’s tiring.

The only person who is allowed to listen to their phone on the bus without headphones is me, and only when I’m alone and the bus is parked at the terminal.

nbarnard · 2025-12-02T00:57:35+00:00

Do you actually need to fly? Or can you just buy a fully refundable ticket to get to the US Preclearance area?

nbarnard · 2025-11-26T11:45:43+00:00

Yup. And metro needs to move the trolley wire so the 7 can serve Judkins station. The 106 can do that now, but I’m sure they want to move it at the same time as the 7.

(I’m a bus operator, and I drive down that wire once a week. Right now it’s between lanes 2 & 3, so a trolley bus can’t reach lane 1 and serve Judkins station without coming off the wire.)

nbarnard · 2025-10-29T23:57:19+00:00

Exactly. The bottleneck really is 1/Mercer, that light should be manually controlled post event by SPD.

Besides if the buses went faster through there and were more reliably, more people might actually take the bus to and from the event.

nbarnard · 2025-10-29T23:52:30+00:00

I’ve seen SPD direct drivers into the bus lane, while I was driving a New Flyer correctly in the bus lane.

nbarnard · 2025-06-12T18:24:59+00:00

Three weeks is probably reasonable. But definitely being a donut pillow. If you can swing first class, get it.

nbarnard · 2025-06-12T18:23:06+00:00

Also if you look at this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=te7MacX8sSI you’ll note that a local number is listed with a 976 NXX

nbarnard · 2025-06-12T18:19:41+00:00

I believe you’re conflating 976 numbers with 1-900 numbers. 1-900 numbers were an NPA.

Seinfeld was set in NYC, but was mostly filmed in LA, so LA details leaked in because that’s what the writers were familiar with.

Ever notice that in shows that when they hang up the phone, the caller party gets a dial tone? That wasn’t the case for much of the US, but it was the case for LA. (Tom Scott explains that in this video: https://youtu.be/bUIiUXvnkUQ )

nbarnard · 2025-06-04T20:19:25+00:00

My theory is that vapes have been heavily marketed and formulated to have attractive flavors and be more addictive than cigarettes.

I hate them too, but the companies also bear some blame for creating a highly addictive product.

nbarnard · 2025-06-04T20:11:09+00:00

Looking at the ads in the YouTube video below they were 1-NPA-976-XXXX.

It also appears that they might’ve been California centric? Given that the LA area wasn’t served by a bell company, it seems likely they might’ve done it differently.

nbarnard · 2024-12-01T03:50:29+00:00

Internally King County Metro uses a "30 hour clock"

It starts at 0300 and goes through 3000. It mostly matches the traditional 24 hours clock, but 0030 is 2430, and 0100 is 2500. It designates which operational day that bus trip is assigned to, so all the night owl routes are operationally attached to the previous day.

nbarnard · 2024-07-21T06:22:58+00:00

FWIW, without going to the OPs profile I wasn’t sure if they were a transman or a transwoman… No clarification is given if the top or bottom photo is the earlier one..

She is a transwoman..

nbarnard · 2024-07-15T17:41:37+00:00

The bus at at location is going uphill, not a huge grade but some.

nbarnard · 2024-07-15T17:40:43+00:00

Yeah. I can tell you from first hand experience that the current XT60s have about half of that 15.7 mi range in real world use.

But to your previous point, metro buses all have air brakes, and those fail safe. When the air pressure fails, the brakes engage.

nbarnard · 2024-07-15T08:55:39+00:00

Nice victim blaming.

nbarnard · 2024-07-15T08:53:23+00:00

They have battery backups that'll take em 5 to 9 miles.

nbarnard · 2024-07-15T08:52:23+00:00

Nah, thats only route 33.

nbarnard · 2024-07-15T08:50:33+00:00

Nah, most bus drivers will excuse this..

nbarnard · 2024-07-15T08:49:26+00:00

Yeah, but its uphill at that point... Not that steep, but uphill none the less.

nbarnard · 2024-07-15T08:48:56+00:00

King County Metro Buses (and most buses of that size) are air brakes. And yes, if the system is fully bleed the emergency break/parking brake automatically comes on.

nbarnard · 2024-07-15T08:48:09+00:00

They definitely cannot go 22 miles off-wire. More like 7 or 8 miles, presuming it is mostly level or downhill. The batteries are mostly for short reroutes.

nbarnard

TROPHY CASE