3 went by my stop today before I decided to walk.

My bus came right on time, waited for the old lady running down the block, and got me to work long before I wanted to be here.

I was waiting for the #5 near Fremont Ave. 40 minutes passed and no southbound #5 showed up. The crowd grew large and impatient. In that time, 4 northbound #5 busses passed right by our stop.

Finally a lady walking by informs us that she called metro and the #5 is on a snow route and would not be serving that stop all day.

WTF?

Why didn't one of those northbound #5 drivers take 2 seconds to roll down the window and tell us that?

There was no snow on the route. The buses heading up Fremont were making decent time and had no problems getting up the completely bare road, but for some reason they were not going southbound?

Barely got on mine it was so packed, after my stop we pretty much took on no other passengers. Although my bus (from the Hill downtown) is typically standing room only normally, all I can figure is that all the assholes that normally drive decide to take the bus the minute a single flake drops, leaving all of us normal bus-riders standing on the sidewalk (especially if you get on anywhere closer to downtown than 15th).

I rode the SLUT today, for the first time since opening week. A combination of a snowy cap hill (preventing me from bicycling in), a dentist appointment downtown and its arrival as I was walking by the stop conspired to get me onboard.

It still took a few minutes longer than walking, but it was warm.

The exact same thing happened to me! I guess folks thought driving might end up being for suckers. It actually seemed like a MASS transit system this AM.

Weird.

I waited almost 30 minutes for a 71/72/73 to show up. I had to wait even longer as the next two to arrive were full. Finally got on one nearly 45 minutes after I arrived at the bus stop. Saw at least 4 northbound buses whiz by as I was waiting.

Waited 50 minutes at the stop for a 73. 2 went by in the other direction while we stood there. While I am sure that the snow had something to do with it, I have had similar waits on perfectly clear days. I hate the transport in this city, but I guess Mayor Fatass has to make sure everyone is protected from strippers before dealing with minor problems like the viaduct or "rapid" transit.

my southbound commuter just wizzed by me this morning, thankfully a half-empty was directly, like 30 seconds behind

The 49 from Broadway to the U-District just didn't come as scheduled at all. I guess they only use the short buses on snow days, and just don't have enough of them? When it finally did show up, everyone had to pack into the tiny bus like sardines only to be dropped off at work 45 minutes late. I probably could have walked faster.

I waited downtown in the bus tunnel for almost an hour and a half for my bus, the 255. I probably could have walked to Kirkland faster.

I haven't left the house yet. Metro has yet to fail me.

My bus never showed up. Whee!

Are you new to Seattle or something? Who expects buses to be reliable in Seattle, especially when the weather is less than perfect?
Our bus system is barely adequate for the retarded, the insane, drunks, students, the handicapped, and the poor. What they lack in terms of efficiency they make up for in terms of building solidarity among the lumpenproletariat.

I walked 4.5 miles to work today, from the U District. I gave up waiting for the bus.

In the half hour I stood at 3 separate bus stops (Ave/43rd, 42nd/Roosevelt, Campus Pkwy), in the U District, a neighborhood from which I can normally catch the 71, 72, 73, 79 or 355 or even the 49, 66 or 70 if need be... I saw TWO buses. Everyone at every stop had been waiting for quite a while. One bus I saw had its terminal sign on and blew past. The other, a 71, was so packed it turned people away at Campus Parkway.

During my 90 minute walk I saw, along Eastlake, a single 66, too packed to accept new riders at a nearby stop, and a 70, too packed to accept new riders at a nearby stop. Had I stood at Campus Pkwy and waited, I'd have probably still been waiting by the time I finally stumbled into work.

Metro failed today. And the conditions hardly warrant it. I stopped next to no ice on the sidewalks, and the roads were clear. It looks like the drivers or the coordinators just quit on today. It says a lot about Seattle, a city so desperate for snow days that they try to use the slightest dusting as an excuse to pack it in. I think laziness and negligence played a much larger role in the delays than the weather.

I waited 30 minutes for an 8 bus to come by...or even a 43...but while I saw several headed east, nothing came by headed westward, not even a packed bus! Finally a coworker happened to drive by and picked me up.

Got a ride in today, and I'm walking home. On days like this, the 49 isn't even worth waiting for.

maybe people are finally starting to discover the joys of public transportation. Gimme transit baby!

My bus arrived three minutes after I got to my stop five minutes earlier than normal: hence it arrived two minutes early.

The bus driver, not the one I normally see at this time, but one I see every now and then, quipped it was a nice day. I thought it was a good day -- nobody hit me, I didn't slip on black ice, it was daylight.

Then we go on, and when we reach the third park and ride on the route, someone climbing the bus says "we were wondering if you were ever going to get here." Then I suspected my bus, although it had the correct route number and went on its expected path, was not the bus I was thinking I was going to take.

It was kinda Twilight Zoney. Especially when I arrived fifteen minutes early to work and people in the coffee room were asking me if I had traffic difficulties.

I live at the bottom of Queen Anne where there was barely any snow. I didn't even know it had snowed until KUOW started reading the school closure list. My usual bus doesn't run when Metro is on snow routes, so I spent ten frantic minutes trying to find out that vital piece of information. I found nothing on the Metro website, their customer info line was busy busy busy, and I heard nothing flipping between KOMO, KING and KIRO (and checking their websites). Can anyone suggest a better place to look?

We passed a bunch of groups on the 550 about two hours ago. I thought it was funny.

My bus came only a bit later than normal (the 11 on Capitol Hill which turns into the 125 so I can get to West Seattle) and was absolutely, ridiculously packed. I was standing up by the driver. At least until downtown. After third and Pine I was able to get a seat.

bus only transit sucks like THIS 5/365.25 of the time

My Route 17 came on time, except that apparently the previous several had not. Therefore, the bus was too full for anyone to get on (this is at like the third stop on the route). Frustrating.

Wherever they start the 17s from, up past Golden Gardens, seems to be the source of the problem, since the route from Ballard on is fine. I wish Metro would have an alternate plan for these mornings.

24. I don't think they needed to go to their snow plan at all. Maybe in the very early hours while it was still frosty and cars hadn't taken to the road yet, but once it warmed up above freezing and the roads and sidewalks were clear, they should have had the sense to cease the snow schedule and roll the trolley buses out.

Poor adaptability on their part, at best. I don't recall them turning this clueless on previous ice/snow days this winter.

Anyone who actually rides metro all the time knows this is par for the course when any hint of incliment weather arises. As a consistent commuting bus rider for the last six years in Seattle, and splitting time between the 358 Express and the 71,72,73 Express buses over that time, I came to expect disfunction. Especially over the last year or two. Even on nice days when I was done with work around five, I would get to my stop downtown and have three full buses pass before I could get on. On snow days there is no telling whether a bus would come at all. It all ticked me off so much I decided to move to Capitol Hill, close to work so I didn't have to deal with Joe Metro anymore. And we wonder why people don't like riding the bus in this town.

I biked from Ballard to Cap Hill, the snow was powder, so no sweat! fuck a damn bus.

I didn't go to work today. Like any civilized person would do in response to such weather, I'm sitting comfortably by the window listening to The Sundays and sipping cocoa.

It must have been terrible waiting for those buses. My sympathies.

In other news, I hope you enjoyed how crowded the buses were, because that's going to be the norm after they start tolling 520.

26. Well, the last 2-3 times we woke up to snow/ice on a workday, this didn't happen, or at least not as badly. Last time, the 70-series dragged their feet but I walked down the street and caught the 355 Downtown.

And the snow/ice wasn't nearly as bad today as it was the last couple times. Every street was clear and not at all slippery walking across. I know it can get icier as you head north, but there was so little in the U District that I can't imagine it was all that icy at 7:30 am in Northgate and Lake City, if at all.

That's what stinks about this lapse in service. I can understand a complete choke in service if the streets are too icy for comfort. But it's not even close. This reeks to me of some sort of collective human error.

I usually walk from Capitol Hill to my downtown job, but thought a bus would be a safer and faster ride - plus my co-worker could not make it in to work from Sumner and someone needed to be there.

Our bus stop group, waiting for the 49, was picked up by a very nice Metro driver on her back to the hub to end her shift. She passed us, then, after seeing us waiting, turned around to take us down Broadway to catch connecters. She informed us that she had not seen a 49. My connecter (43) did not show up and I ended up walking downtown as I usually do.

there must have been fifty people waiting at my stop. i ended up getting on an articulated 17 Express at 9AM (about 45 minutes after the last 17X usually runs). she had been trapped by a car pileup on sunset hill. the bus was mostly empty because everyone had piled onto the single local that had arrived a minute earlier.

Feh, I had to drive in to work today, because: A.) I don't ride the scooter in this kind of weather; and B.) I have large, heavy objects I have to pick up after work, and it only took me maybe 2 minutes longer than my normal commute, which is already pretty short as it is.

Trusting your commute to Metro on a day like this is tantamount to just throwing up your hands and calling it quits from the get-go; you might as well not even bother to try to go in, unless you have some pressing assignment or deadline that simply can't be put off for a day.

I waited for 30 minutes (three possible departure times) for the #12 from Interlaken to show up. None went in either direction. Eventually someone who parks near the bus stop offered to drive a few of us downtown. We saw only one #12 bus, going the other way, almost when we were in downtown.

Probably would have been 30 minutes before that #12 made it's way back around.

And yet Metro's web site listed no problems with the #12 route.

Lame.

#44 did just that...
zoomed by (30 min. late) full of lame-o's who would normally never be caught dead on Metro.
Not just one bus btw but 3!
I have just changed jobs and was looking forward to a simple trouble free bus commute. I guess that is too much to expect from such a transit-impaired city such as this.
I remember hating Metro from the old days...
today I was reminded why.
Must be time to tune up the old bike and get pedaling.

Woke up late and waited 50 minutes for the 74 or 75, got on the first one that came, transferred @ the U to a packed 73 express. If I had gotten up on time I would have simply been waiting another 30 minutes, since the 6:15'ers were still waiting when I got to the stop at 6:40.

Get a 4by, and days like these become fun.

I live @ the end of the 73 route, and would not even bother looking for a bus. What happens is: the driver of the first 73 (~6AM) spins his tires a bit, and sends the general freak-out to base. All other drivers, being proud union members, refuse to leave the bus barn, 'cause they can.

By the way, the snow reroute will be posted, but not today. They'll post it tomorrow, and make it look like they did it today.

I was waiting for 20 minutes for a 43 to get downtown for an interview. People told me that 2 flew by, one empty and the other full.

I finally shared a cab with a woman going the same way. Ugh. I would have walked but I was in super high heels and didn't want to risk a broken ankle. Fucking Metro, there wasn't any snow on the ground, and the roads were clear.

I waited for my #2 bus for half an hour. No bus came. I started walking. After I walked for a little bit, I saw the bus coming. I waited for it--just so it could pass all the stops and not pick anyone up! It was completely aggravating, lots of people were pissed!
WTF???

The scenario from #36 seems a lot more accurate than I'd like it to be :(

We need to keep days like this in mind the next time the driver's union strikes.

Ahh King County Metro how love thee. The transit corridor otherwise know as Eastlake during daytime hours is only served by the 66 and 70.

Arrived at the 70 stop to find 20 people waiting at 7:30 am, some having been there since 7:15. At 8:00 after the second 66 express blew by a contingent of the 20 hiked to the Eastlake and Lynn stop where 40 or so were waiting.

Convinced that I could not elbow my way to the fron of the que I walked on to the Street car only to see it pull away as I approched a block away.

I continued walking the 70 route. Not a single 70 passed in the hour walk down town. So how did things get so fouled that we didnt have service on that route for an hour and a half.

I was lucky enough to be on the bus that was zooming by. (#49 heading toward Cap Hill) It was standing, squatting, crushing, seat-sharing room only, and after a few stops of trying to squeeze more people on, the driver just gave up!

And you A$$hats are so in favor of more transit like this? Listening to your whiny stories makes a guy wonder if he shouldn't support more roads less bus in any transportation plan.

I'll NEVER get onboard with a metro bus option going forward.

There is NO way I want to subject me or my family to that kind of mess...

42. The problem isn't the system, but a failure on the part of those who manage it. If the same guys are running rail transit, we probably still get retarded bottlenecks at the first sign of trouble.

fucking three 120's passed by me, all more than 45 minutes late, then two came at the same time an hour later than scheduled. the 56 was on time though. it took me an extra hour and a half to take what is usually a 40 min bus ride. I fucking hate seattle's pussy drivers that all of a sudden become bus riders as soon as the first snowflake hits the ground.

@42, adding "more roads" is shortsighted. Seattle is too big to not have a decent mass transit system, and we don't yet. It's only going to be more expensive to do in the future, folks.

On the other hand, I've always had good luck with Metro and SoundTransit on my daily commute. But it's not big enough for everyone, and driving becomes less appealing every day.

how much are bus riders willing to pay for busses that are on time all the time? 2 bucks? thats how much MTA charges for the subway.

I drove today.