May 24, 2023
uhhhh happy mermay . hehe
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uhhhh happy mermay . hehe
Going out to a friend's BBQ! Whale Sharks used their Orca Card to take the bus ~ It's a family plan! Everything was delicious and now everyone had a full tummy ~ Thank you for inviting Whale Sharks!
oh! yesterday was ORCA's ten year anniversary. their site only keeps 2-3 years of data so I made this transit log circa 2012 to save it all.
an early version had "Actions" called "Boops"
DAY NINETY-EIGHT - 4/27/16
“BAD AUNT 18” by DJS
I know she’s only a fictional character and totally my creation… but I worry about Billie.
(Billie at a bus stop, sitting next to an IT looking guy – very put together professional type. IT guy’s on his tablet.)
BILLIE: (after a second, looking over at IT): You reading?
IT: What? Oh, no. Just checking my sites.
BILLIE: Your sites… Like what sites? Sports and stuff? Porn?
IT: (laughs, uncomfortably but not put off) Uh, no. Tech news, that kind of thing.
BILLIE: ‘Cause of your job, right? You work for what – Amazon? Microsoft?
IT: Amazon.
BILLIE: Cool cool. How’s that?
IT: Not bad.
BILLIE: Probly raking it in.
IT: I do alright.
BILLIE: And – you’re married.
(The guy looks confused for a sec, until Billie nods towards his stainless steel wedding band.)
IT: Oh – yeah.
BILLIE: What’d, you forget?
IT: (laugh) No…
BILLIE: Went for the silver, the – what’s it? Stainless steel band. Huh?
IT: Yeah…
BILLIE: Yeah, I seen those on guys used to be all tough. Fuckin’ punks and shit, wanna get married but still show they’re hard. That you?
IT: You read me like a book.
BILLIE: My gift. (pause) Hey you got any money? Like for the bus?
IT: Uhm…
BILLIE: I’m just trying to get cross town.
IT: Uh, well. Let me… check… (He searches his pockets.) I don’t usually carry cash…
BILLIE: Yeah, that’s like everybody these days. All debit cards now. Banks takin’ over.
IT: Yeah. Sorry.
BILLIE: You don’t got nothing?
IT: No. I’m sorry.
BILLIE: Ah, it’s cool. (beat) Wait but – how are you gonna pay for bus?
IT: Orca card. My work…
BILLIE: Oh yeah, those. I seen those, people using ‘em.
IT: Sorry.
BILLIE: S’ok. I can walk just as easy.
IT: I’m sorry.
BILLIE: (leaving) No, no. Check your sites. Beat off, whatever. Do what you needa do.
(Billie exits.)
I would like the ORCA card to be as convenient and universal as possible for the various public transportation modes which includes the Monorail.
Tom Rasmussen coming in strong with the "no duh" idea of integrating Orca with the Monorail, thereby making it less of a nostalgic novelty ride for tourists and more of, you know, actual transit option for the people who live and work in Seattle.
I've done the maths. Paying for my own orca card even with puget pass is going to be at a rate of $3.4 a day at a $108 a month for a $3 trip value card (the value of most trips that I take) for a 30 day month (assuming I ride the bus every day. Idk. I didn't subtract for days off. I'm trying to keep things simple here.) It's still a better deal than paying $6 every day round trip with plain cash like the transit system's bitch, but not as good as my mom's group health card's monthly value which was at least half as much as what i'm going to have to pay now. Gonna bling the shit out of this card.
EDIT: I had to find out what was the minimum amount of days I had to use the card so that I would at least break even with plain-cash-bitch rate ($6) So ($6)(X)=$108 where x is the days you ride the bus and you get 18. ok. Ride bus more than 18 days a month and you at least get a better deal than plain-cash-b. Ride all 30 or 31 days in the month and you get the 43% off deal of paying $3.4 a day vs. $6.
Ride Free No More
King County Metro's Ride Free Area, which includes Battery St. to S. Jackson St. on the south, and east at 6th Avenue to the waterfront on the west, has provided quick day-time transportation around Seattle's downtown niches since 1970.
But come September 29th, we’ll ride free no more.
Running between 7 a.m. and 6 p.m. daily, the Ride Free Area has led many urban dwellers and out-of-towners to the bus system as a staple mode of transportation. The program was originally established to speed up bus boarding and help out businesses, carting folks around during lunch breaks and making it easy to run errands after work. In August 2011, Metro decided that the potential revenue from day time downtown transit could go towards other bus projects that need a fiscal bump.
The upside?
No more confusing pay as you leave. A major criticism of our public transportation system from the outspoken urbanist Howard Kunstler after his visit to Seattle.
Puts some more pressure on city council for safer bike lanes to move up Seattle's Bike Share debut
So, as summer starts to wind down, savor a few more free rides and order that ORCA card if you don’t have it already.
16. Take the Bus by Myself
I was invited to dinner last night in Queen Anne with a few friends. It’s been dumping snow in Seattle over the last few days, and my house in Ravenna is not conveniently located to where dinner was set to take place (for all of you non-Seattleites, check out this map to see what I mean.) My immediate reaction was a firm no, absolutely not, due to my recent snow hibernation…but I desperately wanted to get out of my house and see my friends. I knew that the last few days of snow coupled with my scaredy-cat tendencies when it comes to driving in the elements meant only one thing if I wanted to get to dinner that night: the only way I would be able to get downtown would be to utilize my resources and take the bus.
Taking the bus may not seem like a difficult task for most, but I’ve never needed to use a bus before. I used the subway system when I lived in New York and using the Arizona public transportation system is like volunteering for a kidnapping. I’ve also been fortunate enough to own a car since I was 16 years old, so I’ve never really considered buses as an acceptable mode of transportation. Seattle, on the other hand, has a superb public transportation system that just about everyone I know utilizes. I decided it was time for me to give it a go.
With a bit of pre-bus coaching from my roommate Sara (she takes the bus all the time and was excited to hook me up with the sweetest bus iPhone app EVER), I was able to navigate my way down to my first bus stop. I made it on time, caught a transfer down near the U District, and made my way down to dinner at Mecca where dinner was taking place. Surprisingly, I was early.
The buildup to taking the bus was intimidating as a first time rider, but in the end I realized I had nothing to be scared of. The bus was on time, efficient, and got me to my final destination on time while allowing me to catch up on Google Reader. What better solution for a trip could I really ask for?
Lesson learned for the day: check into how expensive Orca cards are, and start taking the bus to work instead of commuting in. It’s just better.