Upon moving to Seattle, I made the conscious decision to sell my car and use public transportation. There are a multitude of reasons to do this, but I have to say, the bus system has treated me well. A few snags here and there are to be expected, but if you’re on top of it, you should rarely have problems getting where you need to go.

Everyday, I take a bus from in front of my apartment to the Transit Center at Northgate and four buses depart from there within ten minutes of each other to get me here. So, if my bus is a few minutes later or earlier than usual, I can always get here on time. Today was a different story. The new driver on my route was unusually slow in getting to the Transit Center. I was 10 minutes late for work. This is not a big deal. It doesn’t happen frequently, and if it starts to, I can simply find another way to get to work.

A fellow passenger did not feel the same way. Upon leaving the bus, she looked at the driver and stated “My family has a lot of connections with the City of Seattle, and if I continue to be late for school, there are going to be problems.” If I had had the time, my response would’ve gone something like this:

• The bus is not your personal chauffeur.
• If the bus leaves its starting point on time, the rest of the trip is out of the driver’s control. Of course they will try to stay on schedule, but they don’t control the lights and the amount of people coming on and off.
• It is the passenger’s responsibility to make sure they arrive to their destination on time. Find another route if the one you’re taking isn’t timely.
• Even if you were driving yourself, you can’t predict exactly when you will arrive.

So, with all of this being said, I’d like to personally thank our bus drivers. Thank you for providing this service to us. Thank for allowing me to get to work. Thank you for helping to make our world greener. Thank you for getting me around without having to make my car payment and pay for gasoline and insurance.