BUS STORY # 84 (Bus Chick)

The third link on this blog is “Bus Chick (Seattle).” This blog is interesting in that it is a reader blog sponsored by one of the Seattle dailies, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. This link opens to a provocative “about the author” blurb:

“Carla Saulter is one of a growing number of Seattleites who have chosen to live without a car. Because Seattle still does not have in-city rapid transit, she takes the bus everywhere – really, everywhere – she goes. On any given Saturday night, you can find her running for the number 27 in heels and a backless dress.”

Carla really does take the bus everywhere. In November’s postings, we learn she and her husband (Bus Nerd) took the bus to the hospital for the delivery of their first child. And, yes, all three took the bus home.

Carla’s focus ranges far beyond the bus, however. As she puts it in one of her posts:

“If you ride the bus in this region, want to ride the bus in this region, or just want to know what it’s like to ride the bus in this region, this blog is for you . . . If you are interested in the future of public transportation or the future of this (beautiful but rapidly changing) city, this blog is for you . . . if you are interested in your fellow citizens, this blog is definitely for you. You will find regular stories about all of the brilliant, insane, angry, kind, confused, beautiful people I encounter and observe every day.” — “ The world, according to Bus Chick”


I did a story a while ago about bus advertising in the form of bus wraps. Bus wraps registered about a 0.00007 on Albuquerque’s Richter scale. But I learned from Bus Chick that they rocked Seattle.

Seems the major complaints are that the riders can’t see clearly out the windows covered by the wraps, and the wraps make the inside of the bus gloomy. There are other issues, too – Bus Chick has an active and vocal (and often entertaining) comments section. (See “OK, what if they were partially wrapped?”)


Here in Albuquerque, the only difficulty I have seeing out a wrapped window is if I’m sitting in the window seat and trying to look out ahead. Otherwise, I think Lamar (the same Lamar who has the frog-green Rapid Ride pictured above and has it's own link on the ABQ RIDE website) has got the visibility problem pretty well figured out.

As for complaints about dimness inside the bus, I gotta believe this is because Seattle has about 47 minutes of sunshine a year. We, on the other hand, are grateful for any sun screening properties the wrapped windows might provide . . .

Next week: Bus Tales.com.

__________

First photo is a Seattle DE60LK – like our Rapid Ride buses – from the New Flyer website.