Rantz: Seattle buses still filthy during coronavirus scare

King County Metro promised to clean their buses daily to help stem the outbreak of coronavirus. They’re not doing a very good job in Seattle. The buses are filthy.

Metro reported on March 3 that “night crews will begin to clean every bus in Metro’s fleet using a bleach solution to wipe down high-touch surfaces … and disinfect the transit operator’s work area.” Maybe they forgot the buses I ride on in Seattle?

Expectations too high?

King County Metro buses aren’t necessarily known for being clean — at least the ones in Seattle. They’re often filled with litter and have a tendency to stink of body odor or human waste.

But after the coronavirus outbreak, Metro claimed they’d be cleaning their buses with a sanitizing solution called Virex. It would be sprayed on handrails, seats and windows.

In a tweet, Metro displayed a worker providing a detailed clean with a rag in some of the nooks and crannies. They’re hard at work! Except they’re not.

The buses somehow seem filthier than normal in Seattle, where the bulk of riders will use a bus.

🌙🚌🚎 Night crews will begin to clean every bus in Metro’s fleet using a bleach solution to wipe down high-touch surfaces such as buttons, handholds, pull cords, rails, and stanchions and disinfect the transit operator’s work area.https://t.co/AuAuPB42i1

— King County Metro 🚏 🚌🚎⛴🚐 (@kcmetrobus) March 4, 2020

So must dust and hair

On the bus ride to CenturyLink for Saturday’s Sounders game, I took the 62 bus to Pioneer Square in Seattle. Maybe I was paying closer attention than I normally do, but the windows were disgusting. There was a lot of dust.

Not dust that accumulated in the last 12 hours from heavy use. Indeed, the buses have been fairly empty during the coronavirus. This was dust that very clearly has been accumulating for weeks. And then there’s the hair. The white hair. The dead skin cells. The dirty windows.

This bus definitely wasn’t cleaned by the worker in the propaganda photo posted to Metro’s twitter feed. These windows haven’t been cleaned in a very long time. And the return bus was almost as bad.

Over-promise, under-deliver

Even with more frequent, more intense cleaning, I don’t expect the bus to be spotless. The gummy worm at the back of the bus? Some jerk left it there. Even when fewer people ride the bus, there’s still going to be trash and dirt. That isn’t Metro’s fault.

But when you promise frequent, deep cleans, you set an expectation that you won’t have what looks like a month’s worth of dust, skin cells, and hair collect all across the windows of your bus. If you’re not capable of providing that level of a clean, why show us photos of a worker paying close attention to detail?

I usually expect about 50% less of what Metro promises. Why? Because I’m a customer. They never deliver. Even with fewer riders, the buses I take have managed to be late. But even accounting for my lack of faith, Metro failed big time in cleaning their buses when it seems to matter most.

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