Metro fails at even a basic function of their job

Though not always easy to do, the responsibility of King County Metro is pretty straightforward: pick people up and drop them off safely. It requires much more than simply driving a bus, and that’s where Metro failed us this past weekend.

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Though I get falsely labeled anti-transit (or anti-bike), the majority of the time, I’m not traveling in a car. I walk, primarily, but will take Metro for the trips that aren’t long enough to warrant driving, but not short enough to walk. Over the weekend, I aimed to take a Metro bus but a sign was confusing; not just to me, but some of the others trying to figure it out.

There was construction at the intersection. I assumed that the bus driver would just go around the construction. But, instead, the bus service was totally canceled. The sign? It didn’t explain.

It said the bus stop was temporarily closed, which is clear; the details of the closure wasn’t.

“This bus stop will be closed nightly due to construction,” it read. This would make sense if the bus stop was closed more than one night. But it wasn’t. The dates given read: Friday, September 15th from 7:00 PM to Saturday, September 16th at 7:00 PM.”

This led me and another woman confused by the sign to try figure out if it’s closed just at night or that one night through the day? Because, nightly indicates two nights, but these dates indicate one night and throughout the day. Being closed from 5 p.m.-7 p.m. on one night wouldn’t qualify as being closed a second night.

It turns out it meant one night and the entire Saturday. Either that or the bus just chose to not show up while we were there. I ended up taking an Uber.

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Why is this important? It’s really simple: we ask Metro to provide one basic function. We don’t ask for much. Pick us up safely, drop us off safely, and clearly communicate where we get picked up and dropped off. When you can’t provide that basic level of service, why would we continue to use you when there are other options?

I don’t think it’s too much to ask for a clear sign that helps us understand whether or not you’ll provide your basic function. Though when you’re staffed by drivers incapable of following basic traffic laws, I suppose I shouldn’t expect they’ll clearly communicate during construction.

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