August 12th, 2008

The unwritten rule of riding a Seattle Metro bus

The Metro King County transit site has all the facts about how to ride the bus, but there’s another rule that is applied by convention rather than by any formal codification:

For some reason, and I see this only in Seattle, it is customary to say Thank you to the bus driver as you get off the bus.

Tip for new riders: If you aren’t familiar with the area, you can ask the bus driver to announce the stop you intend to get off at.

Bonus tip for bicyclists: There is an experimental program running this summer to allow bicyclists to ride out-of-service buses across the 520 bridge for free. You have to get on at Evergreen Point and get off at Montlake (or vice versa). This is in addition to the existing policy of allow bicyclists to ride out-of-service buses across the bridge (paying the normal fare), eastbound as far as 51st St, assuming the bus is heading that way. (This bonus tip is not that helpful to Microsoft employees, who already get free bus passes and a special bike shuttle, but I figured I’d toss it out there.)

Author

Raymond has been involved in the evolution of Windows for more than 30 years. In 2003, he began a Web site known as The Old New Thing which has grown in popularity far beyond his wildest imagination, a development which still gives him the heebie-jeebies. The Web site spawned a book, coincidentally also titled The Old New Thing (Addison Wesley 2007). He occasionally appears on the Windows Dev Docs Twitter account to tell stories which convey no useful information.

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