One of my colleagues lives on Bainbridge Island and has quite a long commute to work each day. From his house, he walks to the bus stop, then takes the bus to the Winslow ferry terminal, then takes the ferry to the Seattle ferry terminal, then takes the bus to Microsoft. And at the end of the day, he does the trip in reverse. One day, for whatever reason, he drove to work instead of taking the bus. He drove to the ferry terminal, took the ferry across, then drove to work. And at the end of the day, he drove to the ferry, but when the ferry arrived at its destination, he forgot that he had driven his car and walked off the boat to the bus. While on his way home on the bus, he got a phone call from his wife. “Did you forget your car on the ferry, dear?” Oops. Now, leaving your car on the ferry is a bad thing not just because your car is now an obstacle on the ferry deck which all the other drivers must maneuver around. When there is an abandoned car on the deck, one of the possibilities that must be investigated is that a passenger has fallen overboard. The crew took the ship offline, conducted a search of the vessel, and initiated a search-and-rescue operation along the ferry route, looking for a body floating in the water. My colleague had to sheepishly call the ferry authorities and say, “Hello, I believe you’re looking for me.”

(Today is Transit Driver Appreciation Day, but I don’t think your ferry captain will complain if you thank him/her, too.)