Rapid Ride

           The new Rapid Ride D line ride times vary a lot. They put extra buses on during peak times to help with the extra riders and confused riders but this has caused them to "stack up". During one of my rides it took nearly 20 minutes to get from one end of downtown to the other. On another I talked with the driver about my new stop downtown and he showed me his monitor readings. He was 7 minutes late but had a bus 4 minutes in front of him and one right behind us too. Guess it will take them time to figure out just how many extra buses to add during peak times to keep things going smoothly.

 The new buses have three sets of doors. Enter and pay at the front, exit the rear doors keeps peeps moving faster. Nice to have a shiny  new ride, it even has that new car smell. No squeaks or rattles, comfortable ride, good acceleration. The new contoured seats don't have much cushion for my skinny ass tho.

 The old Washington Mutual Tower is now called the Russel Investments Center since WaMu was seized in September of 08 by the government . Still a beautiful building and one of my favorites. My new north bound bus stop is located right under it on Seneca St between 2nd and 3rd.

 Looking down Seneca St. New bus stop is on the left half way down the block. Nice new view but it's on a slope and has no bench or shelter. I may have to walk to the next stop between Pike and Pine on 3rd Ave, which is a very busy stop, but has good deals on drugs, prostitutes, and thugs. Oh and plenty of cops.

 Another skyscraper next to the old WaMu building.

 In these two shots you can see the new Rapid Ride bus coming off of the Alaskan Way Viaduct.