Seattle’s 2008 snow storm took the city by surprise. Well, the city council president and the mayor, anyway, who were both out of town at the time at the time the snow hit. The ensuing chaos, in which the city’s department of transportation failed to plow and salt major arterials, led to the election downfall of then-Mayor Greg Nickels. Nickels was oft quoted by the press and his critics as having given the slovenly DOT a B grade for their snow response effort, when everyone felt the DOT failed miserably.
The 2010 snow storm, on the other hand, couldn’t be termed a surprise by anyone. Except maybe the Washington State Department of Transportation, which posted their entire road crew on snow plow duty and left not a single person available to open the northbound express lanes on I-5 on Monday night. This led to the single worst traffic commute in modern Seattle history.
The state DOT gave one excuse for why this “happened.” Apparently, the express lanes and their entrance ramps rank at the bottom of the snow plow list of priorities. But, hey, at 3 pm, they could have devoted one snow plow, or one truck of sand, or one salt sprayer, or even just one guy to open the damn gates and let us take our chances! Instead, people sat for hours in a parking lot on northbound I-5 literally inching their way home. The bus I rode from downtown to the NE 45th Street exit in the University District took over two hours. Unforgiveable. Especially when you’re seeing only two to three inches of snow.
And, just like in 2008, Metro Transit gets a barely passing grade. Again. At least this time, Metro chained up buses in preparation for the snow. But did they train drivers how to navigate slippery streets and find alternative, less hilly routes? No. Did they make it easy to find information on their websites on bus reroutes? No. In fact, the website offers a place for you to sign up for email or a twitter feed of storm-related updates about “your bus routes.” Which completely ignores the fact that many impoverished and elderly Metro riders don’t carry a cell phone that can receive text messages. Also, who’s going to stand around in 20 degree weather with a cell phone in their mitten-less hands? It also shows how clueless Metro officials are about how people use the bus system. No one rides only one route, okay? How hard is it to post updates on a blog right on the home page of their website?
Fortunately, this snow storm came in the week leading up to the Thanksgiving Holiday, which means many people decided to take an early holiday and stay home for a couple of days. The weather forecasters tell us we could be in for more snow. Hopefully, the state DOT and Metro will have implemented a few changes before that happens.
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Actually drivers do receive information on how to "navigate slippery streets" and "find alternative less hilly routes". In the latter case, there are actually established snow routes determined well in advance.
ReplyDeleteProblem: the city of Seattle didn't prioritize these snow routes for de-icing and snow removal, so despite the fact that snow routes bypassed problem locations, they didn't (couldn't) bypass ALL problem locations. Case in point: 23rd Avenue north of Aloha (where it heads downhill towards Husky stadium).
And actually informtion on snow routes was (and is) easy to find. Right here in fact: http://metro.kingcounty.gov/up/rr/adverseweather.html
As far as folks not having cell phones - even homeless people have them now. At any rate - if folks don't have cell phones or web access, is it your expectation that Metro would somehow beam the information directly into their brains? There are plenty of reasons to question Metro resources or offer criticism, but demanding the impossible during a snowstorm seems to be par for many vocal critics in Seattle who - like you - don't really know what the heck you're talking about.
And updates ARE "posted right on their web site". See the link above. Probablly a good idea to check on this sort of thing before writing a bunch of clueless nonsense on a blog of your own.
Jeff Welch
Metro Operator
Puget Sound Transit Operator's Blog
http://pstransitoperators.wordpress.com
"No one rides only one route, okay?"
ReplyDeleteActually, quite a few people do only ride one route. They commute to work using the route in the morning, and ride the same route home in the evening.
*Every* printed timetable Metro printed this year has the snow routing shown inside of it. Sunday evening, Metro sent out an email alerting everyone that *all* routes were using their snow routes. It was on the TV news, and I'm sure most radio stations mentioned it too. Also, Metro's customer service line was open from 5am to 11pm.
"How hard is it to post updates on a blog right on the home page of their website?"
Must not be very hard since that's what they did.
As for the express lanes, no, they are not at the bottom of their priorities:
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/theweatherbeat/2013495025_i-5_express_lanes_wont_open_northbound.html
Maria Tomchick ranted, "Did [Metro] make it easy to find information on their websites on bus reroutes? No."
ReplyDeleteKatherine Long of the Seattle Times reported, "Two mobile tools for savvy transit riders — a bus tracker called OneBusAway.org and Metro's 'rider alert' message service — failed to deliver during the worst of [the November 22] commute. ... Metro spokeswoman Linda Thielke said the staff that normally sends out those alerts had to be pulled aside to handle other snow-related issues."
One of our operator suggestions at South Base is to publish snow-day schedules in the timetables, as well as to distribute snow-day run cards to operators.
Tomchick again: "But did they train drivers how to navigate slippery streets and find alternative, less hilly routes? No." I agree that Metro could do well with some training for driving in inclement weather. But of course there are no substitutes for experience and common sense. And there is no accounting for the stupidity shown November 22 by some operators.
Jeff Welch wrote, "...the city did not clear streets critical to Metro snow routing."
On November 22 I saw a a very large and powerful snow plow on Airport Way, but there was really an insignificant amount of snow to plow. The greater problem was ice.
Susan Kelleher and Mike Lindblom reported, "Seattle's efforts to stay ahead of Monday's snowstorm by spraying streets with an ice-busting chemical ironically contributed to widespread icing, according to city officials and a national expert on the use of salt to clear roads."
Where were these city officials and national expert on November 21?
Had you actually used the Metro website you would have found the snow related information posted, I did. It wasn't even hard to find. When was the last time you drove a 60 foot articulated bus on ICE covered roads? Perhaps if the drive wheels were in front of the articulation the buses wouldn't jacknife, unfortunately the drive wheels are the third axle. Damn, must be nice to be so smart and all knowing that you can do everything including pointing fingers and blame.
ReplyDeleteActually, folks, I did use the Metro website throughout the snowstorm, as did many of the other bus riders that I talked to. We all found the information to be inaccurate and out-of-date from the moment it was posted. Nearly every bus route I tried to ride wasn't running on its snow route, so thanks for that early info on where to wait, and wait, and wait for a bus that never came.
ReplyDeleteI still haven't heard a good explanation for why the state didn't open the northbound express lanes. Anybody have one? Anyone?