Today's NWTransport special has to do with perhaps the most interesting of the region's transit agencies: Snohomish County's Community Transit! I have a big soft spot for them due to their use of double-decker buses, as the only agency in the Pacific Northwest to do so (despite lots of talk, no other agencies that I know of have ordered them at this point). (And yes, this is a Sound Transit bus, but their double-deckers are all operated by Community Transit, so I consider them part of the same organization.)
For one reason or another, the 512 was on reroute this weekend, meaning it went down one (very steep) block of Seneca St, with the ramp to the old Alaskan Way Viaduct in the distance. It's too bad this was just a reroute, as this view would have been really cool during the "ramp to nowhere" phase (there was a month or two when the viaduct had been removed but the ramp was still in place).
It's also fun to look over the top of standard buses! This would have been a bit more convincing if the bus in front wasn't a hybrid with all the extra equipment on the top. The giant hole in the ground off to the right is the future convention center expansion (hmm, wonder how that's going to work out for them with all events cancelled for the foreseeable future), on the site of the old Convention Place Station (which I'll talk about more at some point in the future, though who knows that will be).
The biggest highlight (from a scenery perspective) is the Ship Canal Bridge. This view is looking north towards the U District (with the UW proper off to the right); the view in the other direction is nice too, looking towards South Lake Union and Downtown, but I don't have a good picture of it as it was dark by the time I came back on this visit. Since this picture was taken, there was a new tower of about the same size as the UW Tower (the one visible here) built, and there are plans for quite a few more with the opening of the U District light rail station (or at least they were planned prior to the economy collapsing and in-person classes at the UW becoming a mess).
Some of these overpasses feel just barely tall enough to let the bus through! You can see the scrapes on the underside of the deck from vehicles that were just a little taller than a double-decker bus.
This is my attempt at a picture of the under-construction guideway for the light rail line approaching Northgate. In the year and a half since this picture was taken, the guideway now looks much more complete, with track and (in the last month) overhead power lines installed.
Time to head home! Here's a look at my ride back approaching the South Everett Park and Ride (not too far from the mall).
The other, older Community Transit oddity is this funny-looking bus, a New Flyer Inverno from the early 2000s. New Flyer is by far the biggest bus maker in North America these days, to the point where I consider them a near-monopoly (they even recently bought Alexander-Dennis, which makes the Double Talls that CT uses), but back in those days there were far more companies out there making buses, meaning that there were lots of interesting experiments around. The Inverno was one of those, intended as a high-tech replacement for New Flyer's existing product line, but it ended up failing miserably for one reason or another, with only two agencies (CT and Ottawa's OC Transpo) buying more than a handful of them. They're also horribly ugly! Eventually, the concept was dropped, with some of the successful ideas incorporated into their now-ubiquitous Xcelsior series that dominates the bus market these days.
Riding in the top front of a Double Tall (as CT's ones are branded) is incredibly relaxing, though perhaps less so when stuck in traffic. It's still way better than driving in this, though, as I often have to do for work! And yes, this picture is pretty awful. My old iPod couldn't handle darkness or motion reliably, so when you put those together, you get this result. I'll have to see how my new iPhone handles it at some point.
And lastly, here's the incredibly cool blue etched glass Sound Transit logo on the stairs to the upper level. Not sure how this didn't get value-engineered out (though Sound Transit was flush with cash at the time), but I sure like it!
Nice views!
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome!
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