Changed my mind about the bus after my car broke down on the freeway

I always swore I'd never take the bus because I thought it'd be too slow and crowded. Then my alternator died on the I-5 last Tuesday during rush hour, and I was stuck for 90 minutes waiting for a tow. The next day I tried the express bus from downtown Seattle to Capitol Hill, and it only took 18 minutes longer than driving. Has anyone else had a breakdown that forced them to switch up how they get around?

4 comments

4 Comments

faith_carter17d ago

Ha! Thats pretty much how I got hooked on the bus too. My car literally quit on the interstate during a rainstorm and I was so mad I could have chewed glass. Turns out a mechanical failure is just the universe's way of giving you a free commute upgrade.

jackson.matthew17d agoMost Upvoted

@river320 said the wifi actually works, and that part's mostly true, but it depends on the route. I've been on a few Seattle buses where the wifi drops halfway through. You got lucky with the express one. The alternator thing stinks but at least it pushed you to try something different. Most people here are right that the bus is way less bad than they think, especially if you can skip the local routes and grab an express. That 18 minute difference adds up if you leave earlier too, so it's not even that much of a slowdown.

river32017d ago

Honestly same thing happened to me last year and I was so mad about it at first. The express bus where I live is way less packed than I thought it would be and the wifi actually works. Plus I get to read or zone out instead of stressing about traffic. It's wild how a car problem can accidentally fix your whole commute. Now I only drive once a week and my gas bill is way lower.

hayden14417d ago

Did you catch that article about cities adding more bus-only lanes lately? I read one that said even people who swore they'd never ride ended up saving like 40 bucks a week on gas. That alternator thing might be a pain right now but honestly it sounds like the universe doing you a solid. Once you get used to that extra 20 minutes of reading time, it's hard to go back to white knuckling through traffic. Kinda makes you wonder why more people don't at least give the express routes a shot.