FIVE OF US MET at 7:15 at the Sammamish Plateau Starbucks at 604 228th Avenue Northeast on July 27, a steaming heat-wave morning. Our mission: to determine, not just how long it takes to make the same Eastside-to-downtown commute by various modes, but what pleasures, perils, stresses, and costs each one entails.
Kelly, our solo driver—representing the majority of local commuters—couldn’t join us; her car needed an emergency brake job. Such are the hazards of driving; when a bus breaks down, you wait for Metro to send a new one. She made the drive two weeks later, further compromising whatever scientific validity this sample may have.
At 8:10am, primed with coffee and biscotti, we set out for Seattle.
Published: November 2009
Great article, but the scooter guy turned in a really pathetic performance. Everyone else took I-90, so why did this guy make the boneheaded choice to go up Lake Sammamish to Hwy 520? If his scooter was fast enough to get him to the starting point via I-90, why not take that route back to Seattle? If he had, he could’ve used the same HOV lane as your carpoolers, and probably won the Derby. As it was, he barely beat the cyclist (who stopped a few times for sightseeing!). That is so many flavors of sad, it’s not funny.
Motorcycles and scooters are efficient and fun alternatives to the ‘cager’ grind, and they can seriously reduce parking congestion downtown as well. Too bad you couldn’t have found someone with a little more ‘street savvy’ and common sense than this loser.