CARPOOL
RICHARD AND ERIC, 1991 Isuzu Trooper
Time 45 minutes, 10 seconds
Distance 22.6 miles
Fuel Cost $3.94
Other Vehicle Costs, including amortized purchase $1,140 for 3,000 miles of use per year
Stress and Discomfort High
Fun Factor High
We lost a minute making an obligatory northbound right on 228th, then U-turned to head south toward I-90. We lost another minute stuck in the center lane before getting over to Southeast 56th Street, the (unmarked) turnoff to I-90. But the HOV lane in the access ramp saved us as we cruised past a long backup. Once on the freeway, Richard fought for a mile to get over to the diamond lane; “yield” seemed to be missing from the local vocabulary. But we sailed again down that lane, wallowing in schadenfreude; the off-ramp to I-405 northbound was backed up for half a mile.
Approaching Mercer Island, we missed the poorly marked turnoff to the diamond lane and bogged down for two minutes. But the general lanes opened up midbridge and traffic flowed all the way to Seattle. We exited onto Fourth Avenue rather than risking a jam on I-5. We stopped ourselves just in time from turning onto Royal Brougham Way, blocked by roadwork further up, steered up Fourth, broke through a two-lane cluster of left-turners at Columbia, and turned left on Madison. Whoops. More roadwork.
“My blood pressure is higher than usual,” Richard muttered from the driver’s seat. Madison narrowed to one lane, and we waited for a bored cop on flag duty to wave us through. We still arrived in time to snag a space in the free carpool parking nearby.
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.