A Seattle Adventure

(moving from friendstar)

Finally today something happened - & I got a nice story to blog.

I was on my way to Shoreline Community College (SCC) in the afternoon. This was a diff route. Route 67 to Northgate Transit Center (NTC) & then 10 min later board 345 which would take me to the college.

This is the end of the qtr & I was happily finishing the last bit of grading in the bus. It seemed my cell rang. But as I picked it up, it turned out that the lady behind me got a call. Oh well! I got back to grading. While getting down or when I returned my cell to my pocket, I heard a small thud. Did something fall? I didn't see anything & so I collected my bag, the papers, the solution key & with the pen in my mouth, got down from the bus.

I continued grading @ NTC till 345 came. & then as I got up the stair I realized (with a shock) that my bus pass is not in my pocket!! I immediately knew what that "thud" was. But what to do now? As usual I only had few cents in my pocket & the bus driver asked me to pay since I lost my pass. So I turned to my co-passenger & fortunately got a dollar & a quarter from 2 of them. That + the coins added up to $1.48 & (again) fortunately that was good enough for the driver & he gave me a transfer valid till 6:00 - a good 2.5 hours. At least I can get back from college without trying to find an ATM.

Immediately I called Metro's Lost & Found & being on hold for quite sometime (which I utilized by grading some more - thanks to my head set) got to know that they could tell me only after 9:30 tomorrow morning. Well, that meant that even if they found it, I have to get someone u-pass or go to an ATM & then get $1 changes to go & retrieve the pass. I was not ready to take that much trouble!

So after reaching office & posting the grades for one class, I called up Metro. Before I could explain everything fully they send me to Lost & Found (again). So I called again & told them that I want to track that particular bus. So this time they patched me thru rider info & the guy told me the bus would reach NTC @ 5:29. OK, now it was easy for me to track the route of the bus through Metro's website. The online schedule said the bus will be @ NE 75 & Roosevelt @ 5:04 i.e. in U dist around 4:55. I decided to board it @ HUB. So I took my favorite 330 (direct - SCC to U dist). I was the only passenger & started chatting with the driver. She pointed out that since its Summer & hence less people using the bus I have a good chance of retrieving my pass. We both agreed that if someone got it they might not return it since it means unlimited free rides this month.

The card was valid till this month. I was supposed to get a new one for Sep 05 - Aug 06. I started thinking: well, if I didn't get it back (ever), would SCC fine me? How much? Would they give me the next one without any trouble? Would I be able to use the Sep 05 - Aug 06 pass for the remaining of this month? & if these don't work out, how will I survive this month? As usual, I have lot of bussing involved in almost every aspects of my life. Fortunately I was focused on finishing my grading & didn't start to panic too much. + some where deep down I hoped that cracked, faded, inconspicuous card wouldn't draw much attention.

@ the HUB bus stop my grading continued. Then as I got into the 67 there was a pleasant surprise! No, its wasn't my card. The driver was very familiar. I met him every morning in Fall 2004. But, it wasn't my bus. That was a double one, & this is single! So did the Metro guy gave me wrong info? I consulted the printed schedule & it seemed that I got onto the earlier bus. My target (bus) was supposed to be @ HUB @ 5:04, not @ NE 75 & Roosevelt. Oh well, I might have misread the online schedule. There's still hope!

The grading was over. So I swung by my studio, dropped off the papers & next qtr books, quickly entered the grades into the spreadsheet & checked emails (old habits die hard - even under time pressure!). Then again off to bus stop. There were several people & they informed that 67 hasn't gone yet. Phew!

Then they both came one after the other - 66 followed by 67. I got in. No one had turned anything to the driver. I went to where I sat & looked under the seats. Nothing! Hm!! Things were not looking good! I looked under all seats, up & down the bus. Nothing still! I thought if it fell through the gap near the door - i.e. no hope of retrieving it. Or whether I dropped it @ NTC & should get off there to look around. But this bus would reach NTC @ 5:29. I wasn't sure if I'd get a bus back in time. I had no change & the transfer was valid till 6:00.

A lady was sleeping where I had sat in the afternoon. As a last attempt, I woke her & she moved aside to let me look. & - YEPPIE!!! There was my dear little pass between the seat & the wall of the bus! Saved @ last!!

& Metro rocks!!

(I had some experience with my cell phone falling out of my pocket into that particular spot. With the cell, I usually feel it immediately since the weight & volume of my pocket change perceptibly. Unfortunately the card is too thin & light to raise such a red flag by its absence. But now with the lesson learned, I will check my pocket for my "travel"-line as well as my "life"-line = cell - t least for few weeks now!)