Reaction To Ron's Bus Plan

Here's an interesting pair of editorials about Ron Sims' buses for everyone plan. On one side of the fence you have a Seattle Times unsigned editorial gushing over the thought:

At a time when the public clamors for leaders willing to stick their necks out and plan for the future, Sims does that. It may make him seem like he loves to raise taxes, but it costs money to operate a truly convenient bus system. Buses have higher operating costs and lower up-front costs compared to fixed-rail transit.

To hear the Times' tell it, all of Seattle's traffic problems can simply be solved by throwing more buses on a few select routes. It's the "bus it, and they will come" strategy. Not everyone is a fan of buses, though. On the other side of the argument, you have Dan Savage of The Stranger working himself into a frenzy of rage against all things bus.

Buses—the public-transportation option favored by people who do not take public transportation. I'm going to go out on a limb here and guess that no one on the Seattle Times op-ed board commutes to work by bus. And Ron Sims? Like most pols, he only boards a bus for photo-ops. Fact is, people don't like riding buses, which are notoriously slow, noisy, dirty, and unreliable. Putting more slow, crowded, stinky buses on the streets isn't going to do anything to address Seattle's transportation problem or provide a transportation option attractive enough to get people out of their cars.

And that's about the tamest excerpt I could take from Dan's diatribe. He really doesn't like buses. Personally, I find myself in between the anonymous Times editorial author and Mr. Savage. I think buses are a decent transit solution, but I am not impressed with Ron Sims' plan to add more buses to places that are already fairly well served. How about throwing eastside commuters a bone here, Ron? I guess if we want useful bus service on the eastside we're going to have to pay even more. Yippie.

(unsigned editorial, Seattle Times, 04.24.2006)
(Dan Savage, The Stranger, 04.27.2006)