At least I make myself laugh...

I was on the bus early this morning and somewhere along 5th Avenue downtown I looked up and saw Mt Hood perfectly silhouetted between two of the 'president' apartment towers.  The sun was coming up behind the mountain and the sky was just starting to glow pink.

I got out my phone to take a quick picture to share with you:

Yeah, that's right.  Pointed the damn thing the wrong way and took a picture of myself and another random bus rider on the Number 8!

Go ahead and laugh!  It's funny!  I was laughing; still am.

The Ol' Number 8

I rode the bus to work today.  No, that is not headline worthy news, it’s just that it’s been a while, a long while, and I noticed something that I thought I would share with you all.  I see that as part of my job.

The route has changed!  Yes, it still goes to the Hill.  But it gets there a different way and I was not prepared for that. 

My guess is that the route change is related to the new Green line Max that goes to PSU.  I think that stirred up a few changes on the downtown transit mall.

So, cut to the chase already! 

Back in the days of yore, the number 8 would come up the transit mall on 5^th, turn right on Jefferson, and left on Broadway (A pointless aside: it used to turn on Clay).  It would pass Portland State and continue up the street, crossing the 405 freeway and slipping downhill two or so blocks to turn right on 6^th (which becomes Terwilliger).

Now, the new route goes up 5^th ALL THE WAY TO THE FREEWAY!  AND THEN ACROSS IT!  I know!  It’s astounding!  After crossing the freeway, the bus bears to the left where 5^th, Broadway and Barbur are all muddled together, and then turns right on Carruthers.  It goes one block and then turns left on 6^th and motors on up the hill.

I realize that this bus route change is insignificant in any measure of, well, anything, but never let it be said that the Portland Report wasn’t staying on top of the insignificant. 

No squirrels or goats were observed on this ride.  Probably because it was dark out.

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Public Transportation

I have started a dozen blog posts but been unable to finish anything. So, to give myself an encouraging boost, I’ll keep this short and reach the end.

I’ve written before about the trials and tribulations of the bus commute. One of my pet peeves is with people who let their stuff occupy a seat while other people stand. Yesterday afternoon a guy reached a new, unheard of depth in seat hogging.

He was sitting in the aisle seat and left the window seat next to him vacant. Typical. I walked down the aisle, drippy from the rain, breathless from running to catch the #77, and saw an empty pair of seats in front of this guy. As I reached the vacant spot, I saw that there was a backpack and a pair of gloves lying there. I looked back to the front of the bus, thinking that maybe the passenger who was talking to the driver was coming back to this seat. No. The guy in the seat behind reached over and picked them up. He was using four seats! Four! One for his lazy ass and three for his stuff! Argh! It’s public transportation, buddy, not your personal coach service. Jerk.