I had intended to drive in to work from Redmond into Seattle this morning because the roads were pretty clear, but before I'd even finished my latte, the snow began to fall - hard. It was quickly piling up so I decided to take the 545 express bus, which is one of those bendy "articulated" buses.
The driver had no trouble on the surface streets, but then we got to the West Lake Sammamish onramp to westbound 520. Another 545 bendy bus was off in the left side ditch…
We slowed down and stopped. I thought we were going to pick up the passengers from the other bus. Then our driver said "We're stuck too." The back end of our bus was at an angle.
Passengers on the bus No. 1 got off and got onto my bus - bus No. 2 - in an effort to get some weight in the back. Maybe we could get some traction. But no luck.
In the meantime, drivers of cars and SUVs were snaking their way in between the two buses. A couple of bus passengers even thumbed a ride, but that created more problems, and then cars began to get stuck on the incline.
Passengers were frantically calling work and/or family, and several of them were nice enough to let me use their phones (mine was dead) so I could in to work and let the news staff know what was going on. I was put on the air with Joyce and Brad at the top of the 8 a.m. newscast to give them the scoop on the conditions in Redmond.
Brad assured me that "You're cleared to be late."
Many of the bus passengers got off and walked back down to West Lake Sammamish, where there's a bus stop.
Finally, after a good hour wait, another 545 bus appeared and everyone piled on. The bus was standing room only. Bus driver No. 3, asked everyone to move back so we could get some weight on that back section.
"Get cozy with each other," he said, and when people were reluctant to get closer to each other he added "You haven't been in New York lately!"
When driver No. 3 managed to get the bus between the dead buses and up the hill, passengers cheered.
But all was quiet when we saw, in the opposite lanes, another 545 stuck at a nearly 45 degree angle.
As we neared the bus stop near NE 40th, the driver said he wasn't even going to stop for the "mob up ahead" because we were full.
"Aw, I can see their puppy dog eyes from here," he said.
We got on our way again and, as expected, roads were clear when we got into Bellevue.
I was only an hour late, so all in all, it was quite the experience and I'm so grateful to all those bus drivers who carry on through the worst conditions.
Hopefully, tomorrow will be better!
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