Blog du Wren

250 Miles on Public Buses

I'm proud to say that I've now traversed Vancouver BC to Portland OR all by public bus. Most of the territory is my stomping ground, as I do the Anacortes to Olympia, Seattle to Bellingham, etc. routes frequently. Earlier this year, Ma and I did the Bellingham to Vancouver route once (remember?) to prove that it could be done. Well, yesterday, in much the same "anything is possible" vein, I took 10 buses (and a street car!) and 12 hours to go from Anacortes to Portland, all via public buses.

This 250-mile route is one that I've been dreaming about for some time, kind of the holy grail of public transport in my eyes. I'd heard about it but could never find the info online. Recently, Lower Columbia CAP got their act together and posted their schedule, so I could now be well informed. But the only way to prove it could be done was to do it, so I did.

To summarize, it cost $12.00 (about 1/3 of Greyhound and 1/4 of Amtrak) and took maybe twice as long as either. I had no hiccups and had plenty of layovers to get something to eat, stretch my legs, etc. I don't know that I want to get into the habit of doing it every time around, but knowing that it is there is, well, really nice. For me, public transportation represents accessibility and sustainability. Seeing these qualities in action in such an extreme way makes me smile. Now it's just a matter of getting people to use them!

Oh, and for those who want to see the breakdown of how to get from Anacortes to Portland by public buses, here's the how it's done.

Wednesday August 18 2010

File under: transportation

Toggle Comments (4)

comment?

on Wed 18th Aug, 2010 11:58 am PDT Ryan said:
Awesome!
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on Thu 19th Aug, 2010 07:47 am PDT Kat said:
This is totally brilliant! What's the next public transportation challenge?
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on Thu 19th Jul, 2012 03:46 pm PDT Wren said:
While still, as far as I know, functional, this is somewhat obsolete with BoltBus covering the Portland to Seattle (and even to Vancouver) route. It's cheap and waaaaaaay quicker.
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on Wed 05th Dec, 2012 05:38 pm CST Wren said:
UPDATE: Cap no longer runs to Tumwater, instead using Centralia for its northern terminus. So that means no public transit option from Olympia to Portland...as far as I can tell. I ended up having ride Amtrak for $25...ugh.
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