By the Sorriest Bus Stop in America

Hey guys! Stop No. 45990 here, nestled south of Georgetown between the airport and the tracks in what I like to call the heart of Seattle. Until recently, you didn’t really know me, but I think maybe now you do. That’s right. I’m THAT bus stop.

I just want to say, don’t judge a bus stop by its … oh, who am I kidding, I’m the Sorriest Bus Stop in America.

Nothing makes a bus stop’s heart sink faster than to hear there are pictures of you online and you’re not going to like them.

Then to find out that week after week people are voting whether you are Hot/Not Hot. I can’t even.

It’s like watching a train wreck in slow motion, which is sometimes possible because I’m RIGHT NEXT TO the train tracks. I watched the votes pile up for me (against me?) – Auto Mall Parkway in Fremont, Calif.? A divided highway in Chapel Hill, North Carolina? A highway bus stop in San Diego? And finally Munhall, Penn., with its inviting guardrail and cliff?

I guess I’m No. 1. Yay, me? I don’t think I’m able to go home for Thanksgiving. Or Christmas. Or International Bus Stop Appreciation Day.

Some people are saying I need work done. Others say I’m “not worth it” and don’t waste time or “taxpayers money” on that one. To be clear, I HAVE a stop pair, BAE stop No. 45760, across the street, looking so fine with a sidewalk and shelter. Don’t stay up at night thinking I’m lonely. I’m really not.

Still, all a bus stop wants is TFW a rider actually boards or exits. I see the 154 peel by like clockwork on weekdays, four times northbound every morning, four times southbound every afternoon. My pulse races at the site of a Metro bus on East Marginal Way. But I’ve learned to cope with disappointment. A lot. To say I have sparse ridership would be generous. Non-existent is just sugarcoating it. Everyone swipes right. In the ridership reports, I have zero likes.

Summer is truly over. Thank goodness for the start of fall, for nothing but the drizzle of rain will be able to hide my forever cascade of tears. I’ll be fine. I just need the weekend to recover, and then back to what I do best on Monday. Poised for success.