Metromance: The route to ‘Wedded Wednesdays’

Today, we have a special Valentine treat: the story of how two of our riders, Pat and Don, shared adventure and love via Metro. 

A Seattle couple turned their golden years into a grand urban adventure — boarding every King County Metro bus, one route at a time. What began as a quirky retirement challenge soon became a series of rolling lunch dates, neighborhood discoveries and a love letter to the region they call home.

In 2021, Pat Janssen was newly retired from the University of Washington, where she had worked as a researcher in genetic toxicology. Her husband Don, who retired as professor of civil engineering in 2014, had an idea for an adventure. When they were both working at the UW, they had always met for lunch on Wednesdays. It was a special time to connect.

Why not, Don asked Pat, continue that tradition but with a twist: each Wednesday, how about they ride one Metro bus route from beginning to end? And how about they aim to ride every single route?

Pat was all in. She added in stopping for lunch along the way and named these outings their “Wedded Wednesdays.”

Wheels and meals

There were around 95 Metro bus routes when they started. (They didn’t include Sound Transit bus routes or more specialized service, such as Dial-A-Ride, in their quest.) They decided they would, logically, tackle their challenge in order.

That meant starting with Route 1, which travels from Queen Anne Avenue North to the International District. They ate that day at the 13 Coins restaurant.

“It was a really great way to see the city,” Pat said. “We found really different parts of the city we’d never been to.”

Don was put in charge of researching and planning the restaurant for each of their trips, whether they were visiting Lake City, Alki or Burien. “There were so many restaurants!” Pat said.

Their travels once included lunch at a lovely Irish pub while busing to Madison Park. That neighborhood wasn’t far from us, but we just hadn’t been there before,” she said.

Best seat on the bus

The couple had a few rules about their trips. They always began their ride at the start of the route, never in the middle. “There’s always lots of seats when you start at the beginning of the route,” Don explained. “And we always sat at the back of the bus so we had a window and could take pictures.”

Their other rule was that they could not drive their car to the start of any bus route; they had to take public transit to get there. When they visited Vashon Island, for instance, they took Link light rail downtown from their home in North Seattle, then grabbed a bus to the ferry terminal in West Seattle, hopped on the ferry for the crossing, then took their chosen bus route for their visit to the Island.

“I really liked Vashon Island,” Don said. “It was unique — its two routes were the only ones (in the Metro system) where the bus driver would stop if you waved or drop you off wherever you wanted.”

They loved Des Moines (“adorable”) and Route 271 near Bellevue: “It’s a long, winding road through woods and you have no idea you’re so near the city,” Pat said.

Where to next?

They loved their 95-route adventure so much that when it was over (Route 372 was the last one, but they also went back and filled in the new RapidRide G Line after it launched), the couple kept with Metro for other challenges: Taking transit to visit all public libraries. Now that they checked off the libraries?

“We’re doing all the fire stations on public transit,” Pat said.

Metro couldn’t be more delighted to host the Janssens on their quests, and we can’t think of a more perfect story for us to share. Happy Valentine’s Day, Pat and Don!