Trimet #33 – Fremont

The #33 mostly has kids, esp. in the summer, and commuters, and is nicer and more quiet than the average bus line, and has a stop a block from my house. That said, the schedule sucks if you don’t go during rush hour, and that means before 8AM, which doesn’t take into account the reality that the 8AM-​5PM job is becoming a rare beast. Fortunately, I live close enough to the intersection for the #10, which is much more direct and quick to downtown, because the #33 takes a ridiculously long route, including a longer stretch of Interstate Ave. and N. Williams Ave. not to mention the long detour through Legacy Emanuel hospital (like one stop in front isn’t enough?) It’s the typical case with Portland buses — when it isn’t rush hour they run infrequently and rarely on time, and have way too many stops, as if people can’t walk more than 2 blocks… I’m sorry, but most bus riders I know are also willing to walk quite a ways. All that said, I’m as likely to walk all the way to the MAX (almost 2 miles) so at least when I get there the wait’s not long and aside from the Expo/​Rose Garden stops, I get downtown pretty quickly.

The #33 is quiet and less frequented by people of incomes below $ 50k than the average bus line, meaning you are less likely to encounter people who are smelly (it doesn’t bother me, but this is a frequent complaint I hear about public transportation). That said, it pretty much sucks balls unless you are a highly disciplined bus commuter and have other forms of transportation for other times. It takes a fairly roundabout route along Interstate Ave. and N. Williams Ave., a long detour into Legacy Emanuel hospital, and worst of all if you don’t get onto a morning bus by 8:15 or so they drop down to the frequency of once every half an hour (same if you don’t get on downtown by 5:45). For those of us who struggle with the morning alarm, this is quite a drawback.