Despite the all the traffic, getting around town remains a necessity

According to Tom Tom, a navigation system company, Seattle is the fifth most congested city in the country. Despite this fact, we all need to get to, from and around school every day.

One way that students get to school is by using the variety of Custom Metro bus routes offered. The buses are useful for students that can’t drive, or live too far away to justify the costs that come along with driving.

Sophomore Melanie Stone takes the bus every morning from Mercer Island. Although she isn’t the biggest fan of the bus, she is quick to praise it for its advantages.

“The bus is nice because it helps me make a schedule every day. I know what time I’m going to be where,” Stone said.

Students are also quick to point out the downsides of taking the bus.

“Usually it takes me about 30 minutes on the bus. But one time it took over an hour and a half. The bus driver forgot what exit he needed to take,” freshman Nate Bontje said.

A less common mode of transportation is biking. History teacher Dave Marshall bikes to school every day and has found an interesting benefit.

“A big advantage that I find to biking is that I don’t have to worry about finding and paying for parking. All I need to do is find a pole or bike rack to lock my bike against,” Marshall said.

However, like all transportation methods, biking has its pitfalls. Fine Arts teacher Ty Talbot also bikes to school. Talbot enjoys biking every day, but he has found a negative part about his commute.

“At the end of the day, it’d be really easy to just jump in my car and zone out for half an hour. I sometimes find it difficult to get the motivation needed to change into my biking clothes and pedal my way home,” Talbot said.

Driving to school is the favorite method among the student body. Driving offers flexibility of schedule and adds the bonus of being able to drive out to lunch.

“You really have a lot more control over your own destiny. You aren’t ever waiting for a bus or a friend to pick you up,” senior Matt Glazer said.

Although driving to school adds benefits, it comes with certain risks. According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), about 50 percent of teenage deaths in 2013 were attributed to a car crash.

For all of the people who are unable to drive themselves or take the bus, students end up getting dropped off by their parents.

“Every year before now that I’ve been at U Prep I’ve taken the bus, which sucks. I am so glad I’m done with it,” Brown said. “This year my mom is driving me and my sister to school.”

For most people, getting dropped off is a much better alternative to taking the bus.

“I enjoy not taking the bus anymore because I enjoy the freedom of being able to sleep in a few minutes in the morning and know that I’m not going to miss my bus,” Brown said.

Glazer lives close to school, making his morning commute quick and convenient.

“I don’t think I’ve ever been late to school in the morning,” said Glazer.

When compared to all other methods of getting to school, the bus usually gets the lowest scores from the student body.

Stone’s bus, the 989, leaves at 7 a.m. Because of this, she needs to be up by 6. Because of the early wake-up time, Stone ends up in a predicament of lost sleep.

“Unfortunately, [the bus] is always crowded, so napping
isn’t even a possibility,” Stone
said.

Waking up early paired with long bus rides seems like an obvious reason for the complaints about the bus.

Commuting is an unavoidable part of our everyday routine. Various people choose various methods to align their commute with their own personal schedule. Be it bus, car or bike, there are numerous methods for us all to brave the storm.

By: Ian Lee, Mahir Piyarali and Shawn Owens