Seattle Metro, Route 8

Even miss Cleo wouldn’t be able to predict when this bus is going to come by. Sometimes it’s on time, sometimes it’s late and sometimes, I swear, it must kidnap its passengers because it never comes.
If you wait long enough though, it does take you up and down Denny. eventually.

I’ve never seen this bus on time. Ever. Not once. The amount if time its late seems to just change randomly, and without a lane, or a split route or something, this is just the silliest of buses.

You can not count on this bus for timing. way too long route, needs to be split up.

The fact that the #8 even has its own 1.5 star Unilocal rating should tell you how infamously bad it is. If you need more evidence, know that there is even a punk song (F U #8 by tacocat) dedicated to complain about its unreliable service. Even onebusaway can’t figure out its schedule, so you’ve been warned. Consistently bad traffic on Denny during rush hour and lack of dedicated bus lanes I’m sure all contribute to this bus being routinely late. As in, 5 – 15 minutes late. Or, 5 minutes early if you’re particularly punctual and unlucky.
Lately I seem to get a different driver every time, and all the friendly ones seem to disappear on me. :-(They have all been replaced by lead-​footed daydreamers who passive aggressively slam on the brakes when people start walking toward the door.
Also a special call out to the dozens of 20-​somethings who completely crowd the bus in the morning only to ride for 2 BLOCKS!!! Didn’t realize mobility issues were so common among youngsters these days.
Dear #8,
As much as you frustrate me every day, you are still my best option, and I have decided to make the best of it and use you to work on the virtue of patience.

always 20+ minutes late if it shows at all.

What’s to say. You want to get where on time? this ain’t the bus to take. But we’re forced to use it. Sometimes I just want to pull a Jack Traven and take this bus over. How does this bus exist. It’s ALWAYS late. Hence the name L8. From QA to way down in the Rainier Valley. It crosses a great part of this city. Maybe it gets lost on the way. Or the ghost of Howard Payne gets on the bus somewhere along it’s route and Hi-​Jacks the bus to parts unknown.
Those of you who have ridden this exercise in futility know what I’m talking about. Yet we get on it time and again. What’s to be done about? Nothing really. We just have to take it. Hate The L8! Pass it on.

Not riding the bus often due to having to be at work on time. Now that democratic government of Seattle goes out off their way to make life as difficult and expensive as possible for normal middle class people to drive so those rich $ 100,000+ a year salary (most likely government workers) have more road room to comfortably drive.
Try busing for a couple days last week, take forever to get to work. Seem buses having to use lift constantly for people those can not manage 3 steps up or down the bus and all time in the world to burn.
May be I didn’t get on one of those $ 100,000 + a year salary bus driver since I was super late for work and told I will be written up next time I am late for work.
Let’s see How can I manage riding bicycle to work with a dress on next.
Thanks government of Seattle %$#@!!. Time to move.

I’d call it, «a taxi-​bus». Why? ‘Cuz it feels like the driver is a taxi driver, with taxi driver speed, turning, accelerating and decelerating. This is at least for early morning week commutes. Fun stuff. :) Rainier Beach to Othello it’s pretty light then folks start boarding farther up Rainier Valley.
I liked it because it dumped me off near Café Suisse in SLU downtown.

You might be wondering how to get to work late every day. Occasionally late isn’t enough – you want to be late three to five days out of the week. At least one day a month, you’d like to be freakishly late to work. Ideally, you’d like to wait outside for as long as possible.
Look no further – this is the route for you. Don’t worry about Metro changing things and making sure this route is reliable. It’s been this way for years. Enjoy!

At least it isn’t the 28?

My first experience on the 8 was great. It was a monday morning around 10 and we were the first stop on the line. We got on an empty bus right on time. It was a long leisurely trip to the Olympic Sculpture Park. There were few riders, the bus ride was very nice and on time as far as I could tell.
I thought the 8 would be a great bus to take again. I was wrong.
Then, we got on the 8 to head home from the Seafair Spectacular at the City Center. The first bus was early, so we watched it drive off as we got to the stop. We waited for the next one, which I can’t complain about. We were told by several nice folks that the 8 is never on time. So we waited. The bus was crowded, got more crowded, and then cleared up.
Past capitol hill and through Rainier Valley, the bus driver had to deal with several difficult passengers. I felt for him, there was a group of a little punk kids and another guy at with a wheel chair that held up the bus for a long time and decided not to get on.
Then my sympathies wore thin when he chewed out an elderly man who didn’t speak english and didn’t have the fare. I can see him getting mad that the man didn’t have the fare, but he was really insulting the way he spoke to him, mocking his language.
Towards Rainier Beach, he was stepping on the brake purposely to make the ride jolt. Then someone had accidentally pulled the bell and no one got off. He flipped out and announced that everyone had to come up to tell him when they wanted to get off and turned off the bell. He repeated the stop announcements repeatedly.
At our stop, my husband got up to tell him, and he was rude to him. He again repeated the announcement about eight times and then yelled at the entire bus that no one had asked to get off, all though we were all obviously standing and ready to get off.
I know Rainier Valley might be difficult to deal with as a bus driver, with the language barrier and the number of people who might try to skip on fare, but not all of us are that person that causes a problem, and we still deserve to be treated with respect.
Our complaints with 8 doesn’t end there. My husband needed to go back out to capitol hill that evening and waited for 55 minutes before giving up and just drove.
We prefer to use transit, (better to ride than pay for gas, risk traffic and parking tickets) and other buses have been great. I’m saddened that this great link to downtown was such a terrible experience.

I hate you, 8 bus. I hate everything about you.

Most obnoxious bus in town.
Never on time, always stuffed like a sardine can…
I’ve ridden this bus and have been stuck in traffic so long TWO other of the #8’s have passed me.
BUT, it is the easiest way from my place to the hill.

Knock knock!
Who’s there?
Not the 8, that’s for damn sure.

I understand people will want to vent their personal experiences about riding the bus, but Unilocal isn’t really the best place for that type of feedback. I have used this bus route because it runs directly between where I live on Capitol Hill and the Seattle Center/​Queen Anne neighborhood and sometimes I don’t feel like walking.
Quality of service will depend on many factors including traffic, schedule, who is on the bus, and day of the week just to name a few. Overall my experiences with this route have been pretty consistent as far as what you’d expect from a Metro bus route.
I like the fact that, even on a Saturday, this bus runs about every 15 minutes for a good portion of the day. Metro also provides customer service online, by phone, and in person to help you with any specific questions or concerns you may have.

The worst. Consistently late. Unreliable. Packed.

This review is not about the bus service in general. This one is about a particular incident that happened on the #8 bus.
It was Saturday and I was going home from work. After waiting for 35 minutes I got on the #8 as I always do, and then a few minutes later it turned onto 15^th and parked in their little bus area there with no warning. We were told we had to move to a different bus (the one on the very front) and that it had something to do with the Mercer Exit being closed. We went to the front bus, but the driver then told us (not even opening the door) that we needed to go to the last bus in the line. After going back and forth quite a few times and being ignored by the driver of the bus we were supposed to be transferred to, we asked the other bus drivers what was going on. Mind you there were like 5 buses parked here, the drivers were all standing on the sidewalk and none of them wanted to, you know, drive us to Rainier Beach. An obviously gay couple with a little dog, visibly upset (they had been waiting for the bus for over an hour) approached one of the female bus drivers there, 15 minutes into this whole charade and complained. They said they had been waiting «for the fucking bus for over an hour» and they really needed to get home.
Then this female driver started yelling and repeating the word «fuck» a million times, getting into the guys face. He called her a fat cow. Now I know he shouldn’t have done this, but she was already very inappropriate. Then she screamed at him, told him to «fuck off» and to «shake it like a real girl» and all kinds of other horribly offensive homophobic language. She also proceeded to wiggle her ass showing how «a real girl shakes it».
I work in customer service. People can be difficult. People will piss you off. But under no circumstances are you to scream at them and offend them based on their sexual orientation. Not even when they offend you. That’s called «being professional».
I was gonna write a complaint to Metro about this. As a (gay) person watching this I was horribly offended. However to write a complaint I need to know what was the number of the bus this woman was driving and a lot of other stuff. I don’t have this information. The two guys took a photo of her with their cellphone. I hope they manage to file a complaint of some sort. That was just unacceptable…

The number 8 is a POS joke if there ever was one.
All I want to do is get from Dexter and Denny to Broadway and John. Why does that take 45 minutes? And why is the bus packed to the gills every damn day? The best is when it stops in front of Whole Foods and there are 50 people waiting to get into a packed bus. «Please move back». Uh, to where?
This is nothing new. It’s gone on for years. Why can’t Metro pull it’s head of it’s ass and get ‘er done? I will take a bus into downtown and then another up the hill and get there much faster. That is sick. And not current urban slang sick, but good olé fashioned gramma style sick.
Dear Route 8: Take a hand full of cheek in each hand and bite me. You are an embarrassment. Shit or get off the pot. Guh.

oh 8, I want to Love you, I do. You are 20minutes late every morning and an hour late every evening. When I happen to take you in between those times you average 45minutes behind schedule. There are always 2 or 3 of you bunched up.
Why did you extend your service? I though this would mean something good but if anything it’s just made you clumsier and completely unreliable. I believe you can change, I will hold out hope…

Yay!
As of Saturday, Feb. 6^th, the 8 will now be running every 15 minutes, instead of every 30. This earns an extra star, for sure.
Yay!