Notorious bus routes

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
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Seattle Metro cancelled route 358 today. A route so infamous I’ve had friends on FB lament it’s passing, a route that has it’s own yelp reviews and it’s own song.

In San Francisco, our notorious bus route would definitely be the 33. Unlike most routes that take a reasonable, straightforward path, the 33 winds circuitously around the perimeter of San Francisco and connects a bunch of disparate neighborhoods. Plus, there’s a section as it’s climbing a hill where it has to make a tight 300 degree turn and has to cross over into the opposing lane to barely squeak by the turn. As soon as passes the turn, you get a glorious view of downtown SF. The 33 is so beloved a friend of mine, at brunch casually mentioned that he was about to take the 33 for the first time and the entire table spent the next 20 minutes discussing their own experiences with the 33 (to the bafflement of a single member there who had no idea what the big deal was).

Anyway, I love hearing about quirky, weird bus routes that develop a reputation and notoriety. What are your town’s most notorious bus routes?

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AC Transit NL

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When I lived in San Francisco in 1981, the 22 Fillmore was called “the blood vessel.” At least by one comedian I heard. That was back when Fillmore was still a ghetto from Japantown to the Mint.

But my favorite was always the 39 Coit, which had to back up a half-block as part of its route.

Here in Chicago, the joke about the 36 Broadway is that after 1 am, outpatients ride free.

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And I thought the Yonge Street Night Bus (aka the Vomit Comet), which runs up Yonge St in Toronto after the subway closes, was bad…