The marketing folks at Sound Transit are doing a great job introducing public transportation to people being hit hard by the increase in fuel costs. The timing of their advertisements and casual everyday messaging keep catching my eye. I’ve seen a number of billboards that say the following:

I’ve seen the future, and the seats are really comfy

My favorite is this text inside one of the Express busses between Seattle and Redmond:

Thanks for riding ST Express. We know you could ride a lot of things instead. Like a riding lawnmower. But you’d have to pay for gas, and they only go like 8 miles per hour, so they’re not as cool as you think. And they’re loud so it’s hard to listen to music. Unless you consider the sound of shredding pinecones music. Seriously, take 5 minutes and pick up your pinecones before you mow. We’re not kidding, Steve. If one of those things shoots out from your stupid mower and hits our house again, we’re coming over there. Anyway, thanks for riding.

 

This line of messaging definitely distinguishes Sound Transit from their close cousin Seattle City Metro. The experience between these two is drastically different. Keep it up Sound Transit, it makes us laugh and we like that.

My best friend Mark is working on becoming a pilot and he let Erica and I fly with him last weekend. It was a blast.

 

Yes, I know, Maverick and Goose.