I was already excited about the shift in my commute with our move back to Capitol Hill. My current commute consists of a solo drive on all four of Puget Sound’s major freeways (i5, i90, 405, 520) taking 45 minutes or so. Moving back to Capitol Hill, I’ve got lots of vanpool, carpool, and bus options, and when I did the math a couple weeks ago, it looked like my bus ride was going to be about 40 minutes door-to-door, with one transfer.

Then The Connector happened. It’s Microsoft’s private express bus fleet. There are five routes going to Redmond from all over the Puget Sound area, and it just so happens that one comes through my neighborhood. In fact, they might as well just call it The Ariel Bus because it’s like the frickin’ thing was designed for me.

Let’s examine the evidence:

  • The closest stop is 1/2 block from the new condo, and is the last stop before the bus hops on the freeway headed straight to work. Basically, I get on, the bus goes, and when it stops moving, I step off. Express, muthafucka!
  • The service starts on 9/24, about one week after we’re settled into the new place.
  • The drop-off point is across the street from the building where I work. This is a big deal as MSFT’s campus is ginormous and getting from the transit center to your building could easily add another 20 minutes to your commute.
  • My commute time will be 30 minutes door-to-door in the morning, 40 minutes in the afternoon.
  • The bus has wifi and an outlet at every seat. Since seats are reserved, you always know you’ll have a place to sit.
  • Thanks to the wifi, this means that the hour or so a day that I’ll be commuting is totally work time. In other words, I will work from the time I leave the house at 9:10 until the time I walk back in the door at 5:30, as opposed to now where I’m out of the house from 9:45am - 7:45 pm, but am only working from about 10:30 - 7pm.

People, THIS IS AWESOME. It’s like this perk was designed exactly for me — “Ariel’s moving back to the hill! Quick, we better get her private express wifi bus ready to roll!” This, combined with my three-day work-week suggests that I’ll finally be breaking my streak of workplace infidelity. At least for a little while.

Side note: my father, ever the populist, finds The Connector irksome because “It’s the bus for people who think they’re too good to ride public transportation.” It’s a valid point, although I’d argue that I’d be riding the bus or a vanpool regardless. That said: I’m shitting my pants over The Ariel Bus. My only question is whether they’ll let Sassafras on-board …