Metro's Fourth of July fare unfair?

Q: On the Fourth of July holiday, Redmond resident Marie Turner's visiting family members took a Metro bus to and from a fireworks display in Kirkland. She says the bus schedule clearly states that Sunday and holiday travel is free for children when accompanied by a paying adult.

But bus drivers in both directions politely pointed out that Metro Transit observed the holiday July 3 — the Friday before the legal holiday — and charged the regular fare for the children that Saturday.

"I'd like an explanation from Metro Transit as to why the Fourth of July is, in their opinion, not a holiday," she said.

A: Metro usually follows its Sunday schedule on most holidays, and the family-fare plan that lets youngsters ride free applies Sundays and holidays when the Sunday schedule is used.

But the Saturday holiday observed on Friday made this a rare case, says Jon Bez, Metro's scheduling supervisor. In this case, Metro followed its Sunday schedule on Friday — the observed holiday — and followed its regular Saturday schedule on the Fourth of July since that was a Saturday — and because Metro's Saturday schedule offers more bus service than its Sunday and holiday schedules.

So, from Metro's point-of-view, the bus drivers were actually correct, said Bez. Regular fares applied Saturday.

That little technicality, says Metro Transit spokeswoman Linda Thielke, is noted on Metro's Web site, but not on all printed timetables, because there simply wasn't enough space on the little pamphlets to fully explain all that.

That does seem a little confusing, doesn't it? Are Turner's visitors due an apology and perhaps a refund?

Q: Eastlake Avenue East is too much of a speedway for Joshua Dellinger's taste.

He's vexed by so much speeding traffic, despite an abundance of foot traffic and crosswalks in the arterial that runs along the east side of Lake Union in Seattle. But he also complains that he and other tenants of a large apartment complex on Eastlake, just south of Allison Street, take their lives into their hands whenever they try to exit their underground, gated garage.

Cars park on the street so close to the garage exit that visibility is restricted for drivers leaving the garage, he said, and there are no stop signs or caution lights for Eastlake traffic.

"Trying to merge onto the main drag is hazardous," he lamented. "I have brought this up to the apartment building. They cannot do anything about that, they say."

He wonders if there's anything the city can do?

A: Cars aren't supposed to park within 30 feet of that parking garage's access because of its proximity to the intersection., says Eric Widstrand, the Seattle Transportation Department's city traffic engineer.

The department will install parking signs to remind drivers of the parking restrictions, and that, the department hopes, will improve the visibility.

Widstrand said he's passed along your concerns to the Seattle Police Department to look into speeding and illegal-parking problems on Eastlake.