`Human Bus Schedule' Rides Again . . . And Again

He sits up straight, shirt buttoned to the collar, smile ready for each new passenger, eyes attentive to every image passing outside the bus window.

Above Thomas Bakker's head, clear plastic holders offer schedules for Route 70 through the University District, Route 74 to Sand Point and Route 113 to White Center.

But Bakker (pronounced BOCK-er) doesn't need them. Metro drivers call him "the human bus schedule."

For more than a quarter-century, Bakker has been a regular on bus routes all over King County. He's never worked for the transit system but knows its routes and schedules - even bits of its gossip - better than some drivers do. Buses are his way to work and his favorite hobby.

"When I was 8 years old I took public transportation to school," said Bakker, 35. "And it was a good way to learn about the city. The more I rode, the more I learned."

As a teenager growing up on Capitol Hill, he spent free evenings and weekends riding buses back and forth across the city. As new routes were added, he'd ride to the end of the line and back.

"You can learn about different things that go on, talk to people and learn about their lives," Bakker said.

He subscribes to Bus World magazine (a transit-industry publication), chooses vacation destinations for their public-transportation systems and, on occasion, gives a new driver pointers about a particular route.

"He'll sit right up front and make sure the driver knows his

way," says Charlie Tiebout, a Metro driver for 21 years. Over the years, Bakker has made dozens of friends among Metro drivers. Tiebout said Bakker's unfailingly cheerful personality brightens up long days behind the wheel.

That's the same way they feel about Bakker at the Four Seasons Olympic Hotel, where he sets up tables, chairs and stage platforms for banquets, meetings and receptions. In January, the hotel named him Employee of the Year.

"No job is ever too big or too much for him," said catering director Lychelle Lawrenz, who nominated Bakker for the honor. "His smile and his attitude automatically make my day."

Bakker used the $1,000 prize to remodel his bedroom in the Capitol Hill house, where he still lives with his mother, brother and sister.

He tells about riding the 340, the system's longest route, which takes three hours on the round trip between Burien and Aurora Village. His favorite, the 211, goes to North Bend and stops at Snoqualmie Falls.

Bakker's knowledge of the bus system amazes Julie Corman, supervisor of Metro's scheduling section, who met him about 20 years ago while she was a driver.

"I'd see him everywhere," she said. "He'd always ride to the end of the line, where I'd knit (in the few minutes between routes.) So I taught him how to knit and he knitted himself a vest."

These days, Corman and Bakker have lunch once a month, which gives Bakker a chance to find out about route changes in the works.

One morning a week, he volunteers at a tourist-information office downtown, specializing in helping visitors learn how to get around Seattle by bus.

Although he has a driver's license, Bakker has no interest in owning a car.

"Maintenance and parking would be so high that it would seem silly in the city," he said. "You can get a bus about anywhere you'd want to go."