Needed Distraction

[kevin_standlee]

I needed something to take my mind off of the highly unpleasant and stressful things otherwise going on in my life right now, so I tied off this loose end from Westercon.

During Westercon, someone asked me for "gotchas" about taking the train to Reno. Among them was the scary bit of getting from the train station to the bus terminal where the local buses run down to the Atlantis. Now I'm not at all a fan of buses, but Reno's system is pretty painless. It's about 200 steps from the train station to the bus terminal. The only fault is that you can't take the straight-line route between the two because the only doors on that route are alarmed emergency exits. Instead, you have to go out the main door which is on the opposite side of the building and across the tracks (which are in a depressed trench), then walk around the building toward the buses. There is no signage at the exit of the Amtrak station that I noticed (except for Amtrak's own connecting buses to Sacramento, but that doesn't count).

So I used the Gmaps Pedometer tool to create the walking route, and posted a link to it on the Renovation LJ. It is of course a trivial walk; the distance is comparable to the walk on the skywalk between the Atlantis and Convention Center, but if it helps anyone feel less anxious about taking the train to a city bus in a city they've never seen before, I'll feel I accomplished something. And right now, I need some accomplishments.

(I reckon that if I wasn't still feeling some of the residual glow from the compliments from Westercon, I'd be a basket case right now.)

Comments

[johno.livejournal.com]

You mention the tracks are in a depressed trench.

Is the road/sidewalk on a overpass or do you have go down a slope and back up another?

Any barriers or hazards for folks with disabilities or in wheel chairs. I know of at least one person coming by train who will be in a powered wheelchair.

[kevin-standlee.livejournal.com]

There is an elevator between the trackside platform and the station at street level above. There appeared to be step-free access (albeit that you might have to take slight detours to curb-cuts) between the station and the bus terminal. The buses are pretty modern and appeared to have disabled access. This area around the train/bus station was rebuild only recently and therefore likely to meet all current ADA requirements.

[trinsf.livejournal.com]

When I click on the link for the page you created, all I get is a map of the US with fields to enter the to/from and get directions. Maybe there are cookies or something missing?

[kevin-standlee.livejournal.com]

I have no idea. When I click on http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=4645687 it brings up the map. And that's on two separate machines, not just the one on which I'd created the map in the first place.

[twilight2000.livejournal.com]

And I get a map with a blue line from the Reno Amtrak to an unmarked spot between Lake and Plaza ;> (I think that's the same thing).

I *do* have cookies turned on, if that makes a difference (on a mac)

[kevin-standlee.livejournal.com]

That's what you should see. I drew the line to the approximate location of the bus bay at which the RAPID buses stop. (There are other bus bays; that block has been turned into the bus terminal.)

[trinsf.livejournal.com]

It works erratically, for no reason I can discern. Sometimes it completes and shows the map, and sometimes not. I wonder if the site is timing out or something?

[cmdrsuzdal.livejournal.com]

Thank you, this sort of thing is very helpful for those of us with a barely functional sense of direction! :)

[katster.livejournal.com]

Another thing I noticed about the buses in Reno? Their website is friendly and allows you to buy passes via the Internet. It'll make taking the bus down to the convention site a whole lot more convenient.