For the first time in my life, I'm actually missing traffic

Voices of the pandemic features people in the Seattle area who are on the front lines of the coronavirus outbreak.

Theresa Tobin drives a bus for King County Metro. The pandemic has had her rethinking a lot of things about her job and what she values in her life. Here she is, in her own words.

One of our drivers at East Base passed away from the Covid-19 and I'm like, "Wow, that's a hard one." That could have been me ... could have been any one of us.

I've seen her around. I didn't really know about it, just: that's one of ours. She's one of ours and she's gone.

Out there in the street, when you're out there actually driving, it seems like a ghost town.

A lot of the people that we were driving around before are not on the bus. There are people who have been going since I've been out here 24 years. I watched their kids grow up. You're not seeing those people right now — they're either staying at home, being quarantined, or what have you.

And then basically downtown, for us drivers that drive in the downtown area, we're basically dealing with a lot of homeless people now. And they're the basic ones riding the bus.

You ever remember growing up watching the movies where it's like a ghost town? It's like, "Wow, you got all this to yourself." You're out there, we're driving down Third Avenue and it's nothing. It's nice in a way because there isn't traffic, but the reason for it is not good.

It’s kind of like … it's a dead feeling. I don't like that feeling.

For the first time in my life, I'm actually missing traffic. That sounds weird, huh? You know, before, you know, five or six months ago, you say “all this traffic, you get caught in it.”

But it was part of life. That's what we do. It feels weird to say that, I know it does. But no traffic means no people — no life.

I guess for lack of better words: I want people back. I want to see people, want to see life.

And I think if we get through this, and I hope we do, you may complain on the one hand, but be happy on the other hand that people are back. We're back in effect.

Theresa Tobin drives a bus for King County Metro. She shared her story with KUOW’s Joshua McNichols. Alec Cowan wrote the music.

We're documenting the ways the coronavirus crisis has surprised people and led them into difficult decisions, where the path forward is not clear. If you have something to say about your unique experience of the pandemic, please consider sharing your story with us.