(Editor's Note: This was Tim St. Clair's last story for the West Seattle Herald, sister paper to the Ballard News-Tribune. Tim was a regular bus rider to downtown and about anywhere else. He did this story shortly before his death from pancreatic cancer.)

By Tim St. Clair

With gas prices topping $3 per gallon, there are a lot more people riding buses these days, said a Metro bus driver, who wishes to remain anonymous.

Metro recently released figures showing ridership was up 7 percent between 2006 and 2007. That translates into an average of 365,000 boardings per weekday. It's the biggest increase Metro recorded in the past decade.

The increased ridership means buses are running a bit slower. More passengers mean more time spent picking up passengers and dropping them off. It especially takes time to maneuver a bus into and out of a bus stop, and passengers can speed things up if they signal their intentions to the driver as the bus approaches.

Increased ridership also means more passengers are riding the bus for the first time. So the Metro bus driver wanted to pass along a few friendly tips that will help the bus system run quicker and more smoothly.

For example, as your bus arrives to pick you up at the bus stop, step to the curb and give the driver a little wave to indicate you want him or her to stop and pick you up.

If the arriving bus isn't one you want, step back from the curb, shake your head no and wave the bus on before it stops.

Fares depend on how far you are going, what time it is, your age, and whether you are disabled. Exact change is required and each farebox has a slot for $1 bills and another for coins.

Adults ages 18 to 64 pay the most. Travel within the Seattle city limits costs them $1.75 during the morning and afternoon rush hours. If the bus leaves the city and continues on into the county, the price goes up to $2.25. Watch for a yellow sign on the toll box to indicate rush hour from 6 to 9 a.m. and again from 3 to 6 p.m.

The fare for seniors age 65 and older, disabled people, and Medicare cardholders is 50 cents during rush hours and 25 cents the rest of the time.

Youths ages 6 to 17 pay 50 cents to ride anywhere in King County no matter what time it is.

Children ages 5 and younger ride free any time.

Something else to keep in mind as a bus passenger is when to pay. It depends on whether you are going downtown or not. If you are going downtown from West Seattle, you pay as you enter the bus. When headed away from downtown, you pay as you leave the bus.

Another simple tip: please have your money or bus pass ready ahead of time. Have your bus pass card out and ready to swipe through the fare box. Unfold $1 bills before you nudge them into the fare box. Remember too that coins go into a different slot on the fare box than bills.

Sometimes people make mistakes when they try to signal the bus driver where they want to get off. Nearly every day, people pull the stop signal cord too soon or too late to land on the bus stop closest to their destination.

According to our anonymous bus driver, the best thing to do if you signal the wrong stop is to immediately apologize to the driver and tell him or her which stop you want.