It's got nothing to do with traffic delays. There are plenty of buses at each leg in my route. My specific problem is that I have to ride for 20 minutes in the opposite direction to get to a transit station where I then transfer to an express bus out to UW Bothell. But the bus from UW to my office isn't synchronized with the express bus so I either wait 15 minutes or walk a mile and a half across I-405.

On the other hand it's very efficient for getting in to the city, as I can hop on a single bus and be in Green Lake or the U district in about 15 minutes, and it's another 10 to cross the canal.