Olympia Washington has been awarded the designation of being the best transit system in the United States. My son Jackson and I are visiting the area to scout colleges and haven't needed a cab or car since we arrived at our hotel. What can this bus based transit system tell us about CARTA, our own transit system here east of the Cooper?

Part of travel in our family is going to places where we can avoid using an automobile. I don't see well enough to drive. Jackson still doesn't have a permit to drive out of state.

We tried Seattle's new light rail system, which is up and running on a single line connecting downtown and the airport. The trains are clean and fares modest. Since the transit line is a retrofit to the sprawling airport complex, there is a lengthy walk through a damp parking garage. However, driving to the airport is now history for many Seattle travelers.

A change in plans and full Amtrak trains put us on the Greyhound bus from Seattle to Olympia. Intercity bus service in the US has been on the decline for a long time. The best thing I can say is that the people working for Greyhound are pleasant and helpful under conditions which range from depressing to horrific. The bus was clean but the station in Seattle on a gray Easter afternoon could be the waiting room for perdition, faded, rundown and in places unclean. The only people smiling were in a chemically altered state.

However when people with power care, bus transportation can be wonderful.

Olympia's bus system deserves its national first place designation.

The fleet is large and runs routes which cover the city, on 20 and 30 minute frequencies.

Most routes link to a large, covered transportation center with stops connecting over at 20 routes. An all day pass was only $2 and could be purchased on the bus.

We took the bus to the state capital here, where we met a legislative assistant to the Senate Majority leader who had also taken the bus to the capitol that day and does without a car most of the time.

Many government workers in the capitol complex and even some legislators use the bus system. This certainly helps account for the high level of public support.

We grabbed lunch in downtown Olympia. Afterwards, in a matter of minutes we took another line to Evergreen State College which is served by two routes running on 20 and 30 minute intervals.

Frequencies on this system are so high that running errands on the bus is practical.

Evergreen is one of the nation's most socially and environmentally progressive colleges.

Their large, sheltered stop was busy with students coming and going to the campus.

Quick trips to downtown and shopping were common.

Though the college is nestled deep in the woods, there's no real reason for a student or their parents to be burdened with the expense and hassles of a car.

It's a bus trip from Evergreen to the Amtrak station where six trains a day link the college to the left wing meccas of Seattle and Portland.

Olympia's transit system proves that if you run a lot of busses often, to places people need to go and provide comfortable places for short waits, transit can move a small town, two colleges and a state capital.

(William Hamilton (www.wjhamilton.com) is an attorney who lives in I'On Village.)