# I took the bus home yesterday. Pity me. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [August 19, 2003, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-took-the-bus-home-yesterday-pity-me/196266 "2003-08-19T20:00:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![margin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/65b543/32.png) [@margin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/margin)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2003, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-took-the-bus-home-yesterday-pity-me/196266/41 "2003-08-21T13:00:57Z")
Ugh. The bus. This is a totally different rant, but when I had a broken leg in a cast, and crutches, it was impossible to get a fucking seat in the handicapped section. I rode a bus twice a day, and only one driver ever did anything. People would just not get up. What was odd was that, really, it was guys. Women would jump up—guys would sort of shift around and avoid eye contact. And it’s no fun trying to keep on your feet when the bus is moving, and you’re not used to crutches. The other thing is, when you’ve got a full-length cast, it’s hard to find a position where you won’t trip people. ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2003, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-took-the-bus-home-yesterday-pity-me/196266/42 "2003-08-21T22:31:08Z")
Seat? Pray tell, what is this seat you speak of? \ margin, and anyone else hopping around in a cast - try investigating paratransit service. It’s usually an offshoot of the local transit agency. They’re usually transporting folks in wheelchairs, but if you ask them nicely, you might be able to get private (or nearly so) on-demand rides from them and not have to worry about some clod tripping over your already-broken leg. ---
**Author:** ![Brad\_the\_Impaler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8dc957/32.png) [@Brad\_the\_Impaler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brad_the_Impaler)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2003, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-took-the-bus-home-yesterday-pity-me/196266/43 "2003-08-21T22:39:11Z")
Maybe its local customs or something, but on the busses I’ve taken, people never expect you to go around them to get a seat. If you are sitting on the outside, they’ll stand before going around. Its considered rude not to move over, or at least stand up if you want the outside. But, hey, you ain’t on my bus, and things might work different where you are. ---
**Author:** ![margin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/65b543/32.png) [@margin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/margin)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2003, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-took-the-bus-home-yesterday-pity-me/196266/44 "2003-08-21T22:58:24Z")
Huh. Where I live, it’s common for people not to sit by the window, and it’s also common for people to just shift around. Some people don’t want to sit in the sun. **Gotpasswords** thanks for the tip. I was hoping I wouldn’t have to use it, but I have ridiculously flexible ankles, and they’re conspiring against me. If I could get paid to break bones, I’d be a rich woman. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2003, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-took-the-bus-home-yesterday-pity-me/196266/45 "2003-08-21T23:18:08Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Crusoe \* > \*\*I use the bus everyday. I know the pain of the smeared window and what deep down it indicates. I can close me eyes right now and smell the sharp, sweet aroma of the drunk sat across the aisle this morning. The rattle of empty Coke cans, the stickiness underfoot, the constant alertness required to avoid transferring used chewing gum from the back of seats to my knees. > > Still better than the bleedin’ tube, mind. \*\* Buses are great, especially now that the congestion charges have cleared vast amounts of other traffic out of central London. Plus, unlike _every frickin’ train journey_ I take, you don’t have to reattach the seat cushions before you sit down. Always a plus. ---
**Author:** ![Capcha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/82dd89/32.png) [@Capcha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capcha)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2003, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-took-the-bus-home-yesterday-pity-me/196266/46 "2003-08-22T00:03:07Z")
It would be more polite to give more room for whoever has to take the inside seat. sometimes i care, sometimes i don’t. What really pisses me off is a man who has the aisl seat, only shifts his ass so his legs are the only thing that gave room. I’m a girl, and i fucken hate to know that my ass was **that** close. And especially, **especially** when i saw him smirk as he’s shifting. fucken impolite perverts! ---
**Author:** ![catsix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e19b73/32.png) [@catsix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/catsix)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2003, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-took-the-bus-home-yesterday-pity-me/196266/47 "2003-08-22T00:05:15Z")
I loathe public transportation because it is smelly, loud, dirty, and always full of people who insist upon invading on my personal space as much as humanly possible. If I had a book, it was ‘What are you reading?’ If I had on headphones, it was ‘What are you listening to?’ If by some disaster I had neither, it was ‘And then my boyfriend got moved to the group home.’ I would much rather just take my car and be in my own, climate controlled comfort with my favorite music playing on the CD or the radio station, nobody spilling stuff on me, no babies puking or crying, nobody’s head grease getting all over me, nobody trying to tell me their life story while they scratch their nether regions, no more taking 20 minutes to go three miles because there’s a bus stop every 100 feet. At least in a traffic jam in my own car, I’m in my little private enclosed space and I can make it as comfortable as possible for myself. ---
**Author:** ![CanvasShoes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@CanvasShoes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CanvasShoes)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2003, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-took-the-bus-home-yesterday-pity-me/196266/48 "2003-08-22T00:26:06Z")
Our buses have a section of seats in the front reserved for seniors and the handicapped. Signs in this area advise that you must give up these seats to the elderly or handicapped. Other than that, I’m truly perplexed that someone would think that just because they’re suddenly where an available seat (window) and an occupied seat is (aisle), that THEIR choice of which seat they want is more important than that of someone who’s already sitting down. This attitude just BAFFLES me. Okay, it’s rude/jerky for the person already sitting to want to keep his/her choice of seat, but NOT rude/jerky for the person ju;st having gotten on the bus to insist, or attempt to insist upon HIS/HER chioce of seat??? If the person moves their legs out of the way so the next person can get in easily, what’s the problem? You don’t know that they’re not on the outside seat because theirs is the next stop, or that they might have a bum leg they need to stretch out in the aisle, or HELL so WHAT if they’re claustophobic? I don’t get it… I want that seat and you’re a jerk if you don’t give me the one I want? Thank God I’m lucky enough to have a halfway decent car. ---
**Author:** ![Capcha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/82dd89/32.png) [@Capcha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capcha)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2003, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-took-the-bus-home-yesterday-pity-me/196266/49 "2003-08-22T00:47:22Z")
**CanvasShoes** , i would understand if that person is old, sick or something. But in all of my experiences, they were skipping happily waiting for the bus (at the same stop i was) so for them to scootch off their behinds for a couple of seconds isn’t asking much. And it’s not as if there’s enough free space to move. When a person just moves their legs to the aisl (so you could sit down in the seat next to them), you’re pratically going to sit on their lap in order to do so. (i once got the corner of the seat in front jab me in my pelvic bone quite harshly when the bus was lurching and the guy didn’t want to get up, just moved his legs) And personally, if i don’t want to change seats, even with a body ache, i’d still get up or 1/2 get up for the other person to have as much comfortable room as possible to get in. ---
**Author:** ![CanvasShoes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@CanvasShoes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CanvasShoes)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2003, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-took-the-bus-home-yesterday-pity-me/196266/50 "2003-08-22T01:11:29Z")
Yes, I can see that if the seats were really close together and all that it would be necessary (to remain polite that is) for the person sitting in the aisle to get up or half way up so that someone could get past. But I got the impression from the OP that there was Plenty of room for the person to get into the window seat, they just didn’t want to. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2003, 10:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-took-the-bus-home-yesterday-pity-me/196266/51 "2003-08-22T10:50:53Z")
Gee **catsix** , it’s good to see the Earth’s fossil fuel reserves aren’t being wasted. ---
**Author:** ![catsix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e19b73/32.png) [@catsix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/catsix)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2003, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-took-the-bus-home-yesterday-pity-me/196266/52 "2003-08-22T14:25:11Z")
Well in the choice between burning some dead dinosaurs or committing mass homicide and going to prison, the dead dinosaurs are fucked. Why do you have such a problem with me making my own choices? ---
**Author:** ![Oat1957](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Oat1957](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oat1957)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2003, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-took-the-bus-home-yesterday-pity-me/196266/53 "2003-08-22T15:19:25Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by BiblioCat \* > \*\*_::totally clueless car-owning suburbanite who only ventures forth into the Big Scary City for O’s and Ravens games::_ > > Baltimore has buses? > > 😉 \*\* Sure it does. It’s that big thing sitting in the middle of the intersection of Pratt and Light with no back wheels. I was on bus in Baltimore once when the person next to me (window) got up to get off. I started to slide over next to the window when I noticed that he had decided that sitting next to the window was a pretty good place to pee. ---
**Author:** ![UrbanChic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/9dc877/32.png) [@UrbanChic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UrbanChic)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2003, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-took-the-bus-home-yesterday-pity-me/196266/54 "2003-08-22T15:37:53Z")
a) I get a bit panicky if I’m trapped in the window seat. b) The woman who wanted me to slide over was not a small woman…by any stretch of the imagination. There was no way in hell I was going to be trapped between her and the window. All the breathing exercises in the world wouldn’t have calmed me down. None of this should matter, though, because on a crowded bus I ain’t givin’ up my aisle seat unless you’re a little kid, a person carrying a baby, elderly, disabled or a (very strange) amalgamation of the above. ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2003, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-took-the-bus-home-yesterday-pity-me/196266/55 "2003-08-22T16:48:48Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by jr8 \* > \*\*Buses are great, especially now that the congestion charges have cleared vast amounts of other traffic out of central London. > > Plus, unlike _every frickin’ train journey_ I take, you don’t have to reattach the seat cushions before you sit down. Always a plus. \*\* Wow… First someone says their buses have seats, now they’re making buses with seat cushions? Detachable or otherwise? Sweet Jeebus, I’m living in the wrong part of the world! ---
**Author:** ![ThatDuckIsEvil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@ThatDuckIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThatDuckIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2003, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-took-the-bus-home-yesterday-pity-me/196266/56 "2003-08-22T17:13:33Z")
Oat1957, I just now nearly re-created that sceanrio in my own office chair. TERRIBLE! Jaunita you have all my pities and sympathies. I have been there ALL too often. You’re not supposed to just move over. Good for you, bus people can be so pissy. Here’s something odd and irritating I experienced on the Orange Line a short while back: 40-ish Man in the window seat, me in the aisle seat. Rush hour, aisles packed like sardines with people standing. A woman is standing next me, non-elderly, non-handicapped, not carrying any large bundles, no children. The man says to her: “Would you like to sit, ma’am?” and he begins to rise. He looks at me and says: “Would you mind?” The woman hadnt even answered, but since the man was standing already, I guess she felt compelled to take it. So now I have to get out of my seat, and move back into the crowd far enough so that HE can exit too. The lady sits and meanwhile, a passenger just getting on sneaks his way through the crowd and steals my seat before I can get back to it. And the man who made me get up LETS him take it! Now what the hell do you call THAT? I call it FUCKING WRONG. WHY did that man think she needed to sit? I mean, if the aisles werent packed, ok, I’ll shift around for you if you just HAVE to be so fucking CHIVALROUS. But if you’ve ever been on the Orange Line at 5:20 pm on a Tuesday you’re pretty much screwed and niceties go out the window. A guilty pleasure of mine when someone sits in the aisle seat even though my stop is next: I love it when they get all settled, book or laptop out, bag on their feet, etc. Then it’s my stop and there’s all kinds of huffing and puffing while they have to hurriedly grab all their stuff out of the way so that I can leave. Only 30 seconds to “DOORS CLOSING \” mwah-ha-ha-ha-ha SUCKER! {BTW, doesnt that computer voice sound like she’s saying: GEORGE CLOONEY? Maybe not, but I bet it will now. 😉 } ---
**Author:** ![Necros](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/necros/32/11086_2.png) [@Necros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Necros)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2003, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-took-the-bus-home-yesterday-pity-me/196266/57 "2003-08-22T17:35:45Z")
So, **JuanitaTech** , what happed to your BMW? Is it bwoken? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2003, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-took-the-bus-home-yesterday-pity-me/196266/58 "2003-08-22T17:40:16Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by gotpasswords \* > \*\*Wow… First someone says their buses have seats, now they’re making buses with seat cushions? Detachable or otherwise? Sweet Jeebus, I’m living in the wrong part of the world! \*\* And ours come with an _upstairs_ too! Perfect for looking into people’s bedrooms. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![BiblioCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed8c4c/32.png) [@BiblioCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BiblioCat)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2003, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-took-the-bus-home-yesterday-pity-me/196266/59 "2003-08-22T17:45:05Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Oat1957 \* > \*\*I was on bus in Baltimore once when the person next to me (window) got up to get off. I started to slide over next to the window when I noticed that he had decided that sitting next to the window was a pretty good place to pee. \*\* EWWW! No wonder **JuanitaTech** didn’t want to slide over! ---
**Author:** ![UrbanChic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/9dc877/32.png) [@UrbanChic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UrbanChic)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2003, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-took-the-bus-home-yesterday-pity-me/196266/60 "2003-08-22T17:49:00Z")
Necros, it’s a Jag and my mother-in-law has it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-took-the-bus-home-yesterday-pity-me/196266.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-took-the-bus-home-yesterday-pity-me/196266.md?page=4)