I especially love when you ask them to move the bag so you can sit and they do it, but give you an attitude about it. Or look around the bus to see if it’s crowded.
I really don’t get this. Do they really think they’re entitled to have two seats?
Scott, I agree with what you said in the OP, and about subsequent points, especially the point about inconsiderate bozos who stand directly in front of the back doors on the bus and don’t move to let anyone off.
I don’t have a problem with people who stand in front of the back doors of the bus if it’s a crowded bus or something, but I have seen people on a half-full bus move directly to the double doors and stay there for the duration of the ride. If they’re going to get off soon, then that’s all right, I suppose: however, those people that stand in front of those doors for half an hour or more without moving aside to let people off really bug me.
One other thing: just because I am young and look able-bodied does NOT mean that you are entitled to glare at me just because I sit in the courtesy seats at the front of the bus! The key words here are “looks disabled”, you assholes. I have a mild form of CP, which means that my balance is affected, and therefore, I would be more comfortable sitting in a seat on a bus rather than standing.
True, I may look as able-bodied as you, but the plain and simple fact is, I’m not. No, I’m not using it as an excuse to grab the el primo seats at the front of the bus, either! The seats are for disabled people, and I certainly qualify as one. If you would like some proof that I am disabled, I’ll simply get my doctor to write a note to that effect (or get some official document from the doctor) and show it to you if you dispute my right to sit in those seats. That. or I could get a cane and make like I am more disabled than I really am, but that’s not my style.
Howeever, this is not to say that I would never give up my seat for someone (the elderly, pregnant, etc.) if there was another seat on the bus, or that I have never stood on the bus for sometimes long bus rides. I have, indeed, done both. (with some people offering me their seats when they see how my balance is affected, but I don’t expect people to do that every time; occasionally, I will ask, but not often, and certainly not every time I have to stand rather than sit!)
There was this old man a few years ago who expressed his displeasure with me by actually doing more than violating my personal space: he actually lifted me up bodily out of my seat and told me to stand up! I only wish I had been brave enough to shout something at him along the lines of “I have CP, you idiot! I’m entitled to use this seat!”
As it was, I got called a bitch for not automatically gicing up my seat once I saw them get on the bus. :rolleyes: I would have, if there had been other seats on the bus, but it was a long bus ride to get to where I was going. Still, I might have, but for the fact that he was so agressibe about it! He didn’t even ask! :mad: I don’t know whether I was strictly entitled to the seat, but that’s my opinion.
So if you see someone who looks as if they could use seats other than the courtesy seats. there may be a story behind the person in that seat that you don’t know. Of course, this is not to excuse the people who automatically sit in the courtesy seats and don’t move for anybody at all. Like I said, I will move for people if they ask politely and don’t go about it like that old man did.
That is all I have to say on the subject for now. Thank you.
I gotta diagree with the “Be on time for your bus/train” one. In Chi-town there is no schedule, at least no readily available one. And I for one, do not want to wait 20 minutes in sub-zero temperatures for another bus. As for barreling down the stairs for trains, same deal. In the Loop the CTA runs like 5 fucking trains on the same track (orange, brown, purple, green east and green west). So yeah, they come frequently, but depending on where you want to go, it may not be the train for you. And because there has to be a certain amount of space between each train, if you miss yours you may be waiting a very long time for the right one to come along again.
I carry tissues with me and I’ve been known to offer them to anyone who seems in need of one. If they were desperately wishing they had one, they’re grateful. If they’re just too obnoxious to realize how nauseating they’re being, it embarrasses them sufficiently. More important, it makes them quit their damn snuffling for at least a little while.
They then, nine times out of ten, will dispose of the soggy, virus-ridden thing by tossing it on the floor or on a nearby seat, but you can’t have everything.
Scott Evil… shudder Blair Station… shudder
I like the transit system here in Ottawa. I just hate the dickwads who aren’t civilized.
Oh, and the nutty woman who takes the 95… actually, it’s kind of sad - Mr. Harris (the puss-leaking nutsack) cut out so much of our health care system that the poor woman now must live with her sister out in the East end. She’s a paranoid schizophrenic, and spends most of her time on the bus screeching and screaming and talking in that high-pitched screechy voice. She scares young children, not to mention my working dogs whom she insists on petting while they’re trying to work.
I know it’s politically incorrect to complain about someone like that. But fuck, she needs help. I’m not mad at her - she can’t help her condition… but angry at the fucknuggets we have had at the helm of this province-from-hell who have cut back all the services she could have gotten.
** Another pet peeve ** To the old bags with lots of perfume: STOP KILLING US WITH THE CHEAPASS FUMES EARLY IN THE MORNING, M’KAY???
(even the dogs sneeze!!!)
huff and puff and huff and puff
E.
scott, meet **Eve**.
Sofa King, I read that same article. Metro needs a boot in their collective behind! First, they allowed some moron to design an escalator system that exposes the escalators to rain and snow, then they’re surprised that they have frequent breakdowns. The escalators are broken more often than not, and removing the “Keep To The Right Signs” will actually cause the problems Metro putatively wishes to prevent.
Imbeciles!
as for moving away from people…
due to some rather unpleasant experiences i will always try to sit beside women, rather than men, and if an empty seat opens up i will move to it, if i am beside a man.
not of course that this would apply with scott evil,
but then he’d never try to grab my breasts, put his hand up my skirt or masturbate in front of me (i said they were unpleasant experiences)
i will try to sit upstairs in a bus if there are seats, to leave the downstairs ones free for peole who can’t use the stairs. i will stand rather than use a seat downstairs if the bus is full.
i know this means i have to stand with my backpack on, but hey, i’m short and skinny, i’m not taking up any more space than an average sized guy.
the worst thing i ever saw ws a teenage girl (most definitely NOT disabled) take a seat at the front of the bus and force an elderly nun with a cane (a NUN fercrissakes) to stand until an old man gave up his seat for her.
idiot.
I was going to chime in with the CityPaper story about removing the “Stand to right” signs on the DC Metro but Sofa King obviously beat me to it.
As for trashcans… I saw three of them with big old “Wet Paint” signs on the platform at Pentagon Station this morning. I think they’re probably being brought back.
Oh, right… public transit rants. I guess the only one I got is on the express bus route I take most every morning to work. There’s a portion of the route where the bus DOES NOT STOP. A lot of people don’t realize this. But it’s not like the bus drivers go out of their way to make it known, either. They get to the last stop before the express portion and kinda mumble “notgonnastopuntilScottStreet” and pull away. So almost without fail we get people who want to get off before Scott Street and get all perplexed as to why the bus isn’t stopping.
Is it too goddamn much to ask the freaking bus drivers to say in a loud and clear voice “Ladies and gentlemen, this is an express bus - it will not stop until Scott Street”? Twenty seconds out of your route time is not gonna make us late to work, really.
Although this morning the bus driver did actually say “I’m going to have to learn how to say it in Spanish so more people will understand me.” It’s tidbits like that which give me hope for humanity.