# NYC buses

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyc-buses/223337>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [January 8, 2004, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyc-buses/223337 "2004-01-08T01:44:49Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![nikjoshi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/839c29/32.png) [@nikjoshi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nikjoshi)\
**Post date:** [January 8, 2004, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyc-buses/223337/1 "2004-01-08T01:44:49Z")

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I dont know how many of you have seen MTA NYC buses. Some of these (ones with the square shaped front) have one half of their front glass(on the driver’s side) curved inwards, and the other side is normal. I could not think of any logical reasoning for this. Does anyone know why it is shaped that way? is there any reason at all?? 🙂

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**Author:** ![Exgineer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a88e4f/32.png) [@Exgineer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exgineer)\
**Post date:** [January 8, 2004, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyc-buses/223337/2 "2004-01-08T02:35:13Z")

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It comes down to coach design.

Busses are built to carry payloads that vary over an insane range. At any given point on the route you could have anywhere from 0 to 12,000 pounds worth of people in there and the chassis and the engine have to deal with that.

The superstructure is largely meaningless in a technical sense, so the short answer to your question is: somebody thought it would look cool.

The long answer involves arangements of seating, providing space for a little sliding window on the driver’s side so he can hand the NYPD his license and registration, and providing room on the passenger side for an off-the-shelf entry door.

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**Author:** ![Exgineer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a88e4f/32.png) [@Exgineer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exgineer)\
**Post date:** [January 8, 2004, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyc-buses/223337/3 "2004-01-08T02:37:53Z")

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I hit “submit” too soon.

If you could explain the freakin’ _schedules_ to me, I’d be greatful.