But if you’re riding public transportation, what’s the problem? A guy cutting off your bus doesn’t affect the passengers on that bus in the least. And, I’m just guessing here, but I suspect there are very few automobiles in the subway, or on the Ell.
I carry a big bag on Mondays and Wednesdays on the subway from 42nd and 6th all the way down to Grand St. via the subway. I am well within my rights: I do not sit down, I do not obstruct doors, and I am generally not a pain in the ass. Every so often, some fuckchop razzes me about the bag. It’s usually pretty mild, if drippingly sarcastic.
Fuckchop: “What’s in the bag? A body or something?”
Maeglin: “Weapons.”
That usually does the trick. And it’s god’s honest truth, too. I carry around half a dozen blades on Mondays and Wednesdays. Anyone who gives me more shit will meet the business end of my wooden longsword.
I dislike public transportation. All kinds of weirdos, most of them tired or hot or cold or horny or generally unhappy. They jostle and push and pinch and cough and sneeze and spit. Bleah. Additionally, while I am the first to admit that I may not be Miss America, I inevitably get hit on when I ride the bus, train or subway alone. It’s scary. That is why I learned to drive.
Actually, I was once thrown from my seat when a bus had to slam on the brakes to avoid an idiot. I got a big bruise and a small cash settlement. 
Damn, the more I read of this thread, the more I appreciate Japanese train passengers. The ‘one person, one seat’ rule has been so thoroughly drilled into the collective psyche that it’s rare to see people put their bags next to them even when the train is empty.
One problem, though, are the gropers, especially on the really crowded morning trains. They tend to rely on Japanese people being too timid to want to raise a fuss in public. Of course, one of my friends managed to turn this around to her advantage when someone started grabbing her ass – she pinched his hand and didn’t stop until she had torn off a chunk of flesh. And although the perv got off at the next stop with tears streaming down his face, he never made a sound.
Well, when some idiot driver thinks he can cut off a train, the results usually back up the entire line for about half an hour, affecting several thousand people.
–sublight.
For the past year or so, on my bus, I’ve begun to notice an epidemic of elbow-in-the-side, cotemporaneous with the burgeoning cellphone epidemic, I suppose. Typical offender is reading something, and lets his elbow into that no-man’s-land where an armrest would be if the seats were wider. Today, it was a guy with a laptop, who insisted on sitting with his two arms as spread as could be. I pushed back, but it was damned annoying.
True enough, but there are rude drivers aplenty between the public transportation and wherever I’m going to. A public transportation user is also a pedestrian, with the attendant hazards.
Ain’t it the truth!
Oslo still has its little blue streetcars. I am so glad I’m not dependent on them - my suburban neighborhood is served by one of the big red trams. These have their own rights-of-way, so idiot drivers are only a hazard at a limited number of crossings.
The blue streetcars have to share the street with idiot drivers. Cutting the streetcar off is bad enough. (Important Notice For Idiot Drivers: Streetcars Cannot Swerve!) But then you have people who manage to park - usually under a No-Parking sign, that goes without saying - and have their car’s ass poking out over the streetcar tracks. Then the line is blocked until the car can be towed away. As the tow truck starts hooking up, the irate idiot driver returns, yelling that he was only parked there for a second and anyway he had nooooo ideeeeeeeah he was blocking the streetcar line. After all, steel tracks are the sort of thing you can drive right over without noticing, right? :rolleyes:
Hey, back off, man! 
Said wife (who, incidentally, is 5’2" and usually mild mannered) cites as her inspiration a friend who when seven months pregnant forced a teenaged boy to give up his seat to her with the words “You’re getting up, or I’m getting you up!”. She probably could have done it, too.
Let’s be fair, jr8 - he was a teenage boy. It probably wouldn’t have taken a hell of a lot to get him up.
all of my stories involve crowded hallways and people that think these are good places to stand and talk. or groups of girls who slowly walk down the hall, three wide and arms linked, totally preventing anyone from getting around them.
my favourite, however, was a line-cutting incident. freshman year we had a real problem with people cutting in the lunch line. you could be third in line for half the period. one day, my best friend, short and shy and second in line, got cut in front of by two huge senior football players. fed up, she started screaming at them – <i>in french</i>. mind you, this is texas. we’re not used to hearing french.
both of the football players backed off right away. i was behind them in line, and as livia left i heard one remark to the other, “man, she could have killed you!”
all of my stories involve crowded hallways and people that think these are good places to stand and talk. or groups of girls who slowly walk down the hall, three wide and arms linked, totally preventing anyone from getting around them.
my favourite, however, was a line-cutting incident. freshman year we had a real problem with people cutting in the lunch line. you could be third in line for half the period. one day, my best friend, short and shy and second in line, got cut in front of by two huge senior football players. fed up, she started screaming at them – <i>in french</i>. mind you, this is texas. we’re not used to hearing french.
both of the football players backed off right away. i was behind them in line, and as livia left i heard one remark to the other, “man, she could have killed you!”
Ain’t it nice, though? <Picking tooth with Bowie knife whilst scraping canine spoor off boots onto priceless Burber carpeting that was smuggled out of Morocco by my Uncle Habbibbi > . It comes in awfully handy to be able to say to detractors, " Oh goodness no, I’m not FROM New York. I grew up in a city known for it’s pacifistic Quakers, Frank Rizzo’s Police force and the Broad Street Bullies" 
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