This has been bugging me for a very long time. In every other major city in Canada, transit passengers get on the bus at the front, and exit at the back. Why can’t it be this way here in Halifax? It’s not that hard. Get on at the front, leave out the back door. There’s an inherent flow that goes along with this small consideration. It is one of those tiny little things that indicates that this city has it going on!
I’m not coming down on folks who, for whatever reason, need to get off at the front. I’m talking about the huddled masses who crowd around the front door and block people trying to get on the bus. It happens EVERY DAY. I’m not even exaggerating. I’m not looking for huge transit reform, I actually think the system runs fairly well for what we’ve got.
Please, just be courteous to the people waiting out on the street. Leave through the back door…. Please? —Sigh
This article appears in Mar 11-17, 2010.
The reason the rear door exit works in others cities is that the drivers enforce it. They also make people move to the rear of the bus or streetcar so that it can be boarded, occupied and exited effectively. Unless the driver is in control of the procedure on her/his bus the passengers will be.
I’m in pretty much total agreement with this bitch. I’ve always wondered why people here feel the need to rush out the front, pushing through people trying to get on the bus.
I have no problem with people leaving via the front door. People tend to exit from the door they are closest to and a lot of them will walk to the back if they see a lot of people waiting to get on the front. Usually there’s an elderly person or two who need to exit through the front door anyway, so I always hesitate before boarding to see if anyone is about to get off. What to I care if that person happens to be elderly or not as long as they aren’t pushing me on their way out or something, it has no effect on how fast I get on the bus or anything for that matter. I could understand this being a priority in larger cities but I don’t think this is a problem at all in Halifax besides a slight annoyance to the odd anal transit rider.
actually on some street car lines in TO you can enter from the back doors; just say’n 🙂
Now people huddling around the front, that’s another matter entirely, people in general are just stupid and need to be told to move on back. Most of them will move aside if you just ask them to though.
What bugs me is when you’re near the back door and you’re heading towards it and people behind you are trying to push their way through you to get to the front door.
Unless there are snow banks or major mud puddles at the back door, I always use the back (though i tend to not sit up front anyway).
Also: if you’re on an out of service bus it’s cool to get off in the front.
I try and exit via the front door whenever possible. Now, if there is a crowd on the bus I will head right out the back. Call me whatever, but I like to say thank you to the driver just as I like to say hello to the driver when I get on. I am usually up waiting by the door before he/she pulls over to stop though. And some people need to exit via the front… people with strollers, the elderly, those with disabilities. It’s those that hop on a bus without allowing those people to get off first that annoy the hell out of me. Saw a girl get on the bus last week with a hockey bag…. she sat in the front and when she got up to disembark, two guys barged right on. And of course they had to stop to get a transfer or whatever and wouldn’t allow the girl to get off. Fucking douchebags. The driver didn’t lower the front of the bus for you………
btw… have you thanked your bus driver today???
I was always taught to exit through the front in order to say “Thank You” to the driver.
I only exit through the back door if I’m sitting near it.
Yeah, are you in such a rush to get on?
Use the front and back, and the bus empties twice as fast.
FRIEND SIGH, ASKING SOME OF THE MORE BRAIN DEAD ASSHOLES THAT RIDE TRANSIT, IS LIKE ASKING PETER KELLY TO GET AN IDEA HOW TO RUN THIS CITY. the only way for this to happen, is if the driver yells at them when trying to get off, to use rear doors only. barring that, maybe a one way front door would do the trick. i have often thought of this thing myself. it wouldn’t be that expensive, and would not let you open door from inside
sort of electronic eye, as they have on back doors. and driver would not have to open them. i know kelly reads this online forum, so there’s your idea peter, impliment it,as soon as possible.
oooh, all this talk about using the back door….
personally, I thank buddy when I get on and quietly exit rear curtain when my time comes.
I as well am a “thanker”, but I do usually use the back door, cause I usually sit on the back of the bus.
Must be a Nova Scotia thing, like entering your house from the side/back door, not the front.
Hi Cranky—yeah, that entering your house by the back door thing: definitely a maritme tradition.
The front door was always seen as being only for “company”—definitely too good for the likes of us!
(Kind of like how the person who owns the place is never allowed to use the “good” dishes . . .)
: )
I always exit from the back, but I totally get what the OP is saying about people not moving back who stay huddled at the door. There’s all kinds of space to stand towards the back, but there’s inevitably someone who will stand in the middle, not moving back as more people get on.
Oh, and I totally say thank you going out the back door.
I’m a “thanker” too. AND I also add a “have a nice day/evening/weekend” 🙂 I usually get off the bus at the front when I get my morning transfer — the bus is usually out of service by the time it gets to lacewood and I generally sit in the front because I’m only on the bus for a few minutes (I live just too far from lacewood to walk). The only thing that really cheeses me off, I will say, are the people who clamor to get on the 4 when it gets to lacewood. It doesn’t take THAT long to wait for a few people to get off the bus, and most DO get off through the back door, but like people have mentioned — sometimes people do need to get off in the front. Ever ride the 52 from bayers lake on a saturday? It’s near impossible to navigate through all the people to get from the near front to the back door. Also, my stop on parkland is usually full of snow banks by the back door and you CAN’T get out there.
In other cities people are also allowed to get on the bus through the back door on ALF artic busses (if they have passes). They have someone who will randomly check for passes (transit cops) and if you don’t have a pass or a valid transfer you get a $50 fine on the spot. I noticed the 10 is running one of the new hybrid ALF artic busses, so I wonder if MT’ll put a policy like that in place? It was pretty convenient to be able to get on the bus through the back door when I lived in Ottawa. Saved A LOT of time too (though, the ridership is probably like four times what it is in Halifax — you’d STILL have people packed in like sardines on the artic busses AND they’d be running every 5 minutes and still no room to breathe).
I exit from my SUVs driver’s side door. No one pushing in my case. 🙂
The purpose of exiting through the rear doors is to allow the front of the bus to be used for boarding in an efficient way. Unless one require assistance exiting via the lowered front ythen the rear door is the best possible exiting route. If everyone is exiting in the same direction the flow is steady and uninterrupted unlike the free for all scramble for whatever door.
I disagree Oceanlady. If 50 people try to squeeze through the single-stream rear door or if 25 go out the front and 25 out the back, the bus still isn’t going to get loaded and unloaded any quicker. The driver can’t pull away because you’ll still have people entering or exiting.
What I don’t get is how people in Montreal politely line up at transit stops and don’t allow line jumpers. They also stay back from the door when at stops where people may be exiting. I noticed people here are too lazy to look up the stepwell to see if someone is headed out of the bus before they rush to board. And queue jumpers – especially at the Sportsplex… grrrrr!
Montreal also has a good idea at many of their larger terminals, the bus pulls into one stop where it drops off only, then pulls ahead to those lined up to board the same bus. Might take 40 seconds more but it works smoothly.
Sometimes I prefer the back door. It’s a different sensation.
Oh LIH… where are you? Q’s comment is all yours to pounce upon…..hahaha
LIH is not around AFAIK, but perhaps my presence will attract him lol.
If you are standing closer to the front.. go that way.. instead of trying to push your way through the middle of a packed bus.. just sayin’
“”If 50 people try to squeeze through the single-stream rear door or if 25 go out the front and 25 out the back, the bus still isn’t going to get loaded and unloaded any quicker.””
Wrong. Unless no-one at all is waiting to get on, which is unlikely. The reason being that you can’t board through the back door, so there is a “bottleneck” at the front.
If there are any number of people waiting to board, especially a large number (say 50 as well) the difference is dramatic.