Since there are so many people in HRM that are totally retarded in terms of bus etiquette let me give you a crash course.
1) Fuck off with the cell phone. Turn it off, eat it what ever, but don’t bloody sit there and pretend that you are more important than everyone else on the bus. I don’t read or sing out loud so why are you polluting my air with your content less gossip? 2) If the bus you see traveling toward your stop is not the bus you are getting on move the fuck away from the stop. Do you really need the bus to pull over and open its doors in order for you to figure out it is not the bus you want? 3) What is it about the front door that you love so much? In through the front out through the back. You people who walk the entire length of the bus in order to use that damn front door are holding up the people who are on the bus and the poor people freezing outside waiting for your unreasonable ass to get the hell off before they can load on. 4) To the dude who always rides the bus at 5pm with that pizza that just came out of the oven…be a dear and have that shit delivered. It’s dinner time and I am starving!
—Polite
This article appears in Feb 26 – Mar 4, 2009.
The cell phone thing I don’t mind so much, as long as they’re not talking at max volume right next to me. Everything else I whole heartedly agree with! But, thankfully I have a car now and don’t need to worry about this kind of shit anymore.
I got on the bus once and the entire busload of people heard a very loud conversation about excessive drug use and failed attempts at rehab. There were little old ladies on the bus shaking their heads at the foul language. I was horrified.
I agree with most of it.
When a bus is coming and it’s not the one that I want, I wave my hand, and the driver says thank you.
As for the people who travel to the front. I don’t do that normally. But ya know, when you try to go out the back doors, scaling Mt. Everest is not a nice thought.
People coming out the front door even when they’re closer to the back door pisses me off so much!
One thing that has always irked me when getting on the bus, are the people that push to get on first, and then stand there and block the way for everyone while they ask the driver a bunch of questions. Look, i dont care that you’re chatting it up with the driver, but can’t you at least wait until everyone else has gotten on? We KNOW we’re supposed to be on that bus. We’ve figured out the route, unlike you, and we’re standing out here freezing, you selfish ass. Move it the fuck over!
I agree with almost everything you said, except sometimes in the winter months, I walk to the front of the bus to get off because I don’t feel like hopping out the back doors onto a giant snow bank or in a big ass slush puddle…
This goes out to Plastic Driver Guy. Maybe he can answer my question.
Why don’t bus drivers try to avoid the huge puddles and ice mountains for the back door?
I realise that in some places it can’t be avoided. However, just this morning at Duke and Barrington southbound, there was an ice mountain and light pole in front of the bus.
Can they not see where they are stopping?
I am not trying to be smug, just a serious question.
I hope you are on here!
*Wonders exactly when he got his own bat signal*
Winter is the one time of year when I don’t say anything to people exiting the front door, simply because Mt. Everest awaits through the back door. Not only that, but when the back door gets stuck on the snowbank, the bus isn’t going anywhere until it closes again.
To answer your question BP, in most cases, the bus stops are only cleared at the front. I’ll cite the example of the stop on Portland St just as you go through 5 corners heading to Penhorn. The stop itself is cleared, then there’s a small bank, then there’s a driveway. If someone wants off and there’s noone at the stop, I’ll put the front door by the driveway so that the back door (now at the stop) can be used. Common sense. If someone is standing there in the cold however, I’d prefer to not make them walk further and will service the stop proper, leaving the back door by a snowbank. Other times, drivers simply misjudge speed and overshoot the stop (or will hit the brakes hard, or both).
One thing I can recommend is that if you’re getting off and you suspect you’re the only one, make your way near the back door. The driver might stop the bus with the back door at the stop for you if he/she knows you’re going to use it (it’s usually faster than walking to the front, especially on older buses) assuming noone is getting on at the stop as well.
Thanks for the info PDG!
Why can’t all bus drivers be like you?
Don’t think too highly of me, I can be an ass at times. 😉
The bus drivers should have a blog.
Hey Tim, can you do something about that?
It would be sweet to dispell the myths around MT.
I work in a job that has tons of myths and untruths and wish I was able to confront them like PDG.
I hate it when people crowd the front to get off and don’t let little old ladies or people with disabilities on. It’s silly. I’ve never understood why people exit at the front (barring the aforementioned Mt. Everest or lamp post) and considering it’s plastered everywhere in the bus, one can only blame ignorance.
What about those ignorant pricks, that no matter how crowded the bus gets, they don’t have the decency to move to the window seat.
—Polite (not so much)
It’s public transportation
Get a car, too many things bother you. Who are you to think buddy should have his supper delivered, how about you take a cab, your own car, whatever but stop complaining for the sake of complaining. Your bitch is stupid.
People can talk on their phones if they want to and don’t need your or anyone elses approval. So although they may annoy, I am sure you do many things that annoy others.
I’ve thought of doing a blog, but I stop myself for the very reason that I am just one driver. There are over 400 of us, and what’s right to me is wrong to another, and vice versa. One thing I don’t want to do is provide unrealistic expectations based on my opinions. Also, I’d be likely to turn it into my own LTWWB, and noone would like that, especially if they were the subject.
MT has many myths, always will. I can dispel the really rediculous ones, but there are some that will never be dispelled, no matter what the driver(s) say. After all, I’m just a driver, tee hee hee.
Hey “The End” I am not so sure what you are saying is true because like Jesus I am perfect. And I have a car I just don’t spew unnecessary fumes to get to and from work. Or pay to park the damn thing once I get over there.
The phone and food things don’t bother me so much on the bus, there are a few other things that make me want to rip my hair out… Like when the bus is packed, no matter how many times the driver asks people to move back, there’s always someone who refuses to move. They seem to think that going up those two little steps to stand at the back of the bus is too much to ask! Also, when people refuse to take seats when the bus is full. Why?! If there is a seat free, and someone offers it to you, don’t decline and then stand in front of it like an ass. Sit in the damned seat or let someone else have it, so there’s more standing room for others.
I love MT and its my only way to travel in this city, but sometimes the idiocy of passengers and drivers makes it so frustrating!!
Your attitude is the kind that makes people want to buy more pizzas and smelly food and bring them on the bus and talk really loud on their cell phone and sit right beside you. It is people like you with that attitude that takes the nice out of people and make them hateful. If you can’t be tolarant on the bus then please you everyone elses sake take your fucking car.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, salizar: if I’m forced to stand up on the bus I basically need to hug that pole or Imma go flying, and my bus accident’d knee’s probably going to rip off once again. So, everyone else can move the fuck back because if I have a pole, I’m not moving back to have to use one of those handles hanging from the top poles, and I’m short so I can barely hang onto the top pole. If there’s a pole available further back I’ll take it no problem, but I’m not risking another knee injury for anything/anyone (when the first one still fucking hurts). /rant
I agree with most of the points here. I will admit I do use my cell on the bus, but honestly the only time I ever get calls on my cell or make calls throughout the day while on a bus is from/to my mom or dad asking about my schedule and to arrange meeting times/places based on where I am at any given point in time. The conversations are generally under 5 minutes so I don’t feel bad about that. The only other time I was on my cell on the bus was when I was kicked off one bus because the driver wanted to go out of service early and I called MT to report it and another bus came in the process and the customer service person was very thorough. Some people really need to fuck off with the 30 minute conversations on shitty cell phones where they have to scream into the damn things.
As for front door exits, well sometimes it’s easier for people to get off in the front if they’re old, and/or sitting near the very front, especially if it’s a 52 coming from BLIP on a saturday and it’s wall to wall people and their shopping bags. It takes too much time to get to the back and it’s just EASIER not to go through all those people when you’re near the front. I’d say in those cases, it’s more rude for people to crowd onto the bus before people haven’t gotten off than it is to get off the bus through the front door. HOWEVER, I use the back door when I can and what bugs me is when you’re going towards the back door and you’re sitting in the middle of an older bus and people sitting BEHIND you try to get around you to use the front door. WTF, people?
Honestly, OP, I think you’ve only hit the tip of the ice berg with your points. There are many more that could be pointed out!
PK – I can totally relate, I’m too short to reach anything but the poles myself, so if I’m standing and people are told to move back, I just squish up against the pole and let those who CAN reach move back. I’m referring specifically to the people who have the ability to go alllll the way to the back of the bus, but stand there like idiots instead, pretending like they can’t hear the driver or that the driver isn’t referring to them.
Yeah, I hear you on that one. It’s like how people who are able to stand up never give their seats up to those who can’t. When i was on crutches, once the driver had to tell someone to give their seat up for me. I’ll admit people were very accommodating, but there are a few people who are just rude about it. There’s a blind gentleman who gets on the bus with his service dog on North Street and one day the driver had to YELL at this young guy (probably early 20s) to get up and let him sit down.
I find the best way to deal with the bus and the people on it is to get an ipod and a book. The only people who ever bug me now are those I can hear over my music 😛
Agreed about the loud cell phone convos. I think some people just want to broadcast their exciting lives for all to listen, but generally just come off as pathetic and attention starved. Especially when they’re talking about inappropriate stuff like Bart’s girlfriend’s giant tits or the abortion they had last week. Some people seem to manage to talk discreetly! If the reception is that bad then maybe it’s not worth it to be screaming into the cell phone. You might as well bring a little TV on the bus and watch a soap opera at high volume. Whether it’s a fun soap or a boring soap no one needs to hear your shit.
Hmmm…what else…oh yeah, when guys insist on maintaining their “wide stance” on the inside seat even though it means I get to use half of the outside seat. I paid for the damn seat and I want to use the whole seat whether or not their sweaty balls get to breathe.
I also hang onto one of the poles at the front if that’s all that’s available and I’m forced to stand, I squeeze myself in close to let others by. If I can get to one further back, I will, but I’m not moving if I can’t get the vertical pole to hold. Hey, I’m thin, they can get past me. I’m also short, and have no desire to dislocate my shoulder hanging from the parallel poles at the top.
Don’t even get me started on those straps that some buses have. The one time I tried them, I had to resist the urge to grab one on the opposite side of the aisle and start swinging. Didn’t know riding the bus was the equivalent to a day at the playground. How is a person supposed to stand up while being jostled around and holding one of thos things?
My biggest peeve with riding the bus is backpacks. Why is everyone so oblivious to the fact that those things take up so much space? Practically, a full person’s worth. Even more so, why are they so oblivious to the fact that they’re coming within millimetres of smacking people who are seated, in the face? Take the frigging things off when you get on the bus and place it on the floor between your feet. Don’t tell me there’s no room, there can’t possibly be less room on the floor than having it protrude sixteen inches from your back. It’s just safer on the floor.
In ottawa you’re allowed to put your stuff on the part at the front of the bus that’s like the little platform (90% of busses up there are ALF) that MT bans stuff from being on. It was great: I’d get my groceries have about 5-6 bags and I’d just put them there when I got on and go sit down. Everyone used it and it saved a lot of space. People’d put their backpacks on there and other bags.
What I don’t get why people need to carry backpacks stuffed with so much crap. I was on the 14 two weeks ago going towards mumford and it was PACKED. I managed to get a seat in the front side (ALF route) and this guy kept smacking MY FACE with his stuffed back pack. When I pushed it away (not even meanly more just to get it out of my face) he turned around (and whacked the person beside him with the pack) and gave me the stink eye. I ALMOST told the guy that if his pack touched my person, let alone my face one more time I’d shove the entire thing up his ass with my foot. I should’ve, but I didn’t. I should’ve at least kicked him in the shins/calfs every time his pack touched my face.
Seriously WHAT do these people HAVE in those packs? I manage to get: a macbook, it’s adaptor, clip board, lunch, insulin pens, glucose monitor, pencil case, text book, long wallet and a small make up case (and sometimes a light cardigan) in a bag smaller than a the small superstore reusable bags….so really wtf is in your HUGE backpack?