Dear Halifax,
I’ve taken buses in a couple of different cities but you continue to amaze me everyday, collectively pretending that the back exit on the bus just doesn’t exist.
Unless you have a stroller, wheelchair, or walker, or some other very good reason, walk the extra foot and “EXIT AT REAR” like the signs say and keep the buses and passengers flowing smoothly. —You’re making stops longer than they have to be
This article appears in Nov 13-19, 2014.
If you’re standing at the front because the bus is that crowded then it is quicker to go out the front than push through all the other people standing, to go out the side, an unless you want to pay for my bus ride I will fucking well leave the bus anyway I choose.
Let me guess OP you are one of those rude pieces of shit who takes up the seat next to you with your bag(s) and refuses to move them for anyone.
You ever see them??
It’s because half the idiots are too fucking stupid to know how to get the fucking thing even to open…. staring blindly right at the SIGN that says “wave hand here” , “touch bar to open” or Step down when light is green”.
confused look…. “BACK DOOR PLEASE”…
gimme a break. You know what, they really should be wearing a fucking helmet.
Oh here we go again: someone else thinking they’re the goddamned bus police.
PLEASE tell us all more about how to live our lives. PLEEASE!
Fuck off, OB.
WHAT IS A REASON?
Yes, the door may be there for a reason but we must address the prior question, “What is a reason?” A little ordinary language philosophy is called for here. But is to be understood by “ordinary language philosophy”?
Ordinary language philosophy makes no appeal to any foundational or metaphysical concepts but rather engages the manner in which ordinary language is used. Invariably it begins with the dictionary definition of the word under consideration. So, what is a “reason”?
“reason, n. – a fact adduced or serving as an argument, motive, cause or justification.” The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Current English
There can be no argument with the claim that the door is there in a phenomenological sense, the sense that it exists independently of any constructivist activity on the part of the one who beholds the door but one must not conflate the perception of the door with constituting an argument, motive or justification for its existence. These are conceptual feats relating to the aforesaid constructivist activity which require a separate or second-order justification. In other words, the justification of any conceptual feats of constructivist activity does not come written on its face. Paradoxically perhaps, in maintaining that the door is there for a reason, the bitcher has not satisfied the criteria for what constitutes such a reason. In philosophical terms this constitutes an unforgiveable solecism.
Thank you for your patience and understanding.
A pleasure as always.
Cheerio!
Try going out the back door with 2 young children and groceries (no stroller & only 3 bags) while the connecting bus just fucks off and leaves y’all in the exhaust.
OB, the number of fucks you give about this is entirely too many.
Just wait until OB finds out we our bridges are called New Bridge and Old Bridge and we call a roundabout a rotary.
hahahaha that bridge name quirk still gets me. or when you ask for directions, saying, I am not from around here, the first answer you get is ‘do you remember where the ____ used to be? well, turn right there.’
Hear, hear! that’s why an empty bus is a happy bus.
Yours truly.
How hard is it to remember ‘old macdonald’ to keep the bridges straight…
every kid within 5000 km knows that bloody song.
zed you are my saviour!!!! I will never forget now after hearing that
Whichever way the inertia flings me is the door I go out.
So the double-wide doors in the back, eh? ^^
No_fool, I didn’t know you rode the bus! Moving up in the world! Congrats!
awwww… where’d PK’s comment go?
I haven’t laughed like that in a while.
🙁
Damn you mod for taking away all the lolz
I don’t think mod has any lolz to give, zed.
🙁
This seems reasonable to me. It would be nice if the people with the giant knapsacks were a little bit more conscious of their use of space. Also, in many cities, the driver or an automated system calls out the next stop so people who are less familiar with the route or those who have simply “gone to their happy place” can navigate their way to the rear door in time.
Look, OP: I will continue to step out the front door of the bus for 3 reasons: 1) I’m conditioned by my 13 years as a rural child to step off my school bus through the front door except in emergencies, 2) after dark the “Request Stop” feature requires that I step out the front; 3) during winter there’s only one cut through the snowbanks at most bus stops; and 4) ‘cuz I fucking well want to. There are elderly people, those with mobility issues, mothers with babies and strollers; it is inevitable that, at some point, you will have to wait for them to exit through the front _before_ you get on. If the 15 seconds of waiting for the all-clear to enter is too much for you, do yourself a favour and plan to leave the house earlier so that it’s not such a hassle for you. Take responsibility for your own punctuality.