For those of you that have not read the Transit User Guide, apparently many of you have not please read a few of the guidelines below – I have copied and pasted word for word – they are after all in place for a reason – some drivers enforce others don’t seem to either care or have the balls to do so.
Any notes that I have added are my own personal opinion and each one is noted with an *
Bags/Backpacks
Passengers with bags are asked to be considerate of other
passengers as they manoeuvre on and off the bus. Also, keep
seats free for other passengers; bags should be placed on your
lap or under the seat.
*may i add here that not wearing your back pack while on the bus would be ideal – if you are standing while wearing a backpack on a crowded bus that backpack takes up extra space and I don’t know how many times if I am seated and have gotten slammed upside the head with someones gargantuan back pack. Please remove your backpack and hold it at your side or between your feet.
Strollers
For the safety and well-being of babies and young children,
other passengers and Metro Transit Operators, please respect
the following guidelines:
Strollers should be small, light-weight and foldable.
Recommended size should not be larger than 42” x 22.5”.
Upon boarding the bus, children should be removed from the
stroller and held by the parent or guardian. Those wishing to
leave children in the stroller should remain near the front of the
bus, utilizing the courtesy seats when available
*I was on a bus a couple of weeks ago and there were 5 baby carriages (not strollers) on that bus – you take your life in your hands getting on and finding a seat getting through that hazzard before the driver floors the gas – I really pity the seniors having to deal with this.
Passenger Conduct
Passengers using audio/video equipment are asked to use
earphones at low volume.
Passengers using a cell phone are asked to speak with a low
voice.
If the bus is crowded with a standing load, passengers are
asked to move to the back to make room for more passengers.
Smoking
In accordance with the Smoke-Free Places Act, smoking is
prohibited on all transit vehicles, including ferries, inside public
buildings, and transit shelters.
Smoking is also prohibited within 4 metres (13 feet) of public
building entrances and windows, air-intake vents, transit
vehicles, and bus shelters
Food and Beverages
To keep buses and ferries clean and safe, food or drink brought
on board must be in a closed container that is spill proof. Coffee
and other beverages can be consumed on board provided the
beverage is carried in a container with a sealable cap (single
use, disposable cups do not meet this criteria). Open alcohol is
not permitted on buses or ferries.
Litter must be taken off buses and ferries and disposed of
responsibly
*As for the not getting on a bus with a disposable coffee cup – well that seems to only be a rule of some buses – Oh and I don’t think that bus drivers should be exempt from this rule either.
On the other side of this coin – I have done a bit of a search of other Canadian transit services and it seems HRM is the only one that has this rule. And this rule has only led to more litter on the streets – the people that are told they cannot get on the bus with their beverage what do they do with it – set it down (or if they are pissed off they just toss it) on the sidewalk whether there is a trash bin handy or not – usually not but that’s a whole nother rant that I will get into at another time! —yet another transit bitch
This article appears in Sep 12-18, 2013.
Eh, another annoying post by someone who thinks he’s entitled to having things exactly as he likes on the metro. Take off your heavy-ass backpacks for my convenience! Moms with strollers? Take a fucking hike babehs, you’re inconveniencing ME, PRINCE OF HALIFAX AND OWNER OF METRO TRANSIT.
I’d rather give special treatment to the moms working those strollers than your entitled ass. Your post really rubbed me the wrong way. Maybe it’s the fact that you seem to be blaming Halifax’s permanent citizens instead of calling out the students, who are the ones who make metro shitty for the first few months of Fall/winter especially– Every damn school year when they return.
I like what CoastingBy said^^
Then we stand alone, Pretty Kitty. 😛
You’re asking people to follow rules. Rules are for everyone else, not the individual.
Fuck holding the bag or putting it on my feet. You need both hands with the way the bus whips around to maintain balance, and the floors are filthy(and the seats, and the doors, and those yellow-gone-black grips eeeegh).
I’m also pretty sure whoever else is getting jammed into the cattle car isn’t going to be super careful about not stepping on it.
The Urban Gigantic stroller is the arm candy of the public housing crowd, in Latin, knocked uppuswhore, and can be seen around any place where decent folks do not go.
You found that only HRM buses don’t let you take a paper coffee cup? You’re a liar! I’ve lived in many different cities coast to coast, and HRM is not alone in this policy.
I also like how you disagree with some of the rules but want others to conform to them.
I like the bus system in Halifax. And I do agree with the stroller issue you brought up.
I agree with SwampDonkey, if I’m standing my backpack is on my back for my own personal safety- I don’t have very good bus legs when I’m standing. (and I always take my bag off the seat next to me when the bus starts filling up).
I must be doing it all wrong, I get on the bus, mind my own business, maybe read a book, listen to music(quietly) get off at my stop. Seems to me if there is a stroller issue the Bus Driver should do something about it if it causing so much grief. I guess I’m lucky there is no strife on the buses I use.
I agree with the stroller issue too. I saw a snazzy way to arrange multiple strollers on the bus that blew my mind. The front side seat was flipped and the two strollers were placed side-by-side instead of front-facing. You could fit four strollers on a bus without blocking the aisle at all.
New outlook…. expect to have an undoubtedly shitty ass time.
Expect people to suck beyond belief.
That way you won’t be disappointed when they inevitably are.
Thanks for sharing the policies and procedures handbook, there pointdexter but those fucking rules are useless when you’re tryna survive sweatin dem balls off on the transit torture cruiser e’rrybody fends for demself. It’s anarchy. If you can sneak a cold pop on – you’re doin’ sumpin. Metra Transit needs to dust dem floors before I put my Luis Vittone bag down dere. And dust the window sills…they be leavin streaks on my white cashmere.
The bus driver should enforce all rules in the book, but most of the time once you’re behind the yellow line, they have their ear buds in and couldn’t care less. Besides not letting people have food and not letting people with no/short fare get on, they do next to nothing.
When we use to leave high school the #6 driver wouldn’t budge until ALL seats were taken (with backpacks between your legs) and all the people standing were at the back. I saw him kick a number of loud and obnoxious passengers off the bus. A little extreme, but it made everyone’s life easier and people came to expect it.
Shove it up your ass meteoman. You want to know why bus drivers don’t always enforce the rules? Get this, it’s because we don’t get backed up by management or the supervisors. If we do enforce the rules, then we are in shit because the asshole who was the reason for the enforcement gets indignant, offended and cries and boofuckinghoos to the call centre with all kinds of story embellishments added on, so that’s why most drivers don’t bother. An empty bus is a fucking happy bus.
Wheels, well said. An old, but still close, neighbour of mine has been with Metor Transit for about five years now. Thats all she says too, whenever a driver opens their mouth to a passenger they will call in and cry or make a huge scene. Then of course if the general public hears about it, especially with Metro Transits reputation, then they are always wrong……and extremely evil too.
If I drove a bus, it would be happier empty.
Right on Nukka. They should rename this city Whinenifax.
The supervisors dont get backed up either, I know a few well, I am a disabled passenger, I am in a wheelchair, the asshats with massive strollers, are a fucking nightmare!
the reason why drivers for the most part wont tell these entitled wannabe parents, to move & have to REFUSE transit to wheelchair users, is that these entitled fucks with strollers will (& have thousands of times) call the city snitch line, bitching & whining about how their poor child is abused by having to be moved around a lot… WTF??
I SPEAK UP, have literally had to play tetris with strollers & another wheelchair to get him on.. The driver was just going to refuse him, (this route was every HOUR service) this guy had already waited 45 minutes, was freezing cold (this was last february) & was not wearing a great coat..
I normally support drivers, but the asshats that treat disabled people as nothing more than a nuisance, need to seriously FUCK OFF!