Do you really want a bus driver yelling at you?
By adamg - Thu, 06/26/2008 - 12:38pm.
Nina doesn't get why Bostonians on buses refuse to move to the rear so more people can get on. She reports how bad it got on her 70 bus this morning:
... [T]he bus driver actually had to get out of the bus, open the back door, and yell at everyone to move down into the bus so that other people could get on. it was kind of awesome.
I've always wondered the same thing
With the new buses, it seems many people are "afraid" to go up the step to the back of the buses. They will block the middle door area -- even when there are clearly open seats in the back of the bus. Some of these folks even resent people who try to wiggle past them into the back section.
Also..
The seat layout on most of the newer buses is very poorly designed for standees. The two seats-aisle-two seats layout makes it really difficult for anyone to pass someone standing in the aisle, even worse when there's a baby-SUV in the rear doorway. It's such a poor layout that it would be easy to assume that whoever designed it has never been on a bus before. At least with the old buses, it was two seats, aisle and then one seat, it at least accomodated standees.
bullwhoey
On the articulated busses, which have no raised area save the very back, people STILL won't go back. And half the time, it's a bunch of fat women at the VERY front of the bus blocking the way for anyone trying to get on. Chatting up the driver is optional.
My other favorite: people who use the front door to exit. Folks, how hard is it to use the rear door so people can get on quickly?
Oh yes, those stupid fatties
Oh yes, those stupid fatties and their audacity! They should stay at home where we don't have to LOOK at them!
Pfft.
Pavolvian Conditioning
They can play all the "Please exit through the rear door" announcements they want, but I've missed my stop too many times because the driver only opened the front to roll the dice there.
I'm 6'6". I can't stand up
I'm 6'6". I can't stand up in the back raised section of the new buses without having to cram over and lean and be very uncomfortable. So I have no qualms in refusing to move further back up the steps. Also, the back of the bus on the older, bigger buses is where the engine is, so it's often much louder and hotter back there. Not a great place to be.
That said I did like the old buses better. The new buses don't crowd up nearly as well. I think most of the frustration is not because others are being jerks just for the fun of it, but that the newer buses themselves have a crappy layout. Most people end up with bad positions and standing spots -- and therefore get frustrated and angry and express that.
related behavior
I think this behavior may be a subset of another irritating behavior: the inabillity to walk through a door or a gate (into a ballpark or concert or mall or school building) and not immediately stop and look around or stop and chat with large group of friends.
I think that is a subset of yet another problem: the fundamental inability to considrer the possibility that other people exist. See also "autonomic swerving around slowing/stopping vehicle in path".
I don't think I've
I don't think I've encountered what swirlygrrl describes, but I do notice that in places where there are double doors, triple doors, quadruple doors, or more people will line up on both sides to go in and out the one door that is already open. This drives me batshit. Although it is a good feeling that I don't have to wait in line when I can just open of the other neglected doors.
arrrgh! seriously, what is
arrrgh! seriously, what is up with that?
it's especially awful when I'm trying to wheel around a large load of freight on a two-wheeler and need to use the automatic door to actually pass through because it's too impossible to do manually, and a constant stream of people who are too lazy to open a door for themselves insist on passing through (assing rough?) the one automatic door in the opposite direction to my route instead of using the other two or three doors.
I no longer wait for them. I walk through the door. Usually two or three of them will walk into me, but that's what they get.
Another related and utterly ridiculous behavior: when I am wheeling my freight and head across the two manual doors to reach the automatic door, and someone nearby follows me past the other two perfectly useful doors, waits for me to wait for the door to open itself, then follows me through the automatic door, when simply using the first available door would have taken easily 10 fewer seconds.
One of the sweetest moments
One of the sweetest moments of my life was coming up the escalator from the Red Line at Harvard once. It was sprinkling, so of course everyone stopped RIGHT at the top of the escalator to open their umbrellas.
I quickly realized that I either had to shove through them to get off, or step backwards, causing a chain reaction of innocent escalator riders behind me. Shoving through a crowd of people, and being totally justified and correct to do so, pretty much made my week.
Probably says a lot about my life, but still.
Hate to say I did this at Government Center a while ago
Attempted to step off of an E train outbound, only to be greeted with an enormous crowd of people (about 20' deep) who crowded around the door and made it physically impossible to go down the steps onto the platform. I was pissed. The other people on the train were pissed.
First, I said "Excuse me!" rather loudly and kind of gestured toward where I planned to go. You know...off of the train.
No reaction. Just dumbfounded looks.
"PLEASE MOVE! WE NEED TO GET OFF BEFORE YOU CAN GET ON!" I shouted - again with a part-the-crowd-please gesture.
No dice.
This was getting a little too ridiculous. I leapt off of the top step, extended my elbows out to my side just a little and plowed through them. A friend of mine followed I cleared, along with everyone else on the train. I was later told the expressions of those in the crowd were utterly priceless.
It was a victory over Massholery, but I felt kinda bad about it later. I didn't have much choice, though.
I <} My Bike!
I have to do this all the time when I have to take the 93 Bus - make it clear that I can't move until they move.
I've done it on the green line too. as in EXCUSE ME - I CAN'T TELEPORT SO YOU HAVE TO MOVE! in my best drill seargent voice.
What are they thinking? You can't get on a bus or train until people get off a train or bus ... ESPECIALLY a CROWDED one.
Not that massholes have any concept of "line" ever ... unless it is "My line of ONE is the only line that matters".
I think that is a subset of
I think you've hit on the heart of this matter right there.
If you miss me at the back of the bus
Maybe it's that the Civil Rights Era ingrained into the American psyche that the back of the bus is bad place to be and no one should be told to go there.
Me, I like to get to the back as swiftly as possible so I can avoid being elbowed by the people who push themselves to the front the exit from the front door even when they're closer to the back door.
Huh. Coming from a later
Huh. Coming from a later generation, my thought about the back of the bus is that it's where the cool kids sat. Could be why the back bench seat is where you'll almost always find me.
Why do people shoving onto a
Why do people shoving onto a bus that's already full get upset with the people who are on the bus? We shouldn't have to pack in like sardines. Half the time moving to the back of the bus would mean not getting off at my stop because the driver leaves the door open for two seconds and when people are crammed in there's no space to move to let people through. There comes a point when there are too F'ing many people on the bus and instead of elbowing your way in and hissing at the folks in the front as you go by, you ought to consider the possibility that other buses exist and wait for one that's not already full.
If the buses really are
If the buses really are full, I see your point. I've also noticed bus drivers do not leave the doors open long enough so people have time to get out (or they don't open the back doors-whats going on with that?)
However, many times people don't move to the back and there IS plenty of room, which is what the original poster was noting.
That's super when they're
That's super when they're not 20-30 minutes apart and the one you're trying to board isn't already late.
that's a good theory, but
that's a good theory, but this is Boston; these mythical "other buses" do not exist.
just move into the bus.
I avoid the back of the bus
I avoid the back of the bus after the royal rumble incident. Just sayin.
What?
I don't understand what you are referring to. Can you provide a link or more explanation?
Rumble on the orange line
Hi Ron, it's Flannery/belladonna. :)
This is what happened on an Orange Line shuttle a few months ago, you might have read about it here as Adam picked it up: blueohana.com...rumble-on-orange-line.html
whoa! holy crap! That's a
whoa! holy crap! That's a pretty good explanation for being wary of being crammed into a tight space with a bunch of strangers.
It's easy to have reasonable
It's easy to have reasonable complaints about T drivers, especially complaints about keeping the riders informed when service is delayed, and having good customer service attitudes.
In this case, what should the driver do? He's got people waiting to get on, room in the back, and no way for people to get to the back where the room is.
It's his job and no one else's job. The best we can ask is that he does it efficiently and with a nice manner.
I think a frequent reason
I think a frequent reason that people have for not moving back is that they have standing space and possibly even a handhold, and they're afraid they might wind up in a worse situation if they give up what little they have.
Also, people often can't move much until the people more rear-ward of them also move. And then there is a rippling of movement, coupled with a tendency of each ripple to not over-pack towards the back, especially since it might not even be necessary. Some people might even see the ripples as a chance to be packed a little less tightly than they were before.
The buses should not be regularly overcrowded to begin with. We should be treating public transit riders much better, marginalizing private vehicles in town if necessary.
People here need to learn how to ride mass transit
Honestly, I don't understand why people complain that the driver doesn't leave the back doors open long enough for them to get off the bus from the back. You need to speak up - keep saying, "Coming out!" or "Back Door Please!" nice and loud, and you'll get out just fine. If the bus is crowded, the driver can't always tell that other people are still wanting to get off, and nobody can read your mind - you have to speak up and move at the same time. If that doesn't do it, you just have to plow through people - this has nothing to do with being a Masshole, and everything to do with riding mass transit.
If the bus driver needs to make a stink, so be it. I've noticed that in other cities there are signs pointing to the rear doors saying EXIT Back Door Only, which is reinforced by the driver who would like to keep to his schedule.
And yes, the baby SUV entitlement problem is maddening, and I too have seen it almost daily on the 70 - a bus that's frustrating enough without the added headache of giant stroller entitlement.
Some people certainly have
Some people certainly have larger than necessary strollers, but what else is the parent of a small child to do? Taking the kid out and folding up the stroller would save room, but I have never seen anyone give up a seat to a parent with a child. There is no way a parent could manage a folded up stroller and a little kid while standing on a crowded bus.
Stroller or Hummer?
Buses and trains need to have spaces for strollers if strollers are to be permitted.
There also need to be some limitations on the size of the damn things. Limiting passage to smaller strollers ($10-20 umbrella types) and back packs would help.
The size of some of the contraptions I see people attempt to use on public transit piss me off because they are bigger than that bike of mine that I am required to fold. They are bigger than the bike cart we used to use to tow kids. That goes double when the "stroller" is full of mountains of stuff and the kid is being carried.
fold-up seats
Buses and trains need to have spaces for strollers if strollers are to be permitted.
That's one of the functions of the fold-up seats at the front of the bus. Subway trains and trolleys are another matter.
I have never seen anyone give up a seat to a parent with a child.
Just a suggestion, but have you ever asked? I'd wager that most able-bodied riders would be willing to give up their seat in response to a courteous request.
You need to speak up - keep saying, "Coming out!" or "Back Door Please!" nice and loud, and you'll get out just fine.
Oh no, we're Bostonians, we'd much rather glare and stew... (:O)
...I have never seen anyone
We've obviously never been on the same train or bus. :)