Tips for travelling on the bus - for the selfish travelling commuter
RIGHT you asked for it, you know who you are. I'm talking about selfish commuters who must feel somehow that because they have bought a ticket that they own the bus. This post is for you because you obviously do not know how to travel on the bus, where others are travelling too. Hopefully after this post all our journeys can be more pleasant.
As you can probably tell I had one of 'those' bus journeys home this evening, couple the selfish traveller with rain, umbrellas and lots of other people trying to get home and oh it just wasn't nice.
My rant is against the obviously clueless (well I guess they must be clueless, maybe it is just pure and utter selfishness) commuter and in particular the one who irked me this evening, sitting at the end of a seat who think that doing so makes the whole seat theirs; no matter how much you pretend not to notice the bus is packed to the gills. Rather like those drivers who drive into yellow boxes and sit poker-straight staring out the front of the car and not at the hoards of cars honking their horns who are legally turning into the yellow box the poker-straight driver has kept them out of.
I have also noticed that the people who sit at the end of a seat, whether it is on a bus or indeed a train normally read as if pretending to be engrossed in a book somehow distracts the perpretrator from the surrounding dirty looks. I think I would feel that amount of annoyance directed at me.
This evening despite the crowded bus, despite the rain, this woman sat perched on the end of the seat at the back making it doubly hard for anyone to take the seat beside her. Adapting this trick by placing a bag on the seat next to you also doesn't wash. And I am not talking about someone who has got on a semi-empty bus who falls over themselves to pick up their bag and move over when they see people moving up towards the seat.
So the first pic illustrates what not to do:
And this demonstrates what to do.
6 comments:
I once asked someone who was taking up two seats if they had bought two tickets before plonking myself down beside regadless of his answer.
When I used to take the DART from Booterstown into town every morning, it used to infuriate me the way people would flock like sheep around the doors, leaving large gaps in the aisles and sometimes it as actually impossible to get on the train without barging past a dozen people.
Sometimes I wonder if we should all apply for a license before we go out our front door in the morning!
I find an "Excuse me" and a glare is usually enough to move someone.
You are too soft, Red Mum. I would have just pushed past them and sat down.
JL: That also pisses me off on buses. Even more so when the driver thinks the bus is full (full of eejits maybe) and it isn't and therefore drives past bus stops with punters waiting.
Dave: I have a range of withering looks for those particular commuting occasions.
Great wee azoo: I had a seat and have no problem practically sitting on someone so they will either move over or make room for me. It was more to do with the fact that because that woman sat where she did at the very back of the bus it gave the impression there wasn't a seat.
I hate that too, I rarely take buses anymore but I used to take 4 a day. I did once loudly announce that I was heavily pregnant (as if it wasn't obvious, I was about 8 months at the time) and would really appreciate it if someone would let me have their seat. About 10 people shot up, mostly women.
Same thing happens all the time on the NY subway. I just give my kindest grin and sit my 6 foot 4 frame down as quickly as possible, as though their sprawl into -my- seat does not even exist.
Same thing when people don't step aside to allow passengers to exit first. You calmly push straight ahead, hoping they'll learn after the 100th time.
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