A few years ago, I was driving home from Fort Mason, taking Fillmore up and over to the Castro. I ended up getting stuck between two 22-Fillmores. I was about a mile away from home, so I wanted to pass at least the rear bus, so I’d be able to pass the next one when it pulled into a bus stop.

At about McAllister, the rear bus was stopped at the beginning of the block, with me still in the intersection. I pulled to the left a bit, and saw that there was no oncoming traffic, and that the front bus was at the far end of the same block, with nothing between it and the rear bus. So I accelerated past the rear bus, which started moving forward as I passed it. No big deal, buses are like that.

But it kept accelerating way more than normal, and it was clear that it was trying to box me out, and I don’t where exactly it expected me to go. I managed to speed up and pass it, with a dozen feet to spare, between the two buses. Then the rear bus gets right up about four feet from my ass and flips on its brights. I’m just sitting there going, “Buh?” I passed it with plenty of room, over a dashed yellow line, so it was perfectly legal and not even particularly aggressive.

Even so, the rear bus tails me for a block, brights still on, until about Haight, where the front bus pulls into the bus stop, and I pull up to its left, like anyone normally would. But I guess there were no people waiting at the stop, so the bus suddenly pulls even with me and is inching forward at the red, like it’s going to try to pass me in the curb lane/intersection. And sure enough, as soon as the light turns green, it peels out as much as a bus can and tries to shove back into the lane. I basically had nowhere to go, because even if I stopped, I probably would’ve been sideswiped, and I sure as hell didn’t want to be between those two buses again. So I accelerated again, barely squeezing through the intersection, and left those psychos in the dust. To this day, I still have no idea what the hell was going on. I’ve also given up my car, and I’m always a little nervous when I board a 22.

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