Photo by Flickr user moppet65535
Originally written on Wednesday, September 10, 2008
It seems like every time I am on the bus and it becomes crowded, I notice this one thing: Everyone expects for someone else to do what they’re told to do, rather than being initiators and following suit with orders. Recently, the buses have been installed with “new” bus announcements, telling people to “move to the back of the bus for others’ convenience” and also to “clear the front seats for seniors and disabled persons.” I know the bus drivers are able to press these buttons when they need to, because I hear these announcements only when the situations arise.
But unfortunately, nobody else seems to pay attention to them. People stand in the doorways, in the front of the bus, trying to ignore the announcements about moving to the rear of the bus so others could board. Is it so hard to show courtesy? Does it make THAT much of a difference of where you are standing?
It’s annoying for me to watch while I am seated; whenever I do end up being one of the people standing up, I do try my best to move to the back of the bus, even if it’s not entirely necessary. There’s no point in bunching up at the front when it’s inevitable that the bus would get crowded. But it seems that rarely does anyone think the same way as I do about this. I’m not saying that I’m the only one who pays attention, but, really, if you could observe the situation on the bus, you would notice that rarely anyone actually does what they’re supposed to do–because they expect for someone else to do it.
I’ve seen people trying to gently nudge their neighbor to move to the back of the bus, but the neighbor just stands stubbornly, hanging onto “their” spot. It’s really unnecessary, and it’s no wonder that the bus drivers feel so frustrated sometimes.
To add on, when it comes to the front seats being reserved for elderly and disabled, it truly angers me to see young people sitting there when there are obviously others who need the seats more. In turn, these young people won’t move unless they’re forced to, even with the bus announcement blaring off. I don’t feel sorry for these young people when an elderly citizen yells at them to move, because I feel they have the right to do so–young people should give up their seats for the elderly, since young people are very capable of standing up and using their leg muscles.
Granted, there are some senior citizens who refuse to go with that title of “elderly,” who refuse to admit that they are “old” and need the front seats. Those are few and far between though–most of the time I do see elderly people, no matter how fit they look, take the front seats when available. They’ve lived long lives, so they deserve to sit where they are given the privilege.
In the end, people are just selfish.
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I have to admit that there’s one instance when I won’t move back. There’s a segment on the bus without vertical poles to hold onto, and only the horizontal one up on top. I’m totally not tall enough to be able to hold onto that… But if there’s space available past that area, then sure, I’ll move. I don’t understand the big deal about moving back when there are too many people in the front.
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There is another circumstance where it doesn’t make a lot of sense for me to move back (assuming people can get past me). Let’s say I’m on the 5-Fulton and when I got on it was incredibly crowded so I’m very near the front of the bus (with no option to move back). Then at a stop a fair few people move back and about that many get on. If I moved back, I would end up half way between the front and rear doors. If I’m getting off in very few stops, if I move back then I will have to make 5-10 people move to get off. But it’s actually faster for people to just go past me then it is for me to push my way out once it’s fully crowded. But note, me staying put only makes sense if people can easily pass me while boarding at the “empty out, fill up” stop since if they have to squeeze then it’s slow at that stop just as it would be at my stop if I’m stuck in the middle, so it doesn’t matter.
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