I spend a lot of time on the bus - about three hours round trip to and from work every weekday (give or take half an hour). I've gotta say that people's bad manners are really getting to me. They are just so rude and inconsiderate!

So here's my list of No No's for public transit:

1. No eating stinky, smelly food on a vehicle with no fresh air circulating - I'm talkin' to you the Girl who got on the packed skytrain this morning eating a gag-inducing stinky meat submarine sandwich at 7:30 am. I almost threw up it was that bad. There are "No Eating/Drinking" signs up for a reason. We are all not enjoying that sub with you, believe me.

2. Please do not stare at me. What is so darn fascinating? Do I have something on my face? I don't? Well then STOP STARING! Read the adds posted throughout the bus/train. Some of them are actually more interesting than my face - really! (Curiously enough when this happens to me it is usually a middle aged woman and not some strange guy - I've tried every evil look I can think of and they still don't look away).

3. Please shower at least a week before you plan on using transit. I would prefer you bathe within the 24 hours or so, but hey, beggars can't be choosers. There's also this crazy new invention called deodorant. Check it out, I swear it's a good thing.

4. If you get on an almost empty bus with plenty of vacant seats, please I beg of you, do not sit next to me. Why does everyone want to sit next to me when the bus is empty? WHY?

5. To all you scary psycho men out there please do not stand next to me when I am sitting down and grind your crotch into my shoulder. I assure you this is NOT a turn on.

6. If you must talk on your cell phone while using public transit, try to keep your voice down to a dull roar. The other person on the other end of the phone is not deaf (well at least I hope not!). And I am really not interested in your one-sided gossip and neither is the rest of the bus.

7. If you are trying to board a busy train, please let me get off first. I'm sick of having to elbow people out of my way out so I don't get stuck traveling to the next stop. My boss really doesn't like me being late.

8. Yes it rains a lot in the winter months in Vancouver, but that does not mean that your umbrella should rest on MY feet. YOUR feet will do just fine.

9. Please do not continuously scratch your head for the entirety of the trip. I like to keep my hair free of dandruff and therefore I really am not interested in wearing yours. Especially if I am wearing all black. (Yes this has happened to me, more than once).

10. If the bus is busy, do not hog both seats. People like me are too shy to tell you to move your frickin' bag or body, but it doesn't mean I'm not shooting the evil eye at the back of your head as I stand for the rest of the trip.

11. Treat the driver with respect. You have no idea of the crap he/she has to deal with on a daily basis.

12. Under no circumstance is it cool to get out a pair of nail clippers and trim your finger nails. The constant 'click' 'click' click' is enough to make the most mild mannered person go postal. Not to mention how absolutely disgusting it is. Same goes with flossing your teeth - not cool!

13. I know this is asking a lot, but please stop magically sneaking into my bag and stealing my wallet. I don't know how you do it, I'm truly baffled, but I must say I'm sick of replacing all of my identification. For the most part people taking transit are not the greatest people to pick-pocket and are generally not the richest individuals. I've tried everything to thwart your sticky fingers but 3 times in 6 years is three to many. Have you ever had your $130.00, 3 zone bus pass stolen 4 days before payday? Not fun.

14. Headphones are also know as "Personal Listening Devices" for a reason. I really don't want to be able to hear the lyrics to the song you are listening to from 15 seats away.

15. Please make reasonable attempts to control your children. If your baby is crying that's fine, I sympathize for you. If you kids are running around the train screaming and throwing things, then we have a problem.

16. I know this may sound obvious to many but please take the time to remove your backpack. It makes room for more people on a packed bus and it will prevent a possible concussion for the person unlucky enough to be seated below you when you turn around quickly.

17. Don't litter. I know the floor of the bus can look a little grimy at times, but that does not mean it is an open invitation to you to throw your garbage on it.

18. Stop stepping on my toes. I've taken transit off and on for a couple of years now and have managed to never step on anyone's toes. I personally try to be mindful of where I place my feet. For the lady that rammed her full weight on my big toe this morning and didn't bother to say sorry, I say thank you for the excruciating pain and for wrecking the beautiful pedicure I gave myself two days ago.

19. At absolutely no time is it okay to pick your noise or play with your groin area. That's all I have to say on this subject.

20. Do not leave the free newspaper on the seat or the floor. Especially not the floor There are people handing them out at every skytrain station so they are easy enough for others to get. When you are done with it, take it with you are place it in the handy recycling bin located in every skytrain station.

And most importantly (in my humble opinion)...

21. If an elderly individual or an obviously pregnant lady gets on the bus, don't look away like you don't see them. Get your lazy but off your chair and allow them to sit down.

Thanks for reading my rant. I feel much better now! I think I'll post this as a blog on my myspace page.

AMEN!!!

Hi Cathleen!!! You are dead on! People are just so disrespectful! I wish you didn't have to go to work at all and could stay home and work in your garden. lol

I used to travel 3 hrs a day to and from work so I know exactly what you mean...my commute is now about 20 mins and you still have to deal with some of the same crap...luckily it's for much less time!!

Still...I partially disagree with you on # 14....I think it's ok to be able to hear the lyrics from someone's Personal Listening Device...if it's ELLIOTT...other than that...then yes you should not be able to hear what someone is listening to.

I totally agree with you Cathleen. But I think this is more reflective of society in general rather than just public transit.

People have in general become mean. I don't know where it stems from but a prevalent "me first" attitude has taken the place of "how should I act when I am around someone".

People feel so entitled now that they are not willing to accept being stifled one bit for the common good.

The truth is, that sometimes you have to give up freedoms and entitlement for the common good, especially on a public transit.

Where it stems from partially is the lack of manners which you described. There are none. It seems that everyone nowadays is a bull in a china shop because darn it, they are going to do whatever the heck they want.

The solution: ENFORCEMENT OF THE RULES.

What do I mean by this? Years ago, on the military base, My mom and I were on a bus going somewhere on base (I forgot where--I was only 7 at the time). And this military man was eating a peach on the bus. THe driver stopped the bus and asked him to stop eating the peach. When he didn't and argued? The driver kicked him off at that very stop.

When people are faced with blanket enforcement of the policies, they will learn to follow the conventions that are in place. Then you will be happy and so will we.:)

Some may disagree, but sometimes manners have to be enforced. :elliottcap:

Haha, you remember! In my dreams - I'd love to just work hard outside all day, maybe I should change my career path!

This year my garden is even better than last year. I work on it when I get home and on weekends.

Cathleensusan,
I get everything you said. I used to walk 15 blocks to the subway, take it down town, transfer to the El( over the ground and under the ground train), take it to the end of the line, then get on a trolly and take it to the end of the line, then walk 5 blocks to work ( nursing home). It took two hours to get there.

On the way home, I either took the trolly, El to down town and took a bus to my house or took the El from one end of the line to the other and a bus to my house. Going home took two hours too.

Everything you said happened, except the ipods. It was before ipods, just headphones on walkmen.

I'm so sorry they got your wallet. I always draped my long strapped purse over my chest and held on for dear life. Nobody ever got my wallet. I was once mugged at knifepoint on a bus corner at 6am though.

#19....hmm..I guess that counts me out.

:whistle:

:blush:

:rotfl:

:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

i totally agree with you on everything, i also take the bus once in awhile and one time this girl she was listening to UMBRELLA with earphones, and you could hear every single lyric PERFECTLY, and she was also singing to it, i'm not trying to be rude, but woooo she really stinks at singing. period.

and another time there was this "oversized" person and this other "oversized" person and they happened to know each other, there were only like 9 people on the bus and they yelled across 1 seat away back and forth constantly until someone got off. while this person was trying to read...

and and another this guy sat next to me, rubbed against me and farted every single second. gosh.

and and and another time, the bus driver didnt stop at this "gangsta" guy's stop so he started cussing him out, "how you should learn how to do your job" and it seems like the only two cussing words he knew were "f*ck and sh*t" because he said those words constantly and then the bus driver stopped like 15 mins away from his actual stop. it was NOT a good sight.

a lot more has happened but im betting its gonna be a long list if i wrote it all here :rotfl: and oh thanks for listening to my chattering blabbering mouth!

oh and i must add i'm only 15.

Haha elliottcrazy, I'll make sure I never sit next to you on a bus :clubbed:

I forgot to mention that I just got a letter from the Justice Of The Peace requiring me to appear in court in January as a witness for the Prosecution against a drunk guy who went bezerk on a bus I was on.

Let me explain. I was on my way home a few months ago on a somewhat crowded bus when this drunk guy gets on. He flipped out when the driver asked him to pay. He then proceeded to start threatening random men who were also on the bus. He would yell things like, "You think you're tough? Wanna step outside? Let's go you and me, I'll beat you to the ground". Completely unprovoked. Then he decided he wanted to fight the driver - while the driver was driving! He lunged at him and the driver managed to pull the bus over to the curb and phoned the transit police. We had to sit there for 10 minutes waiting for the police to arrive. This drunk idiot had actually twisted the drivers arm so badly that he sprained it and lost a finger nail. So the driver's finger was bleeding all over the place.

While we are waiting for the police this drunk decides he wants off the bus. He tries to smash out one of the windows as the front with his shoulder and then he went to the rear doors and started kicking them. When the police finally did arrive, it took three of them to drag him off the bus and pin him to the ground.

When we got to the last stop at the skytrain station, all of the other passengers were pissed off because this altercation had made them late getting home. They were actually mad that the driver pulled the bus over for 10 minutes to call the police.

So I was the only person that stayed to give the police an account of what I saw on the bus. I could not believe that no one else thought it was the right thing to do!

The most scary thing about this whole ordeal was that the drunk man who made the driver bleed was HIV positive. The driver must have been freaking out when he heard that! Poor guy.

So now I have to go to court and testify against this loser. I just could not believe that no one else respected the driver and what he has to put up with day in and day out to stay behind and give a statement.


I think this reflects what Swimming said in a post above about enforcing the rules. I totally believe the driver did the right thing by pulling over and waiting for the police. Sure it made us all 10 minutes late, but people who get on busses drunk and attack the driver NEED to be arrested.

In my book ipods and walkmans really are the same thing as they both use the same types of headphones - ones that can get very loud. Don't get me wrong I lurve listening to loud music, my mp3 player is cranked to the max when I am exercising, but I do turn down the volume quite a bit when I am on public transit.

I really hate when someone has there headphones turned way up and all you hear is really loud 'tinny' music. It just sounds so horrible.

Haha, I do that now too. I have medium sized bag that I sling over my shoulder, but my purse has a long strap to I put that over my head and keep it very close to me at all times now. Someone still got my bus pas out of the side compartment when I was on a packed skytrain at the end of July. GRRR