My current commute is as follows:
- Ride my bike to the bus stop at Cedar and 140th St
- Put my bike on the rack on the front of the 442 bus and take the bus to the Mall of America
- Lock my bike up at the Mall transit station and take the 540C bus out to Minnesota Drive near France Ave, where I work
- Get off the bus, cross the street and voila, I’m at work
It works just fine on the way in. On the way home, however, it’s a little trickier. In theory I can catch a 540C bus at 5:00 that arrives at the Mall at 5:21. Then I can unlock my bike and get on a 440 or 442 bus that will return me to Apple Valley. These buses leave at 5:28 and 5:32 respectively. The only problem is, that thanks to rude and stupid people who seem to frequent the 540 route I never actually arrive at the Mall on time for the 440 and sometimes don’t even get there in time for the 442. It’s not uncommon to arrive at the Mall transit station at 5:35, completely missing my connecting bus. There isn’t another Apple Valley bound bus for a whole hour, at 6:30. This, frankly, sucks.
So, I get extremely peeved about people who make the bus run late. These people fall into the following categories:
- Bus Chasers: People who are either not at a proper bus stop or who are not aware of when they should be at one who run along behind the bus yelling. This often causes the ruder passengers to yell at the bus driver to stop for the chaser person and when the bus is full of loud people telling him to stop, he usually will.
- People Who Flag the Bus Down on Stretches of Road Where The Bus Isn’t Supposed to Stop: Sometimes these morons will be standing down the street from a bus stop and practically jump out in the street to get the bus to stop for them.
- People Who Stop the Bus Just to Ask Where It Goes: Flagging down a bus just to ask the driver if they have a stop in whereverthefuck is extremely rude to all the people who are actually attempting to get somewhere.
- People Who Get On, Change Their Minds, And Jump Right Back Off 100 Feet Down the Road
I could go on. The number of ways that people through sheer idiocy, poor planning, and an amazing failure to realize that other people are using this PUBLIC transportation can delay a bus are innumerable. I mean, it’s really quite simple. If you intend to take public transportation, plan your trip. Find out the times and locations of the routes you intend to take. Know what you are doing. People who just decide to jump on or think the bus is supposed to wait for them are amazingly rude people.
This was particularly bothersome when yesterday a girl got on the bus and immediately told the bus driver (who was already running 5 minutes late) to wait for a woman with her three kids who was a block away, pushing a stroller and attempting to catch up. Could this woman, who clearly was nowhere near being on time for this bus, not have just waited for the next one in 15 minutes? Apparently not. The bus driver waited a couple of seconds, and started to pull away. The passengers are yelled, “SHE’S RIGHT THERE, WAIT FOR HER!” and he grudgingly stopped. I wanted to turn around and punch the girl in the face. Looking at my watch it was clear that unless we got very very lucky with stoplights, I was going to be getting home a full hour late that night because some lady didn’t get herself where she needed to be on time and some other idiots browbeat the driver into punishing the rest of us for her mistake. This girl on the bus then proceeded to hold forth on how rude the bus drivers where for not stopping and waiting for people often enough.
That really got my blood boiling. It seemed to be her position that bus drivers should risk getting disciplined by their superiors and people who actually get to the stops on time thanks to familiarizing themselves with the system should be happy to be late and miss connections because she, and rude morons like her, couldn’t be bothered to be on the correct side of the street at the correct time like everybody else.
I’ve noticed lately that more and more rude idiots like this girl have been on the buses and I think it’s because of rising gas prices. They don’t understand basic bus etiquette. They make the buses late, sit in the back talking loudly on their phones, and then jump up and run to the front when it’s time to get off despite the fact that others seated near the front are supposed to get off first (exit priority is: standing people on buses that are standing room only, then everybody else from front to back, anybody who has ridden buses for any length of time, even in elementary school, knows this).
I’ve decided I’m not standing for it anymore. If I hear another person ripping on the driver for their own rudeness, I’m speaking up. If I’m sitting in the front and people try to crowd past me from the back, I’m sticking my arm out and blocking the aisle and getting out in front of them. If they complain, I’ll explain that it’s etiquette, front to back, if they don’t like it, too bad, but without rules, community services can’t function.
Thanks to the rising gas prices, I fear this is something I’ll have to deal with a lot more in the future. Oh goody.
More From Ryan Sutter
