March 10, 2004

Bus Story

I was riding the Transit home from track practice today and a very funny thing happened! Before I can tell you the funny thing there are a few things that you must know about the new transit buses. The new buses have poles for you to stand and hold on to while riding the bus. On the poles are handle-like things that have a button on them that you press in to signal the bus driver that you want off at the next stop. Finally, those buttons are not visible from the first 6 to 8 seats on the bus. All of this leads to my funny situation! So, I was on the bus just riding it peacefully when the bus driver pulls over and no one gets off. That was pretty silly, but not as silly as the next 4 times that he did it. He eventually figured out that people were accidentally hitting it while shifting in their seat or swinging around on the poles. This is when the funny part comes in. He told everyone on the bus to try not to press it when they didn't have to get off because he did not have time to make all the stops. THAT IS THE SILLY PART! Shouldn't a bus route include time to load and unload passengers? I am sure that he wouldn't have had a problem if people actually get off, but that makes me wonder. What if bus drivers really do have a problem when you get on or off their bus?