This would be a much better story if the driver had refused to open the doors

If you've ever been to SFU, you know the campus is not all that large. In particular the walk between the 2 main bus stops on campus is about 5 minutes, 10 if you saunter. So it never ceases to amaze me that there are people who take the bus solely for the purpose of getting between these stops.

Today in fact 2 guys thought it would be a good idea to get on a bus around 4:30 at the upper loop (classes get out at 20 past each hour, so this is one of the busiest buses of the day) and get off at the lower loop. Of course, the bus drivers only open the front doors at the lower stop to facilitate pass checking. So here are these 2 guys, pushing helplessly on the back door which refuses to open. Eventually someone (who was not one of those 2 guys) yelled to the driver to get him to open the back doors.

Did they have small children with them? No. Was either of them disabled? No. Were they carrying something large/awkward/heavy? No. So I really hope they accidentally got on the wrong bus, otherwise personally, I think it would have served them right if the driver hadn't opened the doors. This type of lazy should not be encouraged.

One for those of you in cars...

A piece of common sense advice which is all too often ignored: if you drive a compact car, sedan, basically anything smaller than a semi, you should avoid cutting off an articulated bus full of people careening down a large hill.

If you don't quite make it and the bus plows into you, it would certainly be uncomfortable, disturbing and inconvenient for those of us on the bus. But let's face it, we're on a vehicle the size of 2 buses and you're in a car; the outcome is going to be so much worse for you.

Standing is hard

You'd think a bunch of university-aged students, who probably all just got off the skytrain anyway, would have the stamina to stand for a 15 minute bus ride. Well, you'd be wrong, as evidenced this morning by a bunch of lazy bus riders who saw that there were no seats left on the bus and decided not to get on. The lineup formed outside the bus doors of course prompts the bus driver to shut the doors and pull away just as I'm about to get on.

Thanks, guys. I miss a perfectly good bus because you're all too lazy to stand. Except that you're now all standing in line waiting for a bus; so apparently you're lazy and dumb ... I'd quit university now if I were you guys.

Do you have a pass?

The 145 bus driver asked me this today as I got on the bus. So I pull out my pass and show it to him and refrain from sniping, "Of course I do," without actually showing my pass. 

Now, of course, it is completely his right to ask to see my pass, and I always show it on every other bus I ride. What makes me so irate when I get asked on the 145 is the lack of consistency. Probably 95% of drivers never ask to see your pass and some even wave you off if you stop to show it, so now we're all conditioned to get on the bus without showing a pass. After all, since 90% of the people taking the bus at SFU are students who get a upass, you're hardly gonna catch any fare evaders; it's more likely you'll catch some poor student who's paid for the right to ride transit, but forgot their pass at home that day. But of course, there's always that one driver who decides he's gonna be bus nazi for the day and looks at you like you're some sort of deliquent for not showing your pass. Yeah, I'm the bad guy for not anticipating your power trip today.

You can't always stand where you want

It's exam time. The bus to SFU is less crowded than usual and you'll probably get a seat, or at least have your choice of prime standing locations.

The bus is by no means empty though. This means if you're near the front of the line to get on, usual bus etiquette applies. Move to the back, pick a seat, sit down and keep the heck out of the way of people trying to get on. It's not rocket science, which is why it astounds me when people still get on the bus, decide they want to stand in their favorite spot and then refuse to move. 

This morning, the standing spot of choice was right by the middle door, where not 1, not 2, but 3 people were huddled while people were still trying to get on through that door. The bus is not anywhere near full; there are still seats available; even if you are getting off at the first stop (which these people did not do), you could have sat down out of the way and not gotten trapped behind a hoard of people. So why are you crowded around the door like you are going to jump from the bus at the first sign of danger?

As an added bonus, when people are huddled by that door and others are still coming on through it, no one getting on the front door (read: ME!) can get past, and you end up with 60% of the people crammed into the front third of the bus, while the back still has empty seats.

Transit Lesson #1: If you want to stand near a door, get on last.