Standing is hard 2: So is my elbow

I accidentally clocked a guy in the head with my elbow on the skytrain today. It was actually an accident, not my usual passive-aggressive "accidental" bumping into idiots in my way. Also, clocked may be a bit strong. My elbow and his face certainly made contact; it was hard enough to feel, but not hard enough to hurt. Still, I felt bad ... briefly.

Then I realized how his face ended up in my elbow. I was getting up to leave the train, and so I was putting on my backpack. My elbow naturally swung out a little and that's when I felt his face. I assumed he was also getting off the train and I just hadn't seen him line up behind me. Oops, my bad, right? Wrong! He was literally trying to duck under my arm and practically slide right underneath me into the seat I was vacating.

Seriously...he was so desperate for that seat that he couldn't even wait until I was out of the way, never mind off the train. Plenty of seats were clearing, as many people were getting off at this stop, and he was already ahead of anyone boarding there for seats because he was on the train. That's some serious lazy that would rather take an elbow to the head than stand or even take a 'less desirable' seat.

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.

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.