merely talk

So with my new fancy "real" job, I've been commuting a lot more lately. I even broke down and bought a bus pass, which has made me the laziest person ever. When a month ago I used to walk to the grocery store or to Whyte or to the Library, I now bus. Mostly because if I'm paying $73 a month for the special Sherwood Park buspass I'm going to make it worth it!

Anyway since I'm on the bus more, I've found occasion to be even more annoyed with my fellow passengers than usual. I mean it's never really a lot of fun to take the bus, but I've found it a lot more annoying lately. I've pinpointed the cause of my annoyance increase as two habits of the bus travelling Edmonton population.

The first is actually the lesser annoyance, and usually if one is bold enough people can be shamed into not doing it. But, I really, really hate when in the two seater seats people sit on the outer/aisle one and leave the window vacant. It's really bad when the bus is crowded, and they don't move, or make eye contact at all. Drives me nuts. I know it's not fun to be in that close of contact with a stranger, one who may not even smell pleasant, but you don't own the bus, or the seat, and you just have to deal.

But what infuriates me even more is the way some people are so afraid of their fellow travellers that they refuse to sit down at all, even if there are empty seats. No, instead they make it impossible to get off the bus in an efficient manner by standing in the doorway. On Saturday on my way down to Whyte I saw the worst case of this phenomenon that I've ever seen. When I got on my bus, I was forced to stand right in the front doors, I couldn't even get to the bus driver to show him my buspass because there were too many people in the way. After a minute or two of trying to balance with no support, and peer around the people to see if there was any space at the back, I was shocked to discover not only standing room in the aisle, but 6 or so empty seats. I pushed my way through and sat down, and just stared at this group of seven people crowding the front making it hard for the mom with the stroller to get off and the elderly women to get on. And as the seats empty, even entire two seaters were emptied but everyone stayed at the front blocking the door onto the bus.

It was the stupidest thing I had ever seen, and made me what to tear a few heads off (especially the bus driver's who should have said something).

Okay. I feel better now.