In front of the yellow line:

Bus Justice

By Shawn Wells

        

                           Often on my bus, I see something I like to call “Bus Justice.”

What is this you ask? Let’s take priority seating as an example. You should know what those are if you’ve ever ridden a bus. The front seats in the bus, the ones that flip up if they need to or have ample leg room. Easy to get to for anyone with limited mobility. Now, here’s the situation. Someone in a wheelchair gets on at the same time as someone with a stroller. Who gets which side of the bus? What happens now if someone on crutches also gets on? This is where ‘Bus Justice’ comes in. I never have to help passengers figure it out, they always govern themselves. And I love watching the process.

I remember one time, pulling up to a stop where a little old lady with a walker was waiting. When I opened the door she asked if I could put the ramp out for her. Now you have to understand that putting the ramp out is not a fast process. None of the switches are necessarily close to each other… it’s not simply a case of pushing a single button. First I have to kneel my bus, then set my emergency brake, put my my bus into ‘Neutral’ and then finally deploy my ramp. All in all, it’s about a 3 second process (sometimes longer if you can’t find on that particular bus where the rarely used ramp switch is) To people on the street, that 3 seconds is an eternity. So, back to the little old lady. While I’m busy preparing my bus for ramp deployment, another passenger tried to slip past the patiently waiting little old lady. At this point, she grabbed a cane from her walker (her back-up cane?) and started swatting this other passenger with it. “Do you think we’re just standing here for fun? Get to the back of the line! I’m waiting for the ramp!” It reminded me of old “Looney Tunes” cartoons with ‘Granny’ swatting at ‘Sylvester’ with an umbrella to get him away from ‘Tweety’.

Bus Justice.

This sort of thing happens more than you’d think. Maybe not the physical attack part, but the directing of traffic. Especially by patrons in wheelchairs and Moms with strollers. These two groups of people are not at all shy about telling people where to go. People in wheelchairs waiting to get off will often tell other passengers that they have to exit out the back door. “I have no choice, I have to get out at the front. You go out the back!” Moms with strollers will often come in and say “Move!” without even breaking stride.

Bus Justice.

I will say, these are extreme circumstances. For the most part, people are quite mindful of the people in need. Usually, when I pull up to a stop and there is a person with limited mobility waiting to get on, by the time they board the people on the bus already have lifted seats and moved to make space for them based on their needs. Sometimes the idea of bus justice does backfire though. I’ve seen people get into arguments about moving to make space. For me personally, it rarely escalates to a point where I have to say something.

The biggest thing anybody needs to know is that those seats in the front are there for a reason. If you see someone that requires the special seating more than you, move. It’s that simple. Let’s all cooperate and try to get along, so you don’t have to be a victim of “bus Justice.”

From in front of the yellow line, that’s just how I see it.