Category Archives: transit culture

You know you’re a bus chick if… (part II)

A bus chick
You have a date with your husband at a holiday party in Bellevue, one which requires a fancy dress and high, high heels, and even though the temperature is below freezing and it’s expected to snow, you pass on Zipcar or calling a cab in favor of the warm, weather-ready 550.

You know you’re too much of a bus chick if…

After the party, when the temperature has dropped and the snow has begun in earnest, and you’re in a hurry to make it to your warm house to kiss your little chicklet, you are stuck waiting downtown on sore feet (for the 4, no less) for 15+ minutes.

***

Some updates to the original list:

• You have “stop sense”: On your regular routes, you know when to pull the bell to get off, even if foggy windows, darkness, or distance from the window prevent you from seeing outside. And speaking of bells…

• When riding in a car, you reflexively reach for an imaginary bell when you begin to near your destination.

Some of my best friends drive cars

Another term for the glossary:

HBC, n: Honorary bus chick. A person who, usually because of circumstances beyond her control (living or working in an area not served by transit or physical limitations that preclude excessive walking), does not regularly ride the bus, but who otherwise supports the bus chick agenda. Some examples of this support:

• Advocating for more and better transit in her area
• Happily riding the bus when the opportunity presents itself
• Planning events and gatherings that are accessible by bus
• Possessing generally good feelings about the bus
• Purchasing a cool bus t-shirt for a bus-riding daughter-in-law

Like full-fledged bus chicks, HBCs often feel out of step with the car-dominated communities in which they live. They, too, look forward to a pollution-, traffic-, and sprawl-free future.

My kind of transit etiquette

This man, spotted on a Sunday afternoon 26, was folding origami swans from old newspapers and handing them out to his fellow passengers.

Summer swans

I wish I had a better picture; the swans were really cool. And no, I cannot explain why he was wearing a wool hat and flannel shirt on a crowded bus (with no AC!) in the middle of 90+ degree day. Perhaps I should ask Bus Nerd, a man who insists on wearing a jacket and bringing an umbrella everywhere, no matter the season, forecast, or current temperature. Little old ladies at bus stops won’t have to worry about him being cold.

More on transit etiquette

Today, some self-described “SF Muni Ladies” hipped me to their new blog, Muni Manners: An etiquette guide for the transit savvy.

As loyal riders of San Francisco public transit (for longer than we’d like to admit), we’ve seen our commutes change with the rise of ipods and the fall of public decorum. Picking up where Miss Manners leaves off, this new kind of etiquette guide modernizes what our moms taught us in grade school about riding the Uncle Gus.

Love it! So far, there are only seven “etiquette rules,” but these ladies are on to something. Some recent Muni Lady admonishments:

Etiquette Rule # 7: Keep Your Eyes Open
You Snooze, We Lose

Etiquette Rule # 6: Use Nasal Discretion
Getting Picky

Etiquette Rule #5: Pick Up After Yourself
Every litter bit counts

Perhaps the next step is to enlist some Yokohama-style etiquette police to enforce these.

Muni ladies, I appreciated your rule about boarding the train (or bus, in our case), “Always let exiting passengers leave the train before you board.” The thing is: This is a standard rule of most major transit agencies; most folks just choose not to follow it. A more difficult, etiquette-related question (one I receive a lot and don’t really know the answer to): What’s the protocol for who boards first after everyone has exited? Is it based on who arrived at the station first? Elderly and less-able-bodied first? Some combination of the two?

Any insight would be much appreciated.

Keep up the good work!

Speaking of TriMet…

A cool blog from a transit geek in Portland: Trimetiquette. Apparently, bus fouls are a problem there, too, since (as the name suggests) this person spends a good deal of time educating folks about proper transit etiquette.

I still think there’s a market for an advice column–a Dear Prudie devoted entirely to transit. Shoot–send me some questions, and I’ll start it up. I (sort of) already have.

And while I’m at it…

BCiT, n: Bus chick in training. A young person, usually under the age of 12, who is learning the bus-riding ropes. A BCiT always rides with an experienced bus chick while she masters basic bus survival skills, such as when to ring the bell, how and when to pay, and appropriate bus behavior–and then more advanced skills, including schedule-reading, trip-planning, and street safety. If she shows promise, she is permitted to ride without a mentor, and, eventually, initiated into the sisterhood of full-fledged bus chicks.

Another glossary update

Bus crush, n:

1. Feelings of overwhelming admiration–occasionally, though not necessarily, of a romantic nature–for a fellow passenger; excessive interest in, or curiosity about, a fellow passenger.
2. The object of such admiration or interest.

My biggest bus crush was (and still is) Bus Nerd, but I have minor bus crushes–on women, men, young, old, passengers, drivers–all the time. There was the mother-daughter team that used to ride my morning 48 to Montlake Elementary. The mother: in her early thirties; pretty; with flawless chocolate skin, a simple, pulled-back hairstyle, and a great fashion sense. Her daughter: an eight-year old, curly-headed BCiT who reminded me of myself when I was a young bus chick, minus the awkwardness, the shyness, and the “summer haircut” (a post for another time, my friends), and plus a rather unfortunate fondness for pink. I stopped seeing them years ago, but fortunately, I have my own little BCiT to ride with these days. There are the three siblings–a big brother, a little brother, and a baby sister–I see all over the city, on several bus routes and sometimes walking, never with parents. The big brother is in charge, looking after and scolding the younger two, and I make up all kinds of romantic stories about this threesome, most of which involve variations on a Party of Five theme. There is Georgiana, the cool grandma and 27 regular I finally met this year at my precinct caucus, after years of admiring her from afar. And of course, there is Smooth Jazz.

Your turn. Ever had a bus crush?