Tonight’s 4 was slower than ever and packed with people, people committing every bus foul known to woman, including:

• Refusing to move to the back, despite the fact that the bus was beyond capacity, and there were at least three empty seats back there.
• Eating smelly meals from styrofoam takeout containers (this is not just a bus foul–it’s against Metro’s rules).
• Turning up headphones, as loud as they would go, not placing them near any actual ears, and then chair dancing all over everyone in the immediate vicinity.
• Engaging in (the ever popular) too-loud personal conversations.

Which reminds me: Thanks for submitting all those great fouls back in May. I used many of them to write “Bus Fouls, Part II,” which hit the streets (literally) on Wednesday.

Bus Fouls, Part II

By CARLA SAULTER

It seems that the Sonics and Storm soon will be leaving us for Oklahoma City (a city that, by the way, does not offer bus service past 7:30–or at all on Sundays). Unfortunately, although we bus-riding Seattleites will no longer be able to watch NBA fouls, we continue to have aisle-side seats to rampant and egregious bus fouls.

Here are some reader-submitted fouls I forgot to mention in April (“Bus Fouls,” April 19):

• Dawdling when it’s time to board. Remember that Spike Lee movie–you know, the one about the Million Man March? When your route comes, it’s time to end the conversation (or bus mack, or argument) and get on the bus. If you decide you’d rather talk than ride, don’t get mad and bang on the side when the driver closes the door in your face.

• Rushing when it’s time to board. The opposite of the dawdling boarder is the overeager boarder. Wait for everyone to get off before you get on.

• Not offering your seat to an elderly or disabled passenger. Whether you’re sitting in the reserved section or not, if you see someone who could use a seat more than you, get up. (A lot of readers complained about this foul, but I rarely witness it. People tend to share their seats on the routes I ride. In fact, I’m not elderly or disabled, and last week, on the 36, a chivalrous young man offered me a seat…on his lap.) And speaking of which…

• Unauthorized touching. Incidental touching (foot-stepping, arm-grazing) is an inevitable (if unpleasant) fact of riding the bus. Taking advantage of crowded conditions to cop a feel is offensive and illegal. If you do this, be prepared to be publicly shamed, or (given the recent report on the aggressiveness of transit cops) even arrested.

• Taking up more than one seat. We all know that this is sometimes unavoidable (if you have a lot of groceries or happen to be larger than the seat), but folks, don’t put your belongings (or your feet) on the chair next to you when other people are standing. And don’t have the nerve to roll your eyes — or worse, refuse — if someone asks you to move over.

• Cell-phone talking. A lot of riders don’t like this, but I’m on the fence. If it is a quiet conversation, it’s really no more bothersome than a quiet conversation between two riders. If it’s loud or too personal, then it fits into the “sharing too much of your business” foul from April’s column. Besides, I’d rather see people get on the bus to talk than to endanger my safety by doing so in their cars.

Who knows? Maybe if we learn to play nice on the buses, the owners of our professional sports teams will learn to play nice in the stadiums we’ve already built.

I forgot to include one of the worst fouls (submitted by Freida): “When the bus is standing room only, parking yourself right by the front door so that the rest of us have to squeeze past you to get to the back.”

Guess that means I’ll have to write part III…