After a legal review of Initiative 901, the county health department has concluded that it is against the law to smoke within 25 feet of a bus shelter.

Bus stops have always been popular places to light up, but I noticed an immediate, marked increase in the numbers of smokers at my stops as soon as 901 went into effect. Folks were smoking as many cigarettes as they could suck down before their buses arrived, and even non-bus riding smokers, cast unceremoniously out of their usual haunts, were showing up. There was (and continues to be) a defiant tone to bus-stop smoking, as if to say “You’ve kicked us out of everywhere, but you can’t kick us off the street!”

Apparently, they can.

OK, not exactly. Only bus shelters are affected, not regular bus stops–unless, of course, the regular bus stops are within 25 feet of a building entrance.

I can’t say I’m mad about the ban (bus exhaust provides enough toxic fumes for me, thanks), but it will be interesting to see how it’s enforced. Will the transit police monitor all 1750 bus shelters in the county? Will the SPD spend their time writing warnings and tickets? It hardly seems likely, given the department’s stand on marijuana, and the number of people who smoke that at bus stops.

But that’s a different post altogether.