Do people sit next to you on public transport?

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Unless the seat beside me is the only vacant space on a train/bus, I am generally avoided - which is just the way I like it.

With all my stimming, both physical and audible, most kids don't want to sit next to me on the bus during field trips. And those kids are aspies.

Oh I don't know, maybe you're right. If someone who sat next to me for a while just gets up and takes another seat I'd think that I annoyed them somehow or that I smell. If it is a girl I'd also think that I was being creepy, despite that fact that I barely even look at people who sit next to me and certainly I don't touch them. I don't think sitting next to someone is such a big deal that you have to get up if another seat becomes available, but hey I'm Italian. Still I think it's be rude to tell them to take another seat.

Carry a back pack and put that in the seat next to you....

I done that before, but twice someone has picked my bag up and threw it on my lap to sit down.

Perhaps I have some sort of 'don't even think of touching my bag' look....though I also will move it if the bus is getting crowded and seats are running out cause I don't want to be an a**hole. But when its not full and there are plenty of seats I do that and no one has moved my bag yet though I have seen them eye the seat and then me and my thoughts are 'yeah that's right you can't go out of your way to sit by me when there is 10-20 other seats' lol.

I stay small, always keep my belongings on my lap, and always keep to myself.

But still people often avoid me. Im a very tall male with broad shoulders and I think people avoid that. Im quite thin and squish myself, but still. I know women avoid me especially, if someone sits next to me its usually a guy. Im not scarey looking, I actually have hardly any facial hair despite being 30. I think I just look like some horn dog teenager who would ask them out.

I try to stick to that rule as well when picking someone to sit next to. Let women sit next to women.

Even though I have a pleasant face that dogs like, it amuses me on the rare occasion I use a bus that invariably, the seat next to me is the last empty one on the bus.

I do recall one painstaking occasion, in which a young pregnant woman - whose boyfriend was serving a sentence for breaking and entering - initiated a discussion about a 'baby shower' she was having that very same day. The ensuing 10 minutes were bordering on insufferable, with me staring back her blank-faced and nodding occasionally to appear to be interested. Thankfully my journey was only a few stoppages long and we never encountered each other again.

There seems to be some odd, unsaid social rule in public transport in my areawhich states "don't sit next to strangers unless there is no other free spots" so usually noone sits next to me and I don't have to sit next to anyone, at least here (public transport where I live is usually not crowded). And if there is no other spots available I guess people sit next to me as often as next to anybody else.

BTW. I find the "rule" quite ridiculous because if a group of 4 people enters a train they usually are unable to sit together because all spots have 2-3 free seats. All 4 seat spots are taken by 1-2 people. So stupid...
But it works for me so I don't complain, unless I want to travel with my friends.

People usually only sit next to me if there are a shortage of seats elsewhere. I'm pretty cleanly, so it's either because of my weight, or my "resting b**tch face". My wife tells me I sometimes have a pretty scary look if I don't want someone to come near.

I avoid public transport. Too many awful people use it around here.

Though when I used to use it people only sat next to me when almost full.

Were I live now, there is no public transit to speak of. But when I was younger, when I rode the bus or light rail I tended to stretch out across two seats, to discourage anyone from sitting next to me. Of course if it got really crowded or if someone insisted, I would free up the other seat.

If somebody gets up and moves when more seats become available, I don't take offense. I know I don't smell because I keep myself clean and I wash my clothes regularly. I just know that they're feeling the same as me; they like to have a seat of their own. I always feel awkward when there's somebody sitting next to me because when I do something like look in my bag for my phone or scratch my arm or just do anything, the person sitting next to me looks like they think that I'm going to get off at the next stop or something. So I just sit really still, which is uncomfortable sometimes. I do prefer my own space around me, unless I'm sitting with someone I know.
I'm the same in shops too. When I'm browsing, I get agitated if somebody comes along and stands right next to me, looking at the exact same section as me. It's just distracting. I have social anxiety, so having strangers hovering about in my personal space makes me uncomfortable.

Unless it is going to be a long ride I don't leap to nearest open seat the second it opens up, I could but I figure if am getting off soon there is no point and that it would be weird to move away for only a moment before getting off like I couldn't stand being next to the person a second longer. Now for the people that choose to sit next to me...

This conundrum is one of the stupid things that stresses me about public transport. I live in the city at the moment, and likely, if a seat comes up empty, at the next stop there will be more people to fill it. If I was to move away from the person I was sitting next to and sit there, someone else would just sit next to me again at the next stop. No point. However, if I'm on a rural train, I will definitely move seats if there are spares and it's almost guaranteed no one else will fill the seats, rather than stay sitting right next to someone else. It's a situational thing in my view. Once, on a rural train, someone got on and despite a completely empty carriage sat right next to me, telling me to move my backpack so they could sit there. I stood up, moved four seats or so away, and sat back down, backpack on seat. That was outright ridiculous.
I also don't like sitting in a courtesy seat, because of the awkwardness of whether or not offering my seat to someone as you're supposed to would be insulting to that person or not.
Generally, people do tend to sit next to me. I'm small and don't take up much room, and probably look safe.