Anyone else feels like buses eat one alive?

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They're so narrow, I can barely breathe! And what would happen if one panicked due to that if a stop is far away and there's traffic?!

I don't like standing up on the bus if you have a heavy backpack or you're carrying tons of bags. I don't like sitting beside strangers either and for some reason all of the weird people always sit beside me. When I say weird I'm actually talking about creepy weird.

Hi, Mootoo,

I know it won't work in all cities. but I'll let a bus pass whenever I can to take a less crowded one or just simply feel better about riding - I guess I like the idea of that bit of control. I have gone to school later in life and I actually feel better on a bus than driving that route. Navigating the narrow hall between the seats while carrying a backpack and whatever else is stressful. I start that ride next week - you?

Well, Logicalmom, I live in an area which caters for about two constituencies... with only one bus route. The buses are nearly always full in the day, even though they go every ten minutes. I just have the impression that bus companies try to milk as much money from people as possible, all the while having as few buses as possible... it's not like people could protest by riding another company, as it's virtually a monopoly. So every time I can barely breathe on a bus standing up, I imagine that the CEO is metaphorically f*****g me sideways while swimming in cash and, of course, a limousine for themselves. Just entertains my frustration.

Yes, Mootoo, it must be rankling when the busses arrive so frequently and are so full that another bus isn't added to accommodate the ridership. I've seen that in larger centers and it does make one wonder why, when the customer base is so strong, service is not improved - you said it: $$. Where I am, services are cut in areas of low ridership - so, you would think the converse would be true - high ridership, more services. We aren't taxed any less, though, if services are reduced. The bus is still a good deal compared to gas and parking and such - but we do pay into these services, and there are good reasons to have a bus system - they are not doing us a ' personal favor' by offering them. Money, money, money - now I have ABBA in my head!

aaannnnnddd - I can't imagine the bus drivers enjoy busses so full either - whew - I would not want that job! I wonder what the safety limit is? We have a really good record here - any my own driving scares me - how about where you live?

If you mean that they literally swallow you alive, you may wish to look into some sort of schizotypal disorder. If you mean in a figurative sense, then well... I really don't like driving with large vehicles on the road. It's not something that would keep me off the road ( I drive for a living) but I drive a car that is tiny by today's standards (an old Geo Metro) and so I worry that drivers of larger vehicles won't see me and will run over me. It's come close to happening before as they switch lanes and do not see my car next to them.

They also become even more narrow as they become more and more crowded, with sweaty gross smelling people standing so that they're touching you, surrounding you on all sides, hemming you in...... and more and more noisy and filled with too many different kinds of noises and different kinds of smells: of foods (often lunch meats) , perfumes and scented products and human body smells which were never meant to be mixed together except perhaps in the seventh circle of hell!

I panicked a couple of times on a bus because I thought we were going to crash into another car! Everyone else was fine but they all looked at me like I was some kind of psychopath. The buses here are terrible and at least an hour apart but if I don't feel like walking for miles I sometimes have to rely on them. It's not likely where I live, but while on the bus I often worry about terrorists or bombs or some REALLY insane, evil person who might decapitate someone like on that bus a couple of years ago in the summer.

Can't recall who said it, but a tip for public transport - if someone makes to sit next to you (and other seats are available), pat the empty space and smile at them.

I get where you guys are coming from, but I don't really have that problem with the buses where I live, since most intra-city public transportation is by tram; and those are even more cramped than our buses.

I currently take the bus to my work, and I find it's a little bit more comfortable than the tram. Seats are more comfortable, too. I always pick a seat by the window, and I generally don't mind when someone sits next to me.

Trains = even better.

I love buses. It's better than driving a car, because on buses your only responsibility is knowing where and when to get off. But I hate standing up on my bus (unless there's a familiar driver to chat to who don't play by the ''do not talk to the driver'' rules).

I hate the smell of people's lunches on the bus as well. I hate it when people eat salads on the bus, especially if it's Caesar salad. I like Caesar salad but I just find it gross when I smell it on a bus full of people.

I bet other riders of crowded buses would enjoy this:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NELYFptqCt8[/youtube]

I remember a story that I've posted here about 6 years ago about a Routemaster that prayed on ignorant people.

We have no public transportation in this town, but when we lived in Birmingham I would sometimes have to ride the bus. I didn't mind it, but I would much rather have driven myself. I didn't like having to wait on the right bus, then getting off and waiting on the other bus to get me where I needed to be. I didn't like having to walk a few blocks from where the bus stopped to my house. I didn't like having to go way out of the way to get somewhere and a 20 minute drive turning into an hour or more trip one way.

As for what would happen if you panicked and had to get off? Just push the button to ring the bell and the driver will pull over and stop at the next corner, traffic or not. But once you get off your options are either walk, get a cab, or wait till the bus comes back by.

I did like the trolly busses in downtown Bham though. Back years ago in Bham they had streetcars. There are still streetcar tracks in some areas that havent been paved over. They took some old streetcars and refurbished them into busses that run in the downtown and Southside area and they are called DART. They are pretty fun to ride in. There are some Hansom cabs too but they are expensive. I've ridden in them a few times.

I wish we had a bus here. One bus would be plenty and they could run a route through town and hit every place you need to go within an hour. I don't know why the rednecks around here won't approve that at the "city council" meetings. All we have now is the "bus lady" who runs a thing where she takes old people from either the nursing home or the old people apartments around in her car. She has a bigger "short bus" type thing with the wheelchair thing to take peoples scooter chairs that she uses on check days to take people to Wal Mart and the drug store and the grocery store, but thats it. The churches all have vans that they come get people with on Sundays. This town isn't made for walking and we only recently got sidewalks which they put in after a bunch of old people got scooter chairs and were riding them in the road.