On MUNI, San Franciso’s excellent transit system, riders get
it: 1) that when the seats are getting full, they have to move to the back of
the bus to let other riders board; and 2) that one fare entitles a rider to one
seat. I rode the buses and street cars
and cable cars in that city for about 11 years.
Almost always, as a bus got packed the standing riders would drift to
the back without being asked. When
a driver did have to call out, “Move back,” or “Make room,” people moved.
There was a guy who sometimes got on the Market Street bus with
me at rush hour who liked to holler “Lady with a baby! Make way!” if the crowd was a little slow to move
to the back. He didn’t have to do it
very often.
In that city I seldom saw a rider splay himself or his stuff
across multiple seats. Nor did I ever have
to tap one on the shoulder to get his attention and explain why I wanted him to
free up a seat.
I also commuted by public transit in Los Angeles. There, you might never see the same driver on
the same route and the vastness of the city gives a background vibe that is
overwhelmingly impersonal. Of course, drunks and the deranged occasionally got out
of hand. Sometimes a petty crime took
place. I was punched in the face
once. I watched pickpockets at
work. Fare evasion was rampant.
But in L.A., people were usually as well-behaved as angels when
it came to moving back and keeping seats open.
(Maybe they were just trying to stay out of harm’s way?)
Yet in Portland, a tamer town than either of those
California grease spots, it’s standard procedure when standing to plant oneself
in the front of the bus; and if seated, to keep the seat next to you handy for your
stuff or for kicking back.
This week on the 75, crushed between boarding riders and a
mash of beings stopped behind, I had to ask twice “Could you please move back
and make room?” And the lug at the end
of the line, who had six or eight feet of space behind him, glanced at me
without acknowledgement. But worse, not a single one of the rest of the group
inhaling each other’s air said a thing.
Why is this? What dumb territorial impulse is at work? And even if you are not guilty of the
original transgression, why don’t you urge the stand-in-fronters to move
back? Why aren’t there more righteous
passengers demanding civilized behavior from their fellow citizens?
Is it a cultural thing?
