The Culture of Buses

It may seem really lame, but it's something that has been intriguing me for the last month at least. Buses are really interesting places to examine. From the sorts of people who ride them, to the bus drivers, to the subtle codes.

Originally, I had been wondering about the difference between buses in the city and those heading to the suburbs. It is just because I have been downtown a couple times when the bus just blows past a rider because they weren't at the stop, and several times when the express bus has held up so that the late person could get on. There are so many possibilities, I still don't quite know why. There is the personality of the driver, the personalities of the riders, and the bus schedules (buses run more often in the city than to it). I'm sure it ends up being a combination, but I thought it was interesting that the waits occur more often with the express bus. (I don't think it's just the bus that I ride.) This is a remarkably complicated question; and with no way to find out, I have had to move on to other things.

Like the "rules" about sitting. That's right. It amuses me each day to watch the ways to signal that you don't want someone sitting with you (placement of stuff and seat choice for example...yes, some seats are less popular for being the second occupant that others). But the one that I see so easily every day is how are seats are same-sexed (with the exception of the VERY front, sideways seats...and when talking about couples riding together). Men will never sit next to a woman. Even if she is a co-worker. He will sit in a seat adjacent to hers, but not in the one right next to her. (On the buses I have ridden, it is easy for a woman to sit next to another woman. Females are probably about 65-75% of those on the bus.)

It's been fun figuring these out. As far as the strategies go, it's meant that I've figured out how to routinely get the seat to myself (even though I assume many now realize that I also get off at the first stop, making it moderately inconvenient for them to have to move). When the bus stops at the transit station, I note the number of people out there in line, but also the rough number of women. (I also end up sitting next to some of the businessmen at times, and it always feels a little odd. But that just might be because I was the one who had to sit down next to a stranger.)

Anyways, I will no longer go on. I have written this down. That is enough.