Back to the Bus

I rode the 71A the other day because it rained. I am supposed to be a bicycle commuter this summer, so you can imagine how it pained me to miss a day of riding and aggravating my raw buttocks and quads. Because it was raining so much, the bus was very full. And there was a wheelchair-bound lady on the bus.

When we got to this lady's stop, nobody would get out of her way so she could wheel out of the bus. They all refused to step out of the aisle and into the rain, instead squeezing onto the elderly people sitting in the front seats. The poor lady had to Austin Powers turn her way around the feet and bookbags. It took six minutes. Then, she reached a standstill. She could go no more.

Blocking her freedom were the feet and thighs of an enormously tall man. He sat staring ahead looking irritated, as if his long bones were not the cause of our delay in moving onward. Finally, the driver said "Stand up so the lady can get past you!"

The dude looked around, like "who, me??" and stood up...right in front of where she needed to roll. He kind of leaned into the fare box a little, as if she could just scoot right past his crotch, which was right at eye level. This woman was so polite. She didn't say a word or get angry or anything. She kept making hairpin turns and beeping in reverse.

Finally, the other passengers started to revolt. A man behind me was very red in the face. He banged on the stability bar and shouted "For the love of Christ, get out of the lady's way!" This set off a whole chorus of "We want to go home!" and "Move it, asshole!" It was like I was in New York again. I secretly enjoyed it. I wanted to start banging on the bars and chanting something, or maybe dump tackle him into the street.

The man never did move. A total of 14 minutes after we stopped, the poor woman finally wheeled down the ramp. The passengers who had been waiting to get on the bus were drenched. We were on a narrow part of Centre Ave, so none of the traffic behind us had been able to move. It must have been a bottle neck from hell. (The bus had no rear windows, so I cannot verify this) By the time I got to my stop, it had ceased raining and I walked home late, dry, and irritated. All because one man doesn't pay attention to his surroundings.