Top 5 Weird Public Transit Moments- #3: The Crowded Morning Bus

 Last September, my boyfriend and I were taking a trip to New York. Since we were only going for a few days, and New York is… well… New York, we wanted to squeeze in as much time as we possibly could. That’s why we decided to leave early on a Sunday morning.

      This is off topic, but I had that Jay-Z and Alicia Keys song the whole vacation. I felt like I was in a really cheesy, boring montage from the 80s.

     Anyway, that also meant that in order to get to Billy Bishop Airport in time, we needed to take a night bus as the subway was still closed for the night. Yeah, we left just as cool, social people who aren’t afraid of dancing in public were on their way home.

     So we get on this bus, and of course it’s packed since one only comes every so often. By boyfriend and I compact into approximately one cubic inch like everyone else and we ride this thing for twenty minutes near the back- yes, that’s important to the story. It was some of the most uncomfortable time I’ve spent on a bus, as I have a very large personal bubble. It might even be classified as a hot air balloon at this point. My point is, it’s large and in charge! Just like my butt.

     After these twenty minutes of being too close to dirty strangers on a stinky thick-aired bus, a gentleman comes on and announces at the top of his voice, “I am a disabled man. Can I have a seat?”

     No one moves. I thought to myself, “this poor man, who has to announce to a bus full of strangers that he struggles to stand, does not get his simple wish fulfilled.”

     After a few good, solid minutes, someone stands and lets him sit down, but this seat was not the closest to him. As the bus begins moving again, this guy has to push past a crowd to get to the seat. Oh, and did I mention he was disabled?!

     It was a weird way to start my day, a weird way to start my vacation, and a weird way for people to treat each other. If you’re reading this, and later in your life a disabled person, a pregnant person, or an elderly person gets on a bus with no seats nearby, get your butt up and burn some calories doing so