The public in public transportation

I ride the bus. It saves me money on gas a bit, but definitely on parking. The bus pass was cheaper than the parking pass. It doesn’t save on time (travel time from home to school is almost twice as long), but it gives me time to read and do homework. So it’s a win-win. But it means I get to see one of the stranger sides of the public.

Last month I mentioned that, “Generally speaking, crazy people ride the normal bus and normal people ride the express bus” (Being civic – 5 March 2009).

So here’s a run-down of some of the crazy people I’ve seen while riding the bus. This is in no way an exhaustive list. And I’ll probably add to this list as things come up. Maybe if I get brave, I could even get some pictures.

• There are a lot of different tattoos, places to get them, and many other things I never considered about tattoos. One that stands out to me is a guy who had the word “vicious” across the whole of the back of his neck. It was written in the most fancy curly cursive I’ve seen. The contrast between the word and letters was interesting.
• At one stop, a bunch of high school students got on. Two girls sat down right in front of me and started full on making out. This was when it was good to have a book, I held it up higher and closer to my face so I couldn’t see them at all. I’ve seen other couples get rather kissy too.
• One morning at 9:30am, admittedly it was a Friday morning, the woman sitting across the bus from me was already drinking beer. She had a bottle in her purse that she was taking swigs from every now and then.
• One man got on and started singing old country ballads. Nobody really sat next to him. Maybe if I sang more I’d have more room?
• Another guy was playing the harmonica. I do have a harmonica somewhere.
• If I’m ever playing the game “Which person that just got on smells like that?” it’s not a good thing. Generally it is people who like to smoke that prompt that game.
• I’ve also noticed that the space between the doors (there is a second door half-way down the bus) that is always completely crowded and standing room only. If you can squeeze past them to the back of the bus, there is plenty of room and generally available seats too.
• And then of course there are all the different types of fashion I have seen. A good rule of thumb would be that clothing should not be tighter than your skin.