I am still unpacking after my move, which is much more painful than I could have imagined it would be. Without enough furniture it’s proving hard to put my clothes away, for example. Staying up until 11-12 each night has left me with no time, let alone energy, to do much bus riding.
Wearing new shoes as I walked to work this morning left me with a pretty bad blister that had me taking the 29 to a shop that I would have normally walked to, so I was able to witness this fine event:
Occasionally I will ride on a bus with a driver who’s making up for all of the other ones who turn a blind eye to an expired transfer or a back-door entry. I had the king of those types of drivers today. After making three people get off the bus for having expired transfers, he called each person up who slipped by without paying.
All except one returned to the front to pay. The bus was crowded, and I couldn’t see through the crowd to the back.
“Please don’t hold everybody up,” he said sternly, “I will come back there.” He paused. We gawked, trying to figure out who it was that was holding up the bus.
And then he was true to his word. The imposing man, an African-American with a booming voice and a barrelled chest, rose and went back there. He disappeared among the crowd, and I could only hear what was happening. She tried to explain that he wasn’t paying attention when she came on – it was pretty much the worst excuse I had ever heard from someone who had been caught without proof of payment.
“You think that means you don’t have to pay?” She still stammered, trying to get out of the inevitable.
“You’re holding everyone up,” he scolded. The rest of us were getting anxious and some of the other passengers began yelling at her. “You’re holding us up!” “Come one, just pay already.”
She took her walk of shame to the front of the bus, where she shelled out her two dollars, got her transfer (good for 180 minutes instead of the standard 90 – which I found amusing since he was so strict about having a valid transfer), and took a seat next to me. I felt like asking her “what the hell is wrong with you,” but I know that she is only one among thousands who try to evade fares every day. Today she just got on the wrong bus.
There’s an article today about how much the city looses from people not paying.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/10/18/BAGQ1A711J.DTL&tsp=1
Hahaha! That is sooo damn funny! This should count as one of your ever so exciting bus rides, it may not have been planned but never the less it was a bus affair! again it was like I was right there sitting next to u looking through the crowd to see who it was that was hiding in the back! This seriously could be a sitcom, I find it so funny! Keep riding those lines girly! And I hope u get some sleep soon! Good luck with the unpacking!
Hey now, its been a while since your last bus ride post… and I’m having withdrawls from it! I was hooked, lined and sinked! Come back to us and ride the next bus you can! I hope the moving experience is over and I hope you got those last few boxes unpacked! I know your steady regular readers miss you! And expect something from me in the mail in 2010! I couldn’t have made through this holiday/winter season without you… again I hope all is well, and happy new years!