I continue my occasional series about signage in and around Boston. Here is one recently seen on the #77 bus that runs down Massachusetts Avenue from Arlington Heights to Harvard Square.I don't recall seeing this sign on other routes, but it may be elsewhere. What does this say about the clientele on this bus route, or others, that such a sign would be necessary? I fear it is not a very nice indication of people's manners.
Maybe we should expect it though, as people have been trained to believe that saving spaces is acceptable behavior when there are snow storms in Boston.
9 comments:
Yup, I saw the same sign on the #35 bus yesterday, about 30 seconds before I saw a woman frown and refuse to let a man sit next to her because she'd piled her bags onto the adjacent seat.
Not sharing a seat on the bus is IN NO WAY the same as marking your spot after a snowstorm! Seat saving: not OK, Shoveled spot marker: perfectly reasonable!
umm, try it in a wheelchair. People would rather leave you in the middle of the aisle than step out of the reserved areas even though it's for their safety as well as mine.
You really haven't been on a bus in a long time, huh Paul? It's kill or be killed there.
I have, but never noticed the sign for some reason. But it is true that I generally ride the trolleys and subways, where there is no so sign. Are bus riders different from rapid transit riders?
Amazed you were able to take the picture without threat of arrest!
With a few exceptions, like the route you took the picture on in Arlington, the buses serve a poorer population. The bourgeoisie, should they deign to have an adventure and decide to ride the T into town, usually will park at one of the stations like Alewife or one of the commuter rail stops. Most of the buses wind their way through the deprived areas of Boston. The recent incident where a bus driver was assaulted and lost control of his bus was on such a route. People without cars have to use the buses to carry their grocery and other shopping, and many elderly people have no other option than the bus.
That said, there have been some recent changes that make the whole process of riding the bus much more difficult. One is the design of the buses that are currently running throughout the system. There seems to be far less seating than the old buses, and no handholds to grab onto other than a few straps that are really hard to grab onto. Also, one huge change is that moms with baby carriages are allowed to ride without the carriages being folded up. Years ago, when I rode the T with young children, I was not allowed to take even an umbrella stroller onto the bus in an open position, and was told it was because of "fire laws". Nowadays, young moms get on with carriages that are like SUV's compared to when my kids were little, and totally block the entire aisle of the bus. Not sure what ever happened to those fire laws...
A recent example of the bus/train
dichotomy was this past Monday Patriot's Day. when the trains all ran on a weekday schedule and the buses ran on a far less frequent Saturday schedule. For those of us who have a bus lap to do after getting off of the train, it made going to work Monday more difficult than it should have been.
Sorry to go on for so long. As you can see, I ride the buses every weekday and it is the least reliable and most frustrating part of my commute.
Having just returned from a week in London, I vote to subcontract out Boston bus routes to London Buses. 700 bus routes, 6 million passengers a day...rode bus 5-6 times a day, including out to the hinterlands and in some less affluent and touristy areas...never saw anyone saving a seat, and I was offered seats by younger people on crowded buses almost every time I was standing. Or maybe we need to import Londoners...
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It's a shame such signs are needed. When I rode the buses and T in Boston in the mid 1970's, I recall people being relatively polite, including the routes that ran by Boston City Hospital where I lived - at the time one of the highest crime neighborhoods in the region.
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