The Issue of Public Transport and Its Problems

Now let me tell you. There certainly are annoying people on the public busses. People who sit next to you on an empty bus, people who talk loudly on their phone and people who try to talk to you when you are clearly not in the mood are three examples of this. I beg, I demand, I implore you to join me in agreeing that these people are what ruins public transport for us people.

My first qualm with people on buses is those who sit next to you when the rest of the bus is empty. Studies have shown that 80% of people agree that this is unnecessary, annoying and just downright uncomfortable. Don't you agree that this type of behavior is truly irritating? Imagine this: you are on your way home from a hard day at school. Or on the way to a friend after a stressful day at home. You manage to grasp the luxury of an empty bus. You realize that you'd have a number of stops on the way there so you begin to nod off. All of a sudden you hear the “Is this seat taken?” and of course because we are very polite we'd say no and shift to the side, pressed right up against the window. Now you'd have to suffer the rest of your journey in uncomfortable silence, while trying to make yourself not touch them and thus moving closer and closer to the wall of the bus, which no-one knows how many germs exist on. When your stop would come, you would have to be the one who apologizes when it's your time to awkwardly shuffle past them. Now, tell me does this sound like your ideal journey?

My second problem is with people who decide it is ok to have very loud conversations on the bus. Since when was it socially acceptable to loudly rant to your friend in some foreign language on a bus full of people? However worse is when it's actually in English. Then we become the impolite ones. When you can't help but listen to a conversation you don't even care about. When I can't hear the other side of the conversation my brain is always listening and trying to fill in the blanks. These people can't bear to whisper or heaven forbid them holding their thoughts until there off the bus?

Finally what irritates me most are people who try to have long, pointless conversations with us after a long day. This is sometimes the only time away from school or work and family where we have time to do what we want without having to deal with anyone else. We are not rude. We just need space and quite. When I am quite clearly listening to music, and my body language definitely says, « Leave me alone, why do they keep talking to me? ». Trying with small talk is fine; I understand that, but to constantly push conversation? That’s rude.

Now, I don't believe I'm an unreasonable person, and I have nothing against your average commuter, but these people are what ruin your journey that could otherwise be a pleasant experience.