This morning, I left my house at 9:45 am knowing that I had a 10 am meeting. It was cold and chilly as a result of last night\’s first snowfall. I looked automatically to the intersection near my house. The 61a bus was just crossing. I quickened my pace and to my relief I saw the 61c bus behind it. I planned my strategy and was about to jaywalk across the street to catch the 61c bus. Then suddenly I noticed that the light was turning green for the bus. So I rushed toward it, clopping my way with my boots (meant to keep me warmer). The bus driver stopped at the green light and waved at me that he was going to wait, even though I was looking at yet another bus behind me.
I climbed onboard giving my thanks. He responded saying that I shouldn\’t rush (because I could slip due to the cold weather) and told me that the buses come often enough. I said that they come every 10-15 minutes. He insisted that they come every 5 minutes and that was enough despite my bus riding experience over one year.
And I sulked to the back of the pseudo-crowded bus. Always in angst when the bus driver doesn\’t understand how passengers are frustrated with the \”norms\” of the Pittsburgh Bus system – back doors are only controlled by the drivers and passengers cannot push them open, you show your pass when you get on when you\’re going downtown and after when you\’re going away from downtown and this pervasive misunderstanding of why people stand near the front rather than stand near the back (because if the back door cannot be opened, then you need to be at the front otherwise you\’ll have to push through lines of people).
I live on a busy bus line. There is the 61a, 61b, 61c, 61d, 61f, 59u, 56u, and 501 that go to school and back. The unfortunate thing is that these buses often come all at once. Then there would be a 20 minute gap between the last bus and the next even when it is supposed to be 5 minutes spaced out. This is fine most of the time if it was not freezing or if I had a meeting in less than 10 minutes.