Since the onset of late fall, I've been commuting via transit (known in TO as 'The Red Rocket' or in advertising as 'The Better Way')
Here's a few pointers to all you commuters. These are not only for my comfort but for yours as well.
1. Your backpack didn't pay a fare to get on the streetcar or subway or bus. It doesn't have the right to take up the space of a paying customer. Take your backpack off and hold it low. I mention this mostly because I take the Spadina streetcar and there are a lot of completely oblivious UofT students just packing themselves on the car. Last week I actually had to lean over to one and say "Maybe you should take that off" as I pointed behind her and she finally noticed her backpack was pushing some poor little chinese girl into a stoop. One last thing on this, do you really NEED a backpack that big? Here's a thought; plan your day better. You might discover you don't need EVERYTHING you own with you at all times.
2. Poles are meant to hang on to, not lean on. When you turn your back to a pole and use it to hold up your entire body, you remove that pole from everyone else's reach. Now, I realize that it looks super cool you reading your Metro all suave-like with that devil-may-care lean, but if the people around you have nothing to grab onto, who knows what they might reach for in case of a sudden stop? I'm voting on your crotch.
3. Lines (or in the UK, queues). They start and end with people. Look for the last person in the line and get behind them. Don't sashay on up sideways and push into the front. It's rude. And don't think if you stare blindly ahead as you do it that people don't notice you're being a jerk. We noticed.
4. If you're a healthy person and you see someone infirm (by age, sickness, whatever) get the hell up and give them your seat. You can stand for the ten minutes you're on the subway or whatever. Don't crowd the door on the way in and rush to a seat. That's just plain uncouth. Bitch. (I like adding a swear word to 'uncouth')
5. If you've been sitting for the entire ride and someone has been standing, does it not feel a little wrong to bolt out of your seat at the last minute and push past them so you can make your egress first? I mean, just a little? Stay in your seat and let the standing folk get off.
So far that's it. I am personally shocked by the behaviour of what we consider polite society. I'm not the least bit cultured but I feel like 'Lord Swaddington of CandyAss Commons' or something when I use public transit. We're not animals, people, the last time I checked.
