The answer: $4+ a gallon gasoline. Alrighty then.
Now that those middle class folks are riding the bus and trains, it seems they need schooling on proper transit behavior. There's actually a new blog, Muni Manners, that bills itself as an "etiquette guide for the transit savvy." Some highlights:
Etiquette Rule #1: Boarding the Train
...the code of conduct when embarking a bus or train is quite simple: stand to the side of the doors to allow passengers clear berth to exit the train. And by ‘side’ we don’t mean positioning yourself on the platform where the door typically opens. Remember, if people can’t exit, there’s less room for you to board. So if you’re running late for a meeting, need to post bail for a friend, get your child to daycare, or that bakery on Clement is about to close, basic laws of inertia indicate you are not making your commute (or ours) any shorter by plowing through an opposing melee of passengers.
Etiquette Rule #3: Exercise Reasonable Groin Proximity
While you’re busy tuning in to that bown chicka bown bown soundtrack on your iPod, you may not realize that your lump of coal is providing a gentle rub to the shoulder of the passenger seated directly below you.
Etiquette Rule #7: Keep Your Eyes Open
Hey sleep slut, innocent riders next to you are mortified when you fall asleep and start leaning on them. Repeat after us: body spam, bam, no thank you ma'am. Remember, no one wants to hear your nostril opera or see your drooling mouth agape as you slumber across the city.
The LA Times also has a blog post on transiqette. The best part is the photo.
Posts
4 comments:
Hey Li,
Thanks for the cool coverage on your blog. Appreciate your help in spreading the word to transit riders in LA. Just an FYI, we go by Muni Manners, not Matters. Thanks!
Smooth riding,
SF Muni Ladies
Hi Ladies,
Sorry about the typo! I've fixed it. Thanks for fighting the good fight.
Regards, Li
great post!
Every little bit to get people riding mass transit helps bunches! I was spoiled living in the Bay Area I guess having Muni/Bart/AC Transit etc.. It's sad that it takes $4- $5 gas to get people thinking alternatively.
The problem is not just yuppies. I posit that it is Angelinos in general. Whether working class, middle class, the friggin' sheriffs, students, homeless, et al, too many people here do not understand that expediency is the key, and not standing round like a bump on a log is the way to WALK.
I am thinking I should invite a commando team of city/Brooklyn straphangers over to demonstrate just how to negotiate the tramways and trains. I mean, for the second-largest "city" in the U.S., how is it that there is but one subway, a very few trains and yet no ability nor desire to attempt competently navigating the damned things?
But back to my primary point. It is not a matter of class, I argue, but something else. The majority of angelinos need to first learn how to not stand, stoop, impede, block and wander on the narrow sideWALKS.
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