TriMetiquette reader Rose sent me this. Although she’s been riding for twenty years with little to no problems, she recalls a particularly bad experience:
“A few months ago, I rode the bus and MAX to a Blazer game from Tigard. Two weeks previously I was hit by an SUV and sustained a concussion, broken ankle, and many bruises. When I got on the bus, it was full. I did my best to balance on one leg without dropping my crutches, but I’m very short so I couldn’t reach the rail. Everyone conveniently looked down at their ipod or phone and pretended not to notice me. At the MAX station, the train was already there, so I had to try and rush to get to it before it departed. There were plenty of seats and I was glad to be able to sit. After about 20 minutes of sitting, the driver announced this train would not be departing, and that another train would come on the other track. I got off the train and went to the other track to wait. The train that came was even more crowded than the bus. By this time I was exhausted from hobbling around on crutches. I stood in the entry way and tried to get close enough to a pole to hold onto but it was too crowded. There was a little boy looking over the back of his seat by me, his father sitting next to him. I asked him if he wanted to sit on his dads lap and let me sit in his seat. He shook his head slowly, then turned back around. His father looked up and shrugged. It was a long ride, over an hour altogether, of balancing on one foot while more and more people pressed against my cast as the train filled to capacity. It makes me sad to think that people just don’t care.”
Indeed Rose, I know what you’re saying. It’s the ‘me, me, me!” attitude that many display when riding public transportation. You really need to be in a mental mindset of, “We’re all in this together” when you’re riding; helping out those who need help, being observant, understanding the situation… I know there are others out there that think this way.
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I think this may be partially due to the fact that so many “car” people are now taking mass transit. What I mean is that the “mentality of the car” is being brought with these people that are use to driving their cars in autonomy. They didn’t stop to help someone broken down. They drive in the left lane even though they are doing slower than the flow of traffic. They pull into their driveway or garage and never talk to their neighbors. They don’t car pool because they don’t want to deal with other people. That is why they wear their headphones and look down; they don’t want to deal with other people and have to take any responsibility.
Very well said Shane - agreed..
not sure if the handicapped/elderly seats were full of handicapped and elderly persons when rose boarded both the max and bus but that is what they are there for. It would be nice if someone had offered a seat, but if she had asked to sit in the designated area it any non-injured/non-elderly person would have been required to give up the seat…
Required? Yes they would be. However it’s another rule that Tri-Met doesn’t enforce.
I don’t think that the etiquette issue has anything to do with “motorists” riding TriMet. I’ve seen examples of selfish people on TriMet busses and MAX for years - long before the recent rush of ridership. I have no problem giving up my seat for someone who needs it and will usually volunteer my seat. I’ve even volunteered my seat for someone to set a cake down on the seat.
In fact I’d argue that Portlanders in general are less polite than residents of other cities. I was impressed in Los Angeles - once you get outside the tourist traps, people are generally quite nice. I rode a Metrolink train from Anaheim LAUPT and had a very nice chat with a woman and her child. At LAUPT, I was looking at a map in a corridor trying to figure out how to connect with the Red Line (subway) when someone, just out of the crowd, walked up and walked us to the Red Line. (Another example, is that in L.A., every time I had to cross a busy street, EVERYONE waited for me to cross the street until I was exactly half-way across the street. Even if the street was 10 lanes wide, they waited until I was halfway across. Here in Portland, I’m lucky if someone gives me the legal “six feet” - one of the stupidest laws ever written, and rarely enforced or followed.)
When I went to the PDX Air Fair, a gentleman was sitting near me who was attending a meeting and had just flown in from LAX. Had a nice chat with him all the way to Rose Quarter.
Portlanders, on the other hand, have an opinion that they are better than others and let that ego get to their heads. (Although I believe that when I say “Portlanders”, I mean the people that have moved to the region over the last 20-30 years.)
Erik - I would have to agree with you on the friendliness of Portlanders to a point. I would actually say it happens to be Oregonians. I have been a “new comer” to Oregon twice (Eugene 86, Corvallis 92) and found that Oregonians can be cold to outsiders. They don’t like their little slice of heaven distrubed. But these days people are a whole lot better than the days when the borders had signs like “Welcome to Oregon, Now leave”
Incidently, I witnessed a potentially nasty argument on my 94 ride last night (which, of course the 94 is usually the “suits” so the “grunge” usually waits for the 12.) One guy is sitting down in the front of the bus reading a newspaper. It’s a bit warm in the bus, outside temps are exceeding 80.
Another guy boards the bus at Broadway & Jackson just before leaving downtown. He sits down in the front-most benchseat, and opens the window. He then, in a very irritating tone of voice, says to the guy with the newspaper “I hope that’s not a problem, is it?”
The newspaper guy replied, “Maybe it is, maybe it isn’t.”
“It’s a simple yes or no answer.”
“I’m not going to give you a yes or no answer because we’re not moving. If it becomes a problem I’ll deal with it myself and shut the window.”
Of course, this whole blow-up would have been avoided had TriMet followed its original (and the federally recommended) fleet replacement program and didn’t have non-air conditioned busses in the fleet so that it wouldn’t be necessary to open the windows on hot days. However the tone and the argument over such a stupid issue is very purely Oregonian.
My resolution would have been to laugh at them, tell them how stupid they were being, and resolve the problem when it arose.
…but then again, I seem to have become a professional problem resolver on the MAX/Buses/Streetcar.
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