christopher575

One thing I've become truly sick of is people who expect to be able to ride the bus without paying the proper fare. They can usually get away with it, because they put almost enough in the fare box, pretend they didn't know the fare is as high as it is, and then can't get the money they put in back because the driver has no way to get it out. The driver isn't in a good position to kick them out because of this.

We went to Tacoma on Sunday, and picked up a real piece of work at the Tacoma Dome station on the way back. He pulled the scam I mentioned above, so we all got to sit around and listen to him and the driver bicker about it for a bit before we finally took off. Everyone else on the bus paid their fare, but we all had to wait for him not to. Things were pretty quiet until we started to approach highway 518. He got panicky and sat across the aisle from us and asked, "Isn't this bus going to Burien?" No, it's going to Seattle. "Doesn't it make any stops between here and Seattle? No. It's an express.

I began to understand the likely reason he didn't have the money for the fare. It was fairly obvious he was on his way to or from his dealer, by the look of his eyes and skin. He started rambling about Federal Way, so I was never really sure if he wanted Burien or Federal Way, but neither mattered, because all he really wanted was off. He went to the front of the bus and started demanding that the driver pull over at the next stop and let him out. The driver explained that it's an express and makes no stops, and even if it wasn't, there aren't exactly bus stops along the side of the freeway. The rest of the bus took over and started yelling for him to sit down and shut up. The driver also said there would be a state trooper waiting at the first stop if he didn't leave him alone.

He fumed to himself until we got to the first stop at Spokane Street, but you know they type; they always have to try to have the last word. He told the bus driver, "I don't have my cell phone with me right now, but if I did, I'd have been on the phone reporting a damn kidnapping." The driver laughed and yelled at him on his way out:

"Kidnapping? Ain't nobody in the world want you, how could you get kidnapped?"

The problem with assholes on the bus is that the drivers have to go through too much work if they want to get the police involved, and if the police are involved, everyone on the bus will usually have to wait while the driver talks to them. Because of this, people get away with a lot more than they should. If it would mean that people couldn't get away with as much crap, I think people would be willing to wait a few minutes while the police did their business.

I'm just glad I don't have to ride the bus nearly as often any more.