MBTA Drama, Fights, and Battles

Bus Departure Time: 7:05
Bus Arrival Time: 7:20
T Departure Time: 7:24
T Arrival Time: 7:46
Weather as I call it: Sunny. The sun was sharing its warmth.
Level of commute annoyance (scale of 1 to 10): 2
Feared for my life: Maybe I should have, but I enjoyed it all.

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I experienced my first driver/passenger fight on the MBTA bus today. Let me set up the scene:

The bus I usually take (commonly referred to on these pages as "the first bus") never came. Where was it? Where? Nowhere.

The next bus (commonly known as "the second bus") came at its regularly scheduled time but since its earlier counterpart was absent today, this bus had a route filled with twice the number of people it normally faces.

My stop sits near the top of the route so I got on the bus with no problem, along with Gym Bag Guy. I stood close to the very back of the bus since I knew we would need all the room we could get.

The biggest problem on the route is the next stop. It's the largest stop in terms of the number of people waiting to get on the bus. Normally, there is at least 15 people waiting; it was doubled today. On top of that, there were two people who had multiple pieces of luggage with them.

Luggage! Huge suitcases!

After the first 28 people got on the bus, the driver started talking to the luggage-carrying pair.

"You're gonna have to wait for the next bus. I can't take luggage. You might as well get a cab with that many bags. This is a busy time for us!"

The passengers refused that advice. They requested to enter the bus through the back door.

One of the passengers, a plucky older gentleman who comes up to about my elbow, shouted to the driver.

"There's no room in the back either!"

The driver shouted back, "I am opening the back door" and said something regarding making room for the luggage couple.

The gentleman yelled, "We would have room if we had another bus. The 6:55 never came."

The driver responded, "I called and asked them to send another bus." and an exclamation that ended with "...shut the door in your face." (There was a lot of commotion, so it was difficult to hear everything that was said.)

"Well, you're an idiot!" stated the gentleman and the exchange abruptly ended. The luggage people shoved their way on. The doors closed with plenty of room away from anyone's face.

For the rest of the trip, the bus stopped to let people off but did not pick up any more passengers. The driver had to announce to every teeming mass pushing its way to get on the bus that there was no more room.

If nobody needed to get off, we just drove on by. I could see jaws dropping and looks of disgust through my dusty window each time we passed those stops.

We got to the T station just in time to watch the 7:20 roll away.

As I walked towards the station's doors, I could hear the free paper hawkers hollering. It's Metro vs. Boston Now in a battle to see who can pass out more dailies!

The Metro guy got me today. He looked right at me and said, "You know it's a Metro morning!" I had to laugh as I clutched the paper he stuck in front of me.

That's one way of putting it.