As someone who does not have a car, I am required to take public transportation to get anywhere. This includes going home, traveling to another state, or even simple trips to Walmart. This isn't all bad, however, since train and bus tickets cost less than buying, fueling, and insuring a car. Plus it's worth mentioning that most of the stories I've heard about "public transportation weirdos" have almost always turned out to be false, so I've never had to sit through a fight or anything like that. Nonetheless, I have had a few experiences on public transit that are worth mentioning.
In 2012, I was taking the Greyhound to visit my friend Mike and his family for a few days in Sea Isle City. Other than the occasional times I took the bus when I was in the city, this was my first time riding a bus that wasn't taking me to school. For the first hour of the ride, everything was perfectly normal, and I was actually kind of enjoying it. Since the bus had several stops to make before it would reach Sea Isle, the route we had to take went through other beach-side towns I had never seen before. The ride took a slightly horrifying turn when we were driving through a wooded New Jersey area when we suddenly stopped somewhere that didn't look like a normal bus stop. The driver had pulled over to the side and picked up a random cyclist. It may have been his messed up hair or his over-enthusiasm in introducing himself to everyone on the bus but I remember thinking Oh, this man is going to kill all of us. Luckily before I could meet my potential demise, we were pulling into Sea Isle. I gathered up all of my stuff and got ready to leave the bus when suddenly a woman sitting on the left side of the bus reached her leg across the aisle of the bus to the right side and started shaving her leg and delayed me from getting out of the bus. At the time, the mere notion of somebody doing that angered me to no extent, but now, I consider shaving your leg and blocking somebody one of the most clutch power-moves I have ever seen.
Whenever I go home for the weekend, I usually take the bus home. Being around fellow college students, I don't see anything that strange often enough for it to be a detractor from using public transportation. There is an exception, however, to the idea that nothing strange had ever happened while taking the bus back home from school. One Friday night, the bus I was taking had made a stop in Allentown, the last stop before mine. While people were boarding, I noticed that there was a couple about to board the bus in a heated argument. After about a minute of arguing (they were in the midst of yelling at each other when we pulled up, god knows how long this had been going on) the woman grabbed her stuff and boarded the bus. The other person, however, was having none of her conflict-avoidance. This man was so upset that his girlfriend had the nerve to get on the bus that they had bought tickets for that he stood in front of it and delayed our departure. After about 5 minutes, the man stepped to the side, and the bus left without him. I was nervous about looking at the woman for the rest of the ride, but I do remember looking at her ringing phone and hitting "ignore."
