If you are a new or experienced bus rider, you can level up your bus riding skills by doing the following
Know your route
Make sure you know what bus route you’re planning to ride (this author once boarded a southbound bus when he wanted to go north, whoops!), the stop at which you will board, and your destination stop. You’d be surprised at how much bus drama could be saved with those three bits of information. If you have any questions about where to get off the bus, ask your driver.
Know your schedule
You should know about what time you’ll be departing and arriving, and plan for some flexibility in those times- buses drive in the same traffic as everyone else on the road. And remember; your smartphone might run out of batteries, so carry a current copy of Headways, the printed Santa Cruz Metro bus schedule, (available free on any METRO bus).
Bus Rider Courtesy
When you ride the bus, you’re sharing space with forty or more other people, so it is important to make sure that you
- Be prepared to board when the bus arrives: Every second that you delay the bus while you board affects the schedule of all the other riders, so when the bus pulls up to your stop, please make sure to have your fare ready, and have already picked up any personal belongings.
- Wait for riders to debark before boarding: Just like in elevators and subways, always let debarking riders exit the bus before stepping onboard.
- Debark from the rear door: When you leave the bus through the rear door, you allow new riders to board earlier. Unless you have a reason to leave from the front (picking up a bicycle from the rack
- Consider your neighbors: If you have personal items sitting on a seat next to you, put them on your lap if someone needs a seat. If you’re listening to headphones, set your volume low enough so that your neighbors can’t hear, and so that you can hear the bus driver’s announcements. And for goodness sake, give your seat up to seniors, pregnant women, or people on crutches.
