Public transport in Sydney is a means to an end. Some would argue it is getting better. Some would not. Regardless, most of us need it for our daily commute to work.

I actually don’t mind it. I quite like someone else driving me around for a change.

I am a bus girl, I catch the bus to and from work and I have discovered there is ‘bus’ etiquette.

Now stay with me here as I try and explain myself.

If I am the 5^th person in the line waiting for the bus, I feel completely comfortable by immersing myself in my phone, catching up on social media, or making my turn in Words with Friends. However this calmness depletes with each position I move up in the line. The reason for this, is if you are the first person, it is your responsibility to flag down the bus on the approach. You can never truly get comfortable because you have to keep looking up to flag down the bus so that the fellow commuters behind you don’t get left behind when the bus sails past.

To be honest, I could throw caution to the wind, risk looking at my screen, have the bus sail past, and take the wrath of all those in the line behind me………but I wouldn’t, I shouldn’t and I couldn’t let them down.

And then there is the seat straddler…

This drives me crazy! When a single person straddles over 2 seats. I have determined that there are 2 reasons for this.

1. Is they are getting off at the next stop, so shuffle over to the seat closest to the isle and don’t want to get boxed in if someone sits next to them. I can kinda understand this, however why not just stand up as you are getting off at the next stop and then 2 standing people can sit down

2. They just don’t want someone to sit next to them. Quite frankly, I don’t want to sit next to someone either, however what makes them feel that they can take up 2 seats and others have to stand?

Backdoor Bandits

A big no no in the world of bus travel, is when there is a long line, the bus arrives, opens the front and back doors and people in the middle of the line scramble in the back doors and nab the seats that the people at the front of the line, technically should have received! Now, sometimes this is okay if there is a hi vis vest wearing transport worker who says it is okay, however not long ago, a middle of the line person jumped the line and entered the packed bus in the back doors. The bus driver yelled at this person and refused to move the bus until they got off – oh the embarrassment for this poor person.

I know it sounds like I don’t like the bus, but I really do. I like not having to dodge city traffic and concentrate. I can just travel and switch off – bliss.