After having ridden the bus for a week I've noticed something.
Women tend to take the front seats; men tend to walk to the rear.
Young men tend to be drawn toward the back of the bus.
I feel comfortable about mid-way back; the last seats before the rear door.
Young women seem to be spread all around except the back of the bus.
Old women stay as close the driver as they can. Old men choose the center but always toward the front.
There seems to be a self-manifested seating heirarchy concerning front and back based on sex and age.
The thing I can't figure out is: Is it about power or vulnerability?
Or is it that the most powerful also feel the most vulnerable?
This is really bugging me.
Older people want to be as close to the exits as possible so they can get off without having to push past fifteen people in the aisle.
Beyond that... Dunno.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at January 13, 2004 01:38 AMYou whippersnappers are playing that dadgum music too damn loud in the back.
Posted by: Ted at January 13, 2004 07:37 AMMy choice of seat depends on who looks like they don't believe in the Evil Bath Process.
I try to stay downwind.
However, if after I am seated a crazy boards the bus,they will undoubtedly sit next to me. And discuss crazy until I get off the bus three stops before my own just to escape the funk.
There is no escaping crazy.
Funny, i get nearly the same seating pattern at my church...
(PS: any man with half a brain knows the best seat is ALWAYS next to the prettiest girl.)
Posted by: Vigilance Matters at January 13, 2004 08:17 PMWhat about standing versus sitting? I usally start off a trip standing if the bus is crowded. I don't mind. I'm a young-ish, healthy-ish man with all my limbs in decent working order. It bugs me when kids don't get up to let their elders sit down. If a kid in a big, puffy arctic explorer coat is sitting in an aisle seat chewing on a McDonald's straw, they just swing their legs to the aisle and make the woman climb over them to get to the window seat.
Posted by: chuck at January 16, 2004 10:22 AMI don't ride buses. Only Democrats ride buses...
Posted by: Wesley Clark at January 16, 2004 04:15 PM