Bus Report #460
Yesterday I took a 44 O'Shaughnessy to the Sunset to go to the new(ish) farmer's market.
I waited in the bus stop at 6th and Clement, with an old lady, a woman with some sort of developmental disability and a strange young couple.
The boy in the couple (he could have been anywhere from 17-21 years old) sat on one of the bus shelter seats and his girlfriend, a pasty, heavyset girl with a huge purse, stood in the place where the payphone used to be.
The boy played with his phone while the girl tried to get his attention.
She tugged on her stretchy pink T-shirt so that a casual viewer could get an eye full (whether they wanted it or not) of her chest and armpits. She wore shiny black leggings with faux buttons at the ankles. Classy.
"After the movies, if we don't go out to eat, we can afford to come back next week and I'll buy you a fish and cook it up," she said.
He barely acknowledged her.
A car full of teens drove by and yelled something out the window.
"Were they yelling at me?" asked the boy.
"Nah. They were white people. The only people who would do that to you are Latins," she said, as though she was the expert. I thought, but you're a white person, girl, so what are you getting at?
The boy might have been Latino. But he wore a T-shirt with a huge Brazilian flag on it, so I guessed he was Brazilian, Brazilian-American, or something.
The bus arrived and everyone made a beeline for the front. A wheelchair passenger had to get on, so we were all waved to the back. I got on and sat by the door, watched the wheelchair passenger navigate his way to his place by the window. It looked difficult, since no one stood up to get out of his way, instead they said things like, "hope you can get by" and "can you make it?"
Very helpful, hey?
Two middle aged men got on at Geary and started swapping stories of DVDs they were going to buy and video games they liked to play. One man actually used the word 'definitive' when talking about some game.
His friend said, "Did you know the same screenwriter wrote the scripts for The Fugitive and for GI Jane?"
Who knew?
Another wheelchair passenger got on at Anza. Her chair was wider than the first passenger's chair, but still, no one made any move to get out of her way. She was nicer than I would be, in that situation. She carefully made sure not to run over their feet and positioned her chair in her spot with no help from the driver, who was actually pretty helpful to the both of them, making sure he knew their stops and asking them if they needed the seatbelts.
When we got to the park, a herd of tourists actually trying to get out at Lincoln got out at the De Young.
I hopped out of the bus at Irving and went to meet the Teacher's Pet for some farmer's market action.
After buying sacks full of groceries, we went to sit on a nice, shaded bench at the edge of the park across from the Shamrock.
We watched 71 after 71 arrive at the nearby bus stop, buses half empty. We couldn't believe it, having never seen such empty 71 buses, or so many so frequently.
A barefoot couple walked by. Cringe.
My 44 back home was the 'connected bus'. It didn't seem very connected... The screens in the bus that you can 'touch for real time information' didn't seem to be working.
The kids sitting in front of me wanted to get to Sharon Meadows but I think our well meaning driver might have directed them to the Polo Fields instead.
A young, tattooed man in a Minor Threat T-shirt, with a beat up skateboard next to him, was half asleep in the back of the bus.
Two minutes before we pulled in to the stop by Green Apple, a man sitting across from him said, "Travis, hey man, what's up?"
The tattooed man grinned. "How long you been sitting there, man?"
"Aw, a while, but I didn't want to wake you up," said his friend. "You been shredding today?"
"Yeah, its good weather for it, man," said the tattooed man.
I waited in the bus stop at 6th and Clement, with an old lady, a woman with some sort of developmental disability and a strange young couple.
The boy in the couple (he could have been anywhere from 17-21 years old) sat on one of the bus shelter seats and his girlfriend, a pasty, heavyset girl with a huge purse, stood in the place where the payphone used to be.
The boy played with his phone while the girl tried to get his attention.
She tugged on her stretchy pink T-shirt so that a casual viewer could get an eye full (whether they wanted it or not) of her chest and armpits. She wore shiny black leggings with faux buttons at the ankles. Classy.
"After the movies, if we don't go out to eat, we can afford to come back next week and I'll buy you a fish and cook it up," she said.
He barely acknowledged her.
A car full of teens drove by and yelled something out the window.
"Were they yelling at me?" asked the boy.
"Nah. They were white people. The only people who would do that to you are Latins," she said, as though she was the expert. I thought, but you're a white person, girl, so what are you getting at?
The boy might have been Latino. But he wore a T-shirt with a huge Brazilian flag on it, so I guessed he was Brazilian, Brazilian-American, or something.
The bus arrived and everyone made a beeline for the front. A wheelchair passenger had to get on, so we were all waved to the back. I got on and sat by the door, watched the wheelchair passenger navigate his way to his place by the window. It looked difficult, since no one stood up to get out of his way, instead they said things like, "hope you can get by" and "can you make it?"
Very helpful, hey?
Two middle aged men got on at Geary and started swapping stories of DVDs they were going to buy and video games they liked to play. One man actually used the word 'definitive' when talking about some game.
His friend said, "Did you know the same screenwriter wrote the scripts for The Fugitive and for GI Jane?"
Who knew?
Another wheelchair passenger got on at Anza. Her chair was wider than the first passenger's chair, but still, no one made any move to get out of her way. She was nicer than I would be, in that situation. She carefully made sure not to run over their feet and positioned her chair in her spot with no help from the driver, who was actually pretty helpful to the both of them, making sure he knew their stops and asking them if they needed the seatbelts.
When we got to the park, a herd of tourists actually trying to get out at Lincoln got out at the De Young.
I hopped out of the bus at Irving and went to meet the Teacher's Pet for some farmer's market action.
After buying sacks full of groceries, we went to sit on a nice, shaded bench at the edge of the park across from the Shamrock.
We watched 71 after 71 arrive at the nearby bus stop, buses half empty. We couldn't believe it, having never seen such empty 71 buses, or so many so frequently.
A barefoot couple walked by. Cringe.
My 44 back home was the 'connected bus'. It didn't seem very connected... The screens in the bus that you can 'touch for real time information' didn't seem to be working.
The kids sitting in front of me wanted to get to Sharon Meadows but I think our well meaning driver might have directed them to the Polo Fields instead.
A young, tattooed man in a Minor Threat T-shirt, with a beat up skateboard next to him, was half asleep in the back of the bus.
Two minutes before we pulled in to the stop by Green Apple, a man sitting across from him said, "Travis, hey man, what's up?"
The tattooed man grinned. "How long you been sitting there, man?"
"Aw, a while, but I didn't want to wake you up," said his friend. "You been shredding today?"
"Yeah, its good weather for it, man," said the tattooed man.
posted by Rachel at 9:04 AM
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