Please, move to the rear!

I read this article in ST;

"making public transport the way to go"

It's about how the recent PTC survey states that commuters are sayin that overcrowded buses are the 2nd highest complaint, after long waiting times. One line intrigued me

"Public transport operators insist the public transport system is under-used, even during rush hours."

WTF??!!!

Do they expect all their buses to be packed to the brim all times of the day before they are satisfied that yes, there are indeed cases of overcrowding during peak hours.

Anyone who's taken a bus in the morning/evening rush hours know how terrible it is to try to squeeze onto a packed bus full of commuters going to/returning from work. They are probably not in the best mood to give up their seats, move to the rear, or sometimes queue.

I used to take a bus to work, and I will attest that it is the worst way to start your day. You wear your nicely pressed work clothes, gel up your hair, sometimes put on a bit of cologne. At the end of the journey though, you feel like you have to repeat all the above steps again before heading into the office.

As if that's not enough, sometimes there's the oddball bus driver, I mean Captains, that seem to be rushing to stick to their schedules. Too many times I've experienced buses that jolt to a start, causing elderly and children to almost trip. I had on one occasion seen the driver, I mean Captain, ask an elderly couple to hurry onto the bus!

Dude, you drive a fixed route, going any faster will not end your shift any earlier, and if you are indeed late, put it in a report or something. Safety first! (Although they insist that the priority is for commuters to Flag Early these days, seriously...)

The joke is that the heads of these transport companies have never stepped onto a bus themselves, let alone during peak hours. I'd tend to agree. The good people at mrbrownshow have one episode in their podcast about it too!

Click here for said podcast

If you haven't heard of the mrbrownshow.com yet, which planet have you been on lately?!!