NJ transit, in the Camden-Philadelphia area at least, has some buses on which they give change. I haven't figured out the pattern, but from the infrequent times I ride the bus it seems like they do it on the ones generally assigned to longer routes that have many fare zones, for example Trenton-Philadelphia vs Burlington-Camden.
You inspired me to go to the source
http://www.njtransit.com/ti/ti_servlet.srv?hdnPageAction=BusTicketsTo
Please consult your bus timetable to determine whether it is an exact fare line, a full service line or a ticket-required line.
As I said, I infrequently ride the bus, the only times in recent memory have been when bad weather keeps me from riding my bicycle across the Camden-Philly bridge, where I can usually take whatever bus comes next without caring what route, and I try to keep a stockpile of bus tickets.
Getting back on topic, my light rail, NJT's Riverline, has 2 longitudinal jump seats below 3 bicycle hooks, next to a typical transverse fixed 2 seat. Many times someone sitting in that transverse seat will refuse to move the luggage they've put on the seat next to them. A bit curious that they insist that I don't need to sit near my bicycle, but feel they need to sit next to their luggage.
"Excuse me, please move your bag" doesn't seem to work as well as "I have to hang my bike here, I'd appreciate it if you'd let me sit near my bicycle"
Patrick Boylan
Free yacht rides, 27' sailboat, zip code 19114 Delaware River, get great Delair bridge photos from the river. Send me a private message
Buslist Sam1 In Melbourne, at least on the Green Line bus routes, which I rode to work in the mornings, the drivers made change. Can you imagine? The driver had a change box attached to the farebox. He was more than happy to make change; perhaps that does deserve a thank you. A driver for a private, competitive bus operator making change. What next? What a shocker for most of the operators in this country. In many instances they cannot even give a passenger decent directions on how or where to get off the bus. I saw it frequently in Dallas. The Champaign/ Urbana Mass Transit District went to exact fare along with the rest of the industry in the early '70s, only to return to giving change in the mid '70s. To this day they will still break up to a $5 dollar bill before 7P.
Sam1 In Melbourne, at least on the Green Line bus routes, which I rode to work in the mornings, the drivers made change. Can you imagine? The driver had a change box attached to the farebox. He was more than happy to make change; perhaps that does deserve a thank you. A driver for a private, competitive bus operator making change. What next? What a shocker for most of the operators in this country. In many instances they cannot even give a passenger decent directions on how or where to get off the bus. I saw it frequently in Dallas.
In Melbourne, at least on the Green Line bus routes, which I rode to work in the mornings, the drivers made change. Can you imagine? The driver had a change box attached to the farebox. He was more than happy to make change; perhaps that does deserve a thank you. A driver for a private, competitive bus operator making change. What next?
What a shocker for most of the operators in this country. In many instances they cannot even give a passenger decent directions on how or where to get off the bus. I saw it frequently in Dallas.
The Champaign/ Urbana Mass Transit District went to exact fare along with the rest of the industry in the early '70s, only to return to giving change in the mid '70s. To this day they will still break up to a $5 dollar bill before 7P.
Thanks for the info. This is the first time that I have heard of a transit agency in the U.S. giving change on a bus.
I can remember CTA drivers making change when needed, although having the exact fare ready was encouraged since it speeded boarding. At any rate, CTA went to locked fareboxes and exact fare only in the late 1960's after a number of drivers were robbed.
egged - jerusalem, does have a sign, hebrew only, no arabic or english, asking people to leave via the rear (and middle) door. But I usually leave via the front to thank the driver, unless there are more than three people about to board, then I often move to an exit door. Assuming IY am sitting up front that is which often is the case.
I remember the hard wood seats of the 1960's of my visits then, but we have had seat cushions ever since.
trackrat888 It would be better is they had better seats. I remember that seats used to be wider and actualy had real cushions. I now have to supply my own- My tailbone cant take the hard bumps anymore or being on a train for more then 10 minutes
It would be better is they had better seats. I remember that seats used to be wider and actualy had real cushions. I now have to supply my own- My tailbone cant take the hard bumps anymore or being on a train for more then 10 minutes
Many transit agencies have resorted to plastic or fiberglass seats. They are harder for their upscale customers to cut-up with a knife or other sharp object.
I lived in Melbourne, Australia for a bit more than five years. I rode the bus to work most mornings. I usually went home on a tram or walked.
It was customary for passengers getting off the bus to thank the driver. At first it struck me as a bit unusual, since the customer, i.e. the one who is paying for the service, is usually due the thanks, but I eventually joined in. Interestingly, passengers did not thank the tram drivers when they got off the tram.
The bus routes in Melbourne are operated by private companies that bid for them. The companies are subsidized by the state of Victoria, but they have to meet robust performance standards or they can lose the contract. The service was better than anything that I have experienced in the United States.
Here? Toronto. People will say thank you loudly when leaving by the rear doors. Quieter when leaving by the front doors. I never leave by the front doors when people are trying to board but late at night, why not. Soon there will be boarding at all doors on proof-of-purchase like on the new Spadina cars. There will also be more fare inspectors.
54light15 It's common here for people to say thank you to the driver of the bus or streetcar when they open the door at your stop.
It's common here for people to say thank you to the driver of the bus or streetcar when they open the door at your stop.
Where is here?
If it's a place, like many, where one should use the center door to exit, then I don't think just saying thank you to the operator is enough to excuse using the front door. One should also ask fellow passengers to forgive one for making the boarding passengers wait while one exits.
This issue has been all over TV this last week involving several cities, not just Chicago, the "wine" girls on the Today show discussed it vis a vis NYCTA as apearantly there was something in the Times that day about it. Saw something somewhere about the issue in LA as well.
And both Arab and Israeli youngsters are very very good about offering seats to the elderly. I usually decline unless I am carrying something heavy, including my laptop in my briefcase.
On the 75 Arab sector bus it is Saabal akher when boarding and Shukhren was exiting. And the Arabs don't put their feet on seats on their buses Outside of morning hours, it is Misaal akher when boarding. Often I add Allah likah, 'till we meet, after Shukhren when exiting.
Arab kids on Israeli buses? Only because they are imitating Jewish rascals, and usually a La kweisay, not pretty, does the job.
Firelock, your spelling is as good as any, but usually I use only one n.
In Jerusalem, I may have started a trend by saying Boker Tov, good morning, or what is appropriate, when boarding, and Todah, thank you, when exiting via the front door instead of the middle or rear door. My campaign, helped by one of my fellow students, now working for the Interior Ministry:
Kissay takhat raglekhah
Natata booz lihoreykhah
A seat under your feet
You insulted your parents (literally, you gave disrespect to your parents.)
seems to be working
Thanks Patrick, it was southwest of "Center City" where I recall that line but it was in 1975 when my ship was in the Navy yard. Back to politeness? It's common here for people to say thank you to the driver of the bus or streetcar when they open the door at your stop. That has only started in the last year, people didn't use to do it. Not sure how or why it started but it's the thing now. I get offered seats now all the time. I always politely decline.
None of this has anything to do with Chicago Transit Authority's rider ettiquette.
54light15, Dave did mention "subways that couldn't be converted", and in both Philly and Boston most of their light rail, or streetcar, lines operate in subways.
The single-track streetcar line you mention is probably route 23, which runs on one-way narrow streets in south, center, and north Philly, south Philly probably being the Italian neighborhood to which you refer. It's not actually single track, but 2 tracks, one on each of the 2 one-way streets, eventually getting to an area with a wider street which can handle both tracks. But that line was converted to bus over 20 years ago.
Philadelphia does have 1 streetcar line, route 15 Girard Ave, but that too had been converted to bus about 20 years ago, and reconverted back to PCC streetcar about 10 years ago.
Boston has 1 line which has some street running at its outer end.
In neither case, Philly or Boston, is the street running as extensive as Toronto's.
Dave, didn't Philadelphia and Boston retain streetcars as Toronto did? Haven't been to either place in years but I do recall a single-track streetcar line in Philly with PCCs on some narrow streets in an Italian neighbourhood.
Hope this isn't too late, but Happy Hannukah, Dave!
Did I spell it correctly?
I agree that Toronto is a wonderful city with basically among the nicest people on the N. A. Continent, and public transit use there is truly a pleasure. And they were the only N. A. city to truly keep streetcars as streetcars, not because they were rolling musuem or tunnels or subways could not be converted etc. Lancaster, PA, Roanoke Virginia, Sheveport LA, San Diego, and San Francisco all seemed to me to have populations with an unusually high sense of decorum and politeness.
Here in Toronto, I guess it's the so-called Canadian "politeness" where I just don't see the manspreading too often. Sure, there's the occasional panhandler and on New Year's Eve, watch out for puke on the floor (at 10 PM!, the kids can't take it) But for the most part, people will move over, move thier large bags. That happened to me yesterday when a cute young woman offered to move her bag so I could sit.
I think that it is a natural tendency for people to want to "reserve" as much space as possible. I observed plenty of seat hogging as a passenger train conductor at TVRM. On busy days, we would have the train filled to capacity and strictly enforced the regulations regarding carry on personal belongings-announcing that the train was full and instructing passengers to place their small items in the overhead hat rack and larger items under the seat. Items that were too large to fit under the seat went in the baggage rack at the end of the car.
CSSHEGEWISCH Bad behavior exists on the roads, too. Somehow, being protected in a steel cocoon brings out the jerk in a lot of people who otherwise might be polite.
Bad behavior exists on the roads, too. Somehow, being protected in a steel cocoon brings out the jerk in a lot of people who otherwise might be polite.
True!
In my car, however, I have never had a passenger who was a stranger to a bath, shouts into a cell phone, sprawls into my space, shouts obsenities, or bombards me with music that I don't like. I experienced all of these things, as well as several unmentionable acts, in the years that I rode public transit in New York, Dallas, Melbourne, and Austin.
The percentage of people using public transport in the United States to commute has remained nearly the same from 1989 (4.6 per cent) to 2012 (5.0 per cent). These figures are taken from statistical samples. After correction for chance, they are essentially unchanged.
To be sure, in some areas of the country, use of public transport has increased, but the percentage of people using it in most areas, even where it has been improved, is relatively small.
Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) has invested more than $6 billion in the longest light rail system in the country. Yet only 1.8 per cent of the people in the communities served by the light rail system use it. And at least 23 per cent of the users don't have an alternative mode of transport according to DART.
Its not just bad behavior on the part of men. In Dallas, where I rode public transit for most of my working life, many women had a tendency to sit on the aisle seat, stack a large purse or backback on the inside seat, and litterly dare someone to ask for the seat.
Bad behavior on the part of some transit riders is a major reason why many Americans prefer to drive to work or wherever they are going, even if it is more expensive. If they can afford a car, they would rather spend a few extra minutes stuck in traffic, where they can listen to their favorite radio station or CD, as opposed to sitting next to someone who simply does not care about their fellow passengers.
http://www.redeyechicago.com/news/local/ct-manners-cta-civility-met-20141222,0,1009555.story
The practice known as "manspreading" will likely be addressed by the CTA this spring — albeit indirectly and even as riders themselves differ on how much it bothers them.
In New York City, the nuisance on subways is apparently such a problem that the Metropolitan Transportation Authority is focusing on its own campaign to curb obnoxious behavior.
<SNIP>
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