With my new job being on campus, and therefore easier to bus to, I am learning about the local transit systems and their users. The transit systems (there are 2, one for each county I ride through) work well enough, and the busses are not unpleasant. The regular bus users, I am discovering, have their own culture - with fully developed rules and a means of communicating them. Learning to interpret this commuting culture is a lot like BaFa BaFa, a cross cultural exercise we did with incoming students at MEDEX. You have to observe the culture in a way that is respectful, you are expected to follow the rules (and there are secondary and tertiary rules and consequences for when you don't). Status is based on seniority, sometimes gender, and always arrival time. A woman who has been catching the same bus at the same time for a relatively long time will always get on the bus before a man on the same rank. Newcomers to that time and route may make the mistake of entering the bus in the wrong order, but if they take that bus for long they will realize their error and find their right place in the que.
Communication between ranks (members of differing status) is wholly non-verbal. A member in good standing may get a visual acknowledgement from a higher status rider, but I have not witnessed a verbal greeting. Riders of the same status may chat, but long conversations could lead to a reduction of status - lower status riders who roll their eyes at higher status riders at the right time may get a smile and find a new spot open for them in the que for the next ride. Order of arrival at the bus stop is the key. There is a dynamic tension between the riders, composed in part by arrival time and by longevity (route use, not age). Getting on the bus before those who were there first is bad, worse is being a regular for a route and getting on the bus outside of status order.
For the past several weeks I hav observed the reactions of my fellow commuters as I make choices about where to stand in relation to the bus sign (the defacto door until the bus arrives). I was unnoticed until one day when (without my faithful bus guide Sez) I went past the full stable and posted myself on the far side of the sign. Before I could even start my iPod the "Bus Matriarch" and her silent accolyte moved in front of the bus sign. This wouldn't be odd, save for the bus hadn't been spotted yet and I had never seen the Doyonne move from her perch so early. Indeed, other commuters had to negotiate around her as their busses arrived. Two weeks have passed with no further challenge from me, and then this morning the stop was empty. I was tempted to assume my usual place in the third bay (farthest from the bus sign), but there was no one there to enforce the bus culture code. My faithful partner and I took seats in the first bay and began the wait. Shortly the Grand Dame arrived. With a look like she smelled rotten fish she took a post in front of the bay, but to the far side away from the stop. When the bus pulled up a moment later I was frozen with indecision - should I charge the door, or wait and be last. With a sneer and a brusque shake of her regal shoulders the Bus Dutchess commanded my entry. I wonder if she will get there extra early tomorrow. Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T
