Public Transportation

So during my two weeks here so far, I think there has been maybe one day that I have not taken any form of public transportation. However, usually I take anywhere from 2 to 10 busses, trams, or metros per day. At first I was afraid to take it on my own. I did not know where to get on, I did not know the routes and I did not know how to tell when to get off. However, I now know all three, or at least how to figure it out and I find taking public transportation to be somewhat of a fascinating experience.

I think the thing that I have yet to figure out about taking public transportation is the proper selection of where to sit and or stand. It seems that the locals treat it as an art form, carefully selecting which door they want to use and once they are on the bus choosing where to stand. Personally, I would find the least crowded section and maybe the one with a couple of emptz seats, but that is not how it is done.

Last week, when I had to go to the doctor's office, one of the local IAESTE members went with me. I am glad he did because we had to take a bus, a tram, the metro and then another bus to get there (and walk a few blocks...I know I would have been lost on my own). However, he always seemed to have a specific spot he wanted to be on the bus. We caught the first bus from the bus station and therefore it was fairly empty. I went to sit down and he said "oh no, not there," walked a few rows back and sat down. I did not see the difference but trusted his expertise. He then chose to stand on the metro versus sitting on the empty benches.

I have noticed that this is not just my friends that do it, everyone does. As soon as the tram pulls up, everyone crowds towards their favorite door. I go to the one with the least amount of people and find it to be just fine. It is also interesting watching people get off because they don't always head for the closest door. Sometimes they will walk twice as far to go out a specific door.

What really confuses me is the older people who take the bus. It has become almost a daily occurance that I will see senior citizens playing their own form of musical chairs. They will often times get up, out of a seat that is close to the door that someone just gave them, and move to a much more inconvinient place, forcing someone else to give up their seat to let them sit down. Then, a few minutes later, a different senior citizen will come and want the seat that the other just left. Yesterday, while taking the tram home, an older man, who looked as if he struggled to walk in the first place, decided to get up while the tram was moving to move to an entirely different car. I felt kind of bad for him as I watched him struggle to walk the thirty or so feet to his new seat, but I was mostly confused. Maybe sometime I will ask my roommates what is their theory behind picking where they sit on public transportation, but for now, I will just enjoy the fact that their pickiness leaves me with a fairly uncrowded place to stand when taking the bus.