The Theater of Public Transport
I ride the bus and metro a great deal. Since I work at various places around the city, I count on public transport several times a day. I have witnessed some pretty strange things – from an opera singing bus driver to getting stuck in a tunnel with all the lights out on the metro. One of my favorite things to do is watch people exit from the rear doors of the bus. As any seasoned Montreal transit rider knows, there are three basic configurations, with 3 separate methods for exiting at the rear. The simplest is the step down, where one only has to step to trigger the doors to open. There is also the version with the handles that you can push on. The one that seems to cause the most perplexion is what I think of as the yellow stripe door. This is the one you must “agitate” or wave your hand in front of the vertical yellow stripe to trigger the infra red sensor shining down from the top. At least twice a week, I see people banging on the doors and shouting at the driver to let them out. It really isn’t rocket science, I mean the instructions are printed on the door. Still it makes for some good theatrics to spice up the day.
What really makes me laugh is the fact that the doors that have the handle bars to push on are the exact same doors as the “yellow stripe” doors. The bars were the STMs answer to people panicking and screaming, it gives them a better sense of control over the doors (they’ll open even without touching the bars).
I must be one one the people you laugh at! I hate those yellow stripe doors! When you are travelling with a toddler and trying direct them to the door it is often hard to have a free hand to waggle in the nano-second that the sensor seems to be responsive. Out with yellow stripe doors!
My 2 cents
Fair enough, Sue. But if the driver is not giving you enough time to get the doors open and get out, that’s a whole other issue. My point is that the doors work as advertised.