Another Transit Adventure
Aug. 22nd, 2008 06:55 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gnomiThis afternoon, I was riding the Green Line C to Winchester St./Summit Ave. from Park St. The train, a one-car trolley of the newer style with the increased accessibility and the interior staircase (for those unfamiliar with the Green Line, usually the trains are two-car), pulled in at Park St. and disgorged a large number of passengers. Subsequently, I (and many others) made our way onto the train and stood smushed up against each other.
At each stop, fewer people got on than got off, so there was a bit of wiggle room by the time we hit Kenmore. At Kenmore, a blind woman got on the train and attempted to find a seat. There was a seat available up the stairs, but both of the handicapped-designated seats by the doors were occupied.
The woman moved toward the far-side handicapped seat. The guy who was sitting in it pretended not to notice the woman, even after she used her cane to explore the footwell of the seat. "Is this seat available?" the woman asked. "No!" the man responded. "Use the seat up the steps!" "I can't," the woman said. "I'm blind." "I'm blind, too," said the guy, lying through his teeth.
The other passengers started telling the guy to give up his seat, and he got more and more belligerent, swearing at the passengers who were exhorting him to move and at the woman who required the seat. Eventually the driver came back and told the man to move, implying that she would not continue on to St. Mary's until he gave the woman the seat.
With a greatly put-upon sigh, the man stood up. "I *paid* for my seat!" he yelled to the people sitting and standing nearby. He then tried to get the people who tried to convince him to give up the seat to identify themselves.
As the train pulled out of Kenmore, the driver announced that the train would be going express to Coolidge Corner, so the obnoxious guy sighed *again*, but he got off the train at St. Mary's without incident. I've very rarely been as happy to see someone get off a train as I was then.
(The train subsequently went express from Coolidge Corner to Cleveland Circle, so I ended up having to change trains anyway, but I got home in plenty of time.)
At each stop, fewer people got on than got off, so there was a bit of wiggle room by the time we hit Kenmore. At Kenmore, a blind woman got on the train and attempted to find a seat. There was a seat available up the stairs, but both of the handicapped-designated seats by the doors were occupied.
The woman moved toward the far-side handicapped seat. The guy who was sitting in it pretended not to notice the woman, even after she used her cane to explore the footwell of the seat. "Is this seat available?" the woman asked. "No!" the man responded. "Use the seat up the steps!" "I can't," the woman said. "I'm blind." "I'm blind, too," said the guy, lying through his teeth.
The other passengers started telling the guy to give up his seat, and he got more and more belligerent, swearing at the passengers who were exhorting him to move and at the woman who required the seat. Eventually the driver came back and told the man to move, implying that she would not continue on to St. Mary's until he gave the woman the seat.
With a greatly put-upon sigh, the man stood up. "I *paid* for my seat!" he yelled to the people sitting and standing nearby. He then tried to get the people who tried to convince him to give up the seat to identify themselves.
As the train pulled out of Kenmore, the driver announced that the train would be going express to Coolidge Corner, so the obnoxious guy sighed *again*, but he got off the train at St. Mary's without incident. I've very rarely been as happy to see someone get off a train as I was then.
(The train subsequently went express from Coolidge Corner to Cleveland Circle, so I ended up having to change trains anyway, but I got home in plenty of time.)
