The Window Seat: No. 1 in a series of occasional posts from a bus above the traffic

Bus driver’s dilemma: Should I stay or should I go?

So this little transit contretemps happened Monday night on a #16 trolley bus.

At the Broadway and Granville stop, a man, about 35 or so, got on with a large backpack. He also had a bike frame in his arms—that is, a bike with no wheels.

He showed his bus pass, put his backpack down, and started to sit near the front, holding the bike.

The bus driver, pulling away and perhaps just realizing what the man was carrying, told him he could not carry the bike on the bus. The man pleaded his case and said he was getting off at the first stop on the other side of the Granville Street Bridge, three stops away.

The driver wouldn’t budge.

The man then appealed to the 10 or 12 other passengers, asking if they minded him riding with the bike. As is usually the case in such situations, they remained silent. The man took that as assent, and told the driver so.

The driver still wouldn’t budge.

Then the man sat down, said he wasn’t leaving, and told the driver that he should just do his job and drive. “You can inform but not enforce,” he said several times, loudly. “Drive.”

The driver called on his phone for assistance, stopped the bus, exited, and took down the poles, leaving the passengers in the dark, some of them visibly frustrated. One of them yelled that he was late for work. They all exited after the driver.

The man stubbornly stayed on, in the darkened bus.

The driver explained to anyone who complained that he could get fired or disciplined if he allowed the man to carry the bike.

A bit later, at 11:35 p.m., a transit supervisor finally pulled up. He talked to the driver.

Then he talked to the man in the bus.

Then he pulled out a sword, cut the bike in half, and... Wait, that’s from some book I read.

Actually, the man with the bike just smiled at the supervisor, walked to the front of the bus, exited, and fastened the frame to the bus's bike rack.

Everyone was happy. All got on the bus and went on their way.

If you were the driver, what would you have done?

Was the passenger within his rights?

Do you think the supervisor made the right decision?

If you were one of the bus passengers, would you have spoken up?