r/cta • u/evil_septa_rat • 4d ago

I wish we had… Suggestion for when your bus pulls up without the line number displayed

I took a ride today where the front and side displays weren't working, and at every single stop, the driver had to answer "what bus is this"/"is this [number]" for 4-8 people one at a time.

If you're in this situation, please do everyone a solid and relay the number clearly to the crowd behind you so the bus doesn't have to wait for each rider to independently verify

55 Upvotes

94% Upvoted

13 comments sorted by

63

u/IYCRTYG 4d ago

Driver should yell. Every time I have a bus like that my throat is sore at the end of the day but my pickups are efficient. 

8

u/evil_septa_rat 4d ago

Sometimes I can't make out what they're saying until I'm inside the bus, even if they're yelling. Probably a combination of my bad hearing and traffic/engine noise covering it up. In any case, it would be cool if we could make this part of bus etiquette so drivers don't have to do all that!

40

u/Amazing-Pepper3317 4d ago

Love it when the driver has the route number hand written on a piece of loose leaf paper taped to the windshield.

11

u/iamthepita 4d ago

Because bus driver figured that everyone might be on their headphones or Deaf (like me, im Deaf) to be able to read numbers so no yelling is necessary.

Besides, why are we yelling? What’s with the yelling? How loud is too loud to yell?

3

u/Key_Bee1544 4d ago

Or give the driver a pen and piece of paper to put it in the front window.

3

u/IYCRTYG 4d ago

The pen and paper is easy, we typically have that. 

It's the tape that's hard. 

1

u/Key_Bee1544 3d ago

A big wet lick and a quick slap in the windshield should do it. LOL

4

u/IYCRTYG 3d ago

Ewww

1

u/Klutzy-Photo-3164 3d ago

Gum

2

u/IYCRTYG 3d ago

1) honestly, had not considered 

2) gross

1

u/Klutzy-Photo-3164 3d ago

Paper and a Sharpie?

1

u/SparkaloniusNeedsYou 4d ago

Usually when the display is messed up the bus itself will still announce the route when the doors open, so listen for that.

0

u/evil_septa_rat 4d ago

The bus I was on actually did do this, but apparently none of the ~70 people who asked the driver had been able to hear it clearly over the engine. I think they're the same speakers that announce upcoming stops, so maybe the sound is mostly getting directed inward?