InsideTransit

Today I was waiting for the bus at my bus stop. The bus arrived and two old/elderly women got on before me. Both of them needed a lot of extra time to get up the steps and could barely walk. When I got on the bus, I didn't see either woman seated in the front. They were about 10 rows back. So why didn't they take the first two seats? Simple, these five douches were in the first five seats. Four young kids and either the mother or a handler. I can't really blame the kids but they are learning douche behavior early in life.

When I got on the bus, I looked right at her and said "that's how you teach them, eh?" - When I got to my seat, another woman tapped me on the shoulder and said, "thanks, no respect today at all". I can only tell you this... if I was on the bus and didn't get up, my mother would have beat my ass. The seats also say, "this seat must be vacated for the elderly or handicapped".

Update: Apparently these kids are like 8 years old - certainly old enough to understand how to get up when an elder gets on the bus. The handler or parent should have taken them to the back of the bus which was empty.

Here's one straight out of Deutschland! It's the "Fucker" bus. We don't have any interior photos so I can't be sure as to what goes on inside. The bus is parked in front of a church - I will leave what that means up to your thoughts. It's actually the "Fücker" bus and the english word would be "fuecker" but clearly someone forgot the E or the umlaut. Either way, it's hilarious.

You can book the bus on this site: http://www.busmietzentrale.de/

Coming home today, I was able to snap the photos below at Times Square on the Broadway (n/r/q) lines. The work trains shown in the photos are on the northbound express tracks. It looks like electrical work as I didn't see any tracks - but there's a ton of wood planks - maybe for the workers to walk back from inside the tunnels.

view more photos »

We report on a variety of train stories here on InsideTransit. But today I have some images for you of trains of a completely different kind. These are called "road trains" and while here in the states it seems these trains only go 2 deep, in other parts of the world they can go 5 or more deep. Apparently it's nearly impossible to pass or overtake one of these road trains. Here are a couple of road trains and you can check out the whole collection here.

Today's story comes from our friends in the air. Sky News out of the UK has a story of two young women who were on a charter XL Airways flight from Greece to the UK. Apparently both women were a bit drunk and decided they weren't happy with the oxygen on the plane. They attempted to open one of the doors for some "fresh air". The plane had to come down for an emergency landing in Frankfurt.

The women are 26 and 27 years old and win this weeks "Transit Douche" award.

Sky notes, "Police are deciding whether to press charges including grievous bodily harm and violating air traffic regulations."

Apparently drunks know that XL Airways is the way to go - this same problem happened last month.

Attacking a transit worker is absolutely horrible and here in NYC is a felony which judging from the poster I saw today, can put you in prison for up to 7 years. What makes NO sense is that the sign was located in a subway station in Queens but notes at the bottom, "In Brooklyn, this law will be strictly enforced!". So what are they trying to say? If you attack a transit worker in another borough, you might get off easy? My only reasonable guess is that they printed different signs for each borough. First, why would they want to spend the extra money? Second, if this is the case, why are they sticking up Brooklyn signs in Queens?

A London couple decided to use the Tube (subway) to get to their wedding rather than use a hired limo or other gas-powered vehicle. Bridalwave reports, "Travelling from Dollis Hill to Baker Street Tube station, the couple then walked to their ceremony at the registry office in Marylebone."

They also made things out of recyclable materials and the bride's dress was made from old tube maps (ok just kidding).

Congrats to newlyweds Stefanie Schmiedel and Robert Gray - here's hoping your marriage lasts longer than the tube train you are riding on!

Apparently upskirt photos (that is where a person takes a photo of a woman up her skirt) has become a large problem in Japan as better quality cameras are included inside of mobile devices. The problem has become so widespread that the new iPhone 3G will always make a shutter sound when snapping a photo, even when the phone is in silent mode.

Cult of Mac has more on this disgusting trend.

There's been a lot of talk recently about upcoming budget cuts in the NYC MTA transit system. Tonight I was on the subway and at 42nd street and Times Square, the station was absolutely filthy. Worse than I've seen it in a long, long time. Is this due to more people in Times Square than normal, a lack of cleaning staff or a combination?

Here's a photo of what we have to look forward to here in NYC if the cleaning budgets are cut.

Fred G spotted the bus pictured below in Mystic, CT yesterday. Some forum members say it's called a "hotel bus" - to me it looks more like a chicken bus. In the front of the bus sit the humans, and in the back, in the 3 different levels sit chickens for transit. The chickens are loaded in on the right, one per box - each gets his or her own window for traveling.

Another alternative is that it's a horse bus where the horses enter from the back. Whatever kind of bus it is, it's damn ugly.