Muni Tunes: Should I Stay Or Should I Go?

When I was a newbie to MUNI, I’d take either the 1-California or 41-Union back to my old home in Russian Hill after work. It was a peak hour for public transit but since my office is close to where these buses turn around at the end of their inbound routes in the Financial District, they were usually pretty empty at the time I hopped on. I would take the closest seat up front and almost always wound up giving my seat up to an elderly or disabled passenger. It’s what the bright blue signs (you can see them in the picture up top), robotic voice recording and common decency tell us to do.
Still, sometimes I just wanted to sit. That’s why I learned to move to the back of the bus. If you snag one of those seats, there is less of a chance that someone who needs it more than you will even make it back there. That is some selfish logic for the lazy.
How about this dilemma: you find yourself sitting up front and someone gets on the bus who looks old, but not that old. You don’t want to be a jerk and stay put if they might have trouble standing. But what if they’re perfectly energized and able, expecting the same treatment given to the rest of us young, lazy bums? You can either pretend to be distracted by your iPhone and not move, hoping they’re fine or will give you some sort of sign that they need to sit. Or, you can offer them your seat and hope they gratefully take it or at least politely decline without being offended that you might have classified them as a senior. As in that robotic voice recording’s plea to”please reserve the front seats for seniors.”
Such are the things I obsess over as a MUNI rider.