Social experiment on the bus

On my way downtown today, I decided to check out this new thing the city is testing out, the Selectbus service on the 1st/2nd Ave. bus line. it only started yesterday, so I figured it'd be a little bumpy, but what the hell, anything is better than the rush-hour 6 train! Since the 2nd Ave subway is not gonna be ready for like another 10 years and the Lexington Ave lines are so overcrowded, the city is trying to change something: make the buses faster. It makes sense. It's just really hard to do in NYC. The traffic is always crazy, people don't know the rules and don't really care either.

So the idea is, there are machines set up in the limited (express) bus stops, which are only about every 10 blocks, rather than every other block for the local bus (totally ridiculous I think that people can't walk an extra few blocks to catch the bus, but that's just me) where you insert your MetroCard and it takes off the fare, gives you a paper receipt and then you can get on the bus at any door, no need to swipe your card at the door. It makes getting on the bus much much faster, if only people knew that this was the case. Also, there are now separate, painted bus lanes, which seem to be working pretty well. There are also some sensors on the bus that can apparently synchronize with the traffic lights - no idea how that works or how that's safe, but whatever.

So today, I got my receipt - took a moment, really - the bus pulled up right away and I got on through the last door (made me nostalgic for Budapest Public Transport). As more people kept getting on the bus, I could tell there was a lot of confusion. I took out my headphones to listen in to the conversations people were having. It was turning into a Sociology lesson very quickly.

"This is the weirdest shit I have ever done in my life!"
"This doesn't make any sense!"
"What the fuck is going on here?"

The bus driver was getting agitated too, as he had to explain to numerous people trying to push their cards into the non-existent slot. Then, he would just take off as people were still trying to figure out how to use the machines in the bus stops. It was getting pretty amusing.

Then a few people starting talking in the front. They all agreed that this would take some getting used to, but ultimately, it could be a great system. Anything new is scary at first. But most people, even if surprised and a little outraged at first, they just ended up having a conversation with the person sitting next to them: asking the people who seemed more knowledgeable about the new system. Most people wanted to know more. One lady explained that MTA employees can now randomly get on the buses and ask for the receipt - $100 fine if you don't have a valid one. She said "how embarrassing it would be to get caught!" People generally nodded their heads in agreement and then noted how quickly they got to their destinations as they were getting off the bus.

Yes, New Yorkers can and will adopt to anything, pretty much. I love that in this city and these people. No matter what a strange idea it is, they will complain and curse at first like it was the world's worst decision and then they'll adapt and will never notice anything was ever any different.

I was happy to get off the bus at 14th St. only after 20 minutes, even with all the explaining and complaining, the trip was quite a bit faster than usual. Way to go NYC!