Public transportation is something that a large number of people have to endure on a daily basis. We use it to get from home to work and back. We travel on trains, buses or trams to perform our daily tasks. Many kids use it to get to school.

There hasn’t been a major study as to what people dislike the most about public transportation however, if you conduct a quick Google search on what people hate the most about taking public transit, you will find that transit riders dislike their fellow passengers.

Can you really blame them, though? There are many things that riders do that disgust others, such as talking loud on mobile devices, blaring music, eating food and/or having a terrible odor.

What are some things you can do to ensure you have proper public transportation etiquette? Here are some simple steps to follow.

If bus is full, do not eat

We’ve all witnessed it at least some point in our life. You get onto a packed bus, all the seats are taken and you have to experience 20 minutes of what it’s like to be a sardine. Unfortunately, that’s not the worst part of it.

There will always be one person that will have the temptation to take out a meal or a snack from their bag. Whether it is a bag of chips that someone continually chomps on for quite some time or a full blown meal that may maintain an atrocious smell, we can all agree that eating on public transportation can be rather vile.

What about fruit? Well, that is a better alternative, but can still be rather irritating because of the smell that can engulf the entire car (or chewing sounds).  Gum? Same thing, but is worse because of the annoying chomping (like cows).

In order to avoid hideous looks from your fellow riders, do not eat on a bus, train or streetcar.

Turn down the volume

No matter how many signs there are encouraging riders to turn down the volume on their MP3 players, there will always be someone who will rebel against authority and decide that everyone wants to listen to their Eminem, Black Sabbath or Garth Brooks music.

At times, there will be competition between riders as to who has the better music. So they will decide to top each other and turn up the volume until it become unbearable for others. Unfortunately, most riders will not say anything and wait until they get off at their stop.

In order to avoid hideous looks from your fellow riders, turn down the volume on your MP3 player on a bus, train or streetcar.

Hygiene is important

Being hygienic is quite important. Everyone who has ever taken public transportation has at least one tale of a rider that smells quite bad.  Sometimes the person doesn’t even have to smell bad; he or she can also appear quite dirty on all levels.

However, we are able to close our eyes or look away, but when it comes to odor we all must suffer. It is quite discourteous to others to emit a certain smell that other riders can even get sick from.

On the other hand, if someone wants to be clean, they may go overboard and drown themselves in cologne or perfume. We don’t want to experience this either. If there can be a happy medium, everyone will benefit from it.

In order to avoid hideous looks from your fellow riders, put some deodorant on before heading onto a bus, train or streetcar.

Hygiene, Part II

A person may go to the extreme by cleaning themselves on public transit.  Similar to the aforementioned, there will be transit riders who will have countless anecdotes of a person clipping their nails, shaving their beard or spraying cologne/perfume.

This isn’t a pleasant thing to witness. It is unclear as to why a person must do this.

In order to avoid hideous looks from your fellow riders, do not carry out your hygienic tasks on a bus, train or streetcar.

SUVs on a bus

It is understandable that a mother or father will take their children on a bus.  During non-rush hour, it is completely comprehensible to bring a stroller onto the bus, streetcar or train. But what happens during rush hour?

A stroller can take up a lot of space, especially during morning and evening rush hours. With parents using their baby strollers for other things, such as groceries or storage, these things can become SUVs.

The same goes for people who insist on carrying bags of groceries during both rush hours, individuals who decide it’s a good time to start moving boxes and heavy bags at 8 a.m. or 5:30 p.m. and passengers, particularly students, hitting everyone with their backpacks that are filled with heavy books – it’s still unclear as to why they can’t put the bags in their hands.

Best thing for parents is to possibly strap the child to your chest or back.  Solution for grocery shoppers is to shop at different times. Answer to a student’s problem is to carry the bag in your hand.

In order to avoid hideous looks from your fellow riders, do not bring strollers, lots of grocery bags or boxes during rush hour.

Talking on a phone

Some people can be rather supercilious and sycophantic by speaking rather loudly on a mobile device. For some odd reason, they believe everyone wants to listen to their conversation about a person they find exasperating or what they ate for dinner the night prior.

With the invention of text messaging, messenger or social networks, it is unclear as to why a person feels the need to yell on a cell phone on public transit. It could be the level of self-importance or entitlement.

In order to avoid hideous looks from your fellow riders, do not talk loudly on a phone on a bus, train or streetcar.