Vancouver transit riders are annoyed and angry about back-door boarding on TransLink buses.
A Reddit thread had many chiming in on the behaviour of some riders, with a thread initially focused on the #9 bus at Commercial-Broadway station.
However, this boarding behaviour is common at many bus stops on many routes, so we took the issue to TransLink to hear its response.
But here are some more angry comments first.
“What’s the point in waiting in line?” asked a user on the TransLink subreddit.
They also shared a video of the “dilemma” in question.
What is the point of waiting in line? The backdoors of the 9 are getting swarmed daily by line hoppers.
byu/aconfusednoob inTranslink
“I feel you, man. I get frustrated, but it’s gonna happen. I live happily knowing I don’t do it,” a fellow transit rider responded.
The original poster replied again, saying there are two ways he has seen bus drivers address the situation:
1. Hit the button that plays the don’t board on the back of the bus announcement.
2. Keep the back door closed.
Someone else called the behaviour the “height of rudeness” and “the only rational choice if you want to board.”
“There’s absolutely nothing that Translink or the drivers can do about it,” said another user.
The Vancouver subreddit also joined the conversation, with many echoing similar sentiments and frustrations about the transit boarding process.
One user said it works better in other countries.
“Having just come back from Japan it makes me sad seeing this sort of stuff,” they said.
They added, “I’m not sure why people here don’t give a s**t about one another; it’s such a selfish mentality.”
“As a transit rider, this is ONE of the things that bothers me MOST. I am not sure how they can control it, though,” another annoyed transit user said.
So, what did TransLink have to say? Nothing that would address the concerns or worries of transit riders.
“Customers typically board TransLink buses via the front doors and exit via the back doors. There is an all-door boarding procedure in place on some busy routes, generally during peak times. All-door boarding is designed to help efficiently load large numbers of customers quickly by using the front and rear doors simultaneously,” a spokesperson told Daily Hive.
Does this back door phenomenon annoy you too? Let us know your transit pet peeves in the comments.