I'd like to dedicate this journal to the public transportation system in honor of the late Rosa Parks, who spread the message of equality everywhere the one day she did not give up her seat on the bus. Unfortunately, that would do a serious disrespect to Ms. Parks and emphasize the fact that while she did a lot of good in the world, the busses are still segregated.
You might accept that bicycles are pretty large machines. They can weigh near on 20 pounds, especially if they're constructed with a cheaper aluminum frame. They have toothed gears and spinning wheels, not the safest devices in the world, but not the sort of thing you would suspect to be used as a murder weapon. In not suspecting that though, you would have a different opinion than the public transit authority here in San Joaquin county. I'm not saying they think people get murdered with bicycles, but they treat us bicyclists as such. I ride my bicycle because my house is 5 kilometers (3.1 miles) away from the nearest bus stop, and it's an awfully nasty walk in the beating sun. Unfortunately, that means I all too frequently get discriminated against worse than the blackest black woman in 1955.
In segregationist USA, in Montgomery, AL they had a sign labeling seats behind it as 'coloured seats'. All black people were expected to sit behind this sign, in the back of the bus. If the white section filled up, the bus driver would move the sign, and order the black people to make room for the white people to take their seats. And because of economic castes, more than half the bus was filled with black people, mostly standing. Rosa Parks wouldn't make room, so she got arrested.
The 'why's of this situation are pretty despicable. The wealthy caste in an attempt to enforce its dominance and keep people focused on color, forced unneccessary acts of deference on black people, in order to make white people feel superior and black people feel inferior. But the function of this situation was that less than half the bus was allotted to black people, and if a black person tried to get on when that section was full, they were allowed to take the bus, but forced to stand. The moving of the sign had a second function, to reinforce the brainwashing of racial segregation by forcing both black and white people to actively enforce their own inequality.
It was a horrible system, and it was rightly opposed and abolished, and now black people are no longer discriminated against on any bus system's policy, code or law. It was considered a fundamental human right to be allowed to sit when there are seats, not segregated by something that doesn't deserve segregation, and never be forced to move in deference to somebody else. A fundamental human right for white people, and black people definitely. But unfortunately cyclists are denied that right as cruelly as if they were dangerous animals.
The rules of the busses here are: there is a bicycle rack in the front of the bus. Two bicyclists are allowed to ride the bus at any given time, after which the rack is full and other bicyclists are not forced to stand. They are forced to not take the bus. I was standing before a bus one day, trying to get to the wonderful UU church of Stockton this Sunday. I had my bicycle. There were two people in the bus when it arrived; two people. Both had bicycles. I asked the bus driver (a black woman incidentally) if I could put my bicycle in the back, and she said no. This wasn't just her own personal pettiness and fear; her supervisors punish her if she says yes.
It's in the bus system's policy that all bicycle riders are dangerous and will hurt people if they are allowed on the bus with their machines. Even if there's room for them, they could still go out of control and kill someone in the blink of an eye. That's the kind of discrimination I'm facing here, when the bus lady widens her eyes and shakes her head saying, "I'm sorry I can't let you on this bus." Oh sure, I would wait for the next bus, but the next bus doesn't come for 2 hours. 2 hours. After 2 hours I would arrive at the Stockton UU just as the ceremonies were done and everyone was finishing clearing out of the building.
I had my fare. I had a very great need to use the bus. There is no other way aside from that bus to leave my town on Sundays. It's a 30 mile expanse of blasted wasteland and overfarmed, shadeless crops between that bus stop, and the church I'm trying to get to. There are no churches in the entire town of Tracy who will accept someone unwilling to agree that Jesus Christ is the son of God, the savior of mankind, and an aspect of the Holy Trinity. Never mind someone who doesn't buy that 2000 year old fish story in the first place! "John: I saw Jesus Christ and he was thiiiiiis big." In other words, I had every right to use the bus, a clear and present need, and my rights were denied because I have a bicycle.
The public transportation systems in California suck. The public transportation systems in San Joaquin county suck royally. Supposing you're in Tracy and you want to go to Modesto by bus. Answer: you can't. You just can't. Supposing you're in Livermore and you have a morning appointment in Tracy, a mere 20 miles away. You can't. There are no bus routes, no trains, no public carpools, no systems at all.
In just about every one of these aging, rotten, polluting busses you'll find a very sparse amount of people. 99% of all humans in California drive their cars, and the busses are only for the rejects who are not considered worthy in society. This is reflected every time citizens are expected to contribute to the bus system, as less and less funds are appropriated. In the end only the few bus riders end up paying the entire cost of the bus; that might seem fair to you, but consider that one man cannot afford to buy a bus. It only works if you, the car driver, are forced to pay a little into the bus system, whereupon you realise, "Hey, if I'm paying for it, why don't I try riding it!" and then the busses are full, well serviced and plentiful.
Not here though. Busses themselves are second class citizens here. And even with the discrimination against busses, there is further discrimination against bicycle riders. We can hold onto our bicycles safely! Stop discriminating and forcing us into isolation needlessly! A bicycle gives me immense freedom: I can ride around ten times as far as I could ever walk. Are you going to deny me that freedom? Are you going to demand that I get a car, and join the gridlock, that slavery of wasteful individual motor vehicle machines? Why is it so hard to get around on a bicycle? Because the busses don't have room? No. Because cars are so much more liberating? Not really.
The answer is because of fear. People think bicycles aren't safe, so they don't let you ride the bus. Then there's less people riding the bus, and more pressure to buy a car. You shall have no bicycle: you either walk slowly or you join the car cult. There shall be no compromises, huh? Well I don't buy it! Stop discriminating! Let me on the bus next time, even if your supervisors are afraid my bicycle will kill you. They're just perpetuating needless anti-bicycle propaganda, in the intent to pressure people into abandoning the busses and driving cars.
Let's hear it for the greatest achievements of our government, education and public transportation. Oh wait... never mind.
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