What’s wrong with this school group?

[Yarbogash]

I have heard stories of poorly behaved school groups with chaperones who were not doing their job and had also heard stories about poor behaviour on the busses but this trip I’m living it.
Does nobody offer a seat any more to somebody who might be in need? I remember being at Disney years ago and the common thing was for every fit adult male with empty hands on a full bus to be on his feet. That was common. Now it’s rare.
I feel bad offering my seat because it makes it so obvious others are not. When I’m with DW I’ll stand as a matter of course but I seem to be the exception.
Taking a bus just me and DD I insisted tonight that our 2 year old DD move to my lap (which she hates) so an older lady could sit. The lady seemed stunned and at the end of the trip said thank you and I was the first person to do that since they arrived.
And being on the other side of it is not fun either. I caught a bus at Fort Wilderness, got on carrying stroller and DD to find the bus seats nearly full of 14-15 yr olds with their chaperones standing in a group at the front. Nobody offered me a seat, fine, I could see a couple seats in the back. But the chaperones would not move. It was like their feet were glued to the floor. And I’m not tiny and quiet; I’m 6’3”, arms full and saying ‘Excuse me please’ in a louder and louder voice. Driver starts driving, chaperones still not moving, just making annoyed faces as I squeeze past them. Weirdly enough I got the impression that they just actually did not want me on the bus period. Fun times.
I remember riding public busses as a student and a teacher or chaperone would rip into you if you did not give up your seat to certain groups of people. When my baseball team took public busses you stood unless there was pretty much nobody else needing a seat.
Have I just had bad luck? Or is this how it is now; first come first served, everyone equal?

 

[KEW]

Does nobody offer a seat any more to somebody who might be in need? I remember being at Disney years ago and the common thing was for every fit adult male with empty hands on a full bus to be on his feet. That was common. Now it’s rare.

Don't read this thread.

 

[Yarbogash]

Don't read this thread.

Interesting. I’ve actually done what the one poster is advocating; gotten on a bus with a little one, looked it over and decided it was too crowded and I’d wait for another one. Sometimes somebody would call after me and give me a seat. Sometimes no but yeah, waiting for the next bus can be a reasonable choice.
My main conclusion about the guy with the bad ankle who will still give up his seat is he has character and I’d be happy if he were my son.

 

[joelkfla]

Have I just had bad luck? Or is this how it is now; first come first served, everyone equal?

Times are changing, and not for the better.

 

[SteveH]

Reality is that many young ones and their parents have a lack of manners and respect. But last time when I talked about how I give up my seat I was called sexist. Oh well I guess I will continue to offer up my seat and live with that.

 

[wgeo]

FWIW not all young people lack respect. It's a conversation we've had many time with our kids. And you better believe that they give up their seats and if they don't, it's most likely because they're not being observant of life around them, and after one glare from me they hop up. They will grumble afterwards about how tired they are sometimes, but that's about it.

I do think that with the acceptance of smartphones now that people tend to be much more inward focused and much less observant of what's going on around them, and I don't think that helps - especially in situations like a crowded bus.

 

[dosekies]

When we were at Disney last week my fiancé and I stood almost every bus ride and I was fine with it. I would rather someone sit who needs to sit. What bothers me is when adults have small kids that can obviously fit on their lap so that someone else can sit too, but they let the child have their own seat.

We also had a GREAT bus driver who saw that a woman and her child were stuck standing on one of our busses and told the bus that someone better get up and give them their seat, otherwise he would pick someone. Literally everyone sitting just stared at each other until an older man got up to stand. That was ridiculous. There were so many other people who could have offered their seat yet the oldest man on the bus has to stand? Ugh.

 

[piccolopat]

Of course it is always nice when people offer their seat to someone in need. Of course people who absolutely need a seat have other options rather than expecting other people to give them their seat.

 

[wdw4rfam]

I do not think it’s a male/female thing. I’m a female and always give my seat up to a mom or Dad with a little one. I personally would rather stand than sit shoulder to shoulder with someone I don’t know. But on the other hand- everyone is exhausted at Disney and to expect it isn’t right either. If you NEED a seat you can always wait for the next bus.

 

[tsme]

I’ve replied before about this topic & some lady went on a rant telling me about how women didn’t need a man to xyz, etc. I am a woman btw. I was raised that the young (boy or girl) & men should give up their seats to ladies & older people. Also we were taught to open a door for others, husbands do not walk in front of their wives, & to generally be courteous to each other. We have raised our children this way too. Our son would never stay seated while older people or ladies stand & he would never open a door & walk thru before a lady. It’s not because of some male dominance issue, he knows women (or the elderly) are fully able to manage alone. He does it because he was raised to respect & show respect to others. And it does annoy me when I see fully able people making the elderly or people with small children in their arms stand. I’ve given up my seat to men & women on the busses who needed it more than me. I’ve also been on the other end when our children were little & I was standing, trying to hold on to one of our children & not fall over with no one offering a seat. In those situations I’d have been grateful if they’d have at least offered it to my child. But people can be self centered & selfish at times, especially when tired.

 

[goofy4tink]

Just returned from a two week stay in WDW.....got home last night. I have to say that the less than stellar behaviour I saw was incredible. It wasn't just on the buses either. There seems to be a 'you first, right after me' mentality nowadays. The buses were awful.....because the parks were so crowded, I found many of the midday buses to have many more guests on them than usual. I saw lots of older folks standing, while young people sat, bags on the seats. I saw full size luggage on the buses (thought that was a no-no, evidently not!) When you see older guests start swaying, dangerously, the respectful thing to do would be to jump up and give them your seat. Nope. Didn't happen. I'm almost 70 (dear God, how did this happen????), and I get up and offer my seat to others..could be a senior citizen, could be a mom with a baby...doesn't matter.
Then, there are those that stand their ground, in the front of the bus. They don't want to be standing away from their family, so they now block the aisle with their oversizeed folded up stroller and their body. After unsuccessfully trying to move past one dad, I finally just stood there and said 'It's fine if you don't want to move, but there are seats back there, in the rear of the bus, and there are people waiting to get on this bus that could use those seats. So...could you, possibly, maybe, just scootch over a little bit so we can squeeze by you? Maybe???'. Man, that guy wasn't happy with me. But, there were about 6 seats back there!!! When he finally moved aside a bit, the flood gates opened. There was room for about 20 more people!!

 

[FCDub]

I personally think a mentality like "every fit adult male with empty hands on a full bus [has] to be on his feet" is actually pretty insulting to women, implying that they're delicate flowers incapable of standing on their own.

Of course people should be kind and offer seats to those who look like they need one, but blanket policies based on gender are, no matter how well intentioned, a little demeaning.

 

[otten]

Unless things have changed dramatically in the past year you may have just had bad luck. We were there with my 4 year old last year and we were offered a seat every time but one. That’s a much better record than the buses at home. I don’t expect people to offer a seat to her but it’s nice when they do because she’s still a bit iffy about standing on a moving bus.

There are a lot of transit newbies at Disney. For many it’s probably the only place they take the bus and they either don’t understand transit etiquette or they just don’t care.

 

[marcyleecorgan]

Disney transport is NOT public transportation and it doesn't follow the same unspoken rules of etiquette.

 

[NuJoy]

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[MillauFr]

I wonder if there is an east coast thing going on here??? We stay at the Candy Cane Inn at Disneyland and people are constantly demanding the standing people on the shuttle bus take their seat. I have never seen anyone who needs a seat go with out.

 

[piglet1979]

My DH will always stand and I will too if I am needed to. I will give my seat up to someone with a small child or anyone elderly. My kids are small and can sit next to each other in a seat. I have made them do this before. My son is now 11 and on our last trip he would stand to give someone else the seat. However i did not let him do this often as he is still pretty small.

I ride a shuttle to work everyday. you should see what some of the people do. They take up 2 seats, refuse to move over, the men won't offer up their seat for a lady. I am only 4'9" and can't reach to hold on to the bars on the ceiling of the bus but I can hold the bar at the front of the bus. You should see the looks I get for not moving back and instead letting the person getting on go behind me. it is a different world now.

 

[FCDub]

I couldn't disagree more. I could never naturally come to the conclusion that it is demeaning for a man to offer his seat or open a door for me when, in fact, these gestures are acts of sacrificing his own wants/needs and making himself less important in order to honor me.

You've misunderstood me. I never said it was demeaning to men to give up their seat. I said it's demeaning to women that men think they need to protect ALL women from the immense hardship of standing on a bus for 10 minutes. Of course people with children, the elderly, people with mobility issues should be given an opportunity to sit, but saying "all men need to stand so all women can sit" doesn't put a lot of faith in women to complete an otherwise routine task on their own.

 

[RangerPooh]

It's etiquette, and people aren't teaching it anymore. We've had plenty of trips where I was left standing with two infants/toddlers in my arms while DH juggled the stroller. We have taught our girls that if an individual gets on the bus who is a senior, injured, or with a young child that you give up your seat. It's called being polite.

 

[NuJoy]

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