Metro Buses

Someone recently pointed out that Metro buses were the scariest vehicles out there, and I concur. They're big enough to take up an entire lane and because they're picking up and dropping off, they're always over in a cyclists lane on the right hand side. Add to that less than ideal driving (the closest I ever came to being hit was by a metro bus whose driver was on a cell phone) and an inexplicable hatred (that grows more mutual everyday) that often leaves me feeling a bit like Mr. Mann in Duel and you have a recipe for disaster.

Now as a bus rider, I find the drivers to be normally pleasant and courteous, it's just when I'm out on the road with them that they seem to view me through the cross-hairs.

Still, I recently saw this and I knew it could be worse:

A man claims a TriMet bus driver nearly hit him and then let off a passenger who assaulted him, only to then let the attacker back on the bus and drive away.

I'd like to think that even a Metro bus driver wouldn't do that. The other good line from the article is this:

On the day of the incident, Albright - a cycling and mass transit advocate who commutes to work by bicycle in all types of weather - claims he was riding in traffic lanes because ice and gravel made the sidewalks and bike lanes unsafe.

That sounds familiar.