I thought the bus has been stinkier lately. Must be all the assholes riding it.

[sabotabby]

Asshole of the Week: Elsa La Rosa. La Rosa is the shitspittle who complained about strollers on the TTC, a complaint they apparently took seriously enough that all local media is yammering today about whether strollers should be banned or limited on transit or parents charged extra for bringing them on.

I suppose this fine upstanding citizen is incapable of picturing the pitiful sight of a mother and her young children, waiting for an hour in the windswept, -20°C wastelands of Scarborough for the next bus to arrive because, well, there were already two strollers aboard the last one so tough luck, lady. La Rosa might be incapable of empathy, but I'm not. I don't care much for SUV strollers either, but the only thing more irritating than having a stroller appear on public transit is being the unfortunate sod in the position to have to bring a stroller on public transit. Generally speaking, if you're hauling one of those fuckers on a bus, you have zero other options.

There is, of course, a strong element of sexism at work—it is still primarily women who are responsible for childcare, and thus it's women that La Rosa would apparently like to see restricted from the public spaces that they pay taxes to maintain. There's an even stronger element of classism. Rich moms don't take the TTC. Any fee or restriction would disproportionately affect working class and impoverished parents and children.

Also, La Rosa is just a selfish douche. She also wants to lower the age for a senior’s Metropass, presumably because she's 61 and you need to be 65 to get the discount.

Lest you think that the Asshole of the Week designation is awarded lightly, our winner was up against some very strong competition. But La Rosa wins it on sheer pettiness.

I should also mention that it's only Tuesday.

(Oh, and that the solution is actually wider buses and streetcars, and more vehicles in service at any given time. But there isn't the political will.)

Comments

[agatharuncible.livejournal.com]

Things I believe should be banned from public transportation: listening to music far too loud on your earphones, so that someone sitting to you who also has earphones is listening to your music; creepy douchebags who think it's ok to touch or verbally harass women who are just trying to get home; people who sit or stand too close to you even though there is plenty of space.

Things that should not be banned from public transportation: things that let people who don't have any other option take the bus if they need to get around the city, things that will work as an incentive for more people to take the bus.

Idk, I think that this is completely ridiculous... I'm pretty sure that nobody chooses to take strollers on the bus unless they actually enjoy the hassle, and it's something that people need, unlike unbearably loud metal at 7 AM. Do you think that ban will actually happen? It sounds completely nonsensical to me.

[sabotabby]

Dudes whose junk requires an extra seat. I am not a fan of telling people to close their legs in general, but some people need to close their legs.

I don't think the ban will happen because the vast majority of Torontonians think it's stupid, and also the TTC chair has little kids.

[misslynx.livejournal.com]

I used to know someone who, in situations like that, would sometimes actually lean over and politely say to a guy doing that "Excuse me, sir, but do you have uncommonly large testicles?" In a very prim and proper tone, so that it couldn't possibly me mistaken for some weird come-on. And when they inevitably got flustered and muttered something in the negative while trying not to make eye contact, she would say "Well then, do you think you could possibly bring yourself to close your legs so that someone else might sit down?"

This was generally when she was on her way to and from work, at a mainstream corporate job, so she looked very respectable, which probably helped with the WTF-ness of it.