Democracy for the Wretched

If anyone out there wants to test his or her small-d democratic ideals, take a bus trip in a crowded city, or even a medium-sized town.
I guarantee that you will start to hate the people that you profess to want to help: the handicapped, the elderly, and the immigrant mothers with their 10 children.
Don't think me unkind. I rode the 42 bus from Dupont Circle to Mt. Pleasant in DC for two years. Think of this post as letting go of post-traumatic stress.

The buses were almost always late, and they usually would arrive stacked up one behind the other in groups of three. Even though waiting passengers could see that there were other buses available and a lot less crowded, they nonetheless would all try to push into the front one.
Many times at rush hour the bus would take almost an hour (it took about 10 minutes by car; non-rush hour) I would watch the cars swoosh by us, and sit there and hate. In no particular order, here's some hateful advice:

1)To the immigrant mother, put your kids on all in front of you, instead of having them squirm and squall all around you at the fare box, blocking everyone else from entering.

2)To the Fare Box Stars, who seemed to think that taking forever to pay the fare up front was their moment in the limelight. Be ready with the money, pay up and sit down ASAP or move to the back.

3) To the handicapped. There's little they can do themselves because the law requires that cumbersome and time-intensive process of moving the stairs into a platform and then strapping the wheelchair-bound onto the bus like it's the Space Shuttle. They aren't at fault, but nonetheless when I saw a wheelchair trying to board and I was in a hurry, I would often leave the bus and just start walking.

4)To the elderly. They got the lowered stair treatment too, although many certainly looked healthy enough to climb three stairs. And of course the bus emitted that ear-splitting beeping whenever the stairs were in motion. Why? Is someone going to get trapped under the bus otherwise?

In Brazil there is a city that employs what is called Bus Rapid Transit. Yes, I know it sounds like an oxymoron, but essentially what they do is have a dedicated lane that is physically separated from the others. Passengers pay a fare to get onto a raised platform by the lane, then simply get right on when the bus arrives.

There. I've re-established myself as a "concerned liberal."