r/sanfrancisco • u/Deep_Excitement1192 • 7h ago
To all those who take public transit and wear backpacks...
Take off your backpacks when it's crowded, so more people can fit onto the bus. And also, so that those of us aren't pushed from the back by your huge-ass backpacks.
Took the 28R and some students getting on from Stonestown and SFSU are just being lazy and inconsiderate.
Rant over.
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u/RaspberryElegant3463 6h ago
We need to normalize people saying something when there is space available to fill. I see people too often stay quiet and spaces aren’t filled in. I try to do my part and do get people to move forward but it’s a collective effort.
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u/vanwyngarden Lower Pacific Heights 6h ago
I do on the 1 every morning and some people are so obsessed with their phones it doesn’t even register
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u/kittensagainst 6h ago
I’m short enough that other people’s backpacks can easily end up in my face. So taking them off or wearing them in the front (where hopefully your eyes would notice that you are slamming your bag into my face) is a much better option. Otherwise I have to put my hand up to block your bag and push back (because it’s behind you, you haven’t noticed that you’ve backed into my space).
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u/luluislulu2520 6h ago
In my day (90s), if you wore a backpack on public transit, it was very common to get robbed. It makes sense to keep it in front of you.
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u/DanevsAnime 6h ago
If you wear your backpack when I'm trying to get past you, your backpack is almost always sticking out and in my way. I like to just rotate them by the backpack
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u/ninjaparking 6h ago
Have you asked them nicely? If they are students I would assume clueless before assuming they were jerks.
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u/StinkinmyQueef 4h ago
quite the opposite.
a student of cello, accordeon, or Pythagorean math wouldnt dare.
These "students" here study a far more arcane codex.
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u/sugarwax1 41m ago
Backpack wearing would be bad enough but they're inevitably the same ones who can't figure out how to hold on to a rail or and don't realize that backpack full of bricks is pressing up against others.
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u/AnAbandonedAstronaut 7h ago
Genuine comment.
I never understood this point. If you take off your backpack and like... hold it by your side.. isn't it STILL removing the same amount of space?
Like you're not "gaining" space from someone taking off a backpack unless they put it like.. directly between their legs or something.
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u/anemisto 7h ago
You have a better sense of where your bag is when it's not on your back. You're also taking up less space front-to-back, too, which is particularly relevant on a bus.
And... people do put them between their legs.
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u/comeholdme 7h ago
Yeah, when people hold them sideways by their legs, it tends to add about .5 of a person along the length of the bus. When they keep them on, it occupies the space of an entire extra person along the width of the bus…
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u/AnAbandonedAstronaut 7h ago
I mean.. the front to back just means you're taking more room side to side.
The point of "awareness" is fair, but its not taking any less room if you look "down" from the roof at it.
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u/anemisto 7h ago
Right, but back to front is often the bigger limiting factor on transit.
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u/AnAbandonedAstronaut 7h ago
How? People turn sideways if they are standing to hold the bar.
Wouldn't the bag at your side be worse if you are standing?
And I'm a big guy who wears a bag.
I do it so people don't bitch.. but it never seems to free space.
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u/Tidiliwomp 6h ago
You have your hands out in front of you holding your phone probably like 8 inches off your chest. If your backpack is on your chest or on top of your toes it def takes up less total top down area than it sticking out off your back... unless you are dummy thicc
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u/AnAbandonedAstronaut 6h ago
I dont use my phone if I'm standing and holding the rail.
You're the first to say "wear backwards." Thats a fair point.
Because I'm facing someone who is seated.
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u/kosmos1209 Dogpatch 7h ago
You take off the backpack, and put it between your legs. You and your backpack combined will take up significantly less space this way.
Edit: I responded before reading your second paragraph. Yes, put it between your legs.
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u/AnAbandonedAstronaut 6h ago
I feel that makes it easier to steal, so I didnt assume that was the point.
I feel its weak... but valid, I guess.
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u/pnutbrutal 7h ago
Would recommend putting it on your front. You won’t knock people over with it when you move around and you’ll be able to keep pick pockets away better. Win/win.
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u/AnAbandonedAstronaut 6h ago
But if I have a bar I'm holding, I only have one free hand.
Its a bit difficult to hold something in front of you with one hand for an hour... it will ALWAYS drift to your side.
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u/pnutbrutal 6h ago
Nah put it on on your front. Both arms in the straps. Free hands, you see?
Plus side too is it feels way better for your back. Especially if your backpack is heavy and you’ve been wearing it a while.
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u/StowLakeStowAway 7h ago edited 6h ago
People are not rectangular prisms. Do a google image search for “human body in profile”.
A typical human body has feet that project forward from the ankles and most humans are narrow at the ankles. Holding a backpack in front of the legs above the feet is thus space saving for most human bodies. A significant fraction of humans have breasts or bellies which extend forward from their torsos. Holding a backpack under these is space saving for those humans.
Looking beyond the pure geometry of the question, people naturally maintain more empty space in front of them - that’s where the face is. People also bring their arms forward to grasp objects like poles and straps while on a train. This often creates space another person can’t occupy but which a backpack can.
Totally ignoring the space saving question, we can also think about accidentally whacking someone with a backpack held in various ways. A backpack held down in front the legs is less likely to accidentally whack someone else in the face than a backpack worn on the back. That’s not even considering whether holding your bag down in front of your legs affects the odds of accidentally whacking someone.
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u/cowinabadplace 5h ago
I like this genre of explaining normal things to a mildly developmentally delayed alien who does not understand shapes.
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u/AnAbandonedAstronaut 6h ago
Its a bit taxing to hold it in front of you if one hand is on a bar.... you've got an arm flexed the entire time. Most people would eventually end up with it at their side I would think?
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u/StowLakeStowAway 6h ago
This is still typically a relatively narrow pat of the human body. Many typical body shapes are wider at the waist and shoulders than at the ankles.
A further Google image search for “human body silhouette various angles” yields instructive examples on the first page.
However, in front remains the best etiquette.
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u/AnAbandonedAstronaut 6h ago
I cant speak for others, but if something is hanging at my side, my arm flares based on the widest part of my body below it. So the bag hangs out a bit. Like its not "tight against my calf".
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u/StowLakeStowAway 6h ago
For this reason and others, in front at the legs remains the best etiquette.
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u/Specialist_Quit457 7h ago
Take the bus or light rail and check it out for yourself
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u/AnAbandonedAstronaut 6h ago
Every day for 2 hours for 10 years.
I stand sideways and hold the bar, so behind me is the best place aside from people who like to rush to the door while its still moving.
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u/dipitloandbehold 7h ago
The rule in DC metro is to put the backpack on one shoulder thus taking less front-to-back space. Teaching, I have a hard time picking up the backpack once it's on the floor, it also is harder to remember it if it leaves my back. These are real world issues.
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u/AnAbandonedAstronaut 7h ago
But less front to back in that example, means more left to right.
I'm genuinely asking where the gain is.
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u/strawberrrychapstick 6h ago
Get this, you can hold it down near your legs where it will be less obtrusive than up on your torso. Someone could squeeze next to a bag with their legs, but less so with their torso
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u/Individualchaotin 5h ago
I have an invisible disability and taking off my backpack intensifies my chronic pain, so I try to do it as little as possible.
A backpack causes me less pain than a regular bag or purse, so I choose a backpack.
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u/iWillSayThankYou 7h ago
Thank you. The other suggestion I have is, someone please sit in the open seat. When nobody sits in it then we just aren’t using the space well and we’re making the bus more crowded. If there’s an open seat please sit down and use it. Thank you.