Parents used to legislate (teach) manners to their children. Now many parents just don't give a sh*t. Especially the wonderful parents funded by myself and other taxpayers i.e. welfare recepients.

As far as the vibrating music, some places will write a ticket for it. It depends where you live and if your local political official give a crap.

I keep trying to start a viral urban myth that listening to really loud bass shrinks the testicles.

The wide-stance guys on the subway/bus/streetcar irritate me too. They probably imagine that their balls are the size of basketballs, so they really really need all that room.

In the city where I went to college, they ticket you if the music you're playing can be heard more than a few feet away from your car.

My husband had a hydrocele for a while and never felt the need to sit with an exagerated wide stance. Those are the same guys that feel the need to sit with their chairs three feet away from the table in the crowded restaurant, or put their feet up on the cocktail table at the nightclub. They think the world is their f*cking living room.

I'm all for giving seats to the elderly and disabled, but this is nonsense.

People in NY are not ogres (most of them, anyway). If someone needs a seat, they should ask for it.

Not that long ago, I nearly passed out on the train. One of those slow, "oh, the world is getting heavy" moments. I asked the guy in the seat in front of me if I could sit down, and he was eager to get up and give me his seat. That guy was awesome. I think most people would do that.

What people are missing is the key word "reserved".

They're talking about the already-designated-as-for-elderly-or-disabled seats. Most of us here probably support enforcement of handicapped parking abuse. This is the "lite" version of that - the transit system allows people to use the "handicapped" seats when they're not taken, but want to require that they be given up when needed.

This seems fairly reasonable to me. Though it is a bit sad that they need designated seats. Offering a seat to someone who needs it should just be standard behavior. But times have changed.

That's the thing: I see people offering their seats to the elderly and disabled so often that I don't think it does need to be a law. I rarely see anyone who has an obvious disability standing on the train, unless they've waved off the seat. The frail elderly usually get seats, too. And pregnant women are often offered seats, but not as frequently. I'm always a little weird about assuming a woman with a large belly is pregnant. And I've never seen anyone refuse when asked directly. I'm sure it happens, just not often enough to be a public issue. I find people in NY are pretty helpful overall.

People with disabilities that aren't obvious probably get shafted, but I don't know how to resolve that.

I guess I just wish this didn't have to be a law. Takes a lot of the sweetness out of it if the only reason you're doing it is to avoid a fine.

"People with disabilities that aren't obvious probably get shafted, but I don't know how to resolve that."

We can start requiring that they hang a handicapped sign on their ass.

"but I don't know how to resolve that."

When I was a transit driver there were cards that the disabled and elderly could get that would demonstrate their status and allow them to pay the lower fare.

My only problem with the law is if it interferes with transit operations in any way. If the cops who go from car to car can write the tickets and stay out of the way, fine. If a bus has to stop and wait for an officer, unacceptable.

Reminds me of the woman who asked a man on the subway, "Could I have your seat? I'm pregnant."

He gave her his seat, but then looked at her closely and said, "You don't look pregnant to me. How far along are you?"

"About twenty minutes. And boy, am I tired!"

I don't take the train here in the Bay Area anymore but when I did, my whole day could get screwed up by a twenty-something male hiding behind the Communist Times, like he didn't see someone's grandma just board the car with a cane and her knitting bag. Sometimes I'd just lean over (I always tried to be polite about it) and say something like "wow, she really does look like she could use a seat, eh?"

One time no one would get up and this little old lady fainted - face first into the aisle. Out cold. Then all of a sudden men were jumping up left and right to offer her a seat. "Ya, thanks asshole, where were you 10 minutes ago".

When I was taking BART I finally just started sitting in the reserved seats because I knew I would get up when an elder boarded.

Every once and a while you would see someone who was raised right and get up to offer their seat without being asked. Something like that just made my day and gave me a little hope for humanity. But most degenerates pretended to sleep.

Our elders have earned the right to those seats.

"wow, she really does look like she could use a seat, eh?"

Why didn't you give her your seat, Feebie?

"Why didn't you give her your seat, Feebie?"

I would have, if I hadn't been standing.

The problem we run into, again, is making assumptions about the people in seats. Maybe that guy who wouldn't give up his seat was an asshole. Or maybe he had an issue of his own that wasn't so obvious. That's why I never make assumptions about people sitting in the handicapped seats on the bus. I'd hate to be that chick with fibromyalgia who has to field dirty glares from the manners police.

MonicaP? You ever ride public transit on a regular basis? Just curious.

That was weird. I didn't write that above comment. But to answer the question, yes, to and from work every day and when I go into the city on weekends, for the past 10 years. I don't have a car.

I don't doubt a lot of people are assholes. I just don't find it terribly helpful to assume people are assholes without proof.