Who gets to sit in the front of the bus and who doesn't has been a momentous question throughout American history. But, counterintuitively, it may never have been more puzzling.
In post-Americans With Disabilities Act America, the most accessible spots on mass transit are designated as "priority seating." In 2008, after a pregnant, disgruntled blogger documented nine beguiling months of not once being offered a seat on BART, an agency spokesman told SF Weekly that, while surrendering your seat to an elderly or disabled rider is mandatory, giving one to a pregnant woman is merely "common decency."
That would be decent. But the distinction makes little sense; a woman on pregnancy leave is, by definition, on disability leave. Less than a year ago, BART installed large, blue panels above priority seats featuring images of a blind man, an elderly man, and a pregnant woman along with the text "Federal law requires these seats be made available to seniors and persons with disabilities."
That's true, but not in the way one would intuit. Federal law requires BART make these seats available. But it does not require the passengers sitting in them to make them available. "You don't have to give your seat to anyone, unfortunately," says Bob Franklin, BART's department manager of customer access and accessibility. BART "has to provide the labeling and the seats, but there's no enforcement offered."
On Muni vehicles, meanwhile, text reads "Federal law 49 CFR 37.167 REQUIRES THESE SEATS MUST BE VACATED FOR SENIORS AND DISABLED PERSONS."
And yet, that's pointedly not what the law requires. It mandates transit providers "shall ask" able-bodied passengers to "move in order to allow the individual with a disability to occupy the seat..." But, as Franklin notes, the law clearly states that transit agencies aren't "required to enforce the request that other passengers move from priority seating areas."
That's not to say an ingrate who obstinately refuses to move his ass holds all the cards. Per the Federal Transit Administration, while federal law doesn't compel BART or Muni make someone scoot, an agency "can decide to adopt a policy requiring people to vacate the seats."
Muni spokesman Paul Rose says that a recalcitrant, able-bodied rider could be cited for "passenger misconduct" under the city's traffic codes. This, however, has never happened — and it seems doubtful it ever will. Refusal to surrender a priority seat is not among the eight highly specific acts triggering a $106 citation. Expectorating, urinating, or defecating in a system facility or vehicle are, however.
Well, there's plenty of that aboard Muni. But, on the bright side, able-bodied passengers nearly always do the decent thing and give up their seats to needier riders. Sometimes they're even clean.
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