there's something about bus 179

when the pain hit me, I could only let out a yelp. i was lost in my own thoughts, and so had only a delayed, stunted reaction to my pinkie toe being stepped on. we were in a long tight queue, shuffling along to board bus 179.

there must be at least 6-700 young aspiring undergraduates queuing for the bus this morning. having been struck suddenly by how many of us there were, i wondered: "will we all get on the bus? we obviously won’t all get onto this bus – in fact, most of us won’t get onto a bus as quickly as we want. what if we run out of buses?"

i see NIE students in the same queue. why are they here? don't they already have their own designated buses? aren't they supposed to take bus 199? The System had already planned it all out for them, why don’t they just follow the rules? why do they have to compete with me in my queue? as unhappy as i was, i realised there was nothing to be done, because what i have, they have it too. afterall, to the bus captain, one EZlink card does not look too different to the other.

on the bus, some were contented to be able to secure a seat quickly on the lower deck. others charge for the stairs, hoping to find a seat at the top. invariably, some of them will be disappointed to find that, after scrambling to climb up, there are yet others who are already seated comfortably up there. the 'climbers' look enviously and forlornly at them, as they realise the 'chair-people' are likely to stay in their seats till the very last stop. they wonder what the 'chair-people' did better to deserve a seat upstairs, but suspect they simply had advantage of time. still, some were persistent, and patiently hope for someone to leave their seat.

this whole cycle repeats itself seemingly perpetually. no matter how many students rush onto a bus, more will always come to take their place. queuing, waiting, for their turn to get on a bus. if you miss your bus, you just have to queue again.