Is priority seating on CTA a courtesy or is it actually expected?
I had something happen on the bus last night that made me curious what the general expectation is.
The bus was pretty full around 10 p.m. There weren’t any open seats, but there was plenty of standing room. A woman got on with a stroller and what looked like a 2 year old. She also seemed unfamiliar with the CTA and was a little hesitant.
There were several young, able-bodied people sitting in the priority seating (about 6 people), so I spoke up and asked if someone could let her use that area so she could park the stroller there instead of blocking the aisle.
Instead, I got mean attitude, and no one moved. Ironically, one of the people sitting there appeared to be a CTA employee. The woman with the stroller ended up staying in the aisle until the driver told her she couldn’t block it. Since the bus kept filling up, she got off and asked the driver when the next bus was coming.
It made me wonder:
\- Is priority seating just a courtesy, or are riders actually expected to give it up when someone clearly needs it?
\\- Would you have said something, or is it better to stay out of it?
\- If you were sitting in priority seating and someone who needed it boarded, would you expect to move?
I’m genuinely curious what the etiquette is here, because it felt wrong watching someone get forced off the bus when there was a designated area that could have been made available.
***TLDR: I asked people to give up priority seating for a woman with a stroller and no one did, so now I’m wondering if those seats are actually expected to be given up or if it’s just a courtesy.***