All Hail the Taxis and the Buses!
We learned a very important hailing lesson yesterday.
But first, I must provide a bit of back story. We’ve posted about the crazy spider web of a bus network here…tentacled routes all over the city. Because of this network, it is common for nearly every street to have many bus stops, often with multiple lines sharing a stop. That means it is necessary to hail your bus. No matter how many people are at a stop, the bus will not halt to pick up passengers without a hail.
This I knew. What I didn’t realize is that there is different form for a bus hail than for a taxi hail!
The arm raised straight up is apparently, “Mr. Bus Driver, stop here (and please don’t run me over).” The arm raised outward from the body, but not above the shoulder, means “please Mr. Taxi Driver, come to a screeching halt and pick me up!”
The moral of the story is that you shouldn’t hail a cab with the arm overhead if you are standing at a bus stop (nearly every street) because the taxi may pass you by.
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