Oops, um, apparently it’s been more than three months since I updated my Examiner.com column on NYC public transportation. Luckily, I saw the best little bus fight last week and am going to stretch the story of it into a two–yes, two!–part series like reporters used to back in the days when they were getting paid per word. Here’s installment one:

In the new buses the MTA is rolling out, there’s a special, single seat that only the luckiest person on the bus gets to sit in. The older buses have single seats, sure, but those are in the middle of the bus like every other seat. On the new buses, the single seat is up on a little platform directly behind the driver, separated from him or her by a thick grey plastic divider.

Even better, though, is that the seat is also separated from the other passengers by a thick grey plastic cabinet that I imagine contains some of the bus’s inner workings. And even better than that is that the wheel housing is immediately beside the seat, and the thick grey plastic covering for it creates a little table where the seat-sitter can rest her bag, umbrella, extra pair of shoes, book, coat, and other items that are usually totally obnoxious to other passengers on the bus but are entirely out of everyone’s way when placed next to the single seat.

Read the rest here!