today on my morning commute to OHSU i'm turning off of broadway onto terwilliger (just after the 405 overpass). a bus comes up from behind me, takes the turn way too sharp and almost forces me onto the sidewalk. it's, admittedly, a sharp turn and not the first time something like that has happened. but as i kept going straight on terwilliger the bus is a foot to two feet into the bike lane and only getting closer to me. the driver doesn't seem to care at all, and can completely see me. we even made eye contact. she just keeps forcing me closer to the parked cars. at the point where i'm almost completely boxed in i slapped the side of the bus pretty hard.

at this point she can still see me, but instead of moving away or anything, she starts twirling her finger next to her ear - in the "you're crazy" motion.

right after that the light ahead of us turns red and we both stop. she opens the door - "you should know better than to tangle with a bus!"

"what!? you need to stay out of the bike lane!"

"i wasn't in the bike lane! you need to have your head examined!"

"why would i make that up!?" *driver closes door...thinks about it, then re-opens door*

"because you're a BICYCLIST!" *drives off*

after that i chased her down to the next light, pulled up next to the driver's window and told her i was calling trimet. which i will be doing.

so uh...share your bus altercations!

Damn. Glad you're okay, Andrew.
It's kind of a bummer how cyclists sometimes get a bad rep.

when my collarbone was broken, i rode the bus a handful of times.. and one of the drivers was yelling at like every cycling he saw. in cluding telling them to "get on the curb where they belong" ... which was funny because not only was there no sidewalk where the cyclist had started.. but across the intersection the sidewalk is covered in tables and chairs for starbucks patrons.

though.. i was not riding in this experience, i have seen plenty of bus drivers do similar things while i was on the bus.. i commuted via trimet for many years... i've had drivers refuse to open their door for me.. just the other day i saw a guy in a car piss off a bus real bad by refusing to yield... the driver looked steamed. just sat there at a stop through an entire green light refusing to go till he had radioed in the guy s license plate (then again, i'm assuming that's what he did. i would have.. the dick in the giant SUV deserved it)... but anyway.. i've encounted racist, sexist, jerkoffs working for trimet. they're like cab drivers... hit or miss ... and they deal with a hell of a lot of people and get real bitter and jaded ..

few bus drivers can take the heat. i'm always the dork sittin' at the front chattin' it up with the nice ones.

grimm:

As good ole Jabberjaw would have said…
"No respect!"

i hate the f---n buses.
they are usually the ones i have most issues with.
i was riding down 52nd towards the flats the other week and this lady driving the bus comes up next to me honking and pointing at me swerving at me and pointing up at the sidewalk. she almost hits me so jump up on the sidewalk (which i hate with a passion) i catch up with her at holgate and she opens the door and says 'thanks'.
as a normally peaceable rider, i have a hard time not trying to piss bus drivers off.
sorry.

man that sucks. i used to ride the bus all the time

Busses are the only vehicles in Portland that ever honk at me.

my homie did 22 months for knockin out this bus driver. it's a class A felony, assaulting a municipal transit operator. for real tho' they drive like shit, but once again I gotta point out how nice we have it compared to MUNI in SF. they smoke rocks and then run mf's over like it was GTA4... once i was walking down mission to my house and the 22 fillmore driver fell asleep and ran into a bus stop packed with morning commuters, fucked some people UP!

but for real I just move outta the way, let em go by, aint no where i need to get so fast i gotta play "my right to the road" with my life.. those bussed weight like eight tons! i aint saying nothing to your story tho andrew.