PULL THE STOP CHAIN

At 5:50 AM, in the dark on a Southern California bus, a rider started yanking the stop chain just to avoid missing work.

The poster says that each morning they take a bus connection route to get to work, and for months it has been the best option available in their city. The problem is simple and maddening: the buses do not announce the next stops outside the main ones, and the "other" stops get skipped unless someone pulls the chain.

That has left the poster doing a kind of low-stakes detective work every morning. They have asked bus drivers for help, but say "most don't seem to like their job and are of no help really." They have checked Google Maps, the official tracking app, and the bus route map. None of it seems to help in time. By the moment those tools show the stop, they say, "I have already skipped my stop."

Because the ride happens before sunrise, the poster says it is still dark outside and they cannot reliably tell where they are. So lately they have been pulling the chain when they think they are near their stop. The bus usually pauses for about five seconds, just long enough for them to tell whether the next stop is theirs. They say they "track minutes and seconds" and have to keep this up because if they miss the stop, they end up walking 20 minutes to work when it would take them less than 3.

"I don't like doing this," the poster wrote, but the chain has become their backup plan.

Yesterday, that plan got them called out. "Yesterday it happened again and the bus driver called me out and was clearly annoyed with me," the poster said. The driver's reaction left the rider apologizing on the spot. "I apologized briefly but I still don't know what the solution is."

The poster's question is whether they are in the wrong for "abusing" the bus stop chain just to avoid getting stranded past their stop. For now, the routine remains the same: dark road, early bus, uncertain landmarks, and a hand ready to pull the chain before the stop disappears into the morning.