I don't know how many of you take public transportation on a daily basis, but for those of you who do, allow me to share this brilliant gem that just made my day:

Metrobus Seat Hog Gets a Lift
By John Kelly

Thursday, January 26, 2006; Page C09

"It was like a movie scene."
That's how a reader I will call Bert described an incident he witnessed on the 34 Metrobus in Georgetown last week.

A guy was sitting in the middle of a two-person bench seat, refusing all requests to scoot over and allow someone else to sit down.

"Everybody here paid $1.25," said one irritated passenger. "Why should you have two seats?"
This went on for a while -- the fellow lounging, the pressure building -- until a particularly large passenger decided to settle things. When the bus came to a stop, he grabbed the seated man, lifted him up and threw him unceremoniously out the rear door.

(I love it when people are thrown unceremoniously. Has anyone ever been thrown ceremoniously, I mean besides the occasional virgin into a volcano?)

Bert's fellow passengers were stunned. "It was like urban jungle justice," Bert said. On the one hand, the cad had received a deserved comeuppance. On the other hand, something very close to an assault had just taken place.

The ejected passenger did not take his ejection lying down. He suddenly popped up in front of the bus , blocking its path. He was like that Chinese guy who stood in front of a tank in Tiananmen Square, except instead of being a lone protester bravely defying authoritarian rule, he was a little seat-hogging jerk who was keeping everyone from getting home. Bert hopped off and got on another bus. So did all the other passengers. By the time Metro Transit Police arrived, the bus-blocker had fled.

"We don't know whatever happened to him," said Metro's Cathy Asato.