A glimpse at the Queens bus map shows intricate lines in overlapping colors but little usable information.

An article in last week’s Queens Courier made me laugh. “Queens Buses Lack Helpful Maps,” the headline read. Of course, Queens buses aren’t the only surface vehicles suffering from a map deficit. Have you ever tried to use an MTA bus map?

The article itself covers some familiar territory. The maps are hard to read; drivers don’t announce enough stops or connecting services; and bus arrival times are a mystery. Take a read right here. The big news seems to be that the MTA is hoping to beef up the information offering on buses. Says The Courier:

Traveling on MTA buses in Queens is dizzying for even the most experienced commuters – let alone the every day New Yorker. On most Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) buses, the only route indicator is a map located directly behind the driver’s seat.

The red, green and blue lines that wind and swerve across the borough’s bus map look like a board game gone terribly wrong. For most bus riders, the map is the only way to navigate neighborhoods unknown to them, and the over 100 lines that operate throughout Queens further complicate their commutes…In compliance with the Federal Transit Administration (FTA), the MTA requires bus drivers to announce bus stops at “transfer points, major intersections and terminal arrivals, as well as any stop requested by a customer,” said Charles Seaton, an MTA spokesperson.

In many cases, there are vandalized and torn maps or no map at all. Buses also lack route identification, providing riders with little to no assistance in planning their trips…According to Seaton, the authority has plans for audio and visual improvements, which will follow the MTA protocol for bus stop announcements. Riders can also use their phones to find directions from online services such as Google Maps and Hopstop.com.

The problem is one of familiarity. Those who know the Queens bus system, for instance, can use the map to supplement their own knowledge. A quick glance will reveal approximately where various routes intersect with each other and where they provide connections to nearby subways.

Problems arise, however, for those who aren’t regular users well versed in the ways of the map. The current MTA bus maps make planning a trip on the fly awfully difficult. Stops aren’t delineated, and frequencies are nowhere to be found. While the MTA has relied on apps to fill the information gap, those riders without the ability to check their phones will be left guessing or waiting if they don’t opt to drive instead.

Personally, I know these pains quite well. I’m very familiar with buses in Manhattan as my parents allowed me to take buses long before I could take the subway on my own, and I have a working familiarity with some Brooklyn bus routes. But if I’m going somewhere new and considering the bus, I’ll have to meticulously plan the route ahead of time or use my phone while out. The current maps, in their PDF or physical form, are a mess of contrasting colors, overlapping route lines and bare outlines

Better solutions are out there. Cap’n Transit has explored the idea of frequency maps for bus service, and others have taken a stab at streamlining the visual presentation. Yet when the MTA overhauls its maps, the subway diagram gets some cosmetic upgrades while the bus maps are left to their own confusing devices. As one rider — Matt Klopfer of Glendale — said to the Queens Courier, “It is very difficult to figure out where you’re going, when to get off and whether you’ve passed your stop or not once you’re on the bus. You need a magnifying glass and a college degree to both read and understand the map that is provided on the bus.”

On my way home last night, I found myself on a 2 train at Nevins St. with an empty space next to me. The space was large enough for another person to sit down comfortably, and I was up against the pole trying to make sure any person room to sit down. At Nevins, a woman boarded the train, sat down nearly on top of me without saying excuse and then proceeded to blast music through her headphones at volumes loud enough for me sitting next to her to hear clearly. It was a lesson in inconsiderate behavior.

Earlier this week, something scary happened to a bus driver in the Bronx. It was on an entirely different level than my tale but shows the less-than-considerate behavior people on the buses and subways display. Here’s the story, per the Daily News:

Carrying a Chihuahua, [17-year-old Steangeli] Medina boarded the Bx9 bus on Fordham Road at Cambreleng Ave. in Belmont just before 6 p.m., police said. She became enraged when [bus driver Marlene] Bien-Aime said the pet had to be in a crate to travel. “She said, ‘I’m gonna hit you,’” Bien-Aime said.

The driver responded, “It’s not me, it’s MTA.” Seconds later, the first punch was thrown, said Bien-Aime, who spent Wednesday night at St. Barnabas Hospital. “I was simply doing my job yesterday,” Bien-Aime said.

Medina, a student at Richard R. Green High School in Manhattan, was released on her own recognizance last night after her arraignment on charges of assault, menacing and harassment. The dog was returned to her family.

Yesterday, Bien-Aime and union officials spoke out against the attack. While the MTA knows about the problem of bus driver assaults, they have been slow to better protect drivers. A five-bus pilot that includes a protective shield hasn’t yet moved beyond the initial stages, but the authority expects to equip 100 out of over 6000 soon. It’s not enough, and as the MTA gears up to confront and negotiate with its union, it must make personnel safety a key issue.

Now, as much as I don’t want to draw too many generalizations from a few bad isolated incidents — at least 27 drivers have been attacked this year — it’s hard not to. Medina felt entitled to bring her dog on board a crowded bus. Never mind the rules; never mind the passengers; never mind the drivers. She wanted the rules to apply to others and not her. When she couldn’t get her way, she attacked.

That, of course, is why people in the subway just roll their eyes at those who blast music through headphones, litter and drop food on the floors of subway cars. We don’t want to end up in Bien-Aime’s position with bruises and black eyes and a trip to the emergency room. Manners, it seems, are often missing from the subway system, and the best we can hope is that we’re not on the wrong end of a person with a few screws loose who are at the end of a long day.

Perhaps this is all just a part of the feelings of entitlement that fill our system. Many straphangers never want to wait for trains, always want a seat and will complain no matter how smooth their rides are. They want better and better, and when they don’t get their way, they attack. Bus drivers should be safer and better protected; people should be calmer. But we don’t live in an Eden.