PORT MASON, Ohio — The Port Mason Transit Authority has assigned a supervisor to three morning Route 6 trips after passengers repeatedly stood in the aisle while buses passed the closed Lake Street grain elevator. The buses do not stop at the property, and the authority said no driver instructed riders to leave their seats.
Driver Alton Reese first reported the behavior last Friday on the 7:52 trip from Harbor Square. As the bus crossed the canal bridge, nine of 14 passengers stood and turned toward the lake-facing windows. They remained standing for about half a minute, then sat down before the next stop. Reese said the movement was orderly enough that he initially assumed someone had asked to pass.
The same thing occurred Monday and Tuesday. Camera footage reviewed by the authority shows different riders standing within several seconds of 8:17 a.m. Some hold the grab poles and others simply face the windows. Two passengers remain seated in all three recordings. The vehicle continues at normal speed, and its stop-request light does not come on.
Transit director Simone Laird said the immediate issue is safety. Standing is permitted, but riders who rise together while the bus is turning can lose balance or block the aisle. No one has fallen, and the authority has received no injury claim. Laird asked drivers to announce the bridge approach and reduce speed until a supervisor can observe the trips.
Passengers gave different reasons for standing. Dockworker Randall Peake said he believed the bus had reached a familiar stop and was preparing to exit, although he has never boarded or left Route 6 at the elevator. College student Mina Cho said she stood to make room for someone entering behind her. When she turned, the rear door was closed and the nearest passenger was two rows away.
Others remembered no decision at all. Retiree Carol Wynn saw herself stand on the authority's recording but said she recalled remaining seated. She recognized her red raincoat and the shopping bag at her feet. 'I don't think the camera is wrong,' Wynn said. 'I just don't remember needing to get up.' She continued using the route Wednesday.
The Lake Street elevator stopped receiving grain in 2019. Its rail spur is disconnected, and the nearest transit stop is four blocks inland. Property manager Louis Barr said no one works inside before 9 a.m. A security camera facing the service yard shows the buses passing but does not clearly show their passengers through the windows.
Supervisor Erin Doss rode Tuesday's later trip, which crosses the bridge at 8:47. No coordinated movement occurred. On Wednesday she joined the 7:52 bus and sat near the center exit. At 8:17, 12 passengers stood. Doss remained seated and said she heard no announcement, knock or other sound over the engine and bridge joints.
Doss asked riders to sit before the bus left the bridge. Most did so immediately. One man remained facing the water until the elevator passed out of view, then apologized and sat beside his lunch cooler. He told Doss he had been waiting for a woman in a green coat to board. No passenger matching that description appears in the vehicle footage from the terminal.
The authority will test a detour Friday that avoids the canal bridge and rejoins Route 6 at Foundry Avenue. The change may add four minutes and will not affect published stops. Laird said the test is intended to determine whether a roadway cue is prompting the movement, not to establish why individual riders describe an absent passenger.
On Thursday the bus used the detour for a training run without passengers. Reese drove, with Doss seated behind him. At 8:17, Doss stood and turned toward the closed door on the lake side of the bus. The vehicle was then more than a mile inland. She sat down after 27 seconds and wrote in her report that she had moved so a boarding passenger could pass.