This is the familiar scene as you try not to get groped and/or grope other passengers.

​There's no better way to travel than the metro bus. Everyone's jammed in next to each other, with some preppy architecture student's sketch bag poking the ribs of a lawyer who is shouting into his cellphone -- and the ear of a bearded man who is, at that very moment, urinating.

Those kinds of experiences are what keep Twin Cities residents piling on the bus again and again. Apparently, we can't get enough of the bus these days.

The Metropolitan Council announced this morning that it's registered more than 60 million bus transfers and card-swipes this year, an increase of more than 2 million rides from the same time last year. By year's end, the Met Council says we might reach the 80 million mark.

This kind of public transit surge could really lead to an increased sense of community and civic engagement, if any of us ever decided to take out our iPod earbuds and/or make eye contact.
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