Here in Richmond we have a convenient bus service from the Willow Lawn shopping district on West Broad Street to Rockett’s Landing on the James River on the east side of town. The Pulse line has its own dedicated lanes and preferential traffic lights. And the ride (for now) is free.

So — why don’t more people take advantage of this easy way to get into the center city and the arts district, the museums, the restaurants, and shops?

It only takes one person to ruin the ride for the rest of us.

On a recent Sunday, my partner and I encountered a small, rough-looking man with no front teeth at the Willow Lawn bus shelter. He chose us (we are open to this sort of thing, apparently) as his personal audience for a monologue on the blessings of God, the unfairness of his one son blaming him for the death of another son, his reflections on the Catholic faith, and his desire to “go home” right now. This disjointed stream followed us onto the bus, flowed for the whole ride and got off when we did. Other passengers, perhaps inured to this sort of thing, ignored him.

On our return trip, at the second stop, the doors opened and a woman in a tank top (not usual here in January)came toward the bus and abruptly tumbled off the curb. My husband and I and another passenger rushed off the bus to help. As they raised her from the concrete she cursed them loudly and shoved them away.

Inside the bus she began talking to no one and talking to them loudly. Her nose and knee were bruised and bloody. By the time the Pulse passed the Science Museum, the woman was shouting unintelligible phrases, threats, and curses.

The driver swung the bus to the curb and opened the doors. The woman fulminated as the rest of us sat quietly, some of us expecting the police. After a couple of minutes, she got up and walked out, still talking. The driver folded the doors closed and maneuvered the bus across traffic back into the designated lane.

So we endured an uncomfortable ride east and a tense ride west.

The lack of mental health services and housing for those living on the edge is one reason there are so few welcoming public spaces.

When public policy deliberately neglects care of “the least of these”, even a bus ride can seem threatening.