My question is simply: Is this guy legit or is he blowing smoke up my a**? My impression was that he's just some guy on his power trip, however miniscule, and was just giving me a hard time. I've been known to be wrong before, however.
I doubt there's a "federal law", but so what? It could well be a transit policy...or it could just be a cranky bus driver. They've also got this thing called the "behind the white line", which really sucks a whole lot if the bus is cram-packed and the driver's being a stickler (or a power-tripper, whatever you want to call it) and you just want to get home. If that happens, that's just part of the day's suck. I don't personally care too much about the source of the day's suck, but ymmv.