An exchange I had with Slog commenter "I Got Nuthin'" this morning (edited for space):

I boarded the 271 to Bellevue at the UW. A gentleman (25 - 30 years old) was already on the bus, sitting about half way back on the driver's side. The bus was maybe at 25% of capacity with people spread out as one would typically find on any bus in the city.

As soon as I got seated, the aforementioned gentleman immediately caught my attention because of an incessant and deep hacking cough. I estimate that he coughed—2 or 3 coughs at a time—every 30 seconds for the duration of the half hour trip that we shared. Of course, this being Seattle, everybody just sat and endured it. No eye contact, no suggesting that maybe he shouldn't be out in public, no reaction from the bus driver. At one point I did spend several seconds studying the cougher and I have to say that he looked like death. His cheeks and forehead were all rosy. He was clearly congested and appeared to be in a generally miserable condition physically.

Which leads me to my questions:

1. Would it have been appropriate for someone to suggest to this person that maybe in light of the "swine" flu pandemic and associated fears, that he shouldn't be out in public, well alone on the bus?
2. What role does the bus driver have in protecting his riders?
3. Has Metro published any guidelines regarding situations like this?

And my response:

As far as I know, Metro doesn't have any specific guidelines about people riding the buses while sick. When I talked to Metro GM Kevin Desmond last week, he said their basic policy was to advise people not to ride the buses while sick, to cover their coughs, and to be mindful of other passengers. Obviously, this guy wasn't doing that, and I'm not sure what their advice would be in that situation—I have a call in to their PR person to find out if there's any kind of actual policy.

In general, though, I think passengers would be in the right asking the coughing guy, politely, if he was OK and whether he should be out and about. Given that Metro's a public accommodation, and coughing doesn't violate the agency's code of conduct, I don't think the driver would be able to make him leave. But I'll let you (and Slog) know what I find out.

I haven't heard back from Metro yet, but I did take a closer look at the code of conduct, and it's pretty clear that you would have been in the right at least saying something to the driver or the passenger. From there, it would be the driver's call whether to ask the passenger to leave or continue to ignore him. Specifically, the code of conduct prohibits causing "safety problems," and advises passengers to call 9-1-1 if they see a medical emergency. (Hilariously, the code of conduct also prohibits both "spitting" AND "expectorating.") The bottom line is, you shouldn't have to put up with a gross hacking cougher on the bus—particularly during a possible epidemic—but there's only so much you can do. The rest depends on the driver and the consideration of the cougher.