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Just when you thought public transportation couldn’t possibly get any more miserable, check out the rules in Ottawa these days when it comes to riding the buses. Which is to say, if one is waiting for the bus to arrive and one wants to pass the time in a bus shelter, then one must mask up.

But why?

Since when did “The Science” reveal that bus shelters are super-spreader venues when it comes to COVID-19?

After all, a bus shelter is not fully enclosed. Plenty of fresh air circulation occurs in such a structure. Indeed, the primary purpose for these things is really to serve as a glorified umbrella for those seeking refuge from the rain. Unless you’re one of the Butabi brothers, a bus shelter hardly qualifies as a nightclub.

So it was somewhat odd to see a prominent sign on an Ottawa bus shelter warning transit users to mask up while mulling around. Hey, as we’ve been told these past 18 months, “one can’t be too safe” — or too ridiculous, for that matter.

Oh, and get this: it seems as though the authorities are serious about bus shelter etiquette enforcement.

We noticed that next to the mandatory mask signage was a decal advertising the toll-free phone number for Crime Stoppers!

Oh, how the COVID-Karens and assorted other rat-finks must love snitching on mask-adverse public transit riders!

(Just imagine the call emanating from Ottawa Police dispatch: “Calling all cars! Calling all cars! Maskless man spotting loitering inside a bus shelter on Kent Street! Proceed with caution!”)

Alas and slack, we’re beginning to lose patience with all of these nonsensical COVID-19 rules. Indeed, as motivational speaker Susan Powter used to scream in those uber-cheesy infomercials back in the ‘90s: “Stop the insanity!”