I did forget one last item. When mehadrin buses became “popular” Egged even went to the extent of having a “puncher” hooked up in the back section of the bus so that women could simply punch their own cartissia. Now that everybody has to use a RavKav, things have become more problematic because yes, we do have to get on the front of the bus in order to pass the RavKav through the reader in order to pay for our ride on the bus. Walking through a crowded men’s section does sort of defeat the purpose, but I have been known to ask the driver for permission to get off at the next step that there are passengers getting on and getting back on at the back door (I simply don’t want him to close the door before I have to chance to get back on the bus), this way avoiding any unnecessary contact.
I think the issue of the back of bus being inherently demeaning is putting the cart before the horse. Was the back of the bus demeaning before the blacks were allowed to sit only in that part of the bus? I don’t think so.
Why can’t men sit at the back versus the women? I think I heard once that since people are usually looking towards the front of the bus in order to make sure that they get off at the correct stop, if the front section has women dressed pritzusdig, then what purpose did separating us have other than not sitting one next to the other? This is obviously not the only problem that exists vis-a-vis men and women.
I have no doubt that R’ Shlomo Zalman got up if a woman tried to sit next to him.