It's funny that you mention Amazon when referring to the ORCA card program since Amazon's outreach to other cities to kick in for transit improvements if its HQ

It's funny that you mention Amazon when referring to the ORCA card program since Amazon's outreach to other cities to kick in for transit improvements if its HQ2 is located there has caused one of the latest flare-ups of kerfuffle about Amazon's impact on Seattle. (The angst, for those unaware, is that while Amazon is offering private dollars to add transit stations or make service improvements in cities like Atlanta or Baltimore, it isn't making the same offer to Seattle / Sound Transit even though two of the new light rail stations are being built to serve the area that is effectively its campus.) I would like to also mention that my experience doesn't match yours. I ride the bus almost exclusively (there's no light rail near my house and never will be) and have only, rarely, encountered what you describe. I'm certain it exists, but not to the extent of calling it very common. Two routes, RapidRide E and route 7, stand out as being the most likely "culprits," which is, I think, less of a function of riding a bus and more of where those two routes happen to serve. The streetscape of the part of Aurora that the E runs down looks a lot like the inside of the E's bus.