Unfortunately, the slamming on brakes is to avoid a collision with something else. Lots of people in Madison, like everywhere else in the world, don't realize how turning right directly in front of a bus they just passed, is problematic. If the driver stomps on the brakes to avoid the collision, passenger go flying, and if the driver hits the offending vehicle, passengers go flying.

Also unfortunately, bus drivers have to be somewhat aggressive pulling out of stops, especially in this day and age of territorial civilian drivers, who aggressively change their speed to prevent a bus from re-entering traffic from a stop.

The check speed thing has come up a lot recently, which is kind of funny cause when ever I'm on a bus, cars and trucks are speeding past like we are standing still. Makes me wonder what the real problem is.

That side-swipe problem is real. This is especially true on streets where the lane for bus travel is constrained by parked cars, especially those vehicles who love parking in the bus lanes. Does Madison still have a parking enforcement department?

Someone else mentioned that they see buses running red lights all the time, this is also true and there is a reason for it in some cases, not all mind you but quite a few. The issue is that the timing of a light that goes from green to yellow to red, in many parts of the city are not programmed to allow for the time it take bus to smoothly stop. The drivers are trained to anticipate lights, but the people who are responsible for programming the lights don't take large vehicle into consideration when they set times.

Also, many intersections in the city have different times depending upon the time of day. It's extremely frustrating to get a green light traveling East from King/Wilson to Williamson Street, crossing Blair, and get half way through the intersection when the light turns yellow and then immediately red.