To the bus driver

[WishfulSpirit]

Dear Sir

Today I was at the corner of X and Y street, at a designated stop on your route. You were running late. That's understandable. It was rush hour, after all. However, I would like to politely inquire as to the logic behind your decision to look right at me and just keep on going.

Perhaps I was in the wrong. Perhaps you don't actually stop at that stop, although the bus stop sign has your route number on it. Maybe the city forgot to change the sign when routes changed last spring. If so, I am sorry.

But maybe it was something else. Maybe you saw my suit and wheelie and thought I was a yuppie environmentalist taking public transport to be "green" and could afford a cab home. That fancy suit is a work uniform, provided (and paid for) by my employer. Also, I don't have a "home" per se. My husband and I live in a hotel, because my salary didn't cover rent last month.

I take public transit because I can't afford a car. My wheeled bag is a knockoff from WalMart and it doesn't have the latest tablet computer in it. Instead, it has a raincoat, snacks, sunscreen, water, and a change of clothes. I carry those things with me because I don't want to get soaked or the sun to turn me into a lobster while I wait for the bus to arrive. Nor do I want to get dehydrated or dizzy from hypoglycemia. My urban survival gear came in handy today, since I was out 2 hours longer than I anticipated.

I hope you sleep well tonight, because I got home so late, I sure won't be.

[Food Lady]

Are you going to report him? That's absolutely unacceptable. I'm sorry if you have to work this morning after that. I drive a junker and am happy to have her, even if she's literally held together by packing tape. I don't ever want to ride the bus again.

[eltf177]

Agreed, a report to the driver's employer is definitely in order!

[cindybubbles]

Yes, definitely report the driver to his or her boss. Whoever said that the biggest problem with public transit is the public didn't mention the drivers or whoever manages the public transit.

[WishfulSpirit]

Are you going to report him? That's absolutely unacceptable. I'm sorry if you have to work this morning after that. I drive a junker and am happy to have her, even if she's literally held together by packing tape. I don't ever want to ride the bus again.

Packing tape is too fragile. Use Bondo!

[Mr Hero]

I had this happen last year. Then after reading a few of your other posts I find out that we're from the same general area, so I'm not surprised that it's the same bus company.

[WishfulSpirit]

Wasn't route 28 by any chance was it? Or 73?

[Golden Phoenix]

That happened once with our school bus. It just sailed right past, cue many panicked calls to the school. Never did figure out what went through the driver's head.

Sitting waiting for the bus the other day, we'd been waiting at least 40 minutes (the route is supposed to have a bus every 20 mins) and along came a bus with "not in service" on the front, as it went past, we could clearly see passengers on board.

Another bus arrived later, driven by a friend of ours, who explained that the other bus was so late due to roadworks, that she had told him to just switch to not in service and not worry about pick ups, just drop offs, so that he could catch up with his route. She was only 5 minutes behind him.

[rvdammit]

I've been on the other side of the not in service bus. Driver had been told to run non stop to the end of route to plug a hole caused by a breakdown. Passengers had been given the option to stay on to the end, or get off and wait for the next (with transfer).

[Jetfire]

Last year, the city had to do major work on the main bridge across the river connecting the two halves of the city. Construction work started the first Monday after school ended, and shrunk the 4 lane bridge down to 2 lanes.

The city has a relatively small transit network of 10-12 routes... 8 of which cross that very bridge at some point on their routes.

That first day was incredible as you might expect since no one knew what to expect. I got up half an hour earlier to get the very first bus going downtown across the bridge. The route was fine up until we hit Maple street which goes parallel to Main street (which has no bridge access with the ramps closed off) and feeds onto the bridge's road. We hit traffic at one end of Maple street and it took 2 hours to go from one end of that street to the other and to get onto the bridge road.

At one point we could look back and see 3 other transit buses stuck in traffic. In fact one of the buses cut up a side street and came down another one and got through ahead of us. (On a later day, we were so backed up, the driver had to put the bus in park on the street and run and use the bathroom at his Dentist's office across the road. He did that and got back before there was a car length's worth of space ahead of him.)

In any case, on that first day, the routes were so backed up that when we got to the station, we got booted off and the bus I was on had to go back across the bridge just to try and catch up. (we were able to catch one of those later buses that were caught in traffic to finish the other part of the route).

Thankfully, the evening traffic wasn't as backed up, at least not for the buses. Mornings for a month were horrible; I was regularly an hour late. (And I couldn't bike to work because the sidewalk on that bridge was closed too). By mid July they got the ramps reopened and then switched sides and morning traffic cleared up enough to let me get to work somewhat on time again.

[Mr Hero]

Wasn't route 28 by any chance was it? Or 73?

Neither. It was the 21.

[MoonCat]

I've been on the other side of the not in service bus. Driver had been told to run non stop to the end of route to plug a hole caused by a breakdown. Passengers had been given the option to stay on to the end, or get off and wait for the next (with transfer).

And the bus company can tell you that if you make a complaint, or at least an inquiry. Explaining that would be good customer service