Late last year, the bus company (which is owned and subsidized by the city) decided that they needed to make the transit system more efficient to save money which would in turn help to pay for their new $12 million dollar call system. Now, I’m in favour of creating more efficient routes to save money, but what I cannot understand is how making the system “moreefficient” means that buses are NEVER EVER where they are supposed to beat the time they’re supposed to be there. This makes us, the riders,annoyed which make the bus drivers surly and annoyed. Who am I kidding? They were surly and annoyed before these changes.
We have about 10 major transit stations in this city. Every day, I have to get off at the transit station hub that is in the middle of the city. Almost every bus in circulation will go through this station. So it’s an understatement to say that this station is busy. It’s a zoo at night! You have to keep an eagle eye out for those slippery buses because if you glance down at your phone for .000005 second your bus will have come and then taken off like lightening. These drivers have perfected the art of stopping and then immediately stomping on the accelerator pedal to peal off if they don’tsee someone frantically running towards their bus. These same drivers have been known to pretend to not see frantic people trying to weave through the masses to get to the bus. You can never be sure where exactly your bus will stop along the designated portion of the transit station for the busyou’re waiting for.
My stop is the busiest at night because it’s the stop for every express bus through that station and the stop for the several other very buses.
Let’s go back to Monday. I’m blissfully waiting on the curb trying to spot my bus. I’ve texted their new $12 million dollar POS system, but of course the thing is fried and tells me the bus has already gone by. I know it hasn’t because Dre is happily sitting on the bus textingme the bus’ progress towards the station. (Dre takes this bus from the downtown core.)
I see the bus turn the corner and I start walking towards it since there are 2 stretch buses in front of it. Suddenly, the stretch buses pull away and lovely driver decides that he needs to pull up to the stop sign. That’s OK…they do this frequently. I don’t have to run after it because surely the awesome driver will stop under the sign like he usually does so I don’t have to haul my 6 month pregnant ass by running to said bus. To make sure that the bus stops, I wave at it with my pass. (See picture) Then I turn and start walking fast to the spot where he should stop. Bear in mind that the bus hasn’t even gotten close to the curb once in this whole story.
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| Aren't my drawings so awesome! |
Wait! Are you kidding me! Fucking POS bus driver just peeled away as if no one was trying to get on his @$%^$%^#@## bus. He never even stopped. Now, a lot of buses manage to not stop at this station, but they usually have handy excuses like, “My bus was full.” This bus was almost empty. It’s why I take it. I hurry and text Dre, “Your bus driver is a fucking moron.” in the hope that he’ll go chew a piece off of this particular driver’s ass.
I’m looking for another bus and I see another express. No choice, I have to take this one. Of course, it’s full and it’sstanding room only which is great when you’re 27 weeks pregnant and your balance is shot. I get on and try to hang on as the bus driver who thinkshe’s an Indy car driver squeals around the corners. Then Dre calls me and tells me that he’s at the transit station since he basically got kicked off the bus. What??? I tell him to get on another bus and I’llget the story straight later on. He tells me that he’s calling a complaint to wonderful bus company. I get to last major transit station and I have to get off as this bus veers into a suburb where my car isn’tparked. I wait for another bus to come along to take me to my car and Dre arrives.
He tells me that when he noticed the bus driver not stopping he started yelling at him (from the back of the bus) to stop the bus and got up and went to tell him that he’d left me, his pregnant wife, behind. Apparently,bus driver finally decides to stop at the end of this station (there’s noway I can see that since millions of other buses are blocking the view). Bus driver tells Dre to look and see if I’m coming. Hello? Yes, I can magically see your bus through the other buses and will run for it and try to plow through thousands of people before you decide to peal away again. Anyways by this time, bus driver is feeling self righteous and decides to tell Dre that I didn’t wave enough to get him to stop. So Dre, the love of my life,tells him, “What? You want her to stand there and jump up and down in joy to get you to stop?”
Driver, seeing that he sounds like a moron now, tells Dre, “Sir,do we have a problem here?”
“YES, WE HAVE A PROBLEM! YOU LEFT MY 6 MONTH PREGNANT WIFE AT THE BUS STOP!” Bus driver tells Dre to go see if he can find me but that the bus might not be there when Dre comes back. Dre gets off and driver slams the door behind him. Dre turns back around and the driver opens the door again and asks him if he's getting on or off since he needs to go. So Dre went to get his bag and got off the bus because he was so mad at the driver.
So basically dumb ass driver didn't stop when he was supposed to and instead of waiting for Dre to go get me, he took off as fast as he possible could. Jokes on him though since Dre called customer service twice and filed a complaint. Customer service agent told him on the second call that another gentleman had also called to complain about the "appalling behavior he witnessed on the bus". Dre's co-worker called to file a complaint...she takes the same bus we do. Even I called customer service and that is not like me. I hate phones and never use them, but I was so mad that I didn't think I could adequately convey my message through the online forms. The customer service agent I spoke to said that EVERY bus driver is required to stop at major transit stations. Driver is going to have a least 4 complaints against him for the same incident reported to his supervisor.
So that was my lovely trip home on Monday. After that Dre and I went to do the groceries because we were both too mad to make dinner and then ordered pizza.
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