*disclaimer* In no way do I hate bus drivers usually. I think they provide an excellent public service and that they have timelines to adhere to and can’t stop for every joker who can’t make it to the bus stop on time.
But sometimes you just have to be in the right mood to get pissed off at these guys.
The Scene: End of my class. 9:00 at night. Busses don’t flow that regularly. Especially the 95x out to my car.
The Scene: 95x pulls up to the stop. I see it from down the street. I sprint.
95x pulls away from the stop but 50 metres later there’s a red light. He’s on one side of the intersection, I’m on the other trying to get over to the other side.
The Problem: Can’t really make it across…traffic pretty heavy. I wait it out. I wave to the driver. I’m thinking “This guy is going to be one of the nice one’s. He’ll open up his door and pick me up so I don’t have to wait 1/2 hour for the next 95x. It’s the dead of the night here…no one is out here. He can afford the time. ”
The Action: Light turns green, I start running across the street with the bus pass waving in my hand and my eyes meet with his.
He pulls away. This guy had the look of “Oh well, sorry, nothing I can do.”
Bullshit. There is something you can do. Be a human being and let the poor guy on the bus. It’s the middle of the night, not during rush hour.
Like I said before, I know that bus drivers have schedules to keep and sometimes they can’t be bothered to pick up some straggler who is 50 meters away from the bus stop. But let’s be honest here…I was close enough to touch the bus when I locked eyes with him.
I would like to think I would pick up every straggler along the route just so I can create an ethical relationship (that’s a new term I learned last night) between a stranger and myself.
I think we should have a guest interview of Joe’s brother to hear the inside scoop. I bet he’s one of the good ones, but I bet he also has some days where he can’t be bothered to pick up a straggler.
It would be the equivalent to…the guy in the meeting room who always forgets his agenda and you have to share yours with him. Get your own dang agenda boy!
9 replies on “Rant: Good Old Bus Drivers”
Consider this your true “Welcome back to being a student” moment.
ugh that sucks rye-rye!
In North Bay I was standing at the bus stop in the glass cubicle they have because it was pouring rain and didn’t want to stand out in the rain and the damn bus drove right past me without stopping because I didn’t step outside it on the sidewalk as soon as they stopped to pick me up all I had to do was step out and I could hop on the bus..I was pissed…
Yesterday at night after French class, someone was unloading things fromtheir car and blocking a bus stop, so the bus drives right up beside the car and starts yelling at the guy. The guy promptly starts swearing at the bus driver. Then, oddly enough, the bus driver broke out into maniacal laughter and closed his door and drove off.
I’m thinking bus drivers must have a hard job, since many of them seem to get angry at times. But I think the worst was the bus driver in Edmonton who was talking on her cell phone and yelling at her kid on the other end.
Hey you asked for it! I’llforward this blog to My brother and I’ll tell him to forward it to all the Drivers he knows!
Ha ha! Good on you Joe! I would like to hear what they say! But been there done that! Some of those bus drivers see you running for dear life. Get right to the door and they look at you and shrug as they drive away! GRRRRRRR, is my nice way of saying what I really mean. I feel for you Ry!To be fair, I have had those select few bus drivers that will stop! Those are the ones I just want to say… Man, YOU ROCK!
Wait a minute…I have memories coming back to me. Team meetings, social committee meetings…sitting beside Ryan…sharing my agenda with him…get your own dang agenda boy! ;o)
Carrie and I could share some good bus driver moments Ryan! They’re definitely not all coldhearted. We had a driver that would wait for us almost every morning…..laughing his head off each day as we raced for the bus. And here in Toronto, I was walking out onto the main street from my house one morning, and the bus driver totally stopped for me! I wasn’t even near the stop, or waving my bus pass around like a lunatic. When I said thanks, he said “it’s Friday, and you just looked like you could use a ride”. So nice!
I spoke with my Brother and he didn’t want to comment because he didn’t know the whole story!