Yesterday morning my daughter got on the #52 with several other kids on their way to Halifax West High School. After all the kids got on, the bus driver apparently decided the bus was too full. “You guys have to get off.” He said to the last few kids. “But I already put my ticket in,” said my kid. “What am I supposed to do now?” (I only give my kid two tickets per day. One to get to school and one to get home. Kids lose things.) So the bus driver tears off a transfer and shoves it at her, barking at the kids to hurry up and get off. Needless to say, the driver of the next bus wouldn’t accept the transfer. The walk didn’t kill her, but she was late for school and got in trouble.
My bitch is that kids get shit on like this all the time. I know some kids are brats, and some make trouble. But not all. Not even most. But bus drivers seem to hate teens on principal, and don’t hesitate to do shit like this to them, that they would never dare do to adults. No wonder so many kids have such an attidude. They know they’re going to get treated like this whether they do anything to deserve it or not.
This article appears in Oct 23-29, 2008.
I agree with you. My son had problems taking the #84 to school last year, some of the drivers refused to let him on because of the way he was dressed so he was late many times for school. This year he hasnt had any problems so far taking the #7. Sometimes he leaves home a little earlier and walks to school with one of his friends.
In this situation if a teen needs to get kicked off or a adult, I think its the adult with the priority. They show up late to work they lose money or perhaps a job. A teen kids in a little trouble.That being said, there needs to be a better system for when something like this happens, the bus driver should have made the determination before they put their tickets in that it was too full. So at the very least he could have called in to wherever they call to let the next bus know these teens had the transfers.
Geez Marie, how was he dressed that they wouldn’t let him on the bus???
He wore his sleeves on his knees.
My son had on jeans or sweatpants and a t-shirt, he also had on a hat and carried a lunch bag. In the fall he wore a hoodie and in the winter he wore a winter coat. I called metro transit every time he wasnt let on and they wouldnt do anything about it.
I was at halifax west two years ago, the amount of kids on the busses is insane. Metro Transit supplies the same amount of busses during peak times as they do during low volume.. so there’s your reason. Your solution? either bitch to metro transit for being idiots, or tell your kid to push his way into the bus and stay away from the doors — that’s what I did.
I was at halifax west two years ago, the amount of kids on the busses is insane. Metro Transit supplies the same amount of busses during peak times as they do during low volume.. so there’s your reason. Your solution? either bitch to metro transit for being idiots, or tell your kid to push his way into the bus and stay away from the doors — that’s what I did.
Why was your kid refused with the transfer? Under the new transfer system, she can use that transfer going in either direction on the buses for an hour and a half. She shouldn’t have had any trouble. If she was refused, then that’s the situation that should be brought to Transit’s attention.I agree though, that there are some drivers who treat anyone under twenty as being subhuman and not worth respect. They assume that all teens are troublemakers.
I’m with ghost on this one, ever since July, transfers are good on the same route as you got them from (routes aren’t usually punched anymore unless it came from the LINK). If this happened on a low floor bus, it probably means noone bothered to go up to the back to stand. If noone can get past the yelow line, the bus is full. Otherwise, kicking people off is just a bit off. if mom hasn’t called in already to report it, I’d suggest it for the reason that MT cannot start fixing a problem unless they are aware of it.