Okay H.T. you pay your employees quite the decent pay and I’m sure it’s safe to assume that the ones in charge of scheduling the bus routes/connection times make a lovely cheque; well they shouldn’t be. They in fact, should have my 7.5s (heeled ankle boots mind you) up their dumb asses. Can’t though, I’m too busy using my feet to walk home because the driver of the bus I needed, decided to roll out 25 seconds after rolling it in. My bus arrived at the terminal at the same time, we were directly behind it and any driver either A. paying attention or B. just not wanting to be a douchebag would stay put knowing people needed to get on. Not only did he drive off leaving at least 7 of us there, he stopped the bus (in a spot that was easily accessible & with no bus traffic whatsoever) to tell me he’s not stopping after I waved him down with my 2 young children and groceries (no stroller & only 3 bags fyi).
I am at my breaking point with the bullshit that is HTransit and it’s too bad because there are a lot of really great drivers working for them but there are a lot of dickwads who have no clue what customer service is and are in no way capable of delivering it yet because they’re unionized, nothing will result out of complaints and they are not held accountable for their shitty service. Fuck them. How about every time a complaint is filed against the block number, the driver is required to pay a penalty. They get paid to fill out accident reports, they should pay for making HTransit deal with a complaint file. Maybe that would motivate and give the drivers who give it no thought some incentive to deliver some decent customer service whilst delivering me to my motherfucking destination like it’s their job or something. —Monithemommy
This article appears in Nov 13-19, 2014.
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This petty little gesture of defiance probably meant that Wheels let his Mommy watch Wheel of Fortune in peace, after she cooked him supper.
THE DOMINANT MALE
“Not only did he drive off leaving at least 7 of us there, he stopped the bus in a spot that was easily accessible & with no bus traffic whatsoever) to tell me he is not stopping after I waved him down with my 2 young children and groceries (no stroller & only 3 bags fyi).” Monithemommy
What we have here is a show of male dominance. You should have responded with a corresponding show of female submission. (There are several ways to do this.) He drove his point home, so to speak, by stopping the bus in an easily accessible spot with no bus traffic whatsoever to tell you he is not stopping after you waved him down. The female does not, repeat, does not wave the dominant male down.
AVATAR #79: THE GREAT DUSSELDORF EXHIBITION OF 1937)
A pleasure as always,
Cheerio!
Your issue is more of having three children and relying on public transit. Why not wait until the baby-daddy came home to manage the brood while you shopped at your leisure?
The baby-daddy could prepare dinner and have the children bathed and ready for bed just in time for you to return and kiss their little noggins before sleep. Simple.
I’m the baby daddy. Welp, time to not let Koda’s constant stream of bullshit on this site slide anymore.
The problem is having children in the first place…
Wow OB you make it sound like something new. Buses have been leaving the terminals when new one come in all the time for decades. This is H^lif^x where they can’t spell the name of the place right and never been able to make a proper bus schedule and never will.
A little fyi to op. We as drivers are not paid a good wage as per popular belief. You come do this job princess for at least 5 years (if tyou can make it past trainning), and then we’ll have a chat ok?
An empty bus is a happy bus.
Yours truly.
Yes, Wheels, driving a fucking bus is soooo difficult that only the worlds elite possess the aptitude to pass the “trainning” faze of the H^lif^x Transit driver training (Top Gun Bus Drivin Academy).
If it’s so shitty and the pay/benefit package sucks so bad… Quit!!! See how you fare in the private sector with your shitty attitude and “qualifications”, Mav. I double, dippity-doo dare ya!!!!
That sucks, OB, but a lot of factors can come into play – was it rush hour? The bus that left could’ve already been running late and had already stopped for some runners. At some point you have to say enough is enough. Was your bus late getting in? If so, why should the other bus wait and end up late – people on that bus may have transfers to make, too.
And once a bus leaves the stop, the driver can’t let you on because of liability. Do some do it anyway? Yes, but they shouldn’t be and that doesn’t mean all should be expected. If they get caught or an accident happens the drivers can get fired and understandably, I wouldn’t risk my job because you didn’t make it to the stop in time if I was a driver.
With three kids, I’d expect to not make such close transfers (I’m just a single, mobile adult and I never rely on such close transfers, myself) and plan appropriately.
In my experience, they do tend to leave terminals early if they happened to get there early… and it sucks donkey balls.
Really? Wow.
Shultz wouldn’t last a week. He wouldn’t fit on a bus neither, his head would be too big to go through the door, even sideways.
An empty bus is alwasys a happy one.
Yours truly
Hey Wheels, serious question: have you ever driven the 52?
may I please add that when they do stop so the driver can have a break, some of them have the G##dayam gall to light up a smoke and fill the bus with their noxious fumes. Or, wait, they go stand in the BUS SHELTER and light up. Reading isn’t a required sport for drivers.
Reading it seems is not a required sport for the riding public as well. We get asked all the time if the 10 Dalhousie goes to Dalhousie? Or if the 52 Bayer’s Lake goes to Bayer’s Lake. Some idiots ask just because they like the sound of their own voice because you know they know the answer to the question. Had one girl ask me if the 53 went to Highfield Terminal, and she lived her whole life on Pinecrest. What the fuck is wrong with people? Hold on folks, we are in for a bumpy ride. The population is growing dumber and dumber.
An empty bus is a happy one.
Yours truly.
Your job is in customer service, so smile and answer their stupid questions. How long have you been doing this, Wheels?
You’re right, people (bus drivers) ARE getting dumber!!!
Nah, Wheels is in a class of his very own. I know some very wonderful drivers and 9 times out of 10, my driver experience has been great. Especially the older lady who drives the 4 leaving the Ferry terminal at noon during weekdays. She is just lovely (and she knits on the bus during stop overs!)
Don’t let Wheels speak for bus drivers. He’s just a jerk who drives the bus.
Ahh, lots of blissful people out there hunh pretty stupid kitty?
Like I said an empty bus is a happy one. And your chains are just begging to be yanked.
Yours truly.
P.S. Yes I have driven the 52 before, but avoid it like the plague.
“Baby daddy.”
What ever happened to adult dads (and moms)?
Why and how are infants procreating?
Well, I personally know a few drivers and they actually aren’t miserable SOBs who complain about every aspect of their jobs.
Perhaps their personalities are better suited to working in such a job.
You sound like you’re just not cut out to be in the line of work you’re in, Wheels. You complain about the compensation, management, the people you have to deal with, etc…. So maybe you should find something else to do?
Though, I can’t blame you re: 52. It’s like everyone on the 52 has just given up on life. I’d probably give up on life, too, if I had to use that little slice of hell on wheels, regularly.
I’m not complaining psk. I’m telling it like it is honey. Don’t believe me? Same thing goes to you and anyone who loves to put bus drivers down because you think you know anything about what you are talking. I say to all of you who think this job is a piece of cake and can do a better job, I challenge you to get hired, if you’re working, quit your job and get yourself hired at our spa and come drive our finest around, and in a few years we’ll chat. That is if you have the guts.
And if you make it through the testing, and the interviews, and the actual 7 weeks of training, then the week of mentoring that they have now incorporated to make it easier to make it on your own and then you will in a few years if you’re still there and can take the heat in the seat have a small taste of what the place is actually like. That can take anywhere from 2 to 7 years I would say. So psk, if you have the guts and think you can do better than me come on kitty let’s go.Put your meow where your mouth is. You can’t handle the truth and you don’t see us as human and someone’s mother, father, son, daughter. You only see the frustration, stress, depression, hopelessness, that will eventually affect every driver to one extent or another at one point or another. It is practically unavoidable.
So put up or shut the fuck up. Stop telling me how to do my job, this job is taken get your own damn job at the spa. If not pay your fare, sit down and shut up. All I ever hear is clucking when I throw out the invitation which I have done quite a few times now. Will no one dare to take me up on this? Cluck, cluck??
An empty bus is a happy or at least happier bus, depends on the idiots driving all around you.
Yours truly,
I dunno, I know enough drivers to know you should probably be in another line of work. I mean if you hate your job THAT much and if, as you’ve stated, it doesn’t compensate THAT much….
Only HT would name 2 buses with different destinations the same number,ie: 52 Crosstown Burnside and 52 Crosstown Bayer’s Lake,then place them at totally opposite ends of the bus terminal.An infinite amount of numbers to choose from and 26 letters,why not name them 52A and 52B?…I realize that’s a stupid question..Then the some GD drivers are ignorant enough to bitch about “the stupid passengers” who Always ask where the bus goes.I’ve seen bus drivers texting while driving.Hell,I’ve boarded a bus right after a driver returned from break and the bus wreaked of marijuana and the driver was high as a kite.
I was actually threatened with a lawsuit the last time I called 311 to complain about a bus driver…..When one has no choice or chooses to take transit everyday you see and hear a lot,especially when you sit at the entrance of the bus.
Then those GD people who answer phones for HT are just as ignorant as some drivers
As always psk, you put words in my mouth. Why?
An empty bus…..
I have never said I hated my job, you keep saying that. I say I hate the ignorance and stupidity of the general population of riders and privately driven vehicles out there, and lets not forget the idiot cyclists as well.
Yours truly.