Life I, Anonymous: It’s Elementary—The Morning After
posted by on July 2 at 9:45 AM
As regular Slog readers are aware, last Friday brought the I, Anonymous: It’s Elementary day-long bonanza, wherein a new I, Anonymous submission sent in by students at a local alternative elementary and middle school was revealed every hour on the hour.
One of my favorite submissions kicked off with “a shout-out to all of the idiots who hire other idiots to work for their trucking and bussing businesses,” followed by the anonymous writer’s account of a jerky Metro driver who refused to stop for an old lady who wanted on the bus.
Yesterday I found this reply in the post’s comments:
I am laughing my ass off! I am that Metro driver. Just goes to show you that a child is actually writing:#1 I was ten minutes late. The old lady didn’t want that bus- she wanted A bus. However there were people whom had been in their bus zones on time waiting for THAT bus- they don’t want me to wait for her; I have an obligation to them.
#2 She didn’t just want on, she wanted me to lower the coach and put the ramp out. I had already pulled out into the second lane, her safety would be negotiated, regardless of the red light.
#3 WTF? Old people can’t read schedules? Or young people either? It’s not a taxi service. It’s PUBLIC transportation- You wait on the bus- the bus doesn’t wait on you- otherwise what good is a schedule? Remember that next time your bus is twenty minutes late in the cold and you KNOW that you will be late because of it. Oh wait you just get a tardy slip. It’s not like you get fired or anything.
#4 Oh yeah- was this the dumb shit that ran in front of my bus at a 90 degree angle in my blind spot? That’s right kiddies- it’s not that easy to stop 20 tons of weight; it’s called inertia. But since you have several years before taking physics in high school; you don’t understand this: BUT IT”S MY JOB AND SANITY ON THE LINE.Sadly your mentality isn’t merely childish, but very common place. Try thinking that maybe you aren’t the only person on the planet- and neither is that little old lady.
Posted by Driving #18 | June 30, 2007 3:58 AM
Among other things, it’s interesting to note that professional bus drivers have compositional skills comparable to those of alternative middle-schoolers.
The driver is forbidden by law to take the time it takes to deploy the ramp into consideration. Riders who need the ramp must be treated exactly the same in every respect as riders who do not.
"Comporable."
She wanted the handicapped ramp? ECB approves, no doubt.
fnarf, it appears the bus driver was following a policy that wouldn't allow anyone, handicapped or no, on the bus when it's not in a proper loading zone. The fact that deploying the handicapped ramp would have been even MORE unsafe than just opening the door is just an (accurate) observation.
i love how stilleto told the bus driver not be late in the other thread, like that was a valid and feasible point.
I can understand if the bus was late, but it doesn't excuse the times that buses arrive before they're supposed to. I have gotten to bus stops as early as 10 minutes before they're supposed to arrive, only to have to wait 40 minutes for the next bus, because the driver blew past my stop and probably wound up sitting at a stop further up the line until the schedule caught up to him/her.
@ 6, no kidding. I was fortunate enough to live at a timepoint on the 21's line when I first moved to Seattle so that didn't happen to me, but the operators would drive like hell then wait one stop prior to the next timepoint so they wouldn't be officially ahead of schedule. I never understood the point of that.
I'm all for being draconian about pulling away from stops and not looking back. First the look of anger, surprise and exhaustion from the person who's just been rejected makes for a nice little boost in the morning. Second, add one runner and the extra wait at every stop and you have a run that is 10 minutes late by the time I get off.
So here's to all the metro drivers that are merciless when it comes to late arrivals.
I'd also like to see the beepy-ramps go. There aren't that many crippled folk and they could use those cute little van-bus things. The bus system will never be reliable if any given bus can end up 15 minutes late because of having to deploy the ramp.
"I'd also like to see the beepy-ramps go. There aren't that many crippled folk and they could use those cute little van-bus things."
Wow.
...Did I mention "wow"?
D.S.-Among other things, it’s interesting to note that professional bus drivers have compositional skills comparable to those of alternative middle-schoolers,
Yes...it's "interesting", isn't it, David?
"I'd also like to see the beepy-ramps go. There aren't that many crippled folk and they could use those cute little van-bus things."
is that a David Brent quote or something? jesus.....
#8 Why don't you ride one of those "cute little van-bus things"? (They're called Access, by the way).
I had to ride Access for the four years I was on dialysis and I can tell you those "cute little van-bus things" suck.
First of all, they are driven mostly by people who couldn't get jobs driving the real buses, and who drive without regard to the people riding in the back. Everyone knows how the streets in Seattle suck ass, now imagine riding around in the back of what is essentially a flat bed truck with walls you can smack into, in pain from whatever malady you suffer. I've had drivers slam into curbs, catch air while speeding down Lake City Way, I even had a driver who forgot to put on the parking brake, and when the bus started to roll, she slammed on the gas instead of the brake and we crashed into two parked cars.
Second, there isn't exactly a schedule. Sure, you have to call 24 hours in advance, but if you aren't waiting for them on the curb, they only have to hang around for five minutes before they can just drive away and call you a "No Show." Three no shows and you can lose your Access privileges. But there is no penalty for them being late. Several times I had to wait on the street for as much as two hours before my "pre-scheduled" ride arrived. This cut into the time I should have been on dialysis.
(FYI-There are also same day "will call" rides, but it can take several hours before they get around to picking you up, and there are no guaranties.
@12,
Aha! So I'm not crazy. I swore that Access drivers were more likely than most to try to mow me down as I cross the street. It seems that I was correct.
You are correct. Even Metro drivers hate (and fear) Access drivers.
Sounds like they should just pay for cabs instead of Access. At least then you could pick your own cab company.
As for the ethics of bus driving, consult this great book of short stories:
"Bus Driver Who Wanted to Be God"
http://www.powells.com/biblio/61-0312339259-0
Sounds like they (Metro) should just pay for cabs instead of Access. At least then you could pick your own cab company.
As for the ethics of bus driving, consult this great book of short stories:
"Bus Driver Who Wanted to Be God"
http://www.powells.com/biblio/61-0312339259-0
I agree Carlos. The Access buses are necessary for all the wheel chair bound people in Seattle (and there are a lot of them). But people who are ambulatory like me can ride the bus or a cab fairly easily.
I say fairly because, though it was easy for me to get to my 5:30pm dialysis appointment at 145th & Lake City Way by taking the bus from the UW, taking a bus to my apartment in Wallingford was unsafe, if not impossible.
I would get off dialysis around 10pm and it would take at least an hour by Access to get home (it would take two hours to go home by bus). The few times I took a cab took less than 10 minutes.
I usually like Schmader's contributions to the paper, but a journalist ragging on the writing skills of a bus driver is SO FUCKING SNARKY SEATTLE I can't deal with it.
I'm gonna have to side with the bus driver on this one.
I agree with Dougsf. That was kind of asshole, especially since the bus driver wrote clearly and made perfect sense. Normal people don't care about The Elements of Style unless you're writing a newspaper.
Re: 18 & 19: I didn't mean that as "ragging" on the writing skills of the bus driver, or conflating the writing skills of middle-schoolers. I was just making an observation, that obviously came off snarkier than I intended.
Bad idea, schmader. The crack about writing skills came off as elitist. My morning bus driver has a four-year college degree and has been driving for Metro 35 years.
That bus driver sounds like a 100% dick. I don't give a fuck if he took Film Criticism class at UW with Chuck Mudede.
Don't blow off little old ladies. Who cares if it makes a couple of people a little late? IT'S THE BUS. If they need to be there precisely at 10:00 and they get there at 10:02, they should have given themselves more time or taken a fucking cab.
I rode the bus many, many times as part of bike/busing. 75% of the bus drivers didn't stop at the actual bus stop, and then gave me the stink eye when I had the audacity to actually use the bike rack on the front of their bus.
Yay, David. Boo, hypersensitives.
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