Next time she should kick the driver in the nuts.

Someone needs a Snugli.

End of comments; there can be no better response.

That totally pisses me off! The policy should be clear: A bus driver should NEVER kick a baby off the bus.

God I hate babies. I hate people who have babies, too. Shut your motherfucking kid up. If you can't find a way, then I'll find one for you.

I'm torn: On one hand the driver sounds like an asshole. On the other hand: BUILT-IN CAR SEATS ON BUSSES?!? Are you insane?

Oh good, the baby hating has started. How predictable.

There needs to be a special bus for children, elderly people, and the handicapped.

One with the exhaust vented into the passenger cabin.

Christ, it's like 2008 already. Where is Carousel?

Snugli, yes, good idea, but she's got a point there. Surely, if we're going to bend over backwards to accomodate the crips and geezers, a woman with a baby should deserve some special treatment too.

this post combines my two favorite things in the world, surly bus drivers and crying babies!

If this mother was making an attempt to placate the baby to get it to stop crying, she has my full sympathy. However, if she's like many parents/grandparents/guardians I see on the bus and elsewhere, who do NOTHING to try and get the kid to quiet down, she gets zero sympathy. My favorite is the parental unit jabbering away on a cell phone while their kids have a major tantrum. Dee-lightful.

@ 7, never take Poe seriously. You know he was the fussiest baby 1987 produced...

@10 - Now, now, I'm sure she yelled at and shook it as best she could to get it to stop.

1987?? I have underwear older than that.

He's just a little cholicky

Let's see, the driver suggests that she be aware that a crying child can be disturbing to other passengers. Another driver has to remind her to fold her folding stroller. She falls down carrying her child, and is asked to leave another bus for reasons she neglects to mention. Um, good luck with that news campaign.

This is why I hate transplants and carpetbaggers. They complain, can't spell, and take crying babies on the bus.

If holding onto a hand rail is the only thing keeping me from flying out the fucking front of the bus when the driver slams on the brakes, then your arms will be the only thing holding that baby.

I was born in 86, bitches.

If ECB had been riding with this woman and her crying child, we'd get a Slog entry about how people with young children/babies shouldn't be allowed on the bus, and if Metro doesn't address this, she, ECB, will be *forced* to drive everywhere (as much as she'd like to support public transport).

Eh, that kind of post isn't as fun now that ECB has a temporary case of warm fuzzies for Metro. Agree with 15 - there's more to the sotry than this person is giving us.

she even spelled her name wrong

what a great rallying cry. "SECURE THE BABIES!"

I'm not much of a baby person by any means, but this story is pretty fucked. I always feel awkward when people with small children in strollers get on the bus and are forced to fold up their strollers and try not to drop their babies. Why can't they put the babies in the disabled seating? Instead of car seats they could just buckle the strollers in with the seat belts already installed. Is this specifically against Metro policy?

Should someone with grammar that poor really have a baby in the first place?

She's not a native speaker, give her a break. How good is your Turkish?

http://www.helium.com/users/298115

Taken from Metro's website:

Metro's Accessible Bus and Van Services

Metro is committed to providing King County residents and visitors with valued transportation services, and our services extend to customers with special needs due to age or disabilities.

Don't babies have special needs due to age?

This is why I chose to have tomatoes instead of children. If the tomato starts crying I can just eat it.

Deniz, you need to file a complaint with Metro, then follow up with a phonecall. Even if it takes three follow up calls. Did you get the bus number? That helps a lot when filing a complaint.

I tell you what. When my kid is born this summer, I'm going to be riding that metro all day long with the precious screaming brat strapped to me continuously. By the time that happens they had better hope that they've implemented a pro-fucking-baby policy or my new full time job will be an anti-Metro media campaign like nothing they've ever seen.

And I don't think my grammar will be holding me back.

(Also, I wonder what Bus Chick has to say on this...)

True, Newturd.

But not everyone can grow tomatoes.

Ahh something about a crying baby that brings out the primal urges in all of us. Particularly the one wherein a small youngin goes flying out a bus window.

@16 - The author is obviously does not use english as a first language...which might just also have something to do with her treatment.

I am sure if this was some bitch from Magnolia with her baby the bus driver would not say a fucking word.

I ride the bus with people who yell on their cellphones, I ride the bus with people who talk loudly to their seatmate, I ride the bus with people who disturb me with their earbud spray. There are a lot of irratating people on the bus (basically anyone who is not me) but I deal with it.

I am always happy to see people bring their kids on buses. Think of it this way, one less minivan clogging up the roadway for my bus trip.

Also, that kid will grow up to be a transit rider and advocate (unless of course they are treated like crap by the busdriver)

At times like this I ask myself "what would Hawkeye do?"

I'm still waiting for the premium section of the bus. Pay a little extra to get a way from noisy babies and pissy hobos. Maybe it could be on the 2nd floor?

fuck babies. those saucy little milk-winos can go ride a pitbull for all i care.

What josh bomb said.

Nobody puts Baby in a corner?

Come on. You know you were thinking it.

Headline love. And @19 - if ECB were there, we'd be informed that the woman simply should never have reproduced in the first place, for the sake of the environment.

Good thing she didn't have a wheelchair.

"Nobody help getting on and off. Once me and baby fell down on the floor while driving."

HILARIOUS!!

@16, this woman doesn't use English as a second language, either -- she massacres it. And it's not just the grammar. Spellcheck is just a simple "F7" away.

If the baby's young enough to wail throughout a ride from West Seattle to Bellevue, it's not going to remember this trip anyway.

For every crying baby on a bus that grows up to ride the bus, someone else won't ride because there's a fucking crying baby onboard.

Here's what I don't get about Poe-like anti-baby comments...in another generation the people who are babies now will be the people, you know, being productive members of society, including the doctors who might take care of you in an emergency room. You don't have to have babies, but damn, at least respect that you'll be benefiting from their contributions to society when you're an old fuck who needs full-time live-in care.
But, yah, crying babies on a small enclosed bus-like space are no fun. That's why I always nursed mine the whole time - no tears, and boobies are always fun.
Although since most of the anti-baby comments seem to come from gay men, the boobies might be less fun for them...

Kids and dogs. Hard to work with, I know, but I was on a bus when a very old lady would not shut up about some other lady's dog being on the bus. Then the lady dropped some stuff on the floor of the bus and it became hard to hold the dog and her stuff and the little old motor mouth kept right on complaining about the dog. Same with mothers and babies-the moms have too much to handle at times. They don't need more stress from jerks and bus drivers. It's called "public transportation" for a reason.

I admire people who bring their kids on the bus. It is so easy to take the bus when you are by yourself, but dragging your kids on the bus? That's some hardcore shit. I don't care whether they want to save the environment, or just don't want to waste money on a car. It's admirable either way, especially since so many other people insist on buying cars they can't afford and/or don't need.

Yeah sometimes those crying babies can be annoying. But the bus isn't exactly a peaceful zen garden anyway. A crying baby would actually be a nice change from all the crazies that ride my bus.

Besides, how else are children supposed to learn that the wheels on the bus go round and round all through the town?

gay men LOOOOOOVE boobies!

only, we call them pecs and they'd better be hairy...

OR, belonging to Cher or Bette Midler and covered in rhinestones and bugle beads.

Everyone's dinging Metro. It's a Sound Transit bus she was on - there are NO Metro buses which go from WS to Bellevue - the 560 goes there (ST Express). It's true, ST contracts with Metro for the drivers but the complaint should be filed with Sound Transit. Another example of the great service ST is providing for our wasted tax dollars.

You baby-haters are right -- she should have just bought a SUV.

What is Planned Parenthood for if not to prevent things like this? If she'd only gotten an abortion, she wouldn't have had any problems.

IF you are one of those sentimental unfortunates who insist on reproducing, why take the miserable little poop machine out in public to annoy the rest of us? Keep it inside until it is old enough to control itself. Don't inflict your pain on the rest of us.

Don't the taxpayers have a voice anymore?

1)the vast majority of people with kids who are riding the bus, probably can't AFFORD a car.
2)misbehaving kids and fussy babies shouldn't be beaten into submission on the bus, (that can be saved for when they get home) but I have no patience for dumbass parents who sit there, doing NOTHING to quiet the child. Fussy babies probably need food, or a pacifier or a little comforting. Fussy toddlers and pre-schoolers are probably just tired and/or bored and some interaction with the parent would probably calm them down. But fucking DO something, other than sit there like a coughdrop!

#32

Funny M*A*S*H reference that probably went over most people's heads...

I don't expose you to my screaming poop-bags on public transportation, and I expect the same. You want to transport them, buy a flipping car. Otherwise, cry me a river I can step over and go on. Learn some spelling and grammar as well. This is America. At least try to write proper English so you can fit in.

Waaah.

@9:

Yes, but the "crips and geezers" don't choose to be that way.

This is why I always disregard the special "designated for pregnant women" parking spaces at the store. Gimme a break. You choose to do it, and it's temporary. Society has no debt to pay to you for being preggers.

Stop fucking and everything will be OK.

If not for screaming, unruly children, what other use can those bike racks on the front of the bus have?

everyone that has issues with babies just make the asshole in me want to create a child even more so just to annoy the crap out of you.

More.

Annoy the crap out of us more.

#50 - Quite right. Thank you for limiting your screaming poop-bags to the confines of your private vehicle. But please leave the windows rolled up. This IS America.

@53, I have no problem with babies. I love well-behaved babies. I was a baby, once.

I have a problem with mothers who can't control their children, especially in a public place like a bus. I REALLY hate mothers who then complain about their supposed "unfair treatment," using terrible grammar.

(Also, I generally don't like anyone who moved to Seattle any later than, say, 1992.)

If a hobo was screaming all the way from W. Seattle to Bellevue, you bet your ass they'd kick him off the bus. Why should this be any different?

I take my baby on the bus all the time (no minvans or SUVs here), and I’ve never had an experience like the one this woman describes. Of course, thus far I’ve avoided strollers by strapping her in a Bjorn, and thus far, she has never cried for more than 30 seconds. (If she starts crying, I do something to make her stop.) If she ever does—Lord forbid—become inconsolable, my plan is to get off (time permitting) until she calms down. That said, that driver was rude to the point of being abusive. Some (I would argue most) people just aren’t cut out for the job.




I’ve heard (can’t remember where) that buses are something like six times safer than cars, but it sure would be nice if Metro had an actual safety policy for taking children on buses. You have to fold down strollers (which means carrying the kid on your lap), and, given all the brake-slamming that goes on, that hardly seems safe. There’s not even agreement among Metro safety experts about the safest seats for lap children.




I try to respect others on the bus, which includes keeping my daughter as quiet as possible, but I, like some of the other commenters, think it’s a good idea to bring her along for the ride. I’d rather teach her to love public transportation than have her watching a DVD from the back of a Ford Excursion.

@8 -- I love you and wish to secure your baby.

I'm was actually sort of sorry for this chick at the beginning, but then she went into the whole Entitled Uterus thing and she lost me.

Meh.

*I was actually...

@57 -- I want to strap Mr. Poe into a Bjorn!!!

Part of me sorta agrees with Poe and the anti-baby crowd. Having a baby is a choice and a responsibility. And being forced to listen to screaming babies in an enclosed vehicle for any length of time is like a razor blade down my spine.

On the other hand, I also have to contend with people who haven't bathed in weeks and smell of urine, vomit, and/or feces; women cussing like a sailor at the top of their lungs on their cell phone; sick people sneezing on me without any attempt to contain their contagion; and the occasional deranged and violent lunatic. So really, a screaming baby isn't all that much worse than half the other shit a bus passenger has to put up with.

At least this isn't India, where you would also have to put up with goats, chickens, and other livestock crowding the isles, in addition to screaming babies and crazy drunks. It's only cute until a goat tears open your backpack. Word.

@8 You continue to slay me.

@ Poe -- I have herpes scars older than you.

The baby was only crying, they were lucky. I was riding once and the Mom in the seat in front of me decided the bus was the perfect place to change her baby. I would have taken screaming kid over the wretched smell any day! Oh, and the kicker, when Mom go off the bus she left a nice little bundle of joy from her brat for the next rider. Classic.

I admire women who choose to have abortions.

You just need to ride the right bus. Today a woman with a toddler and a baby in one of those enormous travel system type strollers got on my bus. She didn't fold up the stroller. Do those things even fold? And she left the baby in the stroller, blocking much of the aisle. Passengers happily squeezed around it, and the driver didn't seem to mind at all.

@43

Best comment in the thread thus far.

I don't expect a bus to be as quiet as a Trappist monastery, nor do I expect a 13 month old baby to stop crying immediately if the parent is in a place where feeding or changing a diaper isn't possible. Even taking the kid outside until he/she shuts up isn't an option while riding the bus.

I am far more bothered by older children who behave like maniacs in public while the parents (probably Republicans) do nothing to control them. At some age a child can and should be taught what is and is not acceptable behavior. Not a lot can be done about a 13 month old who is crying on the bus, but the parents of a five year old who is running up and down the aisles screaming like a banshee on Red Bull should be held accountable for the poor job they are doing with their kid. There are no bad kids, just bad parents.

Babies will cry. Deal with it. That driver has a problem.

3/4 of the people on this thread believe they did not behave like a baby or even ever were babies. Some babies and toddlers cry and fuss no matter how sweet, perfect or strict or whatever the parents are. It isn't an indicator of future character or morals.

The idea that parents (ie 90% mothers) should not use public transportation if their infant or toddler might cry is straight up sexism at its most entrenched. The war against babies and mothers is a war against community.

...and I fucking hate it when babies cry on the bus, but I hate the 25 minute cell phone yackers way worse, the selfish loud voiced bastards! F-you cell phone bastards!

Crying babies grow up to be children who try to kill you! Metro is not some communist daycare center! Can't this woman's husband watch her child? Can't that lazy moron do one thing?

OH GOD! THE CHILDREN ARE HAVING SEX!!!!

For all you baby haters out there I'd just like to point out that those 'brats' are going to be the ones who are going to be choosing your nursing home and paying your social security....just saying.

"Should i drug my baby so she would not cry?"

hey you said it not me.

Crying babies can be annoying... but not half as annoying as gangsta-teenagers, drunks, psychos.... I've seen people threat people and swear at people and never get asked to leave the bus. Bus drivers are wusses and will not risk confronting someone who is meanacing... but will give hell to a young mother.....

Sheesh. Its hard for everyone now isn't it?

First, babies are supposed to be removed from strollers for their own safety and that of every other passenger. If there's and accident or someone does something that sets everyone to, "panic", a baby in a stroller is nothing more than a trip hazard begging to be crushed.

Having been a bus rider for twenty years, I have seen the extremes of behavior.
Of course I've given up my seat for baby weilding folks, but at some point you have to draw the line.
For example, if you have two freaking enormous, non-folding, carriages in the aisle and you have blocked or taken up ten seats by them and your brood, someones got to let you know on what side of wrong you on.