And now for a follow-up on on last week's "Dear Bus Passengers" letter

Redux … If you see me standing near the stop ... drive on by!

It appears a prior submission to this blog stirred up a bit of controversy in the comments thereto.  It’s time I explained why the story was presented as it was.  First, I am not a driver.  I was a passenger on that bus.  

And I wrote the story based on a conversation I had with the person who was ignored.

Here is my PRESTO log:

I boarded the 13:54 bus at Burlington station and we left on time.  As we crested and descended the railway overpass bridge on Plains Road, a pedestrian, some 300 m. ahead, stepped out onto the curb lane and waved at the bus with both hands, quite obviously attempting to flag the driver. Although it is not a GO Transit stop, it was a clear indication this was an intending passenger, as she was standing near the Burlington Transit bus stop.

But our bus didn’t stop.  It proceeded to enter the left-turn lane at the intersection with Brant Street.  I looked at the intending passenger and recognized her as a GO driver.  I scrambled up to our driver and informed her of who we just went by.  She asked me if that location was a regular stop.  I answered I wasn’t aware of anyone boarding there, but that’s not to say other drivers haven’t made the stop.

I suggested that if she pulled over on Brant Street, I could run back to assist and expedite the boarding of her colleague.  That offer of help was summarily rejected … with silence.  The driver checked her rear view mirrors for the passenger, but as the light turned green, she shrugged her shoulders and told me the person was walking in the opposite direction toward the train station.  We made the turn and were gone.

I exited the bus at St. Catharines and decided to wait the hour for the next bus to roll through.  I needed to know whether my eyes had deceived me or whether the person I saw was really who I thought it was.  I had my answer soon enough; she was on the bus.  I waved to her and she exited the bus just long enough to explain things from her perspective.  I could tell she was not amused by what had transpired.  I asked if there was significant traffic near or behind our bus that would have prevented our driver from making the stop.  The answer – only a Burlington Transit bus was behind us.  I thanked her and wished her well as she re-boarded the bus to The Falls.

The aforementioned recounting of events was how I wrote the story initially.  Pretty boring, don’t you agree?  I needed a different angle. 

What stood out most in this incident was the look of utter disbelief, shock, and anger in the aggrieved passenger’s eyes as our bus drove past her.  I decided to rewrite the story as if I were she.  This person is not a rookie driver; she knows her stuff and recently received yet another service commendation.

The Twitter posts that were the lead in to the story are just a smattering of similar incidents that afflicted paying passengers.  I drew on recollections of conversations with several drivers regarding unscheduled stops.  The theme of the story was to show how GO Transit’s policies and procedures are subject to interpretation on the frontline and, hence, are applied inconsistently.

I wish to apologize to the driver whose point of view I assumed for purposes of writing the article.  If my actions have caused you angst in your dealings with other GO Transit drivers or fear of reprisal from your management, I am truly sorry.  I hope you can forgive me.

I found the comments to the story enlightening.  Thank you to the driver who took time to share TTC’s policy on the matter.  It correlates to what a Greyhound Canada manager of driver training and safety told me; their drivers regularly make unscheduled stops, especially in urban areas.

There was conjecture on how unsafe it was “to cross three lanes to the turn in a very short distance”.  Let’s look at the Map view and the Aerial view of the bus stop in relation to the intersection.  There are only two lanes of traffic where the local transit stop is. 

In comparison, here are the Map view and the Aerial view of the GO Transit stop at Mapleview Mall in relation to the intersection of Fairview Street and Maple Avenue.

Buses inbound to Burlington GO station occasionally drop off passengers at that scheduled stop.  Sometimes on busy Friday afternoons, Fairview Street is quite congested with traffic making the left turn onto Brant Street a long drawn out affair.  What drivers of MCI buses have done in those circumstances is cut across three lanes to make the left turn onto Maple Avenue.  It's a detour that can be made with MCI buses but not DD's, because there is a low railway underpass on Plains Road.

Are we to believe the longer MCI buses (13.7 m.) can be maneuvered successfully across three lanes in 90 m. on Fairview Street in heavy traffic, but the shorter double decker buses (13.5 m.) can’t cross fewer lanes in 130 m. on Plains Road in very light traffic?  If that vehicle maneuver is so dangerous, why does Burlington Transit force their Route 5 drivers to do exactly that?

I found the admonishment “you were not the one driving the bus so you have no say in whether they deemed it safe to pull over or not” interesting.  By inference, every “follow-up” executed by a supervisor is invalid, because they are not on the bus.

The polarity between senior / retired drivers and the current breed is quite stark.  The comment by “retired GO” leaves nothing to the imagination.

In conclusion, I have one question for GO Transit.  Is “I was that driver and I would do it again!” the new standard for bus service?