BULLSHIT.
I had the most aggravating experience on Saturday when I was catching the bus back home from the mall.
So the bus pulls up and I go over to the door on my scooter to tell the driver that I need to get on, too. At first she was all nice and everything, and then she goes, "oh... I don't know how that's going to work, I've already got a guy in a wheelchair on here."
Mind you, there are two places to tie down a wheelchair/scooter on these buses. I know this because I can see the tracks in the floor of the bus to slide the seats back and forth, and you can also see the little silver squares where the straps get hooked into the floor. Yet the driver had no idea.
So, she goes back on the bus to attempt to move the guy into the other spot for wheelchairs, but comes back off shortly thereafter and tells me she can't get the seats to move.
"What are you going to do? I can't get another wheelchair on here! We're going to have to make a decision!"
Uh, lady, I got here on the bus in the first place. I don't have any other options, and this is the last bus that will bring me back home.
"Well... can we put the scooter underneath the bus? Will it fit?"
(The bus that comes through Fulton is more like a Greyhound bus, as opposed to one of the regular city buses. They're big and tall and noisy, and have storage capacity underneath.)
I didn't want to put my scooter under the bus for the following reasons: 1) it really has no brake, so it'd be sliding around back and forth as the driver brakes and accelerates, getting the shit slammed out of it. 2) I can't lift it, like at all, and it's rather heavy... so it'd be up to her and someone else to put it in and take it out.
Eventually some guy sticks his head out the open door of the bus and announces that the other wheelchair is out of the way, so all systems are go.
Great! So the woman pulls the bus up closer to the curb and gets out and opens the doors to get the wheelchair lift.
When the door to the bus is open, I can see inside and I see that the other guy in the wheelchair has transferred into one of the seats, and has pulled one of the wheels off his chair and has it half in the seat with him, with one side on top of one of his legs, and the other sticking out into the aisle of the bus a little.
I feel like an asshole, and feel sorry for the poor guy. It's absurd that he has to resort to such measures because, horrors, two handicapped people are wanting to get out into the world and they want to use public transportation to do so. How dare they. *rolls eyes*
So I finally get on the bus. I ask the guy in the wheelchair if he's alright in that position(he says he is), and I apologize for his having to sit that way (which should have been done by the bus driver). He tells me it's alright. "No, it's not. They should really make these buses way more accesible," I tell him.
"Yeah. That's why I hardly ever ride Centro," he says.
No kidding, dude. They fucking suck.
The guy in the wheelchair is getting off before me, so when he reaches his destination, we have to go through this whole rigamarole which involves me getting out of my seat and stuffing my scooter into a small area between seats, and two other passengers having to help the guy in the wheelchair get onto the lift because the basket of my scooter is kind of in the way and it's a tight squeeze... what a pain in the ass.
I finally managed to get home with the scooter and its contents all relatively unscathed, thank God. But Jesus, what a frustrating experience.
- - -
My favorite part? Had to be the crabby old wench who was standing at the bus stop outside the mall, watching the events transpire. She gave me this reprimanding look and goes, "You should have known better. That thing isn't going to fit on any bus."
...
What?
Do you know me? Do you realize that I am, in fact, disabled and that I'm not just some kid fucking around and trying to make things difficult for everybody else? Do you realize how desperately I sometimes wish that I could just be like all you "normal" people and not have to deal with this bullshit?
I was just so completely baffled by her ignorance at the time, all I said was, "well, I *got* here on a bus, so apparently it *does* fit." I seethed about her all the way home.
- - -
So... yes. Every time I use Centro, there's some fucking issue with either the wheelchair lift, or the level of competence of the driver, or something. It's not fair to me, it's not fair to the other passengers on the bus who have to sit there for ages watching the handicap struggle to get on the bus, it's not fair to the drivers to have to go through so much shit just to get one passenger on.
I think an angry letter is in order. I've been meaning to write one for awhile now, but this experience was kind of the last straw.
So the bus pulls up and I go over to the door on my scooter to tell the driver that I need to get on, too. At first she was all nice and everything, and then she goes, "oh... I don't know how that's going to work, I've already got a guy in a wheelchair on here."
Mind you, there are two places to tie down a wheelchair/scooter on these buses. I know this because I can see the tracks in the floor of the bus to slide the seats back and forth, and you can also see the little silver squares where the straps get hooked into the floor. Yet the driver had no idea.
So, she goes back on the bus to attempt to move the guy into the other spot for wheelchairs, but comes back off shortly thereafter and tells me she can't get the seats to move.
"What are you going to do? I can't get another wheelchair on here! We're going to have to make a decision!"
Uh, lady, I got here on the bus in the first place. I don't have any other options, and this is the last bus that will bring me back home.
"Well... can we put the scooter underneath the bus? Will it fit?"
(The bus that comes through Fulton is more like a Greyhound bus, as opposed to one of the regular city buses. They're big and tall and noisy, and have storage capacity underneath.)
I didn't want to put my scooter under the bus for the following reasons: 1) it really has no brake, so it'd be sliding around back and forth as the driver brakes and accelerates, getting the shit slammed out of it. 2) I can't lift it, like at all, and it's rather heavy... so it'd be up to her and someone else to put it in and take it out.
Eventually some guy sticks his head out the open door of the bus and announces that the other wheelchair is out of the way, so all systems are go.
Great! So the woman pulls the bus up closer to the curb and gets out and opens the doors to get the wheelchair lift.
When the door to the bus is open, I can see inside and I see that the other guy in the wheelchair has transferred into one of the seats, and has pulled one of the wheels off his chair and has it half in the seat with him, with one side on top of one of his legs, and the other sticking out into the aisle of the bus a little.
I feel like an asshole, and feel sorry for the poor guy. It's absurd that he has to resort to such measures because, horrors, two handicapped people are wanting to get out into the world and they want to use public transportation to do so. How dare they. *rolls eyes*
So I finally get on the bus. I ask the guy in the wheelchair if he's alright in that position(he says he is), and I apologize for his having to sit that way (which should have been done by the bus driver). He tells me it's alright. "No, it's not. They should really make these buses way more accesible," I tell him.
"Yeah. That's why I hardly ever ride Centro," he says.
No kidding, dude. They fucking suck.
The guy in the wheelchair is getting off before me, so when he reaches his destination, we have to go through this whole rigamarole which involves me getting out of my seat and stuffing my scooter into a small area between seats, and two other passengers having to help the guy in the wheelchair get onto the lift because the basket of my scooter is kind of in the way and it's a tight squeeze... what a pain in the ass.
I finally managed to get home with the scooter and its contents all relatively unscathed, thank God. But Jesus, what a frustrating experience.
- - -
My favorite part? Had to be the crabby old wench who was standing at the bus stop outside the mall, watching the events transpire. She gave me this reprimanding look and goes, "You should have known better. That thing isn't going to fit on any bus."
...
What?
Do you know me? Do you realize that I am, in fact, disabled and that I'm not just some kid fucking around and trying to make things difficult for everybody else? Do you realize how desperately I sometimes wish that I could just be like all you "normal" people and not have to deal with this bullshit?
I was just so completely baffled by her ignorance at the time, all I said was, "well, I *got* here on a bus, so apparently it *does* fit." I seethed about her all the way home.
- - -
So... yes. Every time I use Centro, there's some fucking issue with either the wheelchair lift, or the level of competence of the driver, or something. It's not fair to me, it's not fair to the other passengers on the bus who have to sit there for ages watching the handicap struggle to get on the bus, it's not fair to the drivers to have to go through so much shit just to get one passenger on.
I think an angry letter is in order. I've been meaning to write one for awhile now, but this experience was kind of the last straw.