Dear Bus Driver...
Dear Community Transit Driver on route 202 south, which reached the Mariner Park & Ride around 6:07 pm on October 7th.
I am not complaining about the fact that you honked several times at various traffic incidents or other busses, and twice pounded on your own windshield to get the attention of passengers putting bikes onto or removing them from your front bike rack. The traffic may have been dangerous and the details of removing bikes from busses are, I assume, very important to you.
However. When stopped at a station with only four passengers on your bus and no one currently going in or out of the bus, it does not seem unnatural or rude for one of those passengers to ask for a confirmation of where the bus is going. We were at a large terminal. I come from a city where busses sometimes change numbers mid-route, and since most of the passengers had just gotten off and other busses were pulling into and away from the station, I thought I should confirm that I was still on the correct route.
Your response was to tell me that you had already made an announcement and that if /my/ 'music' hadn't been so loud, I wouldn't need to ask. My 'music', sir, was not on at all. The podcast that I was listening to had ended, and while I had one small earbud in one ear, the other was entirely unimpaired. What I caught of your announcement was 'Lynnwood and Everett 4 minutes, let me know if you're getting off and I will stop and let you off early.' Now... there are many things that can prompt bus announcements, I assumed that perhaps there was a danger of missing transfers at this station, which would not affect me as I was continuing on route 202. However, since you had mentioned the stop that I was headed toward, I approached you to confirm the busses route.
I reiterate:
There were FOUR passengers on the bus.
The bus was completely stopped.
There were no passengers getting on or off of the bus at the time and we were waiting at a depot-area.
I asked "I'm sorry, is this bus still going to Mariner and Lynnwood?"
Your response was to tell me, a then a handicapped woman who also asked that we would already have heard the answer had we not been wearing headphones.
I asked again "So, this isn't the right bus?" and you stated again that you had already made an announcement.
You refused to answer us at all. You suggested that if we wanted to know, we should ask the two other passengers in the back of the bus who were not listening to headphones and would have heard you.
To the next person who entered the bus, you loudly stated "202 to Lynnwood", leaving us to decide that yes, we were still on the correct bus.
You then proceeded to turn to face us and tell us that it is very important to hear bus announcements and that we shouldn't listen to out music so loud that we can't hear. When I apologized again and explained that I had heard your announcement, but was new to the area and wanted to confirm that I had understood the situation, you did not reply at all.
I understand that as a bus driver in a major metropolitan area, you are forced to deal with difficult people and stupid questions all day long. I do not envy you your position.
However. I am a customer. You are a service provider. And I don't personally feel that a one syllable yes/no answer while you are unoccupied with any other duties of your job is too much to ask, even if you already stated the answer to the question once before.
Not impressed by my third ever ride on Community Transit,
Maya Landman
I am not complaining about the fact that you honked several times at various traffic incidents or other busses, and twice pounded on your own windshield to get the attention of passengers putting bikes onto or removing them from your front bike rack. The traffic may have been dangerous and the details of removing bikes from busses are, I assume, very important to you.
However. When stopped at a station with only four passengers on your bus and no one currently going in or out of the bus, it does not seem unnatural or rude for one of those passengers to ask for a confirmation of where the bus is going. We were at a large terminal. I come from a city where busses sometimes change numbers mid-route, and since most of the passengers had just gotten off and other busses were pulling into and away from the station, I thought I should confirm that I was still on the correct route.
Your response was to tell me that you had already made an announcement and that if /my/ 'music' hadn't been so loud, I wouldn't need to ask. My 'music', sir, was not on at all. The podcast that I was listening to had ended, and while I had one small earbud in one ear, the other was entirely unimpaired. What I caught of your announcement was 'Lynnwood and Everett 4 minutes, let me know if you're getting off and I will stop and let you off early.' Now... there are many things that can prompt bus announcements, I assumed that perhaps there was a danger of missing transfers at this station, which would not affect me as I was continuing on route 202. However, since you had mentioned the stop that I was headed toward, I approached you to confirm the busses route.
I reiterate:
There were FOUR passengers on the bus.
The bus was completely stopped.
There were no passengers getting on or off of the bus at the time and we were waiting at a depot-area.
I asked "I'm sorry, is this bus still going to Mariner and Lynnwood?"
Your response was to tell me, a then a handicapped woman who also asked that we would already have heard the answer had we not been wearing headphones.
I asked again "So, this isn't the right bus?" and you stated again that you had already made an announcement.
You refused to answer us at all. You suggested that if we wanted to know, we should ask the two other passengers in the back of the bus who were not listening to headphones and would have heard you.
To the next person who entered the bus, you loudly stated "202 to Lynnwood", leaving us to decide that yes, we were still on the correct bus.
You then proceeded to turn to face us and tell us that it is very important to hear bus announcements and that we shouldn't listen to out music so loud that we can't hear. When I apologized again and explained that I had heard your announcement, but was new to the area and wanted to confirm that I had understood the situation, you did not reply at all.
I understand that as a bus driver in a major metropolitan area, you are forced to deal with difficult people and stupid questions all day long. I do not envy you your position.
However. I am a customer. You are a service provider. And I don't personally feel that a one syllable yes/no answer while you are unoccupied with any other duties of your job is too much to ask, even if you already stated the answer to the question once before.
Not impressed by my third ever ride on Community Transit,
Maya Landman