Major Shame on Horrible Bus Eireann Driver

sing_dumb

Got the Tullow/Wexford bus from Busarus yesterday, which departs at 5.30pm. At 5.32 exactly a rather flumoxxed elderly lady tied to board the bus, which had it's doors closed. The obnoixous little $$XX of a driver would not let the poor oul' divil on, even though she waved her Bus Pass madly at him.

Lads, I'm not joking, but that poor woman ran (YES...she RAN after the bus!!) and caught up with it at the Traffic Lights, and pleaded to be allowed on. No way Jose!!! Though he did unleash a torrent of abuse (not swearing as such, but calling her stupid etc etc) and we could see the distressed lady at the kerbside shaking and afraid, not to mention totally out of breath.

A younger woman came to her assistance, and when she tried to mediate for her, the horrible, illegitimate son-of-Satan driver told her she was drunk, and then calmly drove on!!!! Without the lady.

I know, I know...the unfortunate woman WAS a whole two minutes late....but what gave that driver the right to use such Terrorist tactics against a fragile old lady? For Godsakes, that woman was somebody's mother or grandmother and surely she deserved to be treated like a human being.

Even now, a day later, that whole incident feels so wrong to me. There was nothing that any of the other passengers could do to help, the bus driver in question is known for scaring the bejasus out of people and reqular users on the route are terrified of the little so-and-so. But I must state most of the other drivers on this route are perfectly sound.

I HAD to vent about this, especially as the next bus, after the Sat 5.30pm one, is not tilll next day, on Sunday at 4.30pm. A million questions need to be asked here...like when did human respect for our elderly vanish? Would you or I like this to happen to our mam or granny?? Where did that poor woman spend last night in Dublin and did she have any money for a B+B, or family she could kip with??? Etc Etc. I'm haunted by the look on that distressed woman's face...as she watched the 5.30 Tullow/Wexford bus, pull off without her!!!! God help her and may God forgive the wretched driver who humiliated and degraded her.

ronaneire

What ever happened to paragraphs?

I assume you could lodge a complaint with Bus Eireann?

Cookie_Monster

Its an insurance issue, if he lets her on not at a stop and she falls he's ****ed. Right call, wrong attitude

foggy_lad

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

Its an insurance issue, if he lets her on not at a stop and she falls he's ****ed. Right call, wrong attitude

my reading of the original post which I did perfectly well without paragraphs was that the woman tried to board the bus before it left the bay in busaras and when this nasty little weasel of a driver refused to let her on the last bus home she ran through busaras to the front doors where she again pleaded with this person to let her board his bus but his only reactions were to ridicule the poor woman in front of his passengers and call her a drunk! What an absolute pr1ck. People like this guy should be given jobs checking the toilets for junkies or slopping out vomit when people get sick on busses.

To anyone that witnessed all this I suggest an email or letter to bus eireann with as much detail as you can give such as the departure time date and the exact words used by this guy. How are people like this allowed do anything more than sweep floors?

dowlingm

@sing_dumb - have you written to Bus Eireann about this? For disciplinary purposes I suspect a letter or fax is the best course, not an email, and certainly not a post on a discussion forum.

That said - she WAS late. You are not asserting that the driver left before his time in violation of the BE Customer Service Punctuality item. In my view, the driver had discretion which he could choose to extend OR NOT. A driver in that situation may have already been concerned about being late for stops on his route - after all, pulling out at 1732 means he was already 2 mins down at rush hour. I would appreciate anyone in the know indicating if there is a BE policy in respect of boarding passengers at stop lights but my instinct is that once the bus left the bay that was that.

I am more concerned about this part:

There was nothing that any of the other passengers could do to help, the bus driver in question is known for scaring the bejasus out of people and reqular users on the route are terrified of the little so-and-so.

There absolutely was something that could have been done. The passengers could have made prior complaints about the driver's behaviour. By failing to do so, BE management had no way to know about it and take corrective action. I hope you do so now.

-Chris-

ronaneire wrote: »

What ever happened to paragraphs?

Fixed

-Chris-

sing_dumb wrote: »

Got the Tullow/Wexford bus from Busarus yesterday, which departs at 5.30pm. At 5.32 exactly a rather flumoxxed elderly lady tied to board the bus, which had it's doors closed. The obnoixous little $$XX of a driver would not let the poor oul' divil on, even though she waved her Bus Pass madly at him.

Lads, I'm not joking, but that poor woman ran (YES...she RAN after the bus!!) and caught up with it at the Traffic Lights, and pleaded to be allowed on. No way Jose!!! Though he did unleash a torrent of abuse (not swearing as such, but calling her stupid etc etc) and we could see the distressed lady at the kerbside shaking and afraid, not to mention totally out of breath.

sing_dumb, can you clarify whether the bus was at the terminus or at the traffic lights at 5:32 when the lady tried to board the bus?

AlekSmart

sing dumb posted....

At 5.32 exactly a rather flumoxxed elderly lady tied to board the bus, which had it's doors closed. The obnoixous little $$XX of a driver would not let the poor oul' divil on, even though she waved her Bus Pass madly at him.

Lads, I'm not joking, but that poor woman ran (YES...she RAN after the bus!!) and caught up with it at the Traffic Lights, and pleaded to be allowed on.

Oddly enough I don`t get the same clarity from this colourful description as Foggy_Lad,in fact I find it a little ambigious.

If the Coach had pushed back from it`s stand and rolled out onto the Bus Aras apron (Assuming it was within Busaras,I see nothing untoward

Even if a perimiter departure,once the Doors close it`s game over,as the act of opening the door engages the Door Brake and effectively disables the vehicle in the general traffic flow,usually to the great displeasure of following traffic,which will, often then begin all sorts of wild manouveres to get past what they percieve as a "fcuxxking Bus Eireann Driver blocking up the street" as usual etc etc...

It`s a pertinient point to note that in the aftermath of the CIE groups renewed fixation on "Safety" the Bus companies in particular have been drumming "Correct Procedure" into their Driving grades.

This is resulting a shift of emphasis from the dawdling anything goes image to a far more regimented and definitive procedural scene.

It`s also worth noting that "Elderly Ladies" are a particular and recognized source of increased risk on Public Transport,something which has been the focus of scientific studies at home and abroad.

This would I suspect have influenced the Drivers decision not to open the doors in an uncontrolled setting,even if "only" 2 minutes late.

Granted It mightent look good,but the drivers risk analysis is what now swings it in the end.

gmale

I get the bus regularly and am often seen running for it. Many times i have been 1 or 2 minutes late and the driver has closed the door and pulled out into traffic and he will not let me on. He is dead right! I was late, only 1 or 2 minutes late but I was late!

If it is the last bus and it is a long journey, plan ahead and make sure you have plenty of time to get to the bus stop. Simple as

kraggy

gmale wrote: »

I get the bus regularly and am often seen running for it. Many times i have been 1 or 2 minutes late and the driver has closed the door and pulled out into traffic and he will not let me on. He is dead right! I was late, only 1 or 2 minutes late but I was late!

If it is the last bus and it is a long journey, plan ahead and make sure you have plenty of time to get to the bus stop. Simple as

All well and good, but treating an old lady in the manner that occurred in this case is inexcusable.

It's all too common with Bus Eireann staff. Cranky old pricks with better conditions than most other jobs. Every time I pass Galway bus station, they are always standing around in groups outside having a smoke and a chat. They can't all be on lunch at the same time.

mgmt

sing_dumb wrote: »

I HAD to vent about this, especially as the next bus, after the Sat 5.30pm one, is not tilll next day, on Sunday at 4.30pm.

This is not on. Please summit a complaint.

foggy_lad

kraggy wrote: »

All well and good, but treating an old lady in the manner that occurred in this case is inexcusable.

It's all too common with Bus Eireann staff. Cranky old pricks with better conditions than most other jobs. Every time I pass Galway bus station, they are always standing around in groups outside having a smoke and a chat. They can't all be on lunch at the same time.

They are not all bad, my experience of the drivers on the waterford route is they will usually allow late passengers board even when they have reversed out onto the busaras apron, but there are always one or two that are almost deliberately unhelpful.

dirtynosebeps

alex is 100% correct here. alot of people forget it's a job, a job with rules. anyone thats has one (no offence to those that dont) should understand this. it's great ranting and raving that the driver should've let her on etc. but at the end of the day the responsability falls back to the driver and only the driver. now to those backing up the o.p. and poor oul gran i ask you this. if i went to where you work and ask you to break your company rules knowing that your supervisor may be lurking around any corner watching.would you?. dublin bus and i assume bus eireann would have the same set of rules when it comes to things like this. also dont forget in cases like this especially being the last bus of the day one runner tends to turn into tens. it doesn't matter whether it a gran ,seb coe or michael schumacker running for the bus the drivers doors were closed driver was right.
i've a terminus 10 minutes up the road from me.if i get the bus i make damn sure that i'm at the stop before the bus is due to leave.
as for drivers standing around it's all about time keeping. if it's early your in luck, if it's late most likely you wont have a bus.

foggy_lad

dirtynosebeps wrote: »

alex is 100% correct here. alot of people forget it's a job, a job with rules. anyone thats has one (no offence to those that dont) should understand this. it's great ranting and raving that the driver should've let her on etc. but at the end of the day the responsability falls back to the driver and only the driver. now to those backing up the o.p. and poor oul gran i ask you this. if i went to where you work and ask you to break your company rules knowing that your supervisor may be lurking around any corner watching.would you?. dublin bus and i assume bus eireann would have the same set of rules when it comes to things like this. also .dont forget in cases like this especially being the last bus of the day one runner tends to turn into tens. it doesn't matter whether it a gran ,seb coe or michael schumacker running for the bus the drivers doors were closed driver was right.
i've a terminus 10 minutes up the road from me.if i get the bus i make damn sure that i'm at the stop before the bus is due to leave.
as for drivers standing around it's all about time keeping. if it's early your in luck if ,it's late most likely you wont have a bus.

fair enough some people would leave their own mothers at the side of the road but is that any reason to ridicule the poor woman in front of passengers and then to call her a drunk to another member of the public while all the time wearing the bus eireann uniform and representing the company?

If I owned a bus company and hot the slightest inkling of this behaviour from any member of staff regardless of how long they worked there they would be sweeping out the busses as I would not have them dealing with the public.

ressem

kraggy wrote: »

Every time I pass Galway bus station, they are always standing around in groups outside having a smoke and a chat. They can't all be on lunch at the same time.

They are required to take a 45 minute break after a long journey, e.g the dublin-galway.
Last week, on the Wednesday 7:30pm 20x from Galway to Dublin, the bus was at the stop at 7:25pm, but didn't leave till 8:00, as the driver had been delayed arriving.

Disagree with your generalization. Of the dozen drivers that I'd see on that route, only a couple would be jobsworths who would act in a manner comparable to the OP, and more than half would be considerate enough to let people with mobility difficulties out, even if it wasn't an official stop.

OT: As for the 'need' for keeping to schedule, what's with the policy of seconding Dublin Bus drivers to Bus Eireann, and sending them out with the instructions 'just follow the road straight all the way'. End results can be funny.

dirtynosebeps

foggy_lad wrote: »

but is that any reason to ridicule the poor woman in front of passengers and then to call her a drunk to another member of the public while all the time wearing the bus eireann uniform and representing the company?

If I owned a bus company and hot the slightest inkling of this behaviour from any member of staff regardless of how long they worked there they would be sweeping out the busses as I would not have them dealing with the public.

absoultely not, it doesn't matter which company he worked for be it dunnes stores, ruinair oops meant ryanair, bord gais, sky etc. you just dont go around making accusations in front of passengers like that even if they were true. T.B.H. this is the only sensible complaint the o.p. has for this thread. the bus driver did his job right when dealing with gran. if fact if you look at the doors of most of dublin buses fleet you will see the following " in the interest of safety doors will not be opened between stops".
in some time of our lives we will be treated appalingly, i had it a while back in ones of dunnes restaurants, haven't gone back since. so it's not just bus/transport companies where we are treated badly/unfairly.

foggy_lad

dirtynosebeps wrote: »

absoultely not, it doesn't matter which company he worked for be it dunnes stores, ruinair oops meant ryanair, bord gais, sky etc. you just dont go around making accusations in front of passengers like that even if they were true. T.B.H. this is the only sensible complaint the o.p. has for this thread. the bus driver did his job right when dealing with gran. if fact if you look at the doors of most of dublin buses fleet you will see the following " in the interest of safety doors will not be opened between stops".
in some time of our lives we will be treated appalingly, i had it a while back in ones of dunnes restaurants, haven't gone back since. so it's not just bus/transport companies where we are treated badly/unfairly.

but the problem is that while we can chose to eat elsewhere if we are treated badly in dunnes or wherever if you rely on bus eireann for that last 5.30pm bus to the wilds of county carlow/wexford you are at the mercy of the driver who can decide to leave a few minutes early or late as he sees fit and while most decent people wouuld let an elderly lady board their bus even ten minutes late there are many that seem to take great pleasure and amusement from seeing the face of someone as they are left hoplessly stranded a hundred miles or more from home!

-Chris-

@everyone - can we keep the hyperbole and outrage to a minimum if we could?

I'd like to see the OP back on thread to possibly clarify some points in their post.

Without them we'll just have a
-he was a dick
-oh no he wasn't, he was following the rules
-all bus drivers are dicks
-oh no they aren't...

etc.

Take a deep breath before posting and maybe wait until the OP is available to respond to any queries on their post.

Terrontress

It's a very emotive subject but I suppose if we looked at it that if the elderly lady had been two minutes late and the bus had already departed then she would have had the prospect of staying overnight.

It's the thought of the elderly lady that makes it different. I've been on a bus where the driver has just started to turn the wheels, two girls come running along, arms flailing, shouting to stop. The driver does so, one of them runs on the other slows down and then when they are on the bus instead of buying their ticket they laugh and laugh as if it is the funniest thing they have ever witnessed.

I wish the driver had left them behind but I'd be heartbroken to see an elderly lady. Yet the rules can't be made with old women in mind.

foggy_lad

Terrontress wrote: »

It's a very emotive subject but I suppose if we looked at it that if the elderly lady had been two minutes late and the bus had already departed then she would have had the prospect of staying overnight.

It's the thought of the elderly lady that makes it different. I've been on a bus where the driver has just started to turn the wheels, two girls come running along, arms flailing, shouting to stop. The driver does so, one of them runs on the other slows down and then when they are on the bus instead of buying their ticket they laugh and laugh as if it is the funniest thing they have ever witnessed.

I wish the driver had left them behind but I'd be heartbroken to see an elderly lady. Yet the rules can't be made with old women in mind.

this elderly woman was left behind in this case while we have all seen instances where two or even one young wan has been allowed board the bus at traffic lights etc simply because they are more pleasing to the drivers eye?

Nobody should be left behind on the last bus oe the day and I am not talking about waiting am hour in case people turn up but if someone approaches as the bus is reversing out they should be allowed board regardless of their age or how late the bus might be.

-Chris-

foggy_lad wrote: »

Nobody should be left behind on the last bus oe the day and I am not talking about waiting am hour in case people turn up but if someone approaches as the bus is reversing out they should be allowed board regardless of their age or how late the bus might be.

Do we know whether the bus was reversing out or whether it was already at the traffic lights?
I don't even know if the young lady who tried to mediate was on the bus or was a bystander on the street who decided to plead to the driver through closed doors at the traffic lights.

foggy_lad

From the original post the bus was at the loading doorway in busaras with the door closed, presumably ready to reverse out and depart when the elderly woman first approached. She should and could easily have been allowed board the bus at this point without comment from the driver but he motioned to her that she was late and not getting on his bus

The woman caught up with the bus at the front of busaras where the bus is in street traffic but was stopped at traffic lights. Again here she could have been allowed board the bus as we have all seen similar instances of people boarding or allighting at traffic lights before. The driver may have considered she was an elderly woman and that it was unsafe to let her board at the lights but he obviously did not think of that when still parked in busaras!

The other woman was on the street and must have thought the elderly woman was in some distress to come to her assistance?

-Chris-

And this is my point - on my first reading of the OP I thought the young woman was on the bus (and I'm still not definite). I'm not sure if the bus driver said the old woman was drunk or if he was talking about the young woman.

who what when

sing_dumb wrote: »

Got the Tullow/Wexford bus from Busarus yesterday, which departs at 5.30pm. At 5.32 exactly a rather flumoxxed elderly lady tied to board the bus, which had it's doors closed. The obnoixous little $$XX of a driver would not let the poor oul' divil on, even though she waved her Bus Pass madly at him.

Lads, I'm not joking, but that poor woman ran (YES...she RAN after the bus!!) and caught up with it at the Traffic Lights, and pleaded to be allowed on. No way Jose!!! Though he did unleash a torrent of abuse (not swearing as such, but calling her stupid etc etc) and we could see the distressed lady at the kerbside shaking and afraid, not to mention totally out of breath.

A younger woman came to her assistance, and when she tried to mediate for her, the horrible, illegitimate son-of-Satan driver told her she was drunk, and then calmly drove on!!!! Without the lady.

I know, I know...the unfortunate woman WAS a whole two minutes late....but what gave that driver the right to use such Terrorist tactics against a fragile old lady? For Godsakes, that woman was somebody's mother or grandmother and surely she deserved to be treated like a human being.

Even now, a day later, that whole incident feels so wrong to me. There was nothing that any of the other passengers could do to help, the bus driver in question is known for scaring the bejasus out of people and reqular users on the route are terrified of the little so-and-so. But I must state most of the other drivers on this route are perfectly sound.

I HAD to vent about this, especially as the next bus, after the Sat 5.30pm one, is not tilll next day, on Sunday at 4.30pm. A million questions need to be asked here...like when did human respect for our elderly vanish? Would you or I like this to happen to our mam or granny?? Where did that poor woman spend last night in Dublin and did she have any money for a B+B, or family she could kip with??? Etc Etc. I'm haunted by the look on that distressed woman's face...as she watched the 5.30 Tullow/Wexford bus, pull off without her!!!! God help her and may God forgive the wretched driver who humiliated and degraded her.

I think your future is in journalism. Give the daily mail a ring and see if they have any vacancies!

-Chris-

who what when wrote: »

I think your future is in journalism. Give the daily mail a ring and see if they have any vacancies!

Attack the post and not the poster please.

gmale

foggy_lad wrote: »

this elderly woman was left behind in this case while we have all seen instances where two or even one young wan has been allowed board the bus at traffic lights etc simply because they are more pleasing to the drivers eye?

You should not be allowed say things like that, not while the driver is not here to defend himself.

foggy_lad wrote: »

Nobody should be left behind on the last bus oe the day and I am not talking about waiting am hour in case people turn up but if someone approaches as the bus is reversing out they should be allowed board regardless of their age or how late the bus might be.

And what purpose does a bus timetable serve if that is the case?

corktina

-Chris- wrote: »

And this is my point - on my first reading of the OP I thought the young woman was on the bus (and I'm still not definite). I'm not sure if the bus driver said the old woman was drunk or if he was talking about the young woman.

exactly my reading of it. No judgement can be made on such inconclusive "facts" as provided.

AlekSmart

Attack the post and not the poster please.

Agreed Chris,however in the absence of folow up from the OP I can also see where who,what,when is coming from.

Unlike some other posters,who see a very clear scenario from the OP`s highly descriptive yet somewhat vague wording,I also try to view it from a Busdrivers perspective,particularly at the Busaras/Store St/Beresford Place zone...a location which fulfills most criterium for where NOT to site a major inter urban station......

Perhaps Sing_Dumb has raised the matter already with Bus Eireann before reverting here with an update.

I`m stripping out the emotive language and tone from the OP and finding a pretty standard complaint which most scheduled Bus service drivers would have to deal with on a daily basis.

The obnoixous little $$XX of a driver would not let the poor oul' divil on, even though she waved her Bus Pass madly at him.

With the Busdrivers personality and attitude already well defined in the first paragraph I cannot view this as merely a factual account of an occurrence.

I would hope that the complaint filed with Bus Eireann was couched in somewhat more measured and reasoned language.

Expanding a little on the topic,it`s worth understanding that in my daily work I would leave several "Runners" in my wake,not by intention or design,but simply due to the exegiencies of maintaining headway.

Foggy_lad posted ...

.We have all seen instances where two or even one young wan has been allowed board the bus at traffic lights etc simply because they are more pleasing to the drivers eye?

Notwithstanding Foggy_lads unerring ability to witness all manner of "wrong-stuff" perpretated by Bus Eireann staff (Of whom I am NOT one) I can assure him that if I have completed my Bus Stop procedure and moved away,then I will not board another passenger (staff included) irrespective of the attractiveness of those persons.

However,that is me and comes from my understanding and respect for the training I recieved and which has kept me acident free for nearly 20 years (TG).

I have no problem admitting that Drivers do open the Doors in inadvisable and poorly located situations and as a result I have witnessed my fair share of near-misses and actual incidents as a result.

An hour spent in or around O Connell St will graphically illustrate this if F_L or others wish to improve their comprehension of the Bus drivers requirement to compromise safety in favour of convienence.

Thus far in this thread,we appear to have a somewhat desireably ambigious description of an incident witnessed (persumably from somewhere within the coach),which then is tranlated into a highly graphic account which is then coloured-up by other posters of a given intent.

:eek:

foggy_lad

My point about this incident is the driver had every opportunity to allow the woman board the bus without breaking any rules before he set off from his stand in busaras but CHOSE to leave her there and from the op took some pleasure in leaving a passenger stranded!

The op posted
"A younger woman came to her assistance, and when she tried to mediate for her, illegitimate son-of-Satan driver told her she was drunk, and then calmly drove on!!!! Without the lady."

Which seems to me quite clearly the other woman was a bystander and the driver brushed off her concerns for the elderly woman by claiming the elderly woman was drunk!

Mr. Presentable

foggy_lad wrote: »

My point about this incident is the driver had every opportunity to allow the woman board the bus without breaking any rules before he set off from his stand in busaras but CHOSE to leave her there and from the op took some pleasure in leaving a passenger stranded!

I wasn't there, you weren't there. So we cannot know if the above is true.

I wonder what the OP would have read like had the bus been late leaving Busaras because the driver waited for a junkie to get to the bus..........

foggy_lad

Mr. Presentable wrote: »

I wasn't there, you weren't there. So we cannot know if the above is true.

I wonder what the OP would have read like had the bus been late leaving Busaras because the driver waited for a junkie to get to the bus..........

i was not there and the op was but there was also no junkies there mentioned either unless already on the bus!

what has happened to common decency and courtesy from people employed dealing with the public especially in state companies like bus eireann? any reasonable driver would have allowed this elderly woman or anyone else to board the last bus home before moving off from the boarding gate in busaras. this driver seems to have derived amusement from seeing someone stranded in dublin and humiliating them!

what other valid reason would he have for his actions? it is not enough to just say the elderly woman was late etc she was let down very badly by a company she relies on for transportation because they employ this standard of driver!

i would say to anyone seeing drivers/employees behave so badly on any bus train taxis etc report them and get rid if them! there is no place in decent society for them. and remember if you see a driver using their mobile phone report it to the company and also to the guards as bus eireann or other companies will not report their own drivers for breaking the law!