Off the bus!

A local uproar is being made about a local lady who was kicked of the bus for failing to quiet her crying baby.  The driver has been disciplined, though Tri-Met cannot disclose what the discipline was.  It is probably a letter in the driver''s personnel file that stands to be removed upon appeal if the driver cares to do so.

Many passengers got off the bus with the lady and the baby - a sign of solidarity against the bus driver's unreasonable demands.  I think it is wonderful the support of the other passengers, all the media coverage and the public outcry.

At the same time, I am bothered at all the attention this story is getting.

Twenty one years ago...Jodie and I were newlyweds.  We were living in those old brick apartments behind Carr Chevrolet in Beaverton.   I was working for the child welfare office in Hillsboro; Jodie was working for for the Center for Hearing and Speech up on the hill..  I would race home from work in my '70 Nova (they can go fast...I've been told)  and I would wait for Jodie to come home on the bus.

Jodie would take the bus from up on the hill, to downtown Portland, and transfer to the Beaverton bus.

One day I was home waiting for Jodie.  The phone rang.  Jodie was calling from downtown on a pay phone. She was crying.  "The driver won't let me on his bus.  You need to come and get me."  I hopped in the Nova and drove downtown.  Jodie was waiting on the corner, shaking with anger and tears.

Jodie was walking with crutches at the time.  To get on the bus, she would hand the driver one of her crutches so she had a free hand for the railing.  Most drivers easily complied with this, but this one driver refused.

We called  Tri-Met to complain.  They wanted to witness the driver not letting Jodie on the bus.  They stationed a supervisor where the drive could not see him.  The driver refused to let Jodie on the bus.  They tried this again, and the driver refused again.  The third time, with a supervisor visible, the drive still would not allow Jodie on the bus...he was not going to be told what to do.  The fourth time, with a supervisor stationed where Jodie got on the bus and another stationed where Jodie got off the bus, the driver complied, shutting off the bus and making as big of show as he could.

Jodie and I went to a meeting with a special disabled committee with Tri-Met.  Jodie shared what happened...and they did not really care.  We were laughed at.

I was not blogging at the time.  Facebook and Twitter was not around.  I may have written a letter to the paper.  There was not a way to get the story out...and all the avenues we took to get the story out were met with apathy.  The only real comfort we had were other drivers who knew who this driver was did not have good things to say about him.  He was a bad egg.

The story about the lady with a  crying baby getting kicked off the bus is getting the viral social media treatment.  She is getting the attention that Jodie never got.   In the end, however, the driver gets a slap on the hand.

Similar stories, much different public attention.

In the end, the outcome is the same.  The status quo is met.