Tuesday, July 04, 2006
Backdoors Won't Open.
When people signal a stop, very often the backdoor of the bus which is meant for passengers to exit through, is not opened by the driver. Plenty of times you hear people yelling "backdoor, backdoor!", and on some occasions the driver couldn't hear it and the passenger(s) had to wait until the next stop to get off the bus. Sometimes these passengers were elderly, maybe didn't speak English well, and well, it looks like they were pressed into a rather humiliating situation by being prompted to yell in front of people, and for no apparent good reason, other than something very basic in the system didn't work as it's supposed to.
Just like bus-drivers are meant to stop at bus stops and pick up riders, aren't they Also meant to open the rear exit door when riders signal a stop?
These are perplexing issues. Nobody seems to know why they happen, what their motivator is, why they're allowed to continue, and why no-one seems to care.
However, it can be of a quite big issue when people aren't let off the bus when they expect it. First off, it ought to be mandatory as part of a crucial, public service, to let people off the bus they've paid to ride. But moreover this causes unnecessary frustrations in people because of its disruptive impact in their daily lives.
Elderly who had to walk an extra couple of blocks on foot because the driver didn't let them off, is unacceptable. Because it's unconscionable. And I have no clue why it happens. For sure, sometimes the driver just misses the signal by accident. But when the same behavior becomes a pattern, one has to start wondering.
It's unconscionable to let elderly people or mothers, for instance, desperately try to utter "backdoor, backdoor, puleaaase", just to get out of the bus. It's unconscionable. Yet they allow it to happen, year, after year, after year.
Sometimes the driver appeared to not hear the signal. Other times it appeared they did, but didn't care. Compounding that issue is the sheer over-crowding of the bus which often makes it impossible for people to navigate to the other door, by which time, if they managed to, would've already been too late as the bus would already be rolling. Thus, many people know that once the driver misses a signal, it's time for panic, because it means they know they might have to walk an extra mile (literally).
Just like bus-drivers are meant to stop at bus stops and pick up riders, aren't they Also meant to open the rear exit door when riders signal a stop?
These are perplexing issues. Nobody seems to know why they happen, what their motivator is, why they're allowed to continue, and why no-one seems to care.
However, it can be of a quite big issue when people aren't let off the bus when they expect it. First off, it ought to be mandatory as part of a crucial, public service, to let people off the bus they've paid to ride. But moreover this causes unnecessary frustrations in people because of its disruptive impact in their daily lives.
Elderly who had to walk an extra couple of blocks on foot because the driver didn't let them off, is unacceptable. Because it's unconscionable. And I have no clue why it happens. For sure, sometimes the driver just misses the signal by accident. But when the same behavior becomes a pattern, one has to start wondering.
It's unconscionable to let elderly people or mothers, for instance, desperately try to utter "backdoor, backdoor, puleaaase", just to get out of the bus. It's unconscionable. Yet they allow it to happen, year, after year, after year.
Sometimes the driver appeared to not hear the signal. Other times it appeared they did, but didn't care. Compounding that issue is the sheer over-crowding of the bus which often makes it impossible for people to navigate to the other door, by which time, if they managed to, would've already been too late as the bus would already be rolling. Thus, many people know that once the driver misses a signal, it's time for panic, because it means they know they might have to walk an extra mile (literally).
