I rarely need to take the bus here in Vancouver as I can pretty much walk to wherever I need to be. Friday however, was one of the rare cases where I had to bus somewhere and as usual, it was an experience. I bussed out to VGH on the 98 B-line pretty much in the middle of rush hour. The bus was swerving in and out of traffic, was all over the bridge and almost took out some cyclists just to add to the fun. The bus driver was on his personal cell phone the whole time blathering away in some sort of Indian language (Hindi? dunno). Dude! Your job is to pay attention to the road, not talk to you pals while driving 200 of us around in traffic at speeds up to 70 km/h! It’s like cab drivers here, they miss the turn to your place and go the long way because they are too busy talking on their phones…so annoying not to mention dangerous.
Sunday, June 03, 2007
On Busses and cell phones
I rarely need to take the bus here in Vancouver as I can pretty much walk to wherever I need to be. Friday however, was one of the rare cases where I had to bus somewhere and as usual, it was an experience. I bussed out to VGH on the 98 B-line pretty much in the middle of rush hour. The bus was swerving in and out of traffic, was all over the bridge and almost took out some cyclists just to add to the fun. The bus driver was on his personal cell phone the whole time blathering away in some sort of Indian language (Hindi? dunno). Dude! Your job is to pay attention to the road, not talk to you pals while driving 200 of us around in traffic at speeds up to 70 km/h! It’s like cab drivers here, they miss the turn to your place and go the long way because they are too busy talking on their phones…so annoying not to mention dangerous.
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2 comments:
OMG! There was a news segment on this very subject last night. Aparently drivers are only allowed to use their phones in case of emergency (which makes sense). As a rider you have every right to report them to either a transit supervisor (and they are hard to find) or get the bus number and the driver number (it's the number in the front of the ticket machine in the front window and call Transit Security (604) 953-3220. Let them know that you do not feel safe with the way your driver is performing their job and that they are on a cell phone while driving. Given the public interest in this very subject I think Translink would react quite quickly to your concerns.
Damn! If only I could find that guy again then! I guess I could take an afternoon off of work and stand around by Burrard Station but yeah, I think it's too late. It was scary though literally flying over the Granville Street bridge while he was yammering on.
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