Behind the bus wheel

January 31, 2006

Dear Sir,

I have noticed an increase in the amount of complaints about bus operators lately. After you read this letter I hope that those that tend to complain about bus operators as well as those who tend to be persuaded by them would see things a little differently. I have been driving Bermuda?s buses for approximately seven years and I would like to share with you what can happen in a typical week in my area of responsibility to serve the general public of our country.

I will start with what I discovered just one week prior to writing this letter. After each trip we always try to check the bus for lost property and ensure that the bus is clean for the next run. You won?t believe that I found a cluster of spit on the floor. You mean to tell me that some individual took the time to spit on the floor of the bus a few times, instead of using a napkin. I am sure you would agree that such an action is disrespectful to the public as well as the operator themselves. I had to endure the trouble of finding sand in order to cover it up. Just imagine if someone would have slipped in it; or a small toddler discovered it and soiled his or her clothes. Surely that person would not like someone to spit next to wear they sit in their house.

There are also many times that bus operators throughout or Island give passengers breaks on a daily basis. Passengers get on the bus and say ?I lost my ticket? or ?I lost my pass? or are simply bold enough to only put in $1.75 give or take, and sit down without saying a word, knowing full well that the minimum adult fare is $3. The same day in question a passenger boarded my bus and said that he only has a $50 bill so he cannot pay his bus fare. I told him in that case, why don?t you just put in the $50 and each time you get on my bus I will deduct that from your total; of course he refused and decided to catch a cab. Normally I would have taken him, but after a while you get tired of being taken advantage of.

What the aggravated person who is declined from boarding a bus fails to realise is that it is not fair for others who have to pay. I have also had passengers that tell me that they only have $20 and they will pay their fare when they get change at the bus terminal, only to notice when it is too late that they conveniently decided get off at the Flag Pole instead. I had the unwelcome experience of that with various people on several occasions last year.

I also had taken one person to work, even though they did not have any bus fare. That morning my bus was late for ten minutes due to rush hour. When I went on my break I was informed that this same person called in to report that I made them late for work; I guess they forgot to inform PTB that that they also received a free ride due to the kindness of the same driver. On the other hand, someone reported that they missed the bus because it arrived too early. Hence, I advise people to be at the bus five to ten minutes prior to the arrival time because it is nigh to impossible to schedule a bus to arrive at their stop at the exact time each day.

It amazes me that we can wait for 90 minutes for a plane that will depart, but cannot arrive five minutes early to wait to board a bus. I don?t understand it! Another day when I went on break it was reported that at a certain stop I left someone behind and I only had three people standing. How ludicrous! I had approximately 15 people standing that day. Just last year I was involved in rescuing over three buses from becoming ablaze when some deranged individual decided to set buses on fire at the Somerset station that many would remember. Had I not been there at the time to remove the buses, we (the tax payers) would have had to replace two or three of our buses that cost approximately $250,000 each. Of course, no one called to say ?thank you? for that, neither did I expect such, I just did what I felt was the right thing at the time and just hope that others would make similar decisions by thinking of the other person.

Before I sign off, please keep in mind that bus operators cover a vast spectrum of service occupations. Sometimes we have to be a housekeeper when youth leave litter all over the bus after a school run; we are referees to the occasional fight that may break out; we become patrol officers when someone gets unruly and decides that everyone is his enemy; we have to become Police officers to deny someone that is trying to board the bus that is highly intoxicated for the safety of other passengers; we at times are also counsellors for the night train when someone gets on and is so stressed that they have to speak to someone before doing something they shouldn?t; we become an assistant to the elderly to help them on the bus, when no one else will; we also have to be like parents to teach a young person not to curse in public, when his/her mother or father should have taught them at home. This is the stress and duty that comes from being a bus operator.

The reality is that any bus operator could most likely write a letter like this once a week for the next month. It is my hope that before people are tempted to call a talk show to complain about Bermuda?s bus operators, I hope they would remember this article, put themselves in our shoes, and instead support us as we support the general public ? including our tourists. In my opinion there is always room for improvement and surely some things are worth complaining about, but we can do without the petty complains and the talk show call-ins that degrade bus operators.

I would hope that Bermuda will become what it used to be: a time when people appreciated the occupations of others which would foster more greetings such as ?Good morning?, ?How are you?? and ?Thank you? on our buses. So let me be one of the first to say ?Thank you? for taking the time to read this. I trust that you would support and help us to make our job a little easier as we seek to serve you.

A public thank you note

January 28, 2006

Dear Sir,

Thank you, thank you, thank you to Mr. Curtis Simmons for returning my mother?s suitcase that was accidentally picked up by the sky cap at the airport. After driving the heavy case back to the airport from Warwick on his bike and enduring a bike malfunction, he flagged down a friend who brought him the rest of the way to the airport.

He was told by the Police Station there that they could not hold the bag due to new regulations and if he left it they would have to destroy it. He was so determined to get it to it?s rightful owner that he somehow drove the case all the way back on his bike to meet me at the Ice Queen in Paget! He wouldn?t even take any money for gas! You are a doll, Curtis! Thank you again!

Shoked at about-face

January 29, 2006

Dear Sir,

As a Bermudian, I am deeply ashamed of Government?s shocking behaviour in the expulsion of the prestigious Four Seasons Hotel group in the Club Med debacle. It will be well nigh impossible to find a group with more integrity and know how, and to think that they have invested millions of dollars and years of time in this project, and are then told to forget it, defies all reasoning.

This is not to mention the damage to the island?s reputation, as a responsible place for investors to place their money. Various unsavoury rumours are flying around about this project, and unless Government come up soon with a very viable reason for this appalling behaviour, we will have no alternative but to believe that the rumours are true. It will be very interesting to see what the Minister can come up with that can top the plans submitted by the Four Seasons group, plans that have taken a great deal of money, and years of research to finalise.

Challenger remembrance

January 30, 2006

Dear Sir,

Regarding the 20th anniversary of the Space Shuttle Challenger Disaster (?Remembering the Challenger?, January 28), I was in Florida at the time, 100 miles west of Cape Kennedy, watching the launch from the roof of the airport terminal where I worked. Many times, I would fly my plane to nearby Cocoa Beach Airport to see the shuttle launches at close range, but that day I didn?t bother, since the Challenger was scheduled to takeoff in the early morning and the weather was so cold. Even at that distance, the shuttle launches are clearly visible, and the twin sonic booms rattle the windows when the shuttles make their landing approach back to the Cape.

On that fateful morning, the explosion and fireball were clearly visible even from that distance, and it was obvious that something had gone terribly wrong. But what made that day even more disturbing for me was the large cloud with its ominous tentacles streaming to earth, all that remained of the shuttle in the sky, which lingered in the clear Florida sky all day long. Even towards sunset hours later, the blurred vestige of the terrible cloud remained aloft and spread westward. It seemed as though the astronauts? spirits were somehow lingering, reluctant to leave the sky into which they had ventured during those all too brief 73 seconds of flight.