I live in DC, where the buses and metro are often crowded during rush hour. You know what? It happens! Deal with it! People need to get home and thankfully they chose to take public transportation instead of driving a car and thankfully the public transportation exists for those of us who don't have cars. And guess what? Different types of people ride busses! Because differnt types of people choose to take public transportation and different types of people don't have cars.
This afternoon, during rush hour, I took a bus I don't normally take - a bus that runs rarely and is often very crowded. On this particular afternoon, as we pulled up to this particular bus stop, there were people standing on the bus, but we weren't yet at the in-each-other's-armpits stage yet. So we pull up to the bus stop and there is a woman in a wheel chair waiting for the bus. The driver opens the door...
Driver: Sorry, we're full. I can't let you on
Woman: WHAT?
Driver: There's no room. I can't let you on.
Woman: You have to!
Driver: I can't.
Woman: I have a RIGHT to ride this bus! Let me on!
He closes the door. We're at a red light, so we can't pull away. I am standing in the front of the bus, approximately where the woman would secure her chair.
Me: I'll get off. Let me off.
Another Woman: Me too, I'll get off.
Driver: I can't ask you to get off, there's no room.
He won't open the door.
Me: I WANT to get off.
Other woman: Me too.
Driver: I can't ask you to get off.
Meanwhile, the woman outside the bus has wheeled her chair in front of the bus. I can't hear her, but the driver begins to yell at her.
Driver: Get out of the WAY! I can't let you on the bus!
As the woman inside the bus and I are beginning to make our way to the door, he pulls around the woman outside, never opening the door, constantly refusing to let us off.
I am sickened by the absolutely LACK of understanding on the part of the driver. The woman at the stop needed a ride. She might have been waiting there for more than half an hour, if other buses as crowded has also refused her. And she now has to wait another half an hour for the next bus, which also might refuse her. I understand that he didn't want to ask some passengers to leave to let another passenger on, but when some passengers are ASKING to get out, and are effectively refused, that goes beyond the pale.
Does anyone know the legality of this issue? I'm not up on my ADA or transportation regulations.
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To me, it sounds like the bus driver in your case was trying to avoid what he probably saw as a hassle and a delay. Obviously he can't ask other patrons to disembark to allow someone else on if there genuinely isn't room on the bus. But you were asking to get off, and refusing you almost qualifies as kidnapping (or something like that) if the bus was still at the bus stop when you made your request. Certainly what he did doesn't seem kosher.
A woman in my city had to file a Human Rights complaint against the city before they would even agree to let wheelchairs on their "wheelchair accessible" buses. Their excuses for not allowing her on were that a) staff wasn't trained to secure wheelchairs safely b) the ramp lowering mechanisms on the buses were unreliable and c) boarding wheelchairs would put the buses off-schedule.
Even now, three years later, only 5 of our 13 routes allow wheelchairs, and on those routes only about 50% of the bus stops are accessible.
Contact the metro office for the DC bus system and report the route number and time when this happened. If the driver did something wrong, his supervisors and people who are more familiar with the ADA regulations to which drivers are subject will deal with the situation.
I made a complaint while I was riding the bus - yeah Blackberry.
I'd like to say I'm shocked, but I'm not. I spent years taking Metro and the MARC train and the general attitude by bus drivers and station attendants and such is pretty bad.
I would make a complaint to WMATA and if you're up for it, contact someone with the Metro section of the Post. Metro has had problems with their MetroAccess program for people with disabilities and that and regular Metro service isn't going to improve if it doesn't continue to get attention.
I commend you and the other lady for trying to disembark from the bus. It can be rough I almost had to punch a guy in the nose for being nasty to mi prima and her baby carriage on there.
Maybe it was a time issue for him? I think maybe bus drivers get reprimanded if they get too far behind schedule because I have had drivers drive right past me with a half empty bus when it is obvious I am waiting for the bus. Often times they seem tired and overworked and cranky too, so I figure their job has to be trying. (Of course, I have also had a couple drivers who were very kind and helpful) I know it isn't an excuse at all and lowering the ramp is part of his job but it may account more for his motivation in not stopping than simply hating women in wheelchairs.
I am a frequent bus driver, and yeah he was trying to avoid what he viewed as a hassle. MANY drivers I have seen don't take disabilities into consideration. However, there are the rare few that are awesome and on campus, typically some of the bus drivers that take us to the Fall River station are pretty good. It is one of those off days where the usual drivers aren't on that shift this time and they are like, "ugh."
It's a definate violation of rights. I have seen drivers get upset at elderly women who have trouble up the bus steps.
However, the new bus style may be eliminating that "hassle" of getting out and lowering the ramp, bring it up, etc. Now, the front door that people use is wide enough and has a lever control for a ramp for individuals to immediately get on the bus. The only thing the driver needs to do now, is lower the rack of seats and buckle the person up. Hopefully, if more buses are made like this, there will be more opprotunity for any wheelchair individual to get a ride.
It's not about whether he was motivated or not. This is part of his job. Sometimes I'm not motivated to stay late at work, but I do it. Props to you and the other woman for speaking up and offering to delay your transport for this woman.
The driver would have let an abled-body woman on the bus, so he should have let the woman in a wheelchair on as well.
Another head-shake at society...
I spent a summer working for Open Top Sightseeing in DC, and all drivers/hosts were trained to secure wheelchairs. It was one of the first things they taught us as hosts, and it took them all of five minutes to teach us, because it's NOT that hard. While drivers were really pressured to stay on schedule, most of our drivers always made sure to stop for elderly/handicapped people if there was any room at all on the bus. It was a terrible company in other ways, but I never saw someone with a disability treated unfairly. There's no excuse for that.