DTAsshole Edited

Hi, my name is BSG, and I am a 22 year old student with the condition dwarfism, requiring me to use a power wheelchair to be independent.  I have lived in Duluth my entire life, and have been using the Duluth Transit Authority as well as STRIDE for roughly 10 years.  I have had several interesting experiences while riding, but I have never felt any disrespect or animosity from any of the drivers, even those that are clearly having a bad day.  I regret to inform you that this is no longer the case.

On June 26th of 2011 at roughly 12:30 PM, I left Computer Renaissance in the Village Mall to catch a bus to my house which is near Marshal High School.  I used google maps on my iphone to find a Duluth Transit Authority bus.  My phone suggested I catch the 10h on the corner of Mall Drive and Decker Road at 12:34, giving me only a few minutes to cross the busy street to get to the stop.  The bus was said to arrive at my destination at 12:49.

After having a difficult time spotting it, I finally recognized the bus sign, but the location was hardly ideal for even a normal person to be picked up at, much less someone in a wheelchair.  Across the street I saw a 2, which would have also brought me in the direction I was going, but the driver didn't see my hailing, which was understandable given the angles we were at.

Bus number 128 pulled up to the stop sign 20 feet from the stop, at which I flagged the driver.  His response was to wave his arms around in a confused flurry, while making angry faces.  As I approached the bus, he yelled out of his open door:

“This isn't a stop!”  I turned and pointed at the bus sign, suggesting that it was indeed a stop.  Cars began stopping behind the bus, making both of us anxious.  I asked what he expected me to do, looking back down Mall street which lacks a side walk, then asking if I should take a different bus.  He said “This isn't a good spot, you knew that!” as he released his ramp.  As I get on, he asks “Where are you going?”  and I say “The Copper Top area.  By the highway department.”  He either didn't hear me, misunderstood where I was going, or (as is suggested by later events) was disingenuous, as he didn't say anything.

The driver strapped my chair down correctly and then despite his urgency, professionally and intentionally offered me a lap belt which I declined as I normally would, but when I went to give him my fair.  He said “I don't have time for that, I've got 30 cars behind me!”  I felt attacked and ridiculed, but even at this point I could understand the frustration the driver was having with the poorly placed stop after what appeared to be a difficult day for him already, and while I thought he was being unnecessarily rude by taking it out on me, I wasn't perturbed.

(The order of events during the next paragraphs aren't clear to me, but their sequence isn't exactly relevant.)

Another passenger in a wheelchair was already strapped down next to me when I got on, and he was able to get off the bus without hassle or complaint from the driver, however he did sarcastically ask if the passenger was sure this was his stop, most likely implying that I didn't know where I was going.

After we begin driving, the driver asks “Where are you going again?”  I repeat myself, and he explodes:  “Well why didn't you take a downtown bus!?  This is the wrong bus.”  After explaining that my phone told me to take the 10h, and that I wasn't able to catch the downtown, I was concerned that I was going in the wrong direction and actually did make a mistake.  I apologized at this point that I may have taken the wrong bus, and that while the stop was inconvenient for the both of us, it was hardly my fault.

The driver stops at the front of K-mart (or possibly Target, I wasn't paying attention), adjacent to another long-grey-bearded DTA driver , to comlain about his nightmarish day.  After pulling ahead, he   spoke on the phone with dispatch, explaining that he was running 20 minutes late (which didn't make sense, considering he arrived at my stop exactly on time) and then said, quote “It's a nightmare, I've had like 5 wheelchairs in one run.”  at which point I became incredibly angry and personally insulted.

I would like to note at this point in my complain that I do not consider the driver himself prejudice against my disability.  I do not believe this statement was even intended for the passengers to hear as his other comments were, or particularly an attack against wheelchair users as much as he was complaining about running behind schedule.  Nonetheless I did overhear it, and was incredibly angered by his attitude.  I retaliated sarcastically, speaking loudly enough for the driver to hear: “Oh I'm sorry your JOB is so hard.”  This wasn't intended to be an insult against bus drivers, but a criticism of his poor work ethics.  Wheelchairs are part of his job.

The driver ignored my comment until wrapping around the K-mart parking lot to stop at the bus shelter.  He asked me “Do you wanna get off here?”  I said “... no, this isn't my stop...”  He pulled forward six feet, stood up and said “Well we're gonna be here for 25 minutes.” and then stepped off of the bus to complain about his nightmare of a day to another passing bus driver (likely one I could have transferred onto), leaving me alone strapped down in the idle bus.

I should note that while unacceptable and far worse given the driver's attitude, this layover experience has happened to me before while riding the DTA, and each time the drivers were very concerned that it was against the rules, and had often let me off the bus to have a smoke with them while we waited to leave.  I don't think that this situation is entirely unreasonable in normal circumstances.

When the driver returned with a coke in hand roughly 10 minutes later, he seemed in a better mood “Well, now I'm cooled off.”

“Well, I'm not.” was my immediate literal and figurative response.  I explained how, had I understood that the driver would be waiting here for 20 minutes, I would have gotten off when given the opportunity to take the downtown as per his original advice, and that I didn't think it was very fair that he was taking his bad day out on me.  His failure to respond to this with a basic apology, especially after I was so apologetic about a bus stop that wasn't within my control, sent me up the wall.

I kept my nerves and simply wanted off the bus.  I asked if he thought I should get on “the right bus” since he wasn't going to my stop, but to this he finally responded and said in a gentle, meek voice “You're fine.” Which implied that he was actually going to my original stop, opposite his claim that I got on the wrong bus.  I realize that he was probably originally suggesting that his bus was the long route and that the quicker method would be a downtown bus, but this is hardly a mistake worth a strangers reprimand.  I offered my fair again, which he gingerly accepted without comment.

As we pulled past the Miller Hill Mall door 8, where many people are usually waiting to go downtown, I scoffed that “We got lucky, no wheelchairs.” in reference to his “5 wheelchair nightmare” of a run.  The driver wisely did not return my snide remarks, to which I made a second when a bike-rider had trouble putting his bike on the rack a few blocks from my destination.  “Do bikes count as inconveniences, or is it just wheelchairs?”  While I admit these comments may not have been constructive or respectful, I think that in light of what I felt like saying, they were moderate.

I arrived at my intended destination, the corner of East Central Entrance and Mesaba Avenue at roughly 1:00-1:20, where the driver unstrapped me and I made a final comment, that I genuinely wished the driver could have a better day, “for the sake of everyone.”  And I exited the bus.

Overall, I found the driver incredibly disrespectful and poorly mannered.  I believe I have ridden with the driver before, and while he has always had a traditionally gruff exterior, he's always returned my politeness with genuine professionalism, so this was not his normal character for what I remember.

I do not wish or even think it would be a good idea to punish or terminate the driver, and I am not interested in or implying prejudice.  I was never in danger, aside from being inconveniently stuck inside of the bus, and the bus driver did the technical parts of his job professionally and without complaints.  It was his inability to communicate his frustrations and how I could have a better experience that made the ride unfortunately horrible.

I am also unwelcome to a corporate enforced apology from the driver and would be insulted, as he seemed unable to apologize after he clearly derided, offended, and enraged me simply for inconveniencing him, which he seemed quick to project along with his horrible mood onto me.  His meek nature after returning to the bus implies that he recognized the major mistakes he made, but was unwilling to admit it.  I wonder how much the settlement would have been if I were mentally challenged, as many DTA riders are?  I think this was both a failure in the employee's training combined with a very poorly thought-out stop, exacerbated by a heavy workload.

I would like to know that something is being done by the DTA to both ensure that protocol is flexible and adaptive enough for drivers to account for unwritten situations or unideal circumstances where all of the rules cannot be followed, relieving them of conflicting policies and stress, and that bus stops are not positioned in a way that holds traffic up when loading wheelchair users.  I also think that a more comprehensive and available STRIDE program that could accommodate regular access and short-notice rides for increased fairs would relieve some of the difficulty that more drivers than 128 have dealt with.  Progress in these areas would be far more ideal and would have far greater reach than a typical complaint appeasement would, quelling my own unhappiness with the incident.

You can contact me through my e-mail, or by preferentially by phone at *beep*.  Thank you very much for your time, and I hope that positive change can come from this incident instead of further contention.  I wouldn't want to see someone lose their long standing job and be replaced by someone who is inadequate in another undiscovered area, when this driver has an opportunity to grow and add temper control and communication to his list of professional skills, improving his value to your company instead of abandoning or simply reprimanding him.  Please consider both my complaint and my plea for growth over mitigation.

Sincerely,
BSG