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Disgusting and dangerous: a harrowing bus ride for me yesterday!

jaqie

jaqie

Platinum Member
Yesterday, I took a bus into town and took my bike. On the way back, I caught one driven by an old man that looked half-blind. I first noticed he was driving oddly when the bus would lurch to a stop with several obviously overzealous smacks to the airbrake pedal. After that, I started watching traffic and the bus driver's behaviour. It took me several minutes to realize he was cutting his nails with a nail clipper while driving the bus, and that was part of the reason for the erratic starts and stops. I was sure several times he was going to smash into the car/truck in front of us causing injury or death as well as ruining my bike (which was on the rack on the front of the bus)... Several times he missed a stoplight, and several more times he almost ran others out of their lane by straying into it over a foot. He even almost ran over a couple pedestrians on a crosswalk, dislodging some people from their seats with a slam on the airbrakes.
Even after he finally stopped trimming his nails, he was driving quite badly and erratically. I was so relieved to get off the bus safely that I forgot to get down the license plate, bus number, and time it arrived at my home stop... that man is a danger to everyone on and not on the bus...
 
Yikes. I know hindsight is always 20/20 but you should have taken the bus number and called the city. That is beyond uncalled for and extremely dangerous.
 
Originally posted by: jaqie
Yesterday, I took a bus into town and took my bike. On the way back, I caught one driven by an old man that looked half-blind. I first noticed he was driving oddly when the bus would lurch to a stop with several obviously overzealous smacks to the airbrake pedal. After that, I started watching traffic and the bus driver's behaviour. It took me several minutes to realize he was cutting his nails with a nail clipper while driving the bus, and that was part of the reason for the erratic starts and stops. I was sure several times he was going to smash into the car/truck in front of us causing injury or death as well as ruining my bike (which was on the rack on the front of the bus)... Several times he missed a stoplight, and several more times he almost ran others out of their lane by straying into it over a foot. He even almost ran over a couple pedestrians on a crosswalk, dislodging some people from their seats with a slam on the airbrakes.
Even after he finally stopped trimming his nails, he was driving quite badly and erratically. I was so relieved to get off the bus safely that I forgot to get down the license plate, bus number, and time it arrived at my home stop... that man is a danger to everyone on and not on the bus...
Click to expand...

This is why you have a foldable bike or if you hate all foldable bikes you can get any bike to go down in size you can carry it with you anywhere you go.
 
Originally posted by: pcslookout
Originally posted by: jaqie
Yesterday, I took a bus into town and took my bike. On the way back, I caught one driven by an old man that looked half-blind. I first noticed he was driving oddly when the bus would lurch to a stop with several obviously overzealous smacks to the airbrake pedal. After that, I started watching traffic and the bus driver's behaviour. It took me several minutes to realize he was cutting his nails with a nail clipper while driving the bus, and that was part of the reason for the erratic starts and stops. I was sure several times he was going to smash into the car/truck in front of us causing injury or death as well as ruining my bike (which was on the rack on the front of the bus)... Several times he missed a stoplight, and several more times he almost ran others out of their lane by straying into it over a foot. He even almost ran over a couple pedestrians on a crosswalk, dislodging some people from their seats with a slam on the airbrakes.
Even after he finally stopped trimming his nails, he was driving quite badly and erratically. I was so relieved to get off the bus safely that I forgot to get down the license plate, bus number, and time it arrived at my home stop... that man is a danger to everyone on and not on the bus...
Click to expand...

This is why you have a foldable bike or if you hate all foldable bikes you can get any bike to go down in size you can carry it with you anywhere you go.
Click to expand...

Paging TallBill!

KT
 
Originally posted by: pcslookout
This is why you have a foldable bike or if you hate all foldable bikes you can get any bike to go down in size you can carry it with you anywhere you go.
Click to expand...
My bike is a $0 cost to me aluminum frame bike, those foldables for one cost a lot more, and for two are actually heavier then the aluminum frame bike I have. City (or is it county?) law forbids you to take a bike onto the bus because they have had issues with unrestrained bikes injuring riders during a sudden stop and lawsuits because of it. That is, IIRC, why they got the racks in the first place here.

Pic of my "rescued from the junkyard" aluminum frame bike is available here, the second pic in that directory, IIRC, shows it.
 
Ahhh, the crazy life of someone on disability! What crazy thing will happen next in their life?!?! I dunno, but im sure it'll get posted on ATOT!
 
Originally posted by: S Freud
OP, after looking at those pics I was wondering. Do you live in a closet?
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Nope, a small studio-like apartment. This is huge compared to what I had when I was in chicago, that one was 9x12, IIRC.
 
Originally posted by: jaqie
Originally posted by: pcslookout
This is why you have a foldable bike or if you hate all foldable bikes you can get any bike to go down in size you can carry it with you anywhere you go.
Click to expand...
My bike is a $0 cost to me aluminum frame bike, those foldables for one cost a lot more, and for two are actually heavier then the aluminum frame bike I have. City (or is it county?) law forbids you to take a bike onto the bus because they have had issues with unrestrained bikes injuring riders during a sudden stop and lawsuits because of it. That is, IIRC, why they got the racks in the first place here.

Pic of my "rescued from the junkyard" aluminum frame bike is available here, the second pic in that directory, IIRC, shows it.
Click to expand...

When a bike is folded it does not even look like a bike anymore. Most people would not even know your carrying a bike.
 
When I was in high school, the orchestra took a trip down to Texas over spring break, and we had a chartered bus take us (and we pretty much lived on that bus for the week). Anyway, the second driver we picked up on the way down (we went in one straight shot, but the drivers had to change every x hours) couldn't shift for the life of him. All we could hear was him grinding the gears while he drifted in and out of the lane. Fun times.
 
Originally posted by: pontifex
so why ride a bike if you're just going to take the bus?
Click to expand...

Sometimes people use bikes just to get to the bus stop then fold them up in a small suit case or bag and take them with them onto the bus.
 
Originally posted by: pontifex
so why ride a bike if you're just going to take the bus?
Click to expand...
I'm recovering from a disabling disorder that just finally got diagnosed. Check the porphyria thread in health & fitness for more info. I am not fit enough to ride the bike all the way to the grocery store, but I am doing all I can to get back into shape, hence riding the bike from several stops back from the store, and such.
 
Originally posted by: jaqie
Originally posted by: pcslookout
This is why you have a foldable bike or if you hate all foldable bikes you can get any bike to go down in size you can carry it with you anywhere you go.
Click to expand...
My bike is a $0 cost to me aluminum frame bike, those foldables for one cost a lot more, and for two are actually heavier then the aluminum frame bike I have. City (or is it county?) law forbids you to take a bike onto the bus because they have had issues with unrestrained bikes injuring riders during a sudden stop and lawsuits because of it. That is, IIRC, why they got the racks in the first place here.

Pic of my "rescued from the junkyard" aluminum frame bike is available here, the second pic in that directory, IIRC, shows it.
Click to expand...

Pics are in this post
 
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