AIBU? Bus driver refused to let me on the bus

[tulipkisses]

Where I live buses can be infrequent and often delayed due to awful traffic. We also don’t have tap on/off, we have to show the driver our tickets or purchase one as we get on.

I work about a five minute walk from the bus stop. As I got to the bus stop this evening the bus was just pulling away, I checked the app and there was another one coming three minutes later.

It turned up and I put my arm out to hail it. It pulled in, someone got off and I stepped on. The driver refused to let me on because I “should have been on the earlier one”. He said if I walked onto the bus he wouldn’t pull away and would wait for me to get off, and he didn’t care about sitting there for hours to see if I’d stay on. He said he knew I was “only getting on this one for a faster journey” because it was empty compared to the one in front.

I have never experienced this in my life, I have no idea what to do? I have the number plate and I’m considering reporting it but this is just totally bizarre, should I have waited for the one after this one?

Report. I'd feel quite unsafe to be alone on a bus with someone this power-trippy late at night!

Yes, if he pulled up 3 minutes later then he doesn't.

All very confusing 😳

Yes you should have sat down on the bus. If he chose to sit there on a stationary bus all night Im pretty sure the other passengers would have something to say. Get him reported and let us know the outcome

What if you’d just turned up at the stop that very moment? How does he know you deliberately chose not to get on the earlier one? What if the second bus catches up and overtakes the earlier packed bus and thus becomes the first bus? Are people supposed to not get on and wait for the other packed bus?

So many questions.

Report - that's really strange. Like even if we look past it being unfair, it doesn't even benefit the bus driver.

What?
This person is crazy.
Please report it.
I had issues with a particular bus driver too. It is like they feel they have some type of control or power. I felt really weird when it first happened, but then I saw him doing the same to other woman and I did report it. I was so angry.

Yes definitely report. I know it's difficult to recruit bus drivers but they must be able to do better than this!

Why didn't you just sit down and refuse to move?

Unbelievable. How could he know when you arrived at the bus stop?

If you could have got on the previous one then surely you would have done. He doesn’t get to decide. Like previously said I bet he wouldn’t say that to some big hairy bloke.

Report him. My brother is a bus driver. He was telling me they get in big trouble if they leave even one minute before the bus is due to leave.

No YANBU! What does the bus driver think his job is but to pick up passengers? You weren't there in time for the last one! That's why you didn't get it! But you were there for his one!

How bloody odd. He said you should have been on the earlier bus? How on earth did he come to that conclusion? Has he never heard of people missing buses?

But how does he know that you didn’t arrive at the bus stop 90 seconds after the last bus left and 90 seconds before he pulled up?

Personally I would have gotten on the bus and sat down and called the bus company from there to call his bluff, but you are clearly a better person than I am and didn’t want to inconvenience all his other passengers!

This is so bizarre. I hope you report it and let us know the outcome.

Why do you even need to ask if he's been unreasonable and whether you should report? He was and you should.

I have got my phone out and told him to repeat his stance to video..........

YANBU he sounds bonkers

What an absolute dick. What would he have said to his supervisor when asked why he’d just been sat at a bus stop not going anywhere? ‘Not my fault, I didn’t like the fact that a woman wanted to get on my bus’.

I’d have made such a fuss, but I’m not adverse to behaving like a fishwife in public. I’d have got on, sat down and made myself comfortable while phoning the local depot to complain. Worst case scenario, you’re out of the cold until the next bus comes along and have the chance to film him refusing to drive.

So would I! Is he trying to stop the company taking fares? The man is barking mad!

Goodness, no you are not being remotely unreasonable! He sounds absolutely unhinged.

Completely unacceptable behaviour by that bus driver……report him!

Would he have done that if it was late in the evening, pitch dark and a potential passenger was alone and vulnerable???? Total fuckwit!

As already asked, why did he think you should have/could have got on the earlier bus?

I’ve been reliant on buses for donkeys years. I have never experienced that! Very strange!

If there is space on board, if you are paying your fare why you are taking this bus is no business of his.