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?

I'm an ex-bus driver.

I'd definitely report him, he's an arse.

Sadly, a lot of my ex-colleagues are like him!

I would have got on the bus and rang the bus company whilst on it.

This is the most bizarre thing I’ve ever heard in my life.

Obviously if you were able to catch the earlier bus then you would have.

What did the bus company say when you rang?

I rarely take buses myself but work at a college where a large proportion of students take either a school bus or a public bus and I hear stories like this on a regular basis! Some drivers treat young people especially badly, it seems.

Something certainly needs reporting here.

Report him, that was awful and he was definitely in the wrong.

The convo will be on camera if you are quick.

Really? Do all buses have cameras where you can hear what you're saying to the bus driver?

Even if there's no audio, it will show OP trying to get on and being turned away. Good evidence she's telling the truth.

Our local buses are bristling with cameras but it's the wild west here!

That is quite the most insane thing I’ve heard in a while.

Report to the bus company AND the local council.

This is completely batshit

How were you possibly supposed to know this bus was going to be ‘near empty & therefore quicker’, was driver sending out telepathic messages?

& why would it necessarily be quicker!??

😂

Sometimes the bus in front actually tells you to get on the following bus.

“There’s another one a few minutes behind“. Which might or might not be true.

How fecking rude. I’d have been tempted to just sit on the bus. I would definitely complain massively about this and say you’ll report it to the papers.

Unreal. What an arsehole. I think you should've stayed on but it does sound very intimidating.

I think most buses have video recording and audio in the cab so I'd definitely be taking this up with the bus company as they will be able to deal with the driver accordingly

I'm with Amber!

unless there wasn't anyone else on the bus at all. I'm not fond of being kidnapped by local madmen, bus or not.

But definitely needs reporting. He's not stable enough to be driving busses.

Even if you could have got on the previous bus it's your choice to wait for the next one if you want to!!

Maybe so, but one more passenger is hardly going to make much difference and that's an 'in your own head' thought! Not one to say to a customer & not to have a go at them. Grumoy is one thing, his behaviour quite another!

When a bus driver asks where you're going, they're asking which of their stops you're getting off at, it's not a social question..

I think you might be right!

It does explain why some busses just 'vanish'

i take the bus to my local hospital for eye checks (as they dilate my pupils I can't drive afterwards now). A few months ago several busses were scheduled on the board (coming home, not going), but kept not turning up! I was waiting further 2 hours for a bus that's meant to be every 15 minutes. It was bloody cold & miserable, I could have taken another bus to a nearby town & changed there if I had known, but I just assumed the next one would actually turn up & the route via the other town is much longer.

after your post I'm thinking that maybe if no one was going TO the hospital, they chose to skip the hospital 'loop' 🙄

Eh? Sure I know that …

If anyone is reading this and ever experiences something similar, get on the bus sit down and refuse to move. The bus driver will either give up and drive off, or call the police/the bus company who will hopefully tell him to get a grip.