18 August 2009

A Thank You to Action Bus users

| Dazzlar
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Caught two buses yesterday with a 7 month old baby and a pram. Old style bus = lugging the pram up and down the stairs. Would have taken him out of the pram but a) he was asleep and b) it is safer for him to be secured in the pram on a lurching bus.

Got no help, or even a hello, from the bus drivers but lots of help from fellow passengers. So Thank You all for being so helpful and helping this frazzled mum’s day go a bit smoother. Now to work on the inter-personal skills of the driver. One driver said to a passenger “Hurry up, I don’t have all day to chat” when the passenger was trying to find the right change and had the audacity to greet the driver! (As a side note: one of the buses I caught was from Civic to the Parliamentary circle and had no wheelchair access. Is this the bus tourists to Canberra would catch to visit OPH, Parliament House etc?)

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anonymous gungahlian3:20 pm 23 Sep 09

Granny said :

We expect other bus drivers to load extremely heavy bags and cases onto buses to Sydney or Melbourne or wherever. We do.

Yet if a person is struggling with a baby, a toddler, a nappy bag, a shopping bag, a handbag and a stroller we expect that if there are no passengers on the bus to assist her that the driver should not take thirty seconds to help lift a pram (that is hardly likely to damage a back – have you even ever lifted one??). She can just suffer in her jocks. Pathetic. Where have all the good men gone and where are all the gods, eh?

‘We expect other bus drivers to load extremely heavy bags and cases onto buses to Sydney or Melbourne or wherever’ because thats their duty as a COACH driver and it’s in their policy. People arrive early to to have their bagage put under the Murray’s or Greyhound coach by the driver and then the coach leaves about 5 minutes later after everybody’s name is marked off. The thing is that they are prepared for it and they know that they dont have to stop at anytime on their route to help anyone else and it’s not going to slow the other passangers down.

But Action drivers cant be sure if there’s going to be someone at the next stop with 20 shopping bags that they have to load on. If everyone was like this, then the busses would be even later than usual. Lucky I catch a school bus (most of the time) and dont have to put up with people needing assistance from the driver to bring their stuff on board.

We expect other bus drivers to load extremely heavy bags and cases onto buses to Sydney or Melbourne or wherever. We do.

Yet if a person is struggling with a baby, a toddler, a nappy bag, a shopping bag, a handbag and a stroller we expect that if there are no passengers on the bus to assist her that the driver should not take thirty seconds to help lift a pram (that is hardly likely to damage a back – have you even ever lifted one??). She can just suffer in her jocks. Pathetic. Where have all the good men gone and where are all the gods, eh?

Inconvenient as it is to passengers with prams etc I don’t see why the bus drivers should have to help these passengers.

Do we expect shop keepers, accountants, optometerists, dentists etc etc to lug heavy stuff for us up and down stairs.

It’s a job and I don’t see why they should risk a back injury to earn a wage. Once you’ve done your back in, and it is painfull, it is always a problem you have to be aware of and compensate for. They really don’t earn enough to make it worth the risk.

The reason that we have OH&S rules these days is because people did do things like lift prams on buses and ended up with a buggered back.

Granny, good on you for helping out others but I doubt you would wish such an injury, something that may be very debilitating, upon someone trying to earn a crust.

So dommie thinks that Action should be contracted out eh? Are you talking about some form of privatisation? If you are, I can assure you, you will then be paying a more than “extraordinary” fare!
Granny, let’s say that that driver does hurt his/her back lifting your pram. It can happen. Just because it hasn’t happened to you doesn’t mean that it can’t. He/she needs protection from this. Would you be willing to pay his/her mortgage, bills etc. if they can’t work??
What if 20 people turn up at the bus stop all needing help with shopping, backpacks, prams, strollers etc. Is the driver expected to help them all as well as trying to serve other paying customers at the same time? The bus would never get out of the interchange! And people complain about buses running late now…
Why do people assume it’s the drivers’ responsiblity when there are 30-40 others on the bus who can give a hand but generally don’t?

Wow! I’m just amazed that I haven’t been hospitalised for all that pram lifting!

What with six kids and three grandkids you’d think my back would be completely and utterly ruined!

These prams are obviously designed to require at least a two-person-lift occupational health and safety wise … at least!

I don’t know how people ever manage without doing themselves serious injury from these dangerous, scary, terrifyingly damaging prams!!

I guess I must just have muscles of steel and the constitution of Charles Atlas. All that and I don’t even work out ….

Maybe 25+ years ago there weren’t so many female hormones in the water and most bus drivers could actually manage to lift one … some with one hand!

If you were a rebelious bus driver and you ended up hurting your back while lifting a pram on to the bus, that you had been told not to do, then you would have no workers compensation

Well, I like the rebel drivers that help anyway ’cause they’re cool!

It’s perfectly understandable and sensible for the driver not to help. Yes back in the good old days, the driver had all the time in the world to step out of the chair and help anyone onto the bus. If you hadn’t noticed that time ended a good 25+ years ago. These days they’re not allowed to leave their chair and there are many many reasons for this, driver personal safety, OH&S, public liability, making the bus run on time and mothers suing the bus company when the driver accidently breaks their belongings or injures their precious little darling. Everything is hidden behind these things, there’s not much you can do about it other than deal with it.

Ticket information for buses can be found here:
http://www.action.act.gov.au/ticket_information.html

Since I like being helpful occasionally.

Very funny. A baby carrier backpack with an 18 month old, a 2 year old, and a 5 year old. May I remind you that there are many reasons why people catch buses, some include an inability to actually obtain a drivers licence.

There are many friendly and affable bus drivers around but it is much easier to remember the one that made your bag jump off your lap every time he put his foot on the brake.

We are meant to be getting a service for the (extraordinary!) price we pay when we catch a bus … and to some extent we are getting that service. Quality … no … Helpful … not really … Efficient … definitely not! But a service all the same.

Maybe we should be focussing on ways Action could become more efficient and responsive to their clients needs. Maybe it is time management of Action got contracted out, perhaps some fundraising events would be more successful than some would expect. There is a lot of support for this ageing system … but that support is fading quickly. It’s time to do something to fix it.

Thanks for the advice MrPC.

georgesgenitals8:42 pm 19 Aug 09

It’s public transport, people. Occasionally people with less than full mobility, or little kids, will need to get on and off. Deal with it. I just can’t believe how cranky you lot are!

Prams and buses do not mix. Use one of those baby carrier backpacks.

Sorry I should have clarified more. I in no way expected the driver to help me with the pram and I am well aware of OH&S issues in doing so (as it is with Taxi drivers) I needed help with buying the right ticket. He could barely grunt an answer out.
I also realise that they have timetables to keep to but there are ways of saying “Get on the bus quickly” that don’t leave the passenger feeling like an inconvenience, it is afterall supposed to be a SERVICE!
Can someone point me in the direction of the instructions on what type of ticket to ask for?

Again this is a sincere Thank You. Both women and men offered/did help me. I didn’t expect it but was very grateful.

Your mum did a good job (A Tadpole Drinking)raising you. Don’t stop being friendly and helpful we need all the decent people we can get in this place.

A Tadpole Drinking1:50 pm 19 Aug 09

I’m with you Chewy14 (may I call you Chewy?). Recently at Woden interchange I tried to be helpful to a woman who was struggling with one of those two wheel trolley gadgets full of her shopping at the same time fossiking for her bus pass/money. She just looked at me and said “I’m not helpless” so I stepped back and waited.

When I get to Heaven I’m going to tell mum she raised me wrong.

Granny said :

I am a female and I help other women all the time. Once the drivers did too, because society expected that people would help one another when in trouble. That should be what people do. You can hide behind the OH&S stuff as much as you like, but I don’t.

I would much prefer the driver to not help everyone with a bag or pram get their stuff on a bus. It makes sense, for time and liability reasons, for them not to.
And the last time i caught a bus, i tried to help a lady get her belongings onto the bus to speed things up and was abused for my troubles.
Is it any wonder people won’t go out of their way to help others these days?

Sounds a bit selfish to expect a bus driver to risk themselves by helping you with your posessions. When I was using the buses I limited myself to what I could successfully wrestle on or off. Just because the driver may be covered by insurance doesn’t mean a injury is any less painful or convenient even if it’s temporary.

Im not trying to ‘hide’ behind anything, Im simply trying to put forward a view of why things are the way they are. On the one hand we complain that bus drivers dont help out enough or spend long enough having a friendly conversation, but on the other hand we all want the driver to not waste any time in getting to our destination. I also believe bus drivers wont assist you to put your bike on the front-mounted bike racks either. That doesnt mean they dont want to, simply that its against rules.

I believe that people should help others out when possible, its just human nature. I also believe though, that its unfair to criticise a guy whos just doing his job and trying to follow the rules his bosses have set for him.

And a big shout out to the bus driver who I get at least twice a week who believes the brake is either full on or full off. I’m sure I saw an old lady hit her head on the seat in front due to his crap driving skills…

I am a female and I help other women all the time. Once the drivers did too, because society expected that people would help one another when in trouble. That should be what people do. You can hide behind the OH&S stuff as much as you like, but I don’t.

Granny said :

That is what insurance is for – if someone is injured while traveling on the bus.

I may be wrong, but Im pretty sure the insurance issue is for the driver. The driver isnt qualified, trained or paid for lifting. You might think ‘but its just a pram’, but what about the little old lady who has a trolley full of shopping bags, should the driver leave his seat to help because to not help a little old lady with her shopping makes him a bad person?

Granny said :

As a woman I could never stand by and watch a young woman struggle alone, knowing how hard it can be.

If you were in the middle of your job knowing your every second was being tracked (and recorded on video), and someone asked you to put your work on hold to assist them, would you? What if you were asked 20+ times a day to do this?

Im not saying that some bus drivers dont deserve the abuse handed out here, but Im also saying think of it from the other side of the story.

Also, if drivers were required to be able to lift a certain weight, passengers would start to expect it. Thats fine if the driver is a big burly man, but what if its a less well built female driver, the passenger(s) shouldnt have an expectation of the driver to do anything other than drive (and maybe operate the ticket machine).

ChrisinTurner9:01 am 19 Aug 09

People won’t move to the back of the bus because ACTION says drivers are only to open the rear door at interchanges. This is stupid and doesn’t occur anywhere else in the world, in my experience.

I would like to add to the above list “* drivers who try to give their passengers a smooth ride”.

There are a limited number of wheelchair friendly buses in the ACTION stable. The timetables on the website note which runs use these buses, and they aren’t restricted to “tourist” routes. Which is a darn good thing too, because it’s locals who need the support more than fly-by-night tourists. After all, it’s the locals who ultimately pay for the services.

From the website:

ACTION’s bus fleet includes 115 easy access buses. Each of these buses is equipped with an extendable ramp, a wide front entrance, and space in the bus to accommodate wheelchairs or prams.

Currently, ACTION’s easy access fleet is dedicated to the high frequency “Intertown Route” series. This includes weekday routes 300, 312, 313, 314, 315, and weekend route 900.

That is what insurance is for – if someone is injured while traveling on the bus.

How is this any different from if the baby is injured if the driver makes a mistake while driving the bus?

And as for keeping to schedule, maybe they won’t need to drive at 40kmh the whole of the next leg, causing great rejoicing for the drivers stuck behind them. How terrible!

Funny how it’s fine for them to allow passengers with no insurance to assist the mother and baby, so if the child is injured it well may get … nothing! Funny how it’s ok for the passenger to lose everything they have.

As a woman I could never stand by and watch a young woman struggle alone, knowing how hard it can be. If I was a man, the day I’d stand back and not help some young girl I’d cut off my balls and to hell with the OH&S! I’d tell them to suffer in their jocks. I’d tell them to get stuffed.

It may not be the driver’s fault that the OH&S policy is such. It’s a bit like a cashier at a supermarket, when the customer is 5 cents short, and the next customer chips in to help. You shouldn’t blame the cashier for being pedantic: they might lose their job. Blame the policy.

And I’d like to thank all the excellent ACTION drivers out there. The drivers I have on my daily commute at the moment are friendly, polite, and safe, conscientious drivers. It’s a pity a few of their colleagues are not so good.

VYBerlinaV8_the_one_they_all_copy8:31 am 19 Aug 09

Welcome to Canberra.

I’d also like to thank some Action Bus users..

* ones who don’t realise that getting their money/ticket ready before they get on the bus is a novel idea – and this includes interchange passengers who don’t use those machines on the street before getting on the bus

* mothers that don’t bring prams onto peak hour buses and expect old people to stand up for them so they don’t have to fold up their pram (or as happened not so long ago – to allow their selfish teenage boyfriend to sit where the old lady has just vacated!)

* schoolkids travelling at half fare who might actually offer their seat to an aged pensioner (I think I might have seen this twice in the last year of daily bus commuting) and it mostly isn’t kids wearing private school uniforms..

* mothers with pre-school kids on a peak hour bus who can’t put their little kid on their knee and let a fare-paying passenger get a rare seat

* people – particularly larger ones – who actually move to the back of the bus rather than blocking up the front and slowing down every passenger who is trying to get on and off

In my experience – particularly recently – the above examples would be a very very VERY tiny minority of ACTION users though…

The driver isn’t allowed to help passengers with their belongings (there is a sticker on the door) also he does have a timetable to keep to.

I could be wrong here, but I had heard on the grapevine that drivers were not supposed to help passengers on or off for fear of liability… for instance if the pram was picked up with the baby in it and the driver dropped the pram by accident, injuring the baby, where does s/he stand?

Personally I think its courtesy but in today’s world who knows what could go wrong?

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