Thursday, March 15, 2007

Adventures in Public Transit

Monday afternoon, as my bus stopped to pick someone up at the end of a merge lane on Crowchild (who puts a bus stop in a merge lane?!), the whole bus slammed forward with a lound crunchy bang. Immediately, I knew we'd been rear-ended and so did the bus driver who picked up her radio, began to cry and say "We've been hit! We've been hit!" Strangely, she just sat there crying as the woman who rear-ended us ran up to the bus door. The bus driver just kept weeping and wouldn't open the door so the woman ran around to the bus driver's window and stood on one of Crowchild's six lanes as rush-hour traffic whizzed by her at 80 km/h. The bus driver still didn't get out to look at the back of the bus or to make sure that nobody on the bus was hurt. She wouldn't even open the doors and let the passgengers off to catch the next bus until some guy shouted at her. It was really strange...

And then this morning as I was riding the bus to my practicum, I looked out the window as we drove past downtown and saw a big, gorgeous deer standing serenely in the bushes on a hill above Crowchild. It was one of the most surprising and beautiful things I've seen in this city.

5 comments:

Paige said...

I love the part of the story where the bus driver sits there crying. Shouldn't bus drivers be more prepared for these kinds of things? I think that would've been a great opportunity to put your awesome counselling skills into action! It sounds like she could've used some support (or something).

DaveJenn said...

We've been hit, we've been hit . . . sounds like shes having some vietnam flashbacks . . . I love how some guy just yelled at her as she sat their weeping. Who says Calgary doesnt't have a heart!

geeksbewithyou said...

If I had to deal with the transit-riding public and Calgary traffic all day, I'd probably need very little excuse to just sit there weeping. Or just go on a shooting spree.

Poor bus driver.

Avey said...

I think I know the bus stop you're talking about! Who is in charge of this city anyway???
But HOW funny! I wish I could have been there.

Just Tim said...

wow jamie, you almost died! Ok not really but i think you know what I am getting at.

 
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