Bus Driver disciplined for kicking students off bus

[Simaahoy]

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/story/2012/06/08/ottawa-oc-transpo-bus-driver-apology.html




OC Transpo has apologized after a driver kicked 30 students off the 176 bus in Barrhaven yesterday.

The transit agency's general manager John Manconi said the driver forced the Longfields-Davidson Heights Secondary School students to leave the bus after several pranks where the bus bell was pulled but no one exited the bus.

Manconi said this was not proper procedure, and that the driver should have contacted the control centre and awaited the assistance of a supervisor or a special constable.

Manconi said OC Transpo management has met with the driver and said "appropriate actions have been taken."

"OC Transpo would like to apologize to the 30 students and their parents. I have contacted Ms. Patsy Agard, Principal of Longfields-Davidson Heights Secondary School, to discuss the incident and convey our apology," said Manconi.

"Ms. Agard offered her assistance should this situation repeat itself in the future. The students should not have been asked to disembark the bus," said Manconi.


In my opinion, the students should be apologizing to the bus driver and passengers they disrupted with their behavior. The bus driver shouldn't be disciplined:| Thirty kids wow:)

[Tabooger]

Once when I was coming back from uni, the bus stops by a hs, and a couple of kids got in through the back. So the bus driver decided it would be best to kick EVERYONE off the bus. I reported the driver from the bus number right there and then. Sorry bud, but if you can't handle everyday stress don't become one. I usually side with the crap they have to put up with, but kicking everyone off because two kids got in through the back is unacceptable. People have places to go, things to do and rely on public transportation.

[ishfish]

I wonder what the supervisor would have done should the driver had accessed the proper procedure?

[sandikosh]

If I was the bus driver, I would do the same! Damn kids today thinks it's all a joke.

[ishfish]

If I was the bus driver, I would do the same! Damn kids today thinks it's all a joke.

Certain routes would require great skill and refinement of temperment.

I wonder what would have to happen for a child to be disallowed from using the bus? Too bad there is not a transitguy here.

[Poulet]

I couldn't be a bus driver. I have a low tolerance for dumb kids

[john widow]

I remember one time I was sitting near two-three college guys on the bus. While at a stop one threw a bunch of those papers that are hanging on the bus for people to read out the window and onto the grass outside. The bus driver noticed and announced to the dude to pick up the stuff or the bus aint moving. He picked it up.

Sometimes I would hop on an express bus towards home...It's same route and shape as regular buses but isn't officially supposed to stop at all the stops...just the main stops. Some girl was on this bus and wanted to get off at a certain stop in between and the bus driver was mad because ur not supposed to cheat and take this bus if you want to get off at this certain stop....He stopped a bus a few blocks down and she had to walk....I think he acted that way because she was giving the bus driver attitude first instead of being sincere and polite....

[AudiDude]

The driver of the late bus from my HS used to do this regular. We called her the "Late Bus B**ch". When she got stressed, she'd yell at everybody. If she got lip from anybody, she threw us all off. My buddy got yelled at because he sat by an open window and she accused him of opening it and told him to close it or else she'd throw him off the bus. Furthest we walked was for over 2km to get home.

It was one of the girls in my class' mother. Woman had thick painted on eyebrows and a makeup job that looked like this:

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-JrXW2_5AJuM/Tp2kI9oVpaI/AAAAAAAAAuk/3fVZsmtCn6Y/s1600/joan-crawford.jpg

[No Frills]

Kids need to be disciplined, not bus drivers.

[googoo]

In my opinion, the students should be apologizing to the bus driver and passengers they disrupted with their behavior. The bus driver shouldn't be disciplined



+56.5

[Manatus]

I think it's important to note that this was not a school bus, just a regular bus. With a school bus you can say that the driver should be expecting some level of childish behaviour and still be able to operate the bus safely without being distracted. School buses also have more of an obligation to get their passengers to their destination as they are contracted by the schools for children. I totally agree with them being kicked off a regular bus. There are people on that bus who are annoyed and inconvenienced by this behaviour. If it was a drunk college student who was pressing all the buttons, wouldn't you expect him to get ejected? It's the same thing really. If they don't know how to behave in public, they shouldn't be on a public bus by themselves.

[Cas77]

"OC Transpo would like to apologize to the 30 students and their parents."

Parents shouldn't be apologized to, they should be doing the apologizing for raising the most self entitled, dysfunctional, disrespectful and lazy generation in history.

[mbg]

I'd be OK with it if he kicked off or Tasered the troublesome kids only, but kicking all of them off seems a bit too much.

[Poulet]

Or let the other passengers do something about it. Make it educational :)

[at1212b]

No wonder the young are so spoiled today.

[stuntman]

The bus driver did not have the authority to kick the kids off of the bus.
The supervisor may have but was never called.

Bus driver disciplined for not following procedure that resulted in poor relations with customers.

Nothing to see here....move along....move along.

[aplayaz2000]

Once when I was coming back from uni, the bus stops by a hs, and a couple of kids got in through the back. So the bus driver decided it would be best to kick EVERYONE off the bus. I reported the driver from the bus number right there and then. Sorry bud, but if you can't handle everyday stress don't become one. I usually side with the crap they have to put up with, but kicking everyone off because two kids got in through the back is unacceptable. People have places to go, things to do and rely on public transportation.usually the people that aren't the kids would tell those kids to gtfo

[Ottomaddox]

So the bus driver arbitrarily determined that all 30 kids were guilty..?

[dealseeker2011]

No wonder the young are so spoiled today.

You are definitely right with that!

[Corleone187]

Yes for the most part the kids are spoiled brats and should be punished but since they are kids you also have a responsibility to make sure the kids have a way to get home.

Just say 1 of the kids can't get home? then what? So yeah its obvious they had to punish the driver even though he was right.

I remember when I was a kid, like 9 years old. I was pretty tall, like adult height at 9 years old and one time at night I tried to get on the bus and the driver wouldn't let me on because he said I wasn't a kid even though i showed him my PASSPORT with my age.

So I told him what if I gave 2 tickets because it was like 9pm and I needed to get home. And he said we'll maybe if I gave him 4 TICKETS. :confused:
So yeah he took my 1 ticket AND kicked me off the bus at 9PM at night and I was a 9 year old kid with no way of getting home.

This happened many years ago but to this day I still think he should have been put in prison for maybe 5 years to teach him a lesson endangering the life of a kid. Just say I died? :facepalm:

[valeriey]

As a school bus driver I can only speak of our school board's policy.

We are NOT ALLOWED to kids students off the bus, EVER.
If we need assistance, we get on the two-way radio and the dispatch will send whatever help we need, ie: police, ambulance, or just a supervisor to get things under control.

The only way we can kick a student off is to take them back to their school or home. But we must contact dispatch so they can make appropriate calls.

I wonder how old these kids were.

[mbg]

When I was in school and kids made trouble on the bus, the driver used to just stop the bus until people started behaving again. It usually worked.

I guess it's kinda different if you're a public transit system with a schedule to stick to, rather than just being a school bus.

[Phoenix3434]

If I was the bus driver, I would do the same! Damn kids today thinks it's all a joke.

Yes. And when they grow up, they will realize how the real world works and that life is not a joke. Which is to personally support the unreasonable demands and the "gravy train" benefits that have been given to the baby boomers and other leaching groups in our society who shall remain nameless.

[pnyknights]

So much reading fail in here...this was a TRANSIT bus people not one of dinky special short school buses.
1) It mentions the bus bell was 'pranked' several times -- tell me what school bus has 'bells'?
2) It's a high school....these kids are old enought to get kicked off and walk on their own!!

By the second or third fake bell I would have yelled at those bratty kids myself!

[valeriey]

.......dinky special short school buses.........


:confused:

[Supercooled]

They're afraid of dealing with 30 parents of those kids. Better to slap the wrist of one employee than deal with a boat load of headaches.

[valeriey]

They're afraid of dealing with 30 parents of those kids. Better to slap the wrist of one employee than deal with a boat load of headaches.

That is probably true.:(

[uber_shnitz]

Well in a sense, I'd understand the parent of a kid who didn't do anything and was victim of being in the same bus as those who did (and ended up being reprimanded) being upset, but I also understand why the bus driver would've kicked them out.

Maybe it'd have been best to try and isolate the few kids who were being obnoxious and kick those out rather than the entire group.

[time space]

Yes. And when they grow up, they will realize how the real world works and that life is not a joke.

It is a joke.

[NorthYorker]

I would, although with a lot of reservations, put blame on bus driver. In my experience, it is more likely that bus driver was abusing his "power" than that kids were truly bad. Ringing the bell for a bus to stop at designated bus stop??? Since when did it become a crime???

[uber_shnitz]

I would, although with a lot of reservations, put blame on bus driver. In my experience, it is more likely that bus driver was abusing his "power" than that kids were truly bad. Ringing the bell for a bus to stop at designated bus stop??? Since when did it become a crime???

It's not a crime, but if you do it for a dozen stops and nobody gets on/off, it slows the bus circuit down and annoys other bus riders.

[Dude_Man]

It's his job to stop at every stop. Not a big deal.

I remember this happened at my old highschool, the guy just stopped at every stop. He said to the kids their just wasting their own time. He gets paid no matter what. They stopped soon enough.

[uber_shnitz]

Not really no. If nobody gets off and there is nobody at the stop, you save 1-2min by not stopping there at all. It sounds silly but it does add up. You're right that it doesn't change anything for the bus driver, but as a rider, I'd be annoyed if I was losing 15-20min because of useless stops. I mean, there's no rule against verbals on a bus yet it's annoying if people are overly loud. I've once had a bus driver tell me to watch my language when I swore to my friends really loudly and I certainly wasn't insulted at the comment. Surprised maybe, but I just settled down and realized the bus is a public place so it'd be nice if everyone behaved.

[NorthYorker]

Not really no. If nobody gets off and there is nobody at the stop, you save 1-2min by not stopping there at all. It sounds silly but it does add up. It does add up, but the only thing different here is that bus driver is driving, instead of rushing to end of the route (and not following schedule) in order to have more coffee time with his buddies. I'm not saying the kids were perfect in what they were doing, but they could have actually been doing public good by making the bus to stick to schedule :D
there's no rule against verbals on a busAs a matter of fact I believe there is.

[sylpherware]

It's his job to stop at every stop. Not a big deal.

I remember this happened at my old highschool, the guy just stopped at every stop. He said to the kids their just wasting their own time. He gets paid no matter what. They stopped soon enough.

+1

It's not like the kids were pulling the emergency stop. The driver could've handled this very differently.

[uber_shnitz]

Idk maybe I'm biased because I take the bus and it goes through 2 HS's so I see kids being annoying every day lol :razz:. One girl actually pushed everyone on the bus (including an old lady) to get off and chase a guy who had taken her picture on the side of the street. Then she came back and started yelling at everyone; that kind of annoyed everyone :lol:

I agree the bus driver could've handled the situation better, but I don't think he should've sat there and did nothing.

[time space]

This thread is proving to be a real dilemma for RFD.

Two of the favourite OT villains - bus drivers and spoiled youth - facing off against each other.

How do you pick the bad guy?!?

[saint2e]

Kids were being jerks. kids were disciplined. End of story.

[Corleone187]

its clearly the driver's fault. what if 1 of the kids died because they couldnt get home? Driver is lucky he didnt get fired

I think everyone can agree that the kids are spoiled brats. The best thing to do if they are causing trouble is to just stop the bus and refuse to drive. Then eventually the other people on the bus will take control of the kids for you :D

[saint2e]

its clearly the driver's fault. what if 1 of the kids died because they couldnt get home? Driver is lucky he didnt get fired

I think everyone can agree that the kids are spoiled brats. The best thing to do if they are causing trouble is to just stop the bus and refuse to drive. Then eventually the other people on the bus will take control of the kids for you :D

Died because they couldn't get home? Really? They were on a bus route. Go to the next stop and get on the next bus. Oh and maybe don't be a bunch of *********s this time around.

[Ottomaddox]

This thread is proving to be a real dilemma for RFD.

Two of the favourite OT villains - bus drivers and spoiled youth - facing off against each other.

How do you pick the bad guy?!?

Union membership...?

[Abel4Life]

Kids were being jerks. kids were disciplined. End of story.

+1. Kids fault.

[NorthYorker]

+1. Kids fault.How exactly did they fail? By requesting a stop and not exiting a bus? Since when did a request to do what one is paid to do become a violation? It is laid quite clear in the article - if the driver believed there's a problem, s/he should have called transit constables. Kicking kids out just because you don't like them is not a proper reaction.

[Simaahoy]

How exactly did they fail? By requesting a stop and not exiting a bus? Since when did a request to do what one is paid to do become a violation? It is laid quite clear in the article - if the driver believed there's a problem, s/he should have called transit constables. Kicking kids out just because you don't like them is not a proper reaction.

OC Transpo has a long history of drivers snapping on passengers. There must have a good reason why he didn't call anyone.

[saint2e]

How exactly did they fail? By requesting a stop and not exiting a bus? Since when did a request to do what one is paid to do become a violation? It is laid quite clear in the article - if the driver believed there's a problem, s/he should have called transit constables. Kicking kids out just because you don't like them is not a proper reaction.

Apparently the proper procedure is to stop the bus and call for a supervisor to come out to the bus and rectify the situation.

Do you think a bunch of kids would've stayed on the bus to wait for that to happen? How about the rest of the passengers? No, they'd get off, walk to the next stop and wait for the next bus. He skipped having his ENTIRE busload doing that, and just focused on the problem passengers.

Well done, I say.

[NorthYorker]

Do you think a bunch of kids would've stayed on the bus to wait for that to happen?So, they left, problem solved, isn't it? Instead s/he chose to be a mix of drama queen and bar bouncer. Sorry, but taxpayer don't pay a bus driver to role-play.
focused on the problem passengers.So, now we profile every school kid as a problem passenger. Huh? Seriously, I have no doubts they had been loud, prickly and loose with this "request stop" cord. So what? Since when does stop request become crime? Let me be clear. We taxpayers pay bus drivers more than delivery truck drivers get exactly because dealing with less-than-ideal passengers in courteous and professional manner is a part of job description. If one gets bruises on his tender ego from dealing with teens, there're other careers out there.

[vaportech]

The driver of the late bus from my HS used to do this regular. We called her the "Late Bus B**ch". When she got stressed, she'd yell at everybody. If she got lip from anybody, she threw us all off. My buddy got yelled at because he sat by an open window and she accused him of opening it and told him to close it or else she'd throw him off the bus. Furthest we walked was for over 2km to get home.

It was one of the girls in my class' mother. Woman had thick painted on eyebrows and a makeup job that looked like this:

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-JrXW2_5AJuM/Tp2kI9oVpaI/AAAAAAAAAuk/3fVZsmtCn6Y/s1600/joan-crawford.jpg

this is my reaction when i saw this pic

http://i289.photobucket.com/albums/ll209/scoobydigites/01uwXfyV1.gif

[saint2e]

So, they left, problem solved, isn't it? Instead s/he chose to be a mix of drama queen and bar bouncer. Sorry, but taxpayer don't pay a bus driver to role-play.So, now we profile every school kid as a problem passenger. Huh? Seriously, I have no doubts they had been loud, prickly and loose with this "request stop" cord. So what? Since when does stop request become crime? Let me be clear. We taxpayers pay bus drivers more than delivery truck drivers get exactly because dealing with less-than-ideal passengers in courteous and professional manner is a part of job description. If one gets bruises on his tender ego from dealing with teens, there're other careers out there.

I'm sure the other taxpayers on the bus had the same opinion.

[NorthYorker]

I'm sure the other taxpayers on the bus had the same opinion.I'm sure that those who don't confuse a bus with their own personal limo did.

Listen, I've repeatedly rode Kipling bus in the morning (when it is basically a school bus for couple of HS in very ghetto areas), and I've survived :D

[Corleone187]

Died because they couldn't get home? Really? They were on a bus route. Go to the next stop and get on the next bus. Oh and maybe don't be a bunch of *********s this time around.

yeah but they're kids. When I was a kid I had no money and 1 ticket to get to school and 1 ticket to get home and thats it.

And i bused all the way across the city cause the school board sent me to a special school for gifted kids, like the top 20 kids in the city had to travel to this 1 school and it was FAR for me, 2 hours. So yeah it wasn't like i could walk home either

[uber_shnitz]

The main question I wonder is what "skills" or "qualifications" would the supervisor have in this case that would help in dealing with the situation? Does he have a special training in dealing with rowdy kids? I mean, would the outcome have changed had a supervisor dealt with the situation instead of a driver?



yeah but they're kids. When I was a kid I had no money and 1 ticket to get to school and 1 ticket to get home and thats it.

And i bused all the way across the city cause the school board sent me to a special school for gifted kids, like the top 20 kids in the city had to travel to this 1 school and it was FAR for me, 2 hours. So yeah it wasn't like i could walk home either



yeah but they're kids. When I was a kid I had no money and 1 ticket to get to school and 1 ticket to get home and thats it.

And i bused all the way across the city cause the school board sent me to a special school for gifted kids, like the top 20 kids in the city had to travel to this 1 school and it was FAR for me, 2 hours. So yeah it wasn't like i could walk home either

I can't comment on your situation but most kids (especially high school ones) tend to have a monthly bus pass if they take the bus/subway every day, especially in a metropolitan area where cars are more scarce.

[wyinjune]

Totally agree.

If it was a drunk college student who was pressing all the buttons, wouldn't you expect him to get ejected? It's the same thing really. If they don't know how to behave in public, they shouldn't be on a public bus by themselves.

[akira1971]

The main question I wonder is what "skills" or "qualifications" would the supervisor have in this case that would help in dealing with the situation? Does he have a special training in dealing with rowdy kids? I mean, would the outcome have changed had a supervisor dealt with the situation instead of a driver?

I'm sure if a bus driver suddenly came up and told you to get off for something you didn't do, you'd want a supervisor with a "cooler head" to come and deal with the situation. The supervisor might not believe your innocence, but it's better than the driver acting as judge, jury and executioner, isn't it?

And supervisors do have additional training with problem passengers, but one thing's for sure - at least he had the authority to remove the offending student from the bus. There might also be safety clauses in the union contract that drivers are not to confront passengers on their own and all important decisions need to made by management.

More importantly, the supervisor is the person in charge to question other passengers to find the specific offender, instead of randomly throwing off all 30 student passengers just because they fit a "profile".

[XtremeModder]

The best thing I ever saw was on the bus in high school (along time ago, like 10 years)

Some kid threw a ball of paper at a car beside the bus, the guy sped up and cut the bus off, which stopped both lanes of traffic and backed it uP pretty far. The guy gets out of the car and the driver of the his opened the door (idiot), the guy got On and lost it asking who the hell threw it.

Out of nowhere a call of paper flies over us from way back and hits the guy in the face, the next thing we knew the police came and the guy got off and the bus driver took off.

I will never forget that day thats for sure.