ummmm, originally uploaded by Mike @ pittsburgh.metblogs.com.

This is the poor quality picture from my bus where the driver just yelled at two passengers who dared to ask to get on five feet after the stop while we were stopped at a light

Ok, now that I’m not trying to type out on my phone, here is the whole story:

Our bus (the 68A) was working its way through Pittsburgh and got to the stop at Oliver and William Penn Place.  A whole ton of people got on and the bus pulled forward, five or ten feet to the light, which was red.  Two men caming running down William Penn Place and knocked on the door asking to get on.  This happens a lot, and I have never seen a bus operator refuse to open the doors.

Well, our operator went nuts.  She started yelling through the door that she didn’t have to open it, she already service the stop and if they wanted to get on they had to either go to the next stop (up Oliver and down three blocks on Grant) or wait for another bus.  I heard her screaming through my headphones even while listening to a podcast.

Now to be fair, I could not hear what the men on the street were saying.  We moved up to the next stop on Grant and one of the two men got on.  The operator yelled at him, saying that the could not ride the bus since he dropped the F bomb.  He denied it and walked back and took a seat.

Overall, I think the whole situation was insane.  There was no need for the operator to not open the door, she was just rude, and I have never seen that happen before, operators have been nothing but kind to riders.  I got the bus number and I’ll probably send a note to PAT about it, and I just am thankful that it’s not my normal bus.