December 12
Go Greyhound and get yelled at!
On December 9 I was a passenger on bus 7195 with schedule number 206 leaving Port Authority in New York City for a trip going to Syracuse, NY.
The driver of this bus let passengers board the bus about 1/2 hour early before it was scheduled to depart New York City. I got on the bus with a heavy leather down jacket and my luggage. I decided to sit in the seats right behind the driver because I have disabilities and I had difficulty lifting my luggage in the over head rack, so I sat in on the floor next to the unoccupied seat next to me. I put my coat/jacket in the overhead bin since it was lighter then by luggage.
A few minutes before the bus was scheduled to leave, the driver of the bus stood in the stairwell of the bus, and yelled at me for sitting in the seats that were right behind his driving cage. (At the time I boarded the bus, there were NO SIGNS, OR ITEMS ON OR IN THE SEATS INDICATING THAT THESE SEATS WERE OFF LIMITS FOR PASSENGER USAGE.) SO AGAIN, I SAT THERE BECAUSE I HAVE DISABILITIES.
The driver yelled at me and blasted me (rudely I should add) for not asking for "permission" to sit in that seat, he told me that I made myself right at home, threatened to throw me off the bus, and get the 2:45 bus. This was not possible since I had a 14 day advance sale ticket and the ticket was restricted to the 2pm trip.in addition, during the course of this incident the driver told me to shutup. I told him I would shutup, but he made another rude comment but I forgot the wording of it. I told the driver, that I thought that passengers were allowed to sit where they wanted and he stated to me that I don't have the right to sit where I want. The driver also made a remark about what if there was a bomb in that seat.
At no time, did the driver ask me to move to another seat, and in addition, I want to remind you the reader of this thread that there were NO SIGNS OR ITEMS IN OR ON THE SEATS INDICATING THAT THE SEATS WERE RESTRICTED, DUE TO SECURITY OR OTHER REGULATIONS.
I told the driver that I have disabilities and offered to show him my Medicare card, he made a rude remark about not knowing that I fell under ADA regulations.
In closing, i want to congratulate greyhound on having such a "professional" driver who made it his duty to humiliate, embarrass me in front of all the other passengers on this trip. I'm disgusted and i told the greyhound manager in syracuse, that the next time that i travel i will probably use amtrak, and that i'm not happy over this incident.
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