#1 2011-02-08 21:08:04

Lynn
Member
Registered: 2008-05-27
Posts: 22

City bus

Could anyone tell me where I could complain about being harassed and buzzed by a city bus driver? I have the route, coach number, location, time, etc.

Offline

#2 2011-02-08 22:03:57

bizikletari
Member
Registered: 2009-03-18
Posts: 223

Re: City bus

It is probably late, but if you were riding your bike when you were harassed, I think you should have called 311. If it was a really scary incident, 911 is the number.

Now you should contact Capitol Metro itself to complain: http://www.capmetro.org/contact.asp

If you want to voice more publicly your disgust http://capmetroblog.com/ is a good venue, they seem not to censor much.

Offline

#3 2011-02-09 13:19:57

damicoaustin
Member
From: Austin, TX
Registered: 2008-05-27
Posts: 143
Website

Re: City bus

I got buzzed bad once, on purpose on the 1st Street Bridge when I was taking the right lane, to the point I could have easily touched the bus. I rode up next to the driver and put my fingers together and mouthed, "You came this close to hitting me." He became irate, honked his horn, and when the light turned green, he flung his wheel in my direction like he was going to swerve into me (but then just continued on his right turn). I called Cap Metro, they took down all the info, bus #, etc. They assured me they would address it with the driver. I asked them to have the driver apologize to me. They said they couldn't make a driver do that. But I said, "Yes, but you can ask." They said they weren't "allowed" to even ask. So I requested that they send me a letter in writing that they had "addressed" the situation with the driver. They said they "can't" send a letter, but that they would follow up with a phone call. And they did at least do that. A supervisor called back to say that they had "addressed" the situation with the driver, but of course could not give details on personnel issues.

But in a nutshell...it's not too late. If you have the bus # and the time they will have an exact record of who it is. Ask them for an apology and see what happens :)

For any advocates out there with time...call Cap Metro and see how many bicyclists have complained, then see how detailed you can get with the info. It might be fun.

Offline

#4 2011-02-09 16:51:27

jonesCrusher
Member
Registered: 2011-02-09
Posts: 1

Re: City bus

Definitely had my share of being buzzed but I also had an experience a week ago where a driver opened the door to let a passenger off INTO THE BIKE LANE right in front of me and I slammed on my brakes to avoid plowing into the passenger. It was at a stoplight and there was not a bus stop there. My adrenaline was pumping so fast that I just sped off without getting the bus number. But I did email Cap Metro the time and location of the incident. Never heard a word back from them. They dodged a bullet on that one as I would most certainly have injured both the passenger and myself.

Offline

#5 2011-02-09 19:12:57

Runzilla
Member
Registered: 2011-02-09
Posts: 7

Re: City bus

I had an episode at a 4-way stop.  I got the bus #, intersection and time.  I called the next day to submit a complaint.  They told me that they would review the video.  I got a email later in the week telling me that the driver was disciplined.  They could not elaborate as to what was done, if anything.  Do what you think is right.

Offline

#6 2011-02-11 17:56:08

dougmc
Administrator
Registered: 2008-06-01
Posts: 620

Re: City bus

jonesCrusher wrote:

I also had an experience a week ago where a driver opened the door to let a passenger off INTO THE BIKE LANE right in front of me

I believe that Capital Metro's answer to this is to usually just drive in the bike lane and then park in the bike lane (blocking it) when letting people on and off.

I don't really like this policy, but it's legal --

Source:  Ord. 20091217-041.
ARTICLE 3.  TRAFFIC RESTRICTIONS.
Bookmark§ 12-1-21  DRIVING IN BICYCLE LANE.

     (A)     A person may not drive a motor-propelled vehicle in, on, or across a bicycle lane except:
          (1)     to enter or leave a driveway, building, or alley;
          (2)     to enter or leave a parking space; or
          (3)     for a bus, to enter or leave a bus stop.

... and it does mostly prevent this sort of issue.  Either way, it sounds like this driver didn't follow their policy.  (I guess I'm not sure that it's an official policy or not, but they all seem to do it, so I doubt it's a coincidence.)

Offline

Registered users online in this topic: 0, guests: 1
[Bot] claudebot

Board footer

[ Generated in 0.019 seconds, 7 queries executed - Memory usage: 578.15 KiB (Peak: 1.02 MiB) ]