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Hi,
It is Mizuki.
I always take bus to commute from my apartment to the campus where my institute is located.
The bus I used is a dedicated for students and faculties of Syracuse University.
I take the bus between 4pm to 6pm to go back to my apartment.
Two buses always come to pick passengers up and the two same drivers operate every day; One is male and the other one is female.
I wrote about the male driver in my previous post that he always let me get in first, after saying “Back up, please” to other passengers.
He is very kind and takes very good care of me.
However, the female driver always says, “Go to another bus (the one with male driver).” as soon as she sees me in the passenger crowd.
At first, I was thinking “She might not know how to operate the bus ramp because she is a new driver”, then I moved to another bus with the male driver.
However the other day…
It was raining and I was waiting for the bus.
The first coming bus was operated by the female driver.
She said “Go to another bus.” as she always does.
“She does this even on a rainy day!?” I felt frustrated.
The next bus came in 10 seconds. So I run to the next bus.
However the male driver said
“The ramp is broken, so you need to take another bus (the one with the female driver)”.
When he just told me that, the female bus driver was about to depart.
The male driver honked to make her stop and talked to her via microphone which is connected the 2 buses, and shouted to her
“You need to get the wheelchair passenger!”
The female driver stopped and moved some passengers out and let me get on.
Her bus’s ramp worked perfectly.
After I got on her bus, the female driver looked unhappy obviously and honked a lot to other cars all the way to the final destination, my apartment.
After I got my apartment, I still did not feel good about what I experienced.
I felt her attitude is not appropriate.
So I posted what happened on my Facebook in English… then, impressively, I got a lot more comments and messages than expected.
Especially American friends said “Report her!”
One of my friends even told me that this might be discrimination not only against disability but also again me being an Asian.
Because of the huge reactions, I emailed the University to report the female driver in the evening and went to bed.
Next morning, the University emailed me back and said they would contact the department which has a contract with the bus company.
When I took bus around 10am, the elder bus driver who works morning shift told me
“I have heard that you had a bad experience yesterday? That will not happen again.” with his smile.
I was impressed the driver already knew what had happened.
In the afternoon, I was waiting for the same bus, but only 1 bus with the male driver came.
He did not say anything particularly about the female driver, but he prepared a ramp before I got to the bus stop to show his extra kind.
A couple of days later, the University sent me a report.
The female driver in question stated that she typically arrives to the bus stop and has been asking me to use the second bus because her bus is usually full of riders and there isn’t enough room for me to board without asking other riders to exit.
The University explained that this is not acceptable.
The driver needs to communicate better to all customers.
The University suggested that upon arrival, the driver should watch for any wheelchair users and ask the other riders to stay back and wait until the customer with a disability boards the bus first.
If the bus is full, they should ask whether I mind using the second bus and the reason for asking me.
Any equipment malfunctions need to be reported immediately to the bus company’s dispatch and supervisor and to all other bus drivers.
All drivers need to be aware of malfunctions to ensure access is not compromised.
The bus company understands and agrees that I should not have a similar experience moving forward.
What made me surprised is American people’s huge reactions and quick actions to resolve the issue.
I found that American people are very sensitive about discrimination and take it as a serious issue.
When I had a trouble with public transportation in Japan, I messaged them but they replied me in one or two months later.
I almost forgot that I messaged them when I received their reply.
I told the whole story to my American friend, then she said,
“There are lots of lawsuits in US. If you take an action slow, you would be sued. Maybe lawsuit is not as common as in Japan, so people might reply slow.”
That could be true.
Ok, that is one of my most unforgettable experiences in life in USA.
Mizuki, One of the wildly successful parts of the ADA has been the ability to board a bus in most cities in the USA. The move to include lifts on all buses began in 1983. Denver witnessed significant protests and the city relented and purchased buses with lifts. I was a young man at the time and fought tooth and nail as part of the EPVA “bus buddy program”. The hostility toward inclusion was very nasty. The NYC mayor was opposed to the use of lifts on buses as was the general public. I was spit on, yelled at and harassed every time I got on a NYC bus. Fast forward to today, and getting on and off a bus in most cities is an after thought. It is an efficient way to get around most cities for a wheelchair user. This history is told in a great book, To Ride the Buses circa 2001 Advocado Press.
Thank you for your comment and sharing history! When I lived in Wisconsin for school for 2 years, there was no public transportation in town. Also I didn’t really use bus when I traveled to other cities at that time, but took train or taxi. So, Syracuse is my first experience to take a bus regularly. Most of bus drivers and passengers are cooperative, which I believe many disability advocates like you have fought for a long time.:) I have learnt that it is very important to speak up from this experience.
Hi William,
Thank you very much for your comment. Brave pioneers like you have been continuously changing and improving the world for everyone in it. I am grateful of that.
I remember in 2011 November in Taiwan. I witnessed a married foreign travelers with electronic wheelchair wanted to board a bus. The bus did stop for the couple and the driver was willing to help. But the bus driver was inexperienced at using the ramp of the bus and the driver was unable to get the ramp out. The electronic wheelchair was just too heavy although I offered to help but there is literally nothing much I can do to lift it.
A few minutes passed and the bus driver was still unable to get the ramp out. The other buses are stock behind the bus and created a traffic jam. Suddently, there was a elder lady came out of nowhere and asked the couple to give up on taking bus in a cold-blooded tone. I was sad and hurt to witness a bend of human right in front of me.
The main reason that Mizuki and I are sharing stories and messages is to continue the legacy of pioneers like you, with a purpose of creating a more inclusive and better tomorrow.
That’s an encouraging story! I am glad your claim has been accepted and processed accordingly. The rule of law in action I would say 🙂
I was very surprised that SU took an action so fast for me! I barely reported this kind of matters in Japan before, because I was thinking nothing would change. But it is not true. This article is surprisingly read by many people especially in Japan. I believe Japanese people are very interested how American people managed this issue!