You know, this is a pretty trivial matter but I really got to say - translink never ceases to amaze me with its bad service. Okay so yes, Brisbane has a pretty small population hence transport can't be as efficient as other places but on TOP of the buses being late or not coming at all, some of the drivers also have really bad attitudes. I mean seriously?
We pay taxes for proper transport and customer service and I'm not even being crazy picky here, I just think that some bus drivers really need to fix their attitude. It's not like the whole world owes them just because they're not in a good mood. A while back I was on the 130 and the bus driver kept snapping angrily at anyone who dared ask him a question. Eventually, an elderly couple got onto the bus and they were probably foreign and couldn't speak english properly. Whilst the driver was driving, the old man went up quietly and tried to ask for directions and the bus driver was just like
'Sit down. CAN'T YOU SEE I'M DRIVING?! I SAID SIT DOWN NOW!'
The old man couldn't understand properly so he stood there and paused for a while before getting out his map to ask where to get off and then the bus driver was like
'I can't understand you. Sit the f*** down.'
All the while, he was yelling and other people who asked him stuff were told to sit down without explanation, the driver just flat out refused to answer until he felt like it. Thank goodness a young guy probably about 20 years old stood up to help the old man out and he was telling the driver to calm down and to stop yelling at the old man since it's obvious he's having difficulty with english. You know what the driver did next? He was like 'WELL WHY DON'T YOU TALK TO HIM IN YOUR OWN LANGUAGE THEN? ' Then he proceeded to ignore the bus bell and the young guy missed his stop.
Another instance was today, I was sitting on the bus quietly reviewing some study material before the bus suddenly screeches to a halt in the middle of the road and I get thrown across the seats. Then, the driver, too caught up in being angry at the car in front stomps on the brakes AGAIN to avoid crashing. And so, after being thrown across two seats, I then slam into metal railings near the bag rack and now my collar bone is swollen.
Even my fellow passengers on the bus looked on in aghast, half of them also got slammed forward (they were in the two seaters whereas I was sitting in the three seater area which wasn't facing forwards). So instead of apologizing (and yes it was also the driver's fault because she drove too closely to the car in front), she is angrily cursing the driver and doesn't even check if anyone is alright. Even my fellow passengers noticed me flying across the seats and asked if I was alright.
Argh. Not even being picky and all, pretty sure I've tolerated translink pretty well for a long time. Just not happy with the attitude of some drivers.
