Extra, Extra, Reading Busses driver annoy's passenger.
Ah, its been a while since I wrote a letter of complaint. Well, here is one that I fired off this morning.
Good Morning,
I wish to lodge a complaint.
This morning myself and another passenger who I regularly see at my bus stop I where awaiting the number 4 bus from the bottom of London Street. The traffic is slow at this point so from the time you see the bus come over the brow of the bridge on Dukes Street you still have a while to wait before the bus comes. When the bus approached my stop I did, I do each morning, walk to the edge of the pavement retrieving my ticket from my wallet, the other passenger was standing behind me forming a short queue, passengers at this stop do each morning.
Imagine my surprise when the bus shot straight past me.
Luckily there is another stop on London Street not too far away, and because the traffic was bad I was able to run to the next stop. When I got on the bus I asked the driver “did you not see me standing at the last stop” to which he replied that he while he did see me, didn’t stop because I didn’t have my hand out. As I stated I was standing at the edge of the pavement retrieving my ticket from my wallet in a queue, this to me would indicate that I wished to board the bus. I pointed out to the driver that while it may be protocol to stick your hand out to flag a bus down, this has never been a problem for me, and I have been a customer of Reading Busses for nearly 20 years. To which I received basically a grunt, at which point I moved down the bus to a standing position near the front.
As if to rub salt in to the wound, it appears that the rule about sticking your hand out only applies on London Street, for the remainder of the journey to Reading International Business Park, the bus stopped to pick customers up from two stops where the passengers had not extended their arms.
The problems I experienced this morning where with the driver of the number 4 bus that arrives at Reading International Business Park at 09:50, which has the number 1007 on the back in white writing.
The problems I would like to highlight are:
A) a) The bus not stopping at my stop, potentially causing me to be late for work, which I was able to board at the next stop only because the traffic was bad and I am able bodied enough to run.
B) b) When I asked the driver about this he was curt and unapologetic, regardless of the correct protocol for flagging down a bus, a simple apology then an explanation would not have left me fuming for the remainder of my journey.
C) c) The fact that the rule regarding flagging down a bus seems to only apply to the bus stop at the bottom of London Street. If this is a rule that has to be observed by all passengers on pain of having the bus shoot pasts them, I would like to know why this did not appear to cause a problem for the passengers on the remainder of the journey.
Even if the driver of this bus was correct that if you don’t stick you arm out then the bus will not stop, the way that he dealt with my issue left me feeling sufficiently annoyed that I have now written a 600 word letter of complaint. In the past I always had a very low view of the lever of customer service that one could expect from the drivers of Reading Busses, but I had felt that this had improved in recent years. I am sorry to see that I have been incorrect.
I would like to quote from you’re the Reading Buses pledge from your website and see if this compares with my real world experience.
“All our staff receive comprehensive training in customer care. They have an onerous task but are committed to providing you with a professional level of service.”
I think not.
I look forward to your response.
Regards,
Stuart Winter
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