On Tuesday, December 21, 2010, a young man was disrespected by a CTA bus driver on his way to school.  Here is the situation as told by Young Man’s* Mother:

Young Man boarded the 4 Cottage Grove bus at approximately 7:35 a.m. going to De La Salle. He put in his reduced fare card and paid his 90 cents.

Female driver (in a tone louder than necessary): You gotta pay full fare. You don’t have school today!!!

Young Man (in an even, respectful tone): I have school today and I have to take my finals.  Look at my Exam pass with the dates printed on it!

Female drive (in a loud voice): I don’t need to see that!!!

“She then told him to pay or get off the bus.  A lady right behind him paid an extra 1.25 for my son to get to school and told him not to worry about it. He just told me this after noon, and I snapped. So The chairman, the president and the janitor of CTA are working on this.”

Yes, mom had the entire CTA staff from the boardroom to the janitor investigating this incident.

The results:

Mom spoke with the bus driver’s manager, and was informed that the President of CTA called to handle this situation. The manager said that the driver knows De La Salle’s schedule. AND, bus drivers are not supposed to do that to students.  De La Salle even has bus service with CTA. The President is going to interview the driver and call Mom back.

“CTA is also going to have a supervisor on the bus stop in the morning to make sure he gets on with no problem.”

Shorty’s Thoughts:

It is great to see results in this situation.  Many times  such incidents go unreported results in no action and continuous disrespect.   What is especially powerful is the mother’s action and the stranger’s kindness.

Have you been disrespected by a CTA bus driver?  What happened?