Greyhound passengers stranded after driver deserts them at truck stop

[pstokely]

Source: KSDK

St. Louis (KSDK)-- Passengers say it was a travel nightmare. A Greyhound bus bound for St. Louis was stranded all night at a truck-stop after the driver got off the bus and never came back.

Passengers say the first problem on the trip happened in Sikeston. They say the driver kicked a passenger, 65, off the bus in Sikeston because she didn't like what he was saying. The bus continued North on I-55. Around Cape Girardeau, the driver pulled over and stopped the bus on the side of the road. She told passengers she was leaving. She locked the door and went outside to wait for a ride. Passengers called 911 and police ordered the driver back on the bus.

But instead of heading north to St. Louis, she turned the bus around. She got off the interstate in Charleston, MO and got off the bus for good. The passengers were stranded at a truck-stop. They called Greyhound for help, but it took hours to get a new driver. They ended up spending the night on the bus.

"She did it twice," passenger Danyel Thompson said of the bus driver. "She locked us in on the side of the highway and then the second time she just left. It was horrible."

Read more: http://www.ksdk.com/news/article/286657/3/Greyhound-passengers-stranded-after-driver-deserts-them

[sakabatou]

1. That woman needs to be fired

"No shit, 'Batou."

[pstokely]

2. How about charging that driver with kidnapping

nt

[sakabatou]

3. No... reckless abandonment?

[go west young man]

16. And maybe we could prosecute children who take candy

with felony grand theft!

[bluestateguy]

4. "A spokesperson for Greyhound says the driver will be disciplined on Monday."

Uh, I'm assuming that will mean fired?

Jobs are too scarce these days to let yahoos like that have one.

[jtuck004]

5. "...police ordered the driver back on the bus". eek. /nt

[No Elephants]

7. Excellent point. "Hey, nutjob, get back on a bus with a busful of folks you just made very angry."

What could possibly go wrong?

[surrealAmerican]

20. That struck me too.

They don't really have the authority to do that, do they?

[jtuck004]

21. That's a good question.

They do have a lot of leeway on the street, and whether their actions are legal is often determined later (assuming you are still breathing, or if there are witnesses). Maybe they would try to make the argument that it is better than leaving a bus load of people on the side of the road to have whatever happen to them?

If that driver, however, had taken those people on in and gotten in a big wreck or driven into the terminal, I would think the liabilities might be huge, not to mention career-ending.

I think I would have tried to secure the scene until the company could get another driver, 'cause that one has already indicated strongly that they don't want to be driving that bus, but perhaps the driver didn't come across as that angry or out-of-it when they talked to the cop.

[saras]

6. Fired? or have her meds adjusted?

[dmallind]

8. If she's that dependent on meds and misadjustments are that risky

she should not have a job that has such an impact on public safety in the first place.

[kickysnana]

9. She quit before she totaled the bus. If she'd reached her limit what else was she supposed to do?

She knew if she called for backup there would be none. I was on that route twice a year for the last three years. Real America, not the showbiz version, is no longer a good place to be.

Greyhound equipment is ancient, broken and dirty. Schedules are unforgiving for weather or other delays. Pay and benefits are poor. Schedulers have favorites and probably can be bribed. So many passengers are teapartiers, drunk, users, felons, crazy or just plain miserable in America and take it out on everyone else including the bus driver.

And anybody who cannot deal with what she did could never do what she did even for a short time and should tend to their own business.

Some people on DU have no empathy and feel compelled to pass judgement on all people in all situations, what is that a God complex?

Rant off.

BTW. Greyhound passengers are used to delays lasting up to 24 hours on about half their trips. It is what it is.

[No Elephants]

11. I can appreciate your empathy, but back up did arrive eventually.

She didn't even try to call, though.

As usual, more facts are needed before we jump to a conclusion, one way or the other.

[pstokely]

15. Is Megabus any better from Memphis to St Louis?

nt

[kickysnana]

18. I don't know. People were talking about it the last time I rode. n/t

[KamaAina]

17. And that's all within the last twenty years

Back around 1990, I did a couple of Greyhound long hauls from New Orleans to the East Coast. Not a problem.

Since then, they've cut service to a lot of small and even medium-sized towns (Bloomington, IN? Seriously?), and stuff like this is commonplace. (They refuse to serve South Lake Tahoe, CA because of a near-riot a few years ago when they didn't have enough buses to get people back from a festival.)

[Roland99]

10. Take the keys, too? Why didn't someone just hop in the driver's seat and turn it around?

I would have!

[No Elephants]

12. Do you have a license to drive that kind of vehicle and insurance to cover whatever

might have happened?

[Roland99]

14. no and no but I bet no one would have minded!

:)

[guitar man]

19. Do you have a class B CDL

What do you know about driving a heavy vehicle equipped with air brakes? What you propose could kill everybody on the bus as well as a bunch of people on the highway. :eyes:

[jmowreader]

22. You also need a Passenger endorsement

Because Greyhound is the preferred method for moving truck drivers around the country, there was a good chance at least one person on that bus held a Class A CDL--but without a specific Passenger endorsement (which is hard to get because you need a bus for the practical examination) it would have been illegal for that person to drive the bus.

[itsrobert]

24. Driving a bus is really not that hard

And yes, I drove a bus with air brakes.

[panzerfaust]

13. Take this job and shove it?

Still better than the CEO of Quantas getting all pissy a few weeks ago and grounding all Quantas flights to try to break the activism of Quantas flight crews - which was limited to the wearing of red-ties and PA announcements supporting the resistance to moving Quantas support operations to the Far East.

This poor woman will likely be fired, lose her permit, and be on the dole - whilst the Quantas CEO pocketed several millions as a bonus (or as a bribe - given that the payment immediately proceeded his uncaring actions).

[pstokely]

23. Update

http://stlouis.cbslocal.com/2011/11/22/update-greyhound-puts-driver-on-leave-after-walkaway/

[hedgehog]

25. Here's what doesn't make sense- how comes Megabus is able to

run better equipment? Does Megabus cherry pick routes ( Syracuse to NYC at college break time, for example)? I suspect Megabus drivers aren't well paid, but does Greyhound pay any better? I wonder how much of each Greyhound ticket goes to executive salaries?

[pstokely]

26. Greyhound Puts Driver On Leave Abandoning Passengers

Source: KMOV

ST. LOUIS (KMOX) – The Greyhound bus driver who stranded one passenger in Sikeston, Missouri and later abandoned the rest of the passengers near Charleston, has been placed on leave pending an investigation into the incident.

A company spokeswoman said it’s not yet known how long the investigation will take or what actions will be taken when it concludes. It’s also not known if the employee is on paid or unpaid leave.

The spokeswoman said passengers of the abandoned bus have begun to come forth to collect their refunds. Those with proof of travel can pick up their refund at the Greyhound station or call [phone].

Read more: http://stlouis.cbslocal.com/2011/11/22/update-greyhound-puts-driver-on-leave-after-walkaway/

[htuttle]

27. I got stranded in Kansas City with about 20 other people by MegaBus

Left us standing on a corner in the middle of the night. MegaBus offered us a refund within 7 business days to solve the problem, lol. They do it all the time, though, so it's probably not very newsworthy.

[Turbineguy]

28. How Randian. n/t

[DaveJ]

29. The driver left because of "unruly passengers"

I'm sorry for saying this, but based on the types of people I've seen at Greyhound terminals, I don't think I'd be able to handle being a Greyhound driver. Scary. I can definitely see how something like this could happen.

[EFerrari]

30. My Jimmy died in Reno and we had to bus back once.

I didn't notice anything about the rest of the passengers but maybe that was because my new husband was 6'5" and looked like a cop. lol

[atreides1]

31. Okay

So you're basing this on personal experience of people you've seen at the terminals...without any information about the people who were on the bus in question?

One unruly passenger was kicked off and some of the other passengers got loud...not exactly the entire bus

Maybe the driver was just having a bad day...tired, overworked, pissed off at the world, etc...sometimes the driver can be a real asshole too!

Just saying that it could be a combination of things.

[DaveJ]

33. I'm just saying, working with the public under those circumstances can be scary

OTOH, an airplane pilot is separated from the passengers, flight attendants are trained specifically to take the heat from unruly people, and now they also have undercover TSA. Trains are the same way. Buses, however are different in that the driver must drive AND handle strangers who could have any variety of background and/or mental illnesses, or social problems. That is something I would not be able to handle.

Granted, I do not know the specifics of this incident. But, I'm just saying, that I can see how this could happen.

[christx30]

32. I'm going to go up to

New Hampshire to spend Christmas with my family. Greyhound would cost almost as much as a plane, but would take 2 days as opposed to 6 hours on the plane.
A train would be nearly twice as much as either of them, but would take *73* hours. Holy Moly!