Thank you for contacting the MBTA.
We have received your complaint regarding the operator on bus route 134. The behavior you describe is unacceptable and will not be tolerated. It is not reflective of MBTA employees in general.
The Incident that you describe is currently being investigated and we will take the appropriate corrective action to address this issue.
Should you have additional questions or concerns regarding this issue, please contact the MBTA’s Customer Communications Department
Dear "Iris Heat" @ MBTA:
As a follow-up I went and took photographs so that you could see how very dangerous this experience was for ANY MBTA customer.
I am 65 years old and didn't appreciate having to flag down a bus that opened its door while driving in the oncoming traffic lane
Photo #1 (0864) - A bus appropriately at the Marshall's stop. Notice the yellow line the driver crossed because she was in a hurry.
She was parked behind the 134 to N. Woburn bus and didn't feel like waiting for the Woburn bus to depart...so with paying customers at the appropriate stop she just abandoned them
Photo #2 (o860) - how narrow the lane for both the incoming and outgoing traffic The bus driver simply bullied her way onto the incoming traffic lane and crossed the yellow line, impatient and in a hurry, neglecting riders
Photo #3 (o868) This is where she picked me up (???) A 65 year old man in 32 degree weather running out of breath to flag down a bus. She opened the doors yelling at me "STOP YELLING OR I WON'T LET YOU ON THIS BUS" IF i recall - her "best defense is a good offense" was ...offensive. I asked for her badge number and she had a meltdown because I told her I was reporting her.
Photo #4 (0869) Look at the danger of her being on the wrong side of the road. This is a photo of an appropriate bus in the appropriate lane
Photo #5 (0870) Faded bus sign is the actual stop that she intentionally skipped. How is it my fault if she failed to pick me up where she was required to pick passengers up? Why did I have to run into the street while she was in the wrong lane (????) and picked me up in the middle of the street endangering this elder person - I had to risk running onto the road or not get to where I wanted to go.
Photo #6 (0857) LOCUST ST. She then pulls an inappropriate meltdown and just stops the bus a few hundred yards up on Locust St (She could have had the decency to turn the corner and park at the appropriate bus stop) to phone the police on me because I am
reporting her.
The police in Medford know me as I'm a journalist - my blog is at 1.5 million hits and the Secretary of State's office ordered Medford City Hall to give me the L'Italien Report on the 27 blacklisted cops in Medford. The officer who got on the bus after she called and was kind enough to drive me to my home *(as your bus driver forced everyone but 1 person off of the bus) is one of the blacklisted cops that I outed. He was very polite and - clearly - had more of an axe to grind with this reporter than a bus driver as my article most likely forced District Attorney Marian Ryan to blacklist the 27. Had I not published my report it could have been swept under the rug.
Photo 0857 shows Locust St. and how narrow it is. For her vendetta your driver just stopped the bus with no warning right there, elder passengers got out (see the MBTA video, I beg of you) and customers - at least one elderly woman - got out in the cold at an inappropriate place with traffic backed up and your crazy driver taking her hands off of the wheel, against Mass. General Laws.
Also, your transfers don't always work and I get stiffed riding the T with my senior pass.
Because of my inconvenience that day -she didn't charge me for the 1 minute ride, SHE GAVE ME NO SERVICE - and a police officer that I did a story on was polite enough to drive me home, but don't think I wasn't nervous given the reputation of the Medford Police
Ripping off a senior citizen as your company did...multiple seniors on that short ride from hell IS WRONG.
Respectfully,
The MBTA is dysfunctional - and I have spent too much time giving you the evidence when I should be doing other work.
Joe Viglione
