Mallory Nestor oversees ADA compliance for all of AC
Transit. She has spent the past three years monitoring Paratransit, meeting with
the disabled community, dealing with passenger complaints, making sure each lift
and ramp is working, and ensuring each driver is properly trained about the ADA.
She said the transit agency is now in the process of standardizing all the
various tie-down systems to make them less confusing.
The rest, she said, is up to the drivers. After
all, there is only so much you can do to train them, but after that they are
alone on the bus. Nestor refers to the attitudes of some of the bus drivers as
part of a culture that's hard to change overnight.
"If we get everything else square, eliminate
every single thing that drivers could say, 'I can't do it because of this, this,
this, and this,' then you are just left with your attitude," she said. "You need
to change your attitude. ... We don't train the drivers to have that attitude on
the street. You've got happy employees and you've got miserable employees.
You've got happy passengers and you've got lousy passengers. From my
perspective, we are making sure that we provide them with all the tools
necessary for them to perform their job. And then it's really up to them. ...
There are some drivers, they need to find another occupation. And we really
haven't in the past, I think, emphasized that they are the ambassadors. And that
is what we expect from them."
And yet, Nestor also points out that it's not
always the bus driver who is cranky. She believes passengers' attitudes have
been getting worse as well. "Drivers have noticed a marked increase in the
rudeness of the passengers on the bus," she said. "How do you change that? I
don't know. Again, the only thing I can come up with is education."
Retired AC Transit veteran Tarlen agrees that
drivers ultimately hold the power. "When a person in a wheelchair gets on the
bus, the way the driver handles the situation, the attitude that the driver
shows, affects the attitudes of everyone else on the bus. ... If the driver
comes with the attitude, in words or body language, of 'Oh damn, now I have to
deal with this, and everybody's gonna run late, and I'm not gonna get my break,
and everything's going to go wrong from here on out because I have to pick up a
wheelchair,' well, this kind of attitude would make most people on the bus
pissed off at the person in a wheelchair.
"I'm looking for the day when the driver just
looks over there, you know, and sees a person in a wheelchair waiting for the
bus, and reacts to it like, 'Ho-hum ... it's just another passenger. This is not
a big deal.' That's what we are shooting for."
Complaint File
Some highlights from the files of AC Transit. All
typos verbatim.
"Caller states she had a wheelchair passenger
with her and six other disabled passengers. Caller states before they even
boarded the bus this driver was yelling at them like they were stupid. Caller
states driver refused to assist her with wheelchair straps, saying it wasn't her
job, and that caller could do it herself. Caller states wheelchair was rolling
and passenger in wheelchair was crying because she was afraid. Caller states
that driver started handing out comment cards to other passengers to write and
say how good a driver she is."
"Caller states driver refuse to let caller board
with her service dog. Driver said it was his damn bus and he doesn't allow
dogs."
"Caller states she is disabled and walks with a
cane and needs a little time to get to the bus and states the same driver always
puposley pull off to avoid boarding her. As passengers told him to wait, driver
stated he didn't have time for that.... 11/26/02 driver stated the above
complaint is false."
"Caller states she is disabled with a walker and
a white cane. Caller states she had been waiting for over an hour for a 73, and
when one finally came, the driver boarded everybody else and then stated to
caller that she need to take the next bus because he was full. Caller states she
just started crying."
"Caller states he is disabled with no arms and
could not pull cord to alert driver for his exit. But states he sat right in the
front next to the driver and called repeatedly for driver to stop at the
Cerebral Palsy Center. But driver ignored him and ended up letting him off near
the Greek Church and he couldn't walk all the way back because he's disabled."
"Caller states she and her disabled husband were
approaching bus stop and states bus came so she had to speed up a little to
catch bus but her husband is disabled and could not move as fast so when she
boarded bus she told driver her disabled husband was coming. But driver just
slammed the doors and took off leaving him."
"Caller is in a wheelchair and states this driver
was so rude and disrespectful to him and asked him before he boarded if he had
any money, because you people don't never have any money. Caller states he told
her he did and after he boarded, driver stood in his face and he thought she was
going to assist him with the tie-downs, but she simply asked for the bus fare
again and then just took a seat after he paid and never assisted him with any
tiedowns."
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