I wanted to make a complaint about the bus driver, driving the number X service this morning on the service due at xxxxxxxxx. I was carrying my 2 year old son and had my 4 month old baby in a compact stroller. The driver stopped for another gentleman at the stop, but when i went to get on the but he immediately said "You can't get on, there is no space" On the bus there were 2 pushchairs, on of them collapsible with no child in, the other was not collapsible. Also there was a man with a large suitcase, and a woman with a small suitcase which would have (and did when she kindly moved it)fit in the luggage compartment at the front of the bus. I pointed out to the driver that there was plenty of room for my small pushchair, but he just said "i said there is no room, there are 2 prams already." I said i'd take my sleeping baby out of the stroller and collapse it (whilst holding my toddler!) at which point he allowed me, finally, to get on the bus. I bought my ticket and got a foul look from him, then went to the baby buggy priority area, where the lady with the small suitcase moved over one seat, and i easily wheeled my stroller into the large space available. At the next stop, a lady tried to get on with a suitcase (which again could have fit in the luggage compartment) asking to travel to xxxx, and was immediately told she couldn't get on as there was no room! It took one of the other mothers with pushchairs saying she'd get off the bus 2 stops early, and getting off, before the driver would allow the woman traveling to xxxxx onboard!
I found the driver, brisk, rude and unhelpful to the point of it being ridiculous. He was extremely short and abrupt with all the customers getting on the bus, and was trying to deny potential customers travel totally unnecessarily. He made absolutely no effort what so ever to accommodate customers needs, and was bordering on aggressive when solutions were offered! Having worked in the service industry myself for over 15 years, and having run my own business for a number of those, i would be absolutely appalled to find one of my employees treating customers with such disdain and disrespect. Clearly your employee feels that his job is purely to drive a bus round a route, and the people getting on and off the bus are nothing but an annoying inconvenience. I'm sure that this sort of behaviour is not something your company would condone, and having used your buses on a near daily basis for over 10 years i know for a fact that the majority of your drivers are pleasant, personable and for the most part very helpful. I do think that the space available for pushchairs could be increased, given the number of young families that use your services, however, most drivers are very helpful and go to lengths to make sure that the maximum number of customers can use your services by ensuring space is used properly on your buses.
I hope this comment is useful to you in ensuring a high quality of customer care across all your services, and i await a response with interest.