Driver driven to not drive by customer complaint.
Late last month, someone posted online about an incident that occurred on a Toei Bus line departing from Tokyo Big Sight. At the time the driver of the bus closed the doors just as a passenger was approaching. The passenger got angry and shouted at the driver, “You saw me there! Why did you close the doors?”
At that point, the driver contacted Toei Bus, told them he wasn’t in the right mental state to drive, and requested for his bus to be suspended. The company agreed, and the bus was taken out of service right then and there. The original post was critical of the driver, possibly due to frustration from having their bus canceled at the last minute. They also pointed out that the driver then drove the empty bus back to the depot themself.
However, the response to the incident was overwhelmingly supportive of both the driver and Toei Bus’s professional handling of the situation, and as the news spread, even more support came out in online comments.
“Nice!”
“The person who harassed the driver should have to compensate the other passengers.”
“Everyone’s different, but I experienced first-hand how getting yelled at can impair your judgment or field of vision, so that is a smart way to prevent accidents.”
“I’m glad the company made the rational decision.”
“Harassing customers are the lowest form of scum.”
“It’s dangerous to push yourself too hard while driving.”
“Well done to the driver for recognizing he had a problem and to the company for accepting it.”
There were also some comments that mentioned the incident was rather mild compared to other cases of customer harassment, and felt the driver was over-reacting. However, they don’t call it “the straw that broke the camel’s back” for nothing, and who’s to say what that person had gone through up until that point? Even if it was only that incident, the fact that he had other people’s lives in his hands made erring on the side of caution the right choice.
Toei Bus also deserves credit for disrupting their services for the sake of safety. Although buses aren’t quite as meticulous as trains when it comes to punctuality, they still take it seriously. Moreover, the bus industry is dealing with a serious driver shortage these days. Toei Bus themselves recently had to cut 200 trips per day across Tokyo because there weren’t enough drivers, so every bus counts.
Cynics might also argue that this is still just a matter of yen-counting since an accident would be devastating to the company brand and the financial risk simply wasn’t worth it, but Toei Bus is run by the Tokyo government and isn’t nearly as vulnerable to bad PR as a private company would be. In that way, you could even say it makes their response to the situation even more surprisingly compassionate.
According to the Tokyo Metropolitan Bureau of Transportation, although there have been disruptions due to conflicts with customers in the past, this is the first time service was suspended for the specific reasons of mental instability. They would also like to ask passengers to refrain from using intimidating language and will notify the police if it continues.
▼ It’s equally important for customers to exercise some courtesy and restraint as it is for drivers. Just ask our own model passenger, Mr. Sato.
At least it’s nice to see that society is improving such that bus drivers can seek help for mental health issues when they need it, unlike the ’50s, when they would go home and threaten to punch their wives so hard they would fly up towards the moon (The Honeymooners was a documentary, right?).
Source: Shukan Josei Prime, TBS Radio, My Game News Flash
Photos ©SoraNews24
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