Rapid KL - Bad Attitude Driver

| Thursday, February 19, 2009

We had wanted to go to Jalan 222 yesterday. We opt to take the Rapid KL buses and so we hopped on to U41 from Jalan Chan Sow Lin that would take us to Klang bus stand. And I thought to myself, 'this journey isn't that bad' as some complains...


We reached Klang bus stand at 3.15 p.m. There wasn't much jam, so it took us only 15 minutes to arrive. Cool, it was better that driving there ourselves. Now we will just have take the U84 which heads to Kelana Jaya. No, that's not our destination - but it passes Jalan 222, and so we would stop there.

We waited thinking that it would take us not more that 20 minutes max.. as promised by Rapid KL that they would supply buses to each routes with a gap of 15 minutes each. 

It's way past 15 minutes and not a U84 in sight. As we waited, there was about 6 or 7 units of U74 which came in, pick up passengers and left. And not one unit of U84 by Rapid KL !? And mind you, not all of the U74 was jam packed but still they jalan!

At last, at a little past 3.45 p.m... the U84 arrived.. moved in slowly to park by the side.. and I could see everyone moving fast towards it. Most of us stood in a line, (wah! Malaysians finally learned to queue!!).. waited for the last passenger to leave before we went up.


Bam! The driver slammed the door in our faces!! What the hell was that for?! The first in the queue was an elderly man, was rather taken aback.

So PJ went over to the driver and asked him politely - 'when is this bus schedule to leave?'
'I have to report to the master', the driver answered while gulping his bottle of water.
Without answering to his initial question, he stepped down and walked off, to God knows where.

So everyone of us waited at the same spot... And at the same time, hoping that there would be another U84 coming in. Unfortunately, there was NONE!!

30 minutes! 30 blarrrdy minutes was how long he took to report to the master!
And in fact, he was puffing away with some friends or drivers below the LRT station.. Oh yes, we saw him standing there trying to camouflage himself among the other drivers.
As I remember, there were articles on the frequency which I quote

"trunk line service with a 10-minute frequency as compared to the old system"

and I can't seemed to find any press statements stating that they will be serving buses in an hours frequency...!!!! 

Why can't he just tell these passengers that he needed a break, tak kisah lah toilet break ke, rokok break ke, makan break ke, lunjur kaki break ke.. whatever.. all he had to do was to explain. It isn't that hard, right? I see some drivers do that. And none would actually complain, for we do understand - coz we too drive. We too need breaks, for the legs needs some rest sometimes. Fine!

At last he decided that he should continue his journey at 4,15 p.m..
And so he went up the bus, sat there for a good 2 minutes before he decided to open the door.
Still we tried to calm ourselves down. Just maybe, he had a bad day..

Then PJ tried talking to him again. This time it was to ask if he could help stop us anywhere near the Maybank at triple 2.. Not that we don't know where Maybank was, but we just weren't sure where the nearest bus stop was.

Know what he said, 'Kamu tak tau nak pegi mana?' and continued mumbling under his breath.. Lagi orang sabar, lagi dia kasi naik angin.. Maybe, he just didn't understand our question.. Fine.. We didn't want to argue with him coz we didn't want to spoil the whole day, half spoil was enough....

We even managed to witness how he left some passengers at KL Sentral as they were approaching the bus. We saw one of them signaling for the bus and the driver sort off slowed down at a distance from where the crowd was... seems like it was done on purpose (I think), and left them there as they were walking towards the bus.... (I guess "ah, lembab lah these people" was playing in the drivers mind)... Some experience!

Now,we are at the 222 junction, exit from the highway.. 
A lady pressed the buzzer for the next stop. I thought, 'Oh maybe, just maybe she's warning the driver that she will disembark at the next bus stop (in front of BHP)'.. Suddenly, this driver opens the back door to let her down.. where there wasn't a bus stop in sight!! What happens if some motorists slams into her??? 

Such an irresponsible person! I've seen passengers that had wanted to go down in the middle of traffic jams or traffic lights.. but most drivers would be smart enough to know that they are only allowed to drop off passengers at its rightful bus stops, for if anything happens to the passenger - part of the blame would go to them. 

We arrive at the bus stop closest to the Maybank... and instead of telling us, he just "pointed out the bus stop with HIS NOSE"....

Soon I realized, he doesn't look like someone who has encountered a bad day. 
He looked like some one with a bad attitude problem!

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