I trust all is working out with this incident. I was on Sunset this past Sunday when Jim Bledsoe came riding up yelling at a bus Operator and asking me to intervene. He’d just been curbed by an articulating bus.

I rode to the next stop and jumped on the bus, rode for a few stops and chatted with the operator.

It will be interesting to see how these incidents play out.

At issue is the Metro’s policies and training which call for honking at “cyclists and other road hazards.” It goes downhill from there!

Best!

Stephen

Now it’s my turn: Work on your comprehension skills. Your lack of them does you no favors. If you’d care to reread the post you’ll see that what I posted was a verbatim reprint of my formal complaint as filed with the MTA. And if you weren’t just some hit-and-runner to this blog you’d know in fact that I write the way I write and decidedly do not give a rat’s ass about appealing “to a wider audience.”

You have indisputable visual evidence (hey, it works in the NFL!) of moving violations and a near death experience because of this driver. Report it to the DMV too—he had to have a license issued from DMV which can be revoked or suspended with PROOF of his dangerous driving behaviour. Can’t really drive a bus if he doesn’t retain his license. You also *could* call the police, or go down with a copy of the video to a police station and let them run with it too.

Years ago, after nearly being run off in a similar fashion by a bus, I also took to contacting the advertisers on the bus as well, since my local Transpo Authority didn’t seem to care. To let the advertisers know that they were advertising in a way that was dangerous to my health with the dangerous driving of the operator and that I was not likely to purchase their product because of their advertising venue nearly killing me. Some of them kissed me off saying “we can’t control the bus” to which I explained that if that was the message they wanted to send with THEIR name plastered all over the side of the bus that nearly creamed me—I’d make sure everyone knew they didn’t care if their choice of advertising nearly killed me. Amazingly enough they changed their tune a bit. Others actually admitted they had heard a LOT of complaints in this fashion about the buses, and were notifying the TA that they’d not renew their contract for advertising, BECAUSE of the hideous drivers actions.

Mind you, not ALL bus drivers suck. But it seems a disproportionate amount of them are on routes they have no business being on and care little about the people they nearly kill or hurt.

Glad you are ok, glad you’re on the spot enough to avoid them. REALLY glad you’ve got it on video. Go get ‘em!

Carolyn Flowers (COO) FlowersC@metro.net

Zev Yaroslavsky (County supervisor & Metro Boardmember) zev@bos.lacounty.gov

Phil, indeed I too usually yield to buses not so much because of the good and saintly service they are providing to the workers of the city, but primarily because they can kill you a lot more efficiently than a vehicle a third its size. This wasn’t a matter of being given the opportunity to yield. This was the matter of a motherfucker of a bus operator forcing me to get out of his way. And for what: so he could get to the next red light a few seconds faster. Less desirable line or not whatever they’re paying this jackass is too much and he’s damn lucky I’m reeeeally trying hard to be nonviolent and civil and didn’t board his boat and make everyone on it waaaaaay later to work.

Supposedly MTA bus drivers are well paid. I know the Dash buses and the other lines are less well paid than the higher paid MTA drivers. I wonder if the 333 line is one of the less desireable lines? Some senior drivers pick lines that are less stressful.