Bus driver refuses ride to passenger in wheelchair

Huh.

Well, he definitely made the wrong decision, but hopefully he doesn't lose his job. There is a lot of pressure to be on time as a bus driver!

The driver told the company he regrets "making the wrong decision," according to a Matsudo Shin-Keisei Bus official.

He is just taking one for the company here. His company has got to be putting pressure on him and other drivers to BE ON TIME at all costs! I kind of feel sorry for this guy, but I feel even sorrier for the passenger that had to wait for the next bus even more because of this idiot.

There is a time to use one's own head and tell the bosses to get screwed!

Next time I curse the bus for being late, maybe I will think of this and perhaps be more patient. Perhaps.

it called OMOTENASHI that Japan brags about

it called OMOTENASHI that Japan brags about

Omotenashi is played up by politicians and media, the average person jumps on the bandwagon and thinks oh yeah, me too all until it comes to them having to deal with something.

Then it becomes omote-nashi- No hospitality!

it will ensure all drivers understand that the need to serve passengers appropriately comes before operating a bus on time.

Does this mean they will lift the financial penalties put onto drivers if their buses are late?

Late penalties against these drivers can be horrible. Some drivers will lose their job or even have their routes changed because of this.

My usual 7:09 bus driver was recently replaced. His bus was late back in December and I know some people were clearly frustrated. I think they may have complained about it. I have not seen him since.

To be honest, that may have been a no win situation for the driver in either situations.

My bus is late all the time.not such a big deal really as they come pretty frequently.

This is reminiscent of the train coming around the bend too fast ramming into a condominium in Kansai more than a decade ago because the conductor drove over the speed limit in order to avoid being late.

Japan still has a long way to go if handicapped people are refused boarding public transport for the sake of 30 seconds

Because of some random Chiba bus driver, I am not going to throw the whole country under the bus. No pun intended.

There isn't that much pressure on bus drivers to be on time. The buses on my line are habitually 10 minutes late. I complain and my Japanese neighbors just say "Shoganai."

Disgusting that this goes on in a developed nation.

The bus driver's complaint doesn't even make sense. No bus around the world can run strictly to a timetable, because of traffic. If he was already late, that was either a) his fault or b) not his fault, in which case a further delay shouldn't have been an issue.

This is reminiscent of the train coming around the bend too fast ramming into a condominium in Kansai more than a decade ago because the conductor drove over the speed limit in order to avoid being late.

That's not really a good comparison. The train driver was already late and had overshot a platform, so was trying to avoid being disciplined by speeding and also not using the emergency break, because it would have required him to report its use.

Wehreas stopping to let a wheelchair user on would have been a good reason for a short delay.

I think they should run the handicap buses once an hour and let the other buses run on schedule. The way things are now the passengers are all late as loading a person on the bus takes about 3-5 minutes all in. That means other connections are missed. As Japan ages there will be more and more folks needing assistance. Buses will slow to a crawl. Already the case in the USA on the bus lines in major cities due to special needs folks, like those overweight.

Japan's obsession with time and puctuality is a relatively recent phenomenon. Prior to WW2, many overseas visitors commented on how lazy and late for meetings the locals were, with no sense of time; it is well documented in books and journals. Now apologies go out for trains 20 seconds late, and time is indicated to many decimal places. How times have changed.

factchecker - Disgusting that this goes on in a developed nation.

Do you mean the handicapped person being refused entry to the bus or the financial penalties placed on the bus drivers for being late?

There is a time to use one's own head and tell the bosses to get screwed!

This x 25!

The next bus was coming soon.  So the driver made a right decision.

The next bus was coming soon. So the driver made a right decision.

No, he didn't. he even admitted it: The driver told the company he regrets "making the wrong decision,"

You don't leave a disabled person in a wheelchair waiting for the next bus if there is space on the bus, even if it takes an extra 3-5 minutes.

The next bus was coming soon. So the driver made a right decision.

I thought that the driver admitted making the wrong decision.

I think he could do that in 30 seconds anyway. It was more likely that he was lazy, as some work is involved in preparing for boarding.

A bad attitude to the differently-abled is a bit of a theme in Matsudo. No elevator in the JR station either.

I take the same bus as a woman in a reclining wheelchair, and her two companions, quite regularly. It's a smooth operation.

Put out the portable slope.

Put up the two or three seats which take up the space the wheelchair needs.

The woman is wheeled onto the bus.

The safety belts and wheel stops are put into place while the slope is put away.

It takes two minutes max. The driver was at fault, and if the company encourages this policy, then so are they.

I guess if he did help the person, we would be reading a story about a bus driver losing his job because he caused a delay for hundreds of passengers due to helping a wheelchair bound passenger. Seems like a no win for the driver.

Ok, just fire him already, or not. Another idiot that can’t make a decision when a bit of pressure is on. Some people just never seemed to have connected with their soul!

That explains why drivers keep on humming when there are no passengers waiting at the bus stop, nor the bus bell is pressed...This being said, bus corporations must retrain on mercy and compassion towards the more needy traveler. Thoughts and prayers goes out to both - bus driver and WC passenger.

When is a bus ever on time? Well, so long customer. Poor decision making there, guy.

I wouldn't be so quick to blame the Bus Driver here, indeed, I'd start looking at the Bus Company's working Policy.

Japan is, admittedly very focused upon punctuality, and minor delays are taken seriously- though in this case, it seems the driver was left facing a difficult decision, (presumably due to earlier traffic related delays). Its reported that he said his decision was the wrong one, but infact, it could actually turn out to have been the right one, as it has now drawn attention to the problem within his Company, which will now have to be addressed.

Any onboard Camera would have been able to verify his claim, so slackness could have easily been ruled out as driver error. As too Traffic conditions. Clearly, I'd start looking at the Company policy first, before leaping to the conclusion that the Driver was in error.

Now that said, I am sure of at least one Bus driver who wouldn't be missed on the route I cycled in the past, he was totally "wrong" in his approach to other road users such as myself,

No, he didn't. he even admitted it: The driver told the company he regrets "making the wrong decision,"

How much do you want to bet if he loaded the guy, was late, someone complained and the company gave him heat, he would also have called that a "wrong decision"?

To be fair, there is a certain cold logic working here. The wheelchair guy is 1. The ambulatory people are many. Further, if there is any tolerance for lateness, wheelchair guy is a lot more likely to get it. Who do you think should have his interests placed second?

We are Told Japan is making it easier for disabled people, which is partly true... but in reality, even if you read Japanese, you quite often finding yourself facing obstacles. Even in Tokyo finding your way around the underground network with Wheelchair access is a problem. And why do some able bodied people still queue up for elevators when the escalator would be quicker and there's needy people waiting behind them.. the mind boggles. There's going to be a mixed bag of feedback during and following the ParaOlympics and that may put a dent into the shine that's currently being promoted.