Convenient Ride with a Dose of Attitude

Convenient but a mean bus driver didn't make it a fun ride

Yesterday I made a one-day trip to Seattle to see a friend from Hong Kong visiting her brother.

To get there economically without driving, I took the bus down. When I was a kid, we took the Greyhound bus, but these days it's called Flixbus and my experience on it was mixed.

While the bus departure time was 9.15am from Pacific Central Station, the fine print warned passengers to board 15 minutes beforehand, which meant getting on the bus at 9am. So I made sure I arrived early, at 8.45am to be precise.

The Flixbus driver wore black and a newsboy cap and was in a sour mood. He didn't have to be like that. Instead he barked orders at people, particularly those with suitcases because they had to be placed in different compartments according to where they were getting off. 

Flixbus tickets are priced according to demand, and you can buy the seat next to you to ensure a more personal space. However, this particular bus did not have a phone charger nor wifi; yesterday morning the electricity was down in our house and so my phone battery was already at under 70 percent.

The bus driver pulled out of the parking lot at 9.15am, when some people started banging on the door. It was a family that had just arrived with suitcases in tow but the driver refused to stop and shouted at them repeatedly to stand back from the bus. English was not their first language. He was not in the mood to stop and open the doors as well as the cargo compartments to include them on the bus and drove away, muttering they were late.

Then he had the gall to put on his nice voice over the microphone to welcome passengers on the bus and gave some strict house rules: Sit in your assigned seat, no wifi today, no smoking or vaping in the bus, wear headphones if you are using your phone.

In 50 minutes we arrived at the border crossing at Blaine. It took him a while to get the customs officers ready for us. A short Asian woman rushed to the front to get off the bus. But when she stood in line waiting to be processed she saw no fruits allowed in and took out two apples from her bag. And then she read no nuts either and pulled out a box of nuts that was wrapped in a plastic bag. What else was she carrying?

Everyone else who had suitcases had to drag them out from the bus and bring them into the customs area. As people were getting back on the bus, one young woman realised she had left her passport behind. The entire family was ordered off the bus and to bring their suitcases in again to be questioned. The bus driver was less than pleased and expressed this loudly. Another woman passenger tried to console him by saying it was not his fault, but that wasn't the answer he was looking for.

When the family finally got back on the bus, the bus driver said we were six minutes behind schedule. Six minutes! And in fact by the time we arrived at my stop at the University of Washington, we were perhaps one or two minutes behind schedule. I was so relieved to get off the bus.

He again barked at people who were waiting there to get on...

My return trip experience was completely different. Thinking I had to be there 15 minutes ahead of time again, I made sure I returned to the same stop early. But a woman sitting on the steps told me the bus was one hour behind schedule with no explanation. So I rushed to the nearest Starbucks to get a sandwich (my dinner).

Each time a bus arrived we went over to check if it was ours or not. They were driven by women and they were nice to passengers. One even retrieved a lost phone and the young man was so grateful. 

Finally our bus arrived at 8.23pm, and a cheerful driver came out. He didn't explain why they were late, but was easy going and relaxed. When we got on board, he also laid out the house rules, and I was pleased to find a phone charger though the wifi didn't work either. 

There wasn't too much traffic on the highway and we made good time to Bellingham and then to the border. This time we were only at customs for half an hour and that helped us get back to Vancouver by 11.36pm, just a few minutes shy of the original schedule. 

So I finished the trip with a good experience, but I can't shake the demeanor of the first driver. Why did he have to be so rude? I understand driving from Vancouver to Portland in one day is stressful, but we are all anxious too. I wondered what happened to that family that missed the ride in the morning... and what would have happened if we had a different driver...