So, a very talented friend of mine is having an exhibition of her art at a small town close to where I live. Its a 30 minute drive, but 2 hours on public transport, with 2 buses, one train, and a long walk under the summer sun on the way. Whatever, I'll sleep/read on the way, right?
so I show up at the bus station 10 minutes before the bus takes off, the bus arrives, and the driver gets off and turns off the bus. I think he's just going to the bathroom, to take a break, smoke a cigarette, whatever. Nope. He never returns.
I've now been standing at the bus station for an hour after the scheduled departure time, staring at the switched off bus, and fuming about how I have just lost 20 bucks because I missed all the other buses and trai (i had to buy the tickets beforehand), how now I can't get to the exhibition without being late for work, how I will have let down my friend by not showing up and supporting her, and how this wouldn't have happened if I just had a fucking car and wasn't a depressed mess who can't find energy to do anything until the very last moment, letting down everyone around me.
I don't normally get angry, but this whole thing has made me very upset.
I don't hold it against the driver, they finished their shift or had a scheduled break, but the point is that the bus should've left the station at the scheduled time, regardless of who's driving it. But nope, just a parked bus and no answers.
And a properly funded and staffed transit system would have more drivers available than needed so they’d have a driver to take over that route in this situation