***UPDATED--SEE LAST POST***

Anyone else logged a complaint with MCTO for their drivers?
Text of mine while on a designated bike route (not lane) this PM:

:mad: I'm curious if anyone has had an experience with the process.

Show 'em your love! MCTO complaints HERE.

I was nearly forced into the oncoming lane by a busdriver in San Francisco. Only avoided the oncoming lane by coming to a dead stop in the left lane, waiting for the bus to pass me. Happened years ago, and I'm STILL pissed.

I should have boarded at the next stop and kicked the sh** out of the mofo, but I guess they have laws against such outrageous behavior...

Here, the bus drivers only signal their turns at the last minute.

yeah, dont trust busses. ppl getting on and off on the right and theyll pull out on you to the left

However, if I was circling city streets for minimum wage then I wouldnt pay attention either.

Bus drivers don't make minimum wage, they make a good living wage with good benefits. The bus driver who nearly forced me into traffic saw me-- it wasn't that he wasn't paying attention, it's that he didn't care. He did it intentionally.

I've never had problems with RTD buses. However, that may be due to riding lesserly traveled streets that have few bus routes.

I have more problems with school busses than city busses. The geriatric part time drivers who they have driving those things are real danger to the bicycle commuter. :mad: The worst is at dusk dawn when they can barley see through their cataracts! :eek:

I actually have far less trouble with buses than I do with cars. CCT and MARTA always seem to take care when passing.

I briefly worked for the city paratransit service. $7.50/hr and no benefits. Not minimum wage but bloody close. And an at-will contract which means a complaint or two and you are toast. Folks, if you are pissed with a bus driver write it all up, time, place, number, and details even a sketch of the scene then send it to the DMV. That driver will be put thru Hell.

Bus Drivers DO NOT LIKE BICYCLISTS

They cringe around these parts if one wants on a Bus.

This morning a bus approaching me from behind gave a short little toot of his horn. Now I appreciated him letting me know he was there. But I was also wondering if wanted me out of his way. I was taking the lane, for I was approaching a car parked on the right. I know buses are big, and the road was squeezing down as we approached the intersection, but the driver didn't leave a whole lot of room between. There was no oncoming traffic...

Aren't you in Boulder? Maybe I have you confused for another Coloradian.
RTD drivers don't seem to care either way if you want to put your bike on the bus. Of course, I only take express and regional routes. Most of those are in areas that a frequented by cyclists.

So what are you saying? That salaries in Hootersville are low? Why is that news?

In Portland, drivers are unionized. I don't know what they make per hour, but I can gurantee you it isn't even close to minimum wage. And I can also guarantee you that Portland bus drivers have great benefits. Same in San Francisco, New York, any big city. Drivers don't get aggressive with cyclists because they're poorly paid; they get aggressive because they can.

I find Montreal bus drivers considerate of bikes. If there is one behind me when I am approaching a bus stop I pull well out into the lane so the have no trouble getting in to the stop.

I experience two types of bus drivers:
Those that are extremely patient and considerate, staying behind me until thier stop knowing I will have to pass them at the stop if they pass me earlier and generally giving me plenty of room.
And the occasional A-- that barely makes it past me before pulling toward the curb for a pick up (not even getting parallel) then doing nearly the same at the next stop.
I usually only encounter buses on 4 lane streets so I make sure I take enough of the lane that they don't think they can squeeze by. This helps with most of my encounters. I experienced more close calls and dangerous passes in the first 3 months I commuted when I lacked the confidence to take a lane than I have in the last 2 years since I learned to ride like a vehicle. I also get fewer flats that way also.
Craig

Longmont... and yes the drivers up north here itch and moan about bikes.

At 5am there is a about 5 bikes on the average. I have seen as much as 8.

I tend to catch the first stop to get on the Rack, instead of stowing underneath. The only reason I ride is to miss the Sleepy Heads driving to work on Hwy 119. I get back on the bike and ride the rest of the way in. That is if I feel like taking a bus at all.

(and this is a Regional Bus also Longmont/Boulder, I get off at 63rd)

by-the-way... I hardly EVER go into Boulder... I don't fit in with their universe

Don't threaten to bring charges unless you really will. That just costs you credibility. As to drivers' wages, in Columbus they are union with good wages and a contract that limits discipline. I remember seeing their wages printed in the paper and thinking that was a lot of money, but I don't remember the amounts.

It wasn't a bluff.

I know what you mean. I'm a liberal and can't stand the people's republic of boulder. Freaking wacked out city. Denver is more to my liking.

Update:

MCTO responded with a pretty vanilla response. I didn't expect much. But a few days later I stopped seeing that driver on that route. Haven't seen him since. Maybe the system works.

I feel your frustration.

I used to ride a lot in Milwaukee WI. The bus drivers there would pull up along side you, so you'd be half way between their front wheel and the rear, and then they'd pull over at their bus stop. Your ONLY option was to bunny hop up onto the curb or just take it. They did it repeatedly to me and I saw them do it to about a dozen other cyclists. I made numerous complaints to their "managment" but I think they just had a points system between the drivers to see who could kill a cyclist first. T'd me off every time. I think in Milwaukee they were paid pretty well, 40-45K with benefits from what I remember. And then as a messenger, we had a guy who got sick of it happening, and caught up with the bus, ripped open the front door at the next stop light, and yelled at the bus driver until the Transit Police showed up to take an incident report. I think that finally got some results.

Thank you Kevin.

I'm riding in Baltimore now, just commuting 15mi each way, and I've only had it happen to me once here. but then i've only been riding this route for 2 months.

I'll have to take the ripping the door off the hinges approach on my way home one night, when it happens again.

Ive run into mostly considerate bus drivers although most of us messengers routinely give them a rough time really. I pass them using their lane all the time when they are stopped---its just wide enough usually. Ive had a few give me a rough way to go sometimes too. Most of the ones Ive actually talked to enjoy seeing us on the street, we are like circus performers or cheap entertainment, they love the trackstands and bike handling skills. I have a few try to squeeze me into a curb on occasion, but Im not sure sometimes if they even know your there, they have good mirrors but an elephant sized boxy bus has blind spots too. Locally all you need to do here is get the bus number and time and file a complaint with the bus authority, they take complaints quite seriously usually.

been cut off several times, there is now a sign on the bus rear that they have the right (or it is the law) for them to merge left into traffic, that drivers (bicyclists) need to YIELD to the bus. i seem to have increased appropriate interaction recently with the bus drivers here, as they may now have been trained to be aware of my intentions/directions, as i am of theirs.
mass transit here is a joke in frequency, intensity, and consistency/destination so interaction is sparse.
school bus drivers, box (short run) truckers and SUV soccer moms really scare me sometimes!

My father in law drives for Tri-Met (Portland, OR area)... he's making in excess of $20 an hour, good benefits, and quite a bit of paid time off.

I guess I'm lucky in this department: I find bus drivers to be in general a more courteous bunch than car drivers. One morning had a sort of a race for a few km with a bus along deserted semi-major streets and a nice exchange with the driver and a few passengers at the end of the of the "race" (at a red light where our paths diverged). I won btw - hence urged the bus passengers to ride cause it's faster. :D I know I should really be trying to get cagers out of their cages, but then when they're stuck in traffic and see me pass them and disappear on the horizon... I think they get the idea. :D