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There is no such transport anywhere, claims Plovdiv journalist Evgeny Todorov. That’s why:
“Over the past month, Plovdiv TV has received several reports that buses from the city transport do not stop at the bus stops.
As far as we are aware, according to the existing regulations, the buses must stop at every stop, open the doors and if no one is there, close them and drive away.
There are dozens of cases when drivers look from a distance to see if there are passengers waiting and if there are none or if he does not see them because they are sitting, he passes.
However, lately we have been receiving reports that drivers have special treatment for people with cards. They don’t stop when they see white people waiting. They openly state that they have no business driving pensioners. They make remarks to them, even to disabled people. There are reports about buses on line 17 and 26. Of course, complaints are anonymous, by phone – although with an accurate description of the time and number of the bus. It turned out that this is unfortunately exactly the case – after the same thing happened to the writer of these lines.
On Wednesday July 27th, after 8pm I was waiting for the 25 or 93 at the stop opposite Central Cemetery. 93 didn’t show up for more than an hour – and maybe after 8 p.m. it didn’t pass anymore.
25 appeared at 9 p.m. I specifically stepped forward on the sidewalk – lest the driver see me and pass me by. The bus stopped and I waited to see which door the driver would deign to open. For information, in Plovdiv each bus has its own individual rules for getting on and off.
After about ten seconds of hesitation, the driver hit the gas – without opening any of the doors.
I guess there is no such audacity anywhere in the world. But friends then asked me – did you hold your card with two hands. Yes, I held it in my hand. And the driver probably saw her and decided to punish me. That instead of buying a ticket, from which he will get 10 cents as far as I know, and then giving it back to him as is increasingly the case, to sell it again, I bought a card.
I know what I wrote doesn’t make any sense. Recently I was brutally insulted on another bus, I wrote an official complaint and they explained to me that they are not allowed to touch the drivers. If a remark was made to them, they would take offense and leave. And there were no people willing to replace them.
So I wonder how far the escalating insolence will go. Will we not have to bring flowers to the drivers – we can placate them and they will let us on. Or hand to kiss them.
And don’t take someone to look for the driver who passed me. The person may be offended.
Of course, there are wonderful drivers, wonderful conductors in public transport. But they, too, should bear in mind that a few people are probably tarnishing the profession.
The consolation remains that there is probably no such public transport anywhere in the world. I think we are unique!”.
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