Rider on the 'baby bus' comments over at KATU

Passengers: Crying baby gets mother kicked off TriMet bus


Hello, I'm actually one of the riders from this incident. I will only speak for myself here over what I witnessed in the event, as well as what few constructive comments I've read here.


The facts, as I see them: there was a baby in the back seat, crying. It was not normal fussing, as many witnesses like to say, but that baby was screaming at the top of its lungs from time to time. The mother was trying to console her from what I could tell, though I'm no expert on how to handle babies, so I can't make a call there. Specifically, she was talking quietly to the baby and holding her, gently rocking her at arm's length. The driver stopped the bus one stop after I and my friend got on, at which point she came back to the woman and told her that if the baby did not stop screaming and crying that she would have to leave the bus. She then spent five minutes asking if the woman had any keys or something the baby could play with, but as stated, the woman did not speak good English, so it was unlikely she completely understood what she was being told. Several passengers called her out for her decision, and to me, this is where it started going downhill.

The driver attempted to explain that she couldn't drive with that noise, which I felt was at least understandable, but if such was the case a career in public transportation probably isn't in your best interests. However, several of the riders would call out to move along, that it wasn't bothering anyone else, and more than a few delved into obscene name calling toward the driver. The driver then compounded the whole thing by spitting heatedly that anyone who didn't like it could get off the bus as well. In the end, however, the woman left the bus of her own accord, whether from embarrassment over the ordeal (which is my personal opinion) or just to cooperate, at which point several people tried to get her to stay. She left anyway, and everyone ended up leaving after her, reporting the incident to Trimet shortly thereafter.

My thoughts? I'm kind of unsympathetic to everyone except the poor woman who was just trying to get home and found herself surrounded by all this hooplah. The driver lost her cool and escalated the situation, yes, but several of us riders (yes, myself included in the heat of the moment) did not make things any better. It is also true that if you know you are being distracted, you should stop driving. ESPECIALLY in the face of risking the safety of a bus full of passengers. And while it's commendable that we stood up for the woman and her child, I don't think it was necessary, or helped the situation in any way, at least looking back now.

That's my take on the whole thing as someone who was actually there.