Recently, the bus I was travelling in, was stopped at Rajagiriya for about 10 minutes, or possibly more. I was seated, and lost admiring my now quite grown nails, which is my latest pastime these days, when suddenly the man behind me started screaming at the conductor.
He asked the conducted, extremely rudely – isn’t it time that the bus started moving. Then, another Jackson joined in, adding his two cents in, and inviting a third Jackson.
The conductor (he was quite helpless) said softly, that they were waiting to get a little more people so that they could earn some money.
Mind you, the bus wasn’t that filled. Just that some selfish goons were standing near the doorway and not moving into the middle where there was plenty of space. So to those at front, it was as if the bus had filled up.
Anyway the thee rude men went on verbally attacking the conductor saying they’ve been on the bus for a long time and they have stuff to do and need to get to their destinations fast and that this was absurd.
They also blamed the driver saying all they cared about was getting more people into the bus.
Anyway, the bus started moving, but these clearly very annoyed men kept grumbling.
In the meantime, I was making faces at the men, but I doubt they saw.
Anyway, the point is this –
We say buses fly by, they don’t stop long enough. But, isn’t the commuter at times to blame? They encourage the guy to drive fast.
I remember another time, when the bus was going slower-than-average (Sri Lankan speed) and one guy shouted at the driver telling him to hurry-up. The driver said they’ve got to be at certain bus stands at certain times, and that’s the reason for driving like this.
True, at times all we want to do is get home after a day’s work and we do get annoyed when the bus is stopped for a long time. But, believe me, in some countries, that’s how it works. People just need to be a little patient at times, I guess.
No wonder SL is still a 3rd world country… Things need to be changed big time