Everyone deserves to ride the bus
Posted on Oct 25, 2012 in Opinion
People have been removed from public transportation for decades, but the reasons as to why are now becoming ridiculous. A four month pregnant Seattle woman by the name of Nichole Hakimian had entered a bus in order to take her sick one-year-old baby to the doctor. As soon as she entered the bus, her baby started to poop in his diaper. One of the people affected by the stench was the bus driver, who immediately told Nichole to exit the bus and when she asked why, he said that her baby smelled really bad and it wasn’t fair for everyone on the bus to smell it. Nichole was forced to exit the bus a mile and a half away from her baby’s doctor.
Nichole Hakimian was kicked off a city bus when her baby's dirty diaper was deemed to be too much of a disturbance to other passengers. abcnews.go.com
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Find the nearest parent and ask them for a story about travelling with a baby, and you’re most likely to get an exhausted, “Which one?” Taking care of babies is not easy, but now it is being proven harder to do so with the way public transportation is working.
There was a similar incident in Portland last year where a mother and baby were kicked off a bus because the baby was crying and disturbing everyone. It is one thing to kick off say, a wild teenager jumping and howling around or a slobbering drunk man because they are responsible for their actions, but a baby is acting exactly like it is suppose to–a baby. They are suppose to cry and poop and spit up; it may not be pleasant but that is how life works for a baby until they grow up and learn how to behave. Bus drivers are now abusing their power to kick people off the bus for their own needs such as silence or a less reeking environment. The mothers of these babies are suffering the most because they are being forced to walk the rest of the route carrying a baby that did absolutely nothing wrong.
The driver in the Portland incident was disciplined and the Seattle driver is being investigated but these actions are not good enough. Responsible, caring drivers are needed to get these people where they need to go safely and pleasantly and these drivers have not done that for everyone. If these actions are allowed to continue , then it is only a matter of time until bus drivers can kick people off for having tattoos or wearing an opposing football team’s shirt. Everyone deserves to ride the bus and not be kicked off for actions that are completely normal.
Eric Kaemmerer
Staff Writer
ekaem2@uab.edu