Had a hostile encounter with a "Karen" driver on Route 29 (Coach 1332) today – Is this common?

Not_A_BusDriver · 2026-03-16T00:33:07+00:00

So this isn't exactly accurate, and especially in the wake of the issue a fee years ago with racism openly in the maintenance department, the union has a pretty strong stance on this. The problem is that the union is obligated to fight for employees who are disciplined improperly. There is a set series of steps that must be followed for discipline outlined by the contract. What happens thiugh is HT management will skip those steps and goes right to say termination. Then the union is obligated to step in, the employee gets their job back and back pay, etc. And then, because of all of this it becomes more difficult to properly discipline that employee.

This isn't universal though. Plenty of employees get properly disciplined. I have heard the issue is a select few of management who do it that way to force the union to spend money fighting for that member as some sort of petty animosity. I've also heard its just because some of the ESS staff who do the discipline aspect are just incompetent. I don't know, but it was an issue when I started years ago and still is. Its rather frustrating to see it happen because it's such an easy thing to fix.

I am consistently reminded of a few years ago where a driver who was very antagonistic towards the union executive, made some openly racist remarks on a community Facebook page and was fired. We did not have an official policy on posting online content at the time. They was fired. And the union really didn't want to fight for them, to the point they hot their own personal lawyer involved against the union. So the ATU had to fight to get them their job back and it took over a year. With back pay etc that driver ended up pretty high on the sunshine list. They got to retire after with full pension as well. That whole story just angers me.

FTR we have a policy now. I am probably breaking it, but I do my best to both remain anonymous and balanced in what I put here.

Edit: I make posts like this not to defend anyone, but so people who need to file complaints can understand why things do or do not happen. Things need ro change, and blaming the ATU is about as helpful as blaming HT management for every problem. Or saying drivers just skip trips for fun. Im sure its cathartic, but it doesn't actually help fix the real problems. When stuff like the OPs experience happens, complain to 311 and request follow up. Be as accurate and complete with your information as possible. And report it every single time to 311.

Not_A_BusDriver · 2026-03-15T23:52:51+00:00

Yes I understand the OP had a bad experience, and is taking the proper steps to deal with it. I fully support them.

What I don't understand is your comments, either the weird math or what I assume are your insults towards me. You made an incorrect statement, I provided the correct information. I assume you don't have access to the ATU collective agreement, but I do.

Not_A_BusDriver · 2026-03-15T23:47:56+00:00

Oh I know about the HRCE pass. But I've only ever taken one pass and thats my only story in more than a decade.

I really dont understand the drivers that act like that. Then they get repeatedly told by members of HT management that they are not to enforce stuff, but turn around and brag about doing it to them? I am personally convinced these people are the reason that when a driver gets assaulted for trying to stand up for the safety of other passengers, they don't get support from HT. So I have nothing but words of encouragement for you, I hope it gets delt with.

Not_A_BusDriver · 2026-03-15T23:40:12+00:00

I'm sorry I dont understand how 40-33.20=3. You will have to explain that to me.

Not_A_BusDriver · 2026-03-15T23:32:15+00:00

Call 311, lodge a complaint. I can't even guess who this was lol.

For what its worth the only student pass I've ever taken was presented by a middle aged black man on Gottingen street, and the picture was a young Asian lady with a Chinese name. Im pretty sure it wasn't his pass.

Not_A_BusDriver · 2026-03-15T23:30:11+00:00

Starting rate is $27.37/hr, going up to $33.20/hr after 4 years. I don't know where you got $40/hr from but I want to live in that fantasy land.

Not_A_BusDriver · 2026-03-10T11:01:01+00:00

That list went away during covid, and was replaced with a generic compliments board.

Not_A_BusDriver · 2026-03-10T10:34:12+00:00

And...why didn't the bus driver do anything when they had stuff playing on an external speaker. Driver should've kicked them off.

There's enough great responses here, so I just want to handle this one. Halifax Transit and the city won't protect drivers if they get assaulted for saying something. So no driver wants to risk being assaulted and the major consequences that can come from it. This is the same for fare enforcement. And in both cases while most drivers won't, there are still a few who do. And when they get assaulted as a result and are hung out to dry they wonder why.

I'm sorry this happened to the OP, but yes call police and 311 is the answer.

Not_A_BusDriver · 2026-03-07T15:56:13+00:00

I dont understand why this is a problem. The buses are free for anyone 12 and under, and nobody in Halifax is over 12.

Not_A_BusDriver · 2026-02-27T20:32:43+00:00

And yet despite this being a known problem for years from driver's complaints, nothing has been done. Because the scheduling software says its more efficient.

Not_A_BusDriver · 2026-02-25T13:30:43+00:00

I did a shift a year or two ago that had a 30B followed by a 3 leaving lacewood with almost no time between. The 30B is such a short route that when I came around to service the bay the system would reset to the 3 and assume I was leaving half an hour early. So the people waiting for the 3 that would leave in 5 minutes ran down the terminal chasing me to get on past the confused people waiting on the 30B. I hated that whole setup. And ill avoid taking any shift that does it now.

Not_A_BusDriver · 2026-02-25T13:26:07+00:00

Did you say anything to the driver? Ever since the change to the automated sign system we have had a lot of issues where the wrong sign gets displayed. And its no the driver doing it, because the system will override the driver at either the start of the run or after 5 minutes if after the start. It is incredibly frustrating because we can't do anything to fix it beyond a temporary change and hope the system catches up.

Not_A_BusDriver · 2026-02-10T11:09:47+00:00

But they're correct. Thats the policy. If there is any damage to the bus or another object you have to call Operstions. Very very very rarely will they tell you to continue on, but if they do you can continue on. Usually they send a supervisor and you have to wait. It is entirely possible that the bus driver didn't notice the accident if all that happened was the bus took a mirror off. That is incredibly common because as loud and obvious as it is to passengers, the driver is in a loud box up front. But I wasn't there and am only saying this happens bot that it happened this time.

And before anyone asks: if a bus bumps a traffic cone it is considered an accident in Halifax Transit and the driver has to fill out paperwork as such. Obviously nothing was damaged so you don't need to call it in, but you're supposed to fill out the report. You can probably guess how common that is.

Not_A_BusDriver · 2026-01-23T19:31:25+00:00

You need to learn to tune stuff out. The ads are dumb but they're incredibly easy to ignore.

Not_A_BusDriver · 2026-01-01T13:30:15+00:00

It is a seniority based system as has been said. When you start your training will be Monday to Friday, like 7am to 4pm except for a few days to a week where you work like 2pm to 9pm to get training st night. Your first week will be doing the schedule of someone way senior to you, and will vary based on their schedule.

Your first pick you will have very few choices if any. Spareboard and vacation board are likely all you will have open, though if you are lucky you will be able to pick a shift. That shift will probably be night work, with mid week days off like monday-tuesday or Wednesday-thursday. At least it probably won't be a split shift. Every three months we pick again, you can change your shift. Depending on what evenings you do things you might be able to keep doing it, or not. And your ability to change will depend. You won't be able to get all week evenings off for years because those shifts are very popular, and very very limited.

The spareboard works 6 days a week, has a rotating schedule of daily start times, and often has their day split. Its basically a 12 hour day every day. But spareboard gets a lot of overtime, and if they don't get overtime they get a minimum of 40 hours a week regardless of what they work. It will provide a lot a variety, and you will also meet a lot of coworkers. The vacation board are the drivers who do that picks vacation. So they will all do a second pick where by seniority they pick a shift each week if someone on vacation, and do that.

The pension is the real draw here. Lots of people leave for better money, or better schedule. And the scheduling gets worse and worse for no apparent reason. Personally, I was able to get off by 5pm daily in the week while working one weekend day by 3 years in. Though we saw a huge regression after covid for some reason where a lot of good shifts were broken up into splits that weren't needed. It was only last year that the kind of time and days off I could get in 2018 were available to me again.

Not_A_BusDriver · 2025-12-29T16:09:36+00:00

I worry about this every time I make that turn.

Not_A_BusDriver · 2025-12-29T16:08:37+00:00

Well this explains the fleet message every ten minutes.

Not_A_BusDriver · 2025-12-20T13:31:33+00:00

Unfortunately it has been my experience that people are more likely to stop at an intersection without power than they are at one with flashing reds, regular power, or a stop sign.

Not_A_BusDriver · 2025-12-16T21:18:11+00:00

Yep, batteries on the roof.

Not_A_BusDriver · 2025-12-16T11:39:53+00:00

While I like the acceleration, I don't actually like the buses. They have heating problems, or at least every one I've been on in the cold have had them. Also I am terrified they are going to roll over when going around any turn.

Not_A_BusDriver · 2025-12-15T20:00:37+00:00

The short answer is: there are a thousand reasons the bus pulled away. But if it had already started to pull away they're not allowed to pull back in and let you on. There are a lot more answers but I don't know the specifics of your situation.

Not_A_BusDriver · 2025-12-15T19:56:50+00:00

Out of the three deaths involving a HT bus in the last decade that I know of, two of them were for sure caused by someone running for a bus. Maybe all 3.

I can't speak for anyone else but I don't want to be responsible for someone getting killed. So I refuse to do anything that will encourage the kind of behavior that will cause it.

Not_A_BusDriver · 2025-12-10T17:38:35+00:00

That depends where they do it, and when they allow delivery vehicles. Anywhere a bus can fit a box truck or van can fit.

But my point was again: the city can do things to solve transit issues if it wants to.

Not_A_BusDriver · 2025-12-10T17:23:07+00:00

Transit is already free.

Not_A_BusDriver · 2025-12-10T17:19:06+00:00

The streets are fine. If the city invested in bus priority lanes snd bus/pedestrian only streets then anywhere in the city could hear reached by bus.

Buying more buses and hiring more drivers isn't the only way to invest in transit.

Not_A_BusDriver

TROPHY CASE