stopping early at night
Hey, this is a question for nighttime drivers or people who ride the bus late at night.
I occasionally commute from downtown to a suburb past midnight for either school or work… a few years ago I noticed a couple people asking the driver late if they could stop a bit early and one person in particular asked if the driver could let them off at the stoplight before the park and ride that happens to be my stop. For context, the light is at an intersection of a residential road and the transitway.
Ever since, if it’s past like 1 am, I’ll sometimes politely ask the driver if they might be able to let me off at the light so that I don’t have to walk through the park and ride to get home.
I really appreciate stopping early because it saves me time obviously, but it’s also a bit of a safety thing… as a twenty year old girl, a dark empty parking lot at 1am isn’t my idea of a good time. I’m never insistent because obviously I know I’m asking them for a favour, but frankly, after 1 the bus is never busy and usually they have to stop at the light anyway.
No driver has ever had a problem with my request, until tonight. It was around 1:30am and I asked the driver and he didn’t respond aside from shaking his head, but still let me off. But before I left, he said to me: “we’re really not supposed to do this…not that you care.”
Now, if he hadn’t stopped early I genuinely wouldn’t have blamed him, but this comment was pretty strange to me considering that I saw him stop early for two other people earlier that night. Maybe me being the third to ask was the thing that annoyed him? Three strikes you’re out? Idk.
This same night, a guy I had never met before started talking to me at Tunneys and got on the bus with me and spoke with me the entire ride, so I was actually more concerned with my safety than I usually am… which is why I asked to be let off early… but I can’t help but wonder if the driver had been overhearing our conversation and might’ve just made some assumptions about my character based on what I’d been saying to the guy. It’s more the “not that you care” comment that strikes me as odd.
All this to ask: how do you feel about asking the driver to stop early at night? Do you, as a nighttime driver, mind?