Oh, TriMet, here we go again. So, you probably all know about the bus driver
who forced a woman and her infant off of her bus because the baby wouldn’t
stop crying and was driving the driver to distraction. It turns out this
is not the first time the driver has ousted passengers or otherwise treated
them poorly. In fact, in the past two years, the driver, Claudeen Hendren,
has been slapped with some 112 complaints. Most TriMet drivers average
about 6 complaints per year.
Riders reported that Hendren, nicknamed “the monster” by some
of her riders, repeatedly yelled at passengers for such offenses as talking
on cell phones, listening to iPods, or having conversations with fellow
passengers. Also, the 67-year-old driver had previously yelled at other
parents of crying children. Complaints allege that Hendren would stop
the bus and refuse to continue until her demands were met.
TriMet says they addressed Hendren’s excessive complaints with training
and coaching, but it is pretty clear that tactic was unsuccessful. It
took public shame and worldwide publicity for TriMet to take action–since
word got out that Hendren kicked the mother and child off her bus, Hendren
was put on unpaid suspension for two weeks. TriMet has also hired a trainer
who will concentrate on assisting drivers with high complaint numbers.
For more on this story, see
this article.