Bus drops off passenger in middle of nowhere

The parents of a 17-year old high school student are furious with the Hamilton Street Railway for the way their son was kicked off of a city bus last Friday. Brandyn Daryn says he was told to get off a city bus at the bottom of an exit ramp beside the busy Red Hill Valley Parkway when it was dark and while he was carrying heavy items.

Brandyn says the driver suddenly asked him and one other passenger to get off here Friday evening. Brandyn was carrying a 30 pound trombone from school and about 15 pounds of books in his backpack: “I think it was pretty appalling it shouldn’t happen.”

Brandyn’s been riding the same bus for three years. It usually stops at Eastgate Square before it continues to MacNab. But Friday evening, Brandyn was surprised to find the bus travelling on the Red Hill Valley Parkway. Suddenly the lights went out on the bus and it read “Out of Service”.

Brandyn says he asked the bus driver why the bus wasn’t going to MacNab. That’s when Brandyn says the driver swore at him and kicked Brandyn and one other passenger off the bus here at this off ramp.

Brandyn said: “I asked him where we’re going and he said what the f*** are you doing on the bus???”

Nancy Purser is an HSR Manager of Transit Support Services: “They startled the bus driver so he said ‘What the hell are you doing here?’ because he was startled.”

The HSR says Brandyn was dropped off on a lit city street where a sidewalk lead to another nearby bus stop.

Brandyn says the driver dropped him and the other unknown passenger off the bus at the bottom of the Greenhill off-ramp beside a busy Red Hill Valley Parkway. Brandyn says he was forced to walk in the cold, up a dark road with no idea where to go to catch another bus. He was carrying books and his trombone, which weighed a total of about 45 pounds. Brandyn’s parents are furious.

Tony is Brandyn’s Father: “You can’t put people off like that but he put my son in harms way. To make him get off at the bottom of a ramp in pitch black darkness at that time of night with a backpack and a trombone or even with nothing is unforgivable.”

Nancy said: “We’re looking at this as an opportunity for improvement what happened what we could have done differently, how do we prevent this from happing in the future.”

So as of right now, the HSR says it’s investigating what really happened and says passenger safety is a priority. It says the driver is a 20-year employee and he felt where he had dropped off Brandyn was a safe location.

Brandyn’s father says he may take legal action if the HSR doesn’t compensate Brandyn for the danger he feels his son was put in by being dropped off here.