[nagdu] Dirty Busses

[Tamara Smith-Kinney]

Yes.  I don't want to talk about it because I don't like to think about it.
Ugh!  Yuck!  Ewwww!  Wonder if that's going cost me a vet bill...

The Portland Tri-Met buses haven't been too awful, but we have the budget
cut thing happening here, plus growing hordes of jobless and homeless...
Well, Oregon is #1 in homelessness, among other things, so even though most
of them used to be normal middle class homeowners or renters, how do they
have energy to care what they drop on the bus these days?

Still, I find myself not putting Mitzi under the seat if I can avoid it;
when I do put her under, I just sort of cringe and wonder what she has
sticking to her or going into her mouth.

I'm with you!  Taxi please!  /grin/



Tami Smith-Kinney

-----Original Message-----
From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
Of Elizabeth Rene
Sent: Thursday, November 04, 2010 12:22 PM
To: nagdu at nfbnet.org
Subject: [nagdu] Dirty Busses

Has anyone encountered this situation?:

You board the bus and sit on the isle-facing, pull-down bench designated for

passengers with wheelchairs, guide dogs, strollers, etc.  Your guide dog 
kennels under the bench per your direction, keeping his paws and tail out of

the path of passengers' feet.

Then you hear him chomping away at some trashy goody tossed there by the 
last passenger.  Or he dives under the seat, rump to the world, with his 
nose wildly sniffing unknown substances under the bench, with his collar and

leash at an angle   no leash correction can counteract without drama.  Or 
your nicely groomed dog emerges from the bus with something gross stuck to 
his haunch.  Or someone at work asks you if your dog has cut himself, and 
you discover a wad of stickiness the shape of a slash along his leg that 
cleans off with no underlying wound.  Or your dog's jaws are working eagerly

when you check on him under that bus bench and you correct him, reach in, 
and pull out something ghastly.  Or you rise from that bus bench to 
disembark only to realize that the back thigh of one   of your pant legs 
where you've sat has become, er, moist!

All of this has happened to Alvin and me during the past few months, on a 
busline that originates in my very nice neighborhood, then goes across town 
and back.

Never before in Seattle or in other cities have I encountered such dirty 
busses.  Never have I had to worry about my dog getting into trouble, or my 
being grossed out, because passengers threw their garbage under the seats or

the busses weren't cleaned .

I keep Alvin under the bus seat because Seattle's  electrified busses lurch 
all the time, go up and down steep hills, and are hazardous for a sitting 
guide not clamped firmly between his handler's knees (hard to do in a pencil

skirt!).  Alvin's too big to squeeze into the space between the front-facing

seats, or I'd have him sit there with me, next to the window.

I shudder to think about having to sweep the bus seat with my hand before 
sitting to make sure it's dry!

I'm about to write to Metro Transit about this situation, but don't expect 
much more than sympathy, owing to budget cuts county-wide that have probably

caused Metro to cut corners on cleaning.

Anyone have the same beef?

Taxi, please,

Elizabeth





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