Bus-ted AC

I just took the bus home. It’s the middle of June, and Europe is experiencing a heatwave at the moment. When I stepped onto the bus, I was met by a wall of hot air. Clearly the AC wasn’t working, and several people were fanning themselves with whatever they had at hand.

Luckily, I only rode this bus for about five minutes to its end destination at the local train and bus central. But this line is regional, and the full route takes forty-five minutes. I felt so bad for the people who spent that entire time in that stifling heat.

Once we arrived at the end of the line, a young woman made her way to the bus driver and started talking to him. At first, I assumed she was asking about connecting buses or trains, but as I got closer, I realised that she was complaining about the heat.

She was calm but very insistent, explaining the heat issue to him in detail, as though he would somehow be unaware of the current temperature and air quality. The bus driver was looking at her, giving her the most perfectly neutral face I have ever seen. He was completely and entirely unmoved and said nothing. He knew there was no point in arguing.

I walked past her and got off the bus as she was still going, into the terminal where a large group of people was waiting to get on. I genuinely don’t think that woman realised that the bus driver may very well have spent hours in that heat already and likely had many more hours of his shift to go.

Be kind to bus drivers, people. They have to put up with so much and rarely get any gratitude.