Takes a French gal to get the taipei govt to take notice eh?
Good for her .
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Wow.
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Glad to see the city apologize.
Regardless of whether it was a âstudent onlyâ bus or not, she got on the bus, and the driverâs first responsibility is to make sure all his passengers get to their stop (on his route)safely.
Even if she wasnât suppose to be there, she was and she was now in his care.
Hopefully the ignorant prick got reprimanded for his lack of people skills. I am really sick of the disgusting level of customer service in this country that is considered OK.
Its still pretty cool though for a city to apologize. I cant really see Paris apologizing for throwing a Taiwanese girl off the bus eh.
[quote=âtommy525â]Takes a French gal to get the taipei govt to take notice eh?
Good for her .[/quote]
Sheâs not french.
Wonder if they paid her taxi fare?
I sent an email to Valery to comment here 
He didnât react much differently from anyone else in the country who doesnât speak anything other than Chinese and/or Taiwanese. How is it his responsibility to communicate with a random foreigner who speaks some language he doesnât know, doesnât speak any local language? How is she his responsibility? If I get on a plane to Italy but I really wanted to go to Taiwan, is it the airlineâs responsibility to fly me there? If I get miss my stop on a Taiwanese bus, is it the companyâs responsibility to turn around and take me back to where I wanted to go, when there were announcements in the local languages?
I have had my share of bus misunderstandings in the past, before I got to a reasonable level of Chinese. But thatâs what they were â misunderstandings â and the misunderstanding was MINE, not theirs. Things work a certain way in Taiwan. Itâs not how they work in Kansas, or Latvia, or Paris, or wherever. The driver could perhaps have been a bit more empathetic, but I do not see how it was his responsibility to deal with a random foreigner unable to communicate who is on the wrong bus (and if this was a student bus, a âpartialâ route, or whatever, it was the wrong bus).
I agree with you in theory, IL, but then why would the driver need to lie about thinking she wanted to get off at Athelia? All he had to do was say he found a passenger on a bus she shouldnât have been on and asked her to leave. Of course Taiwanese will make up stories even when the truth is a better explanationâŠ
[quote=âironladyâ]
He didnât react much differently from anyone else in the country who doesnât speak anything other than Chinese and/or Taiwanese. How is it his responsibility to communicate with a random foreigner who speaks some language he doesnât know, doesnât speak any local language? How is she his responsibility? If I get on a plane to Italy but I really wanted to go to Taiwan, is it the airlineâs responsibility to fly me there? If I get miss my stop on a Taiwanese bus, is it the companyâs responsibility to turn around and take me back to where I wanted to go, when there were announcements in the local languages?
I have had my share of bus misunderstandings in the past, before I got to a reasonable level of Chinese. But thatâs what they were â misunderstandings â and the misunderstanding was MINE, not theirs. Things work a certain way in Taiwan. Itâs not how they work in Kansas, or Latvia, or Paris, or wherever. The driver could perhaps have been a bit more empathetic, but I do not see how it was his responsibility to deal with a random foreigner unable to communicate who is on the wrong bus (and if this was a student bus, a âpartialâ route, or whatever, it was the wrong bus).[/quote]
That doesnât seem to be what happened hereâthe foreigner was on the right bus and headed in the right direction when the driver inexplicably took it upon himself to hustle her off before her intended stop. She should not have needed to or been expected to communicate anything. It seems to me the driver likely had a brainwave that the foreigner MUST be getting off at the university or school, and unfortunately followed that conclusion to a point beyond the bounds of reasonable behavior.
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TG, Rather, I would suppose the bus driver wanted one of the following: a quick detour for lunch an unscheduled stop for a slash or smoke, or buy some lottery tickets. And bullied her off the bus.
Iâve been on a bus where the driver stopped for 2 minutes for a slash (pee) behind a tree, or other buses where they stop to pick up lunch. This is Tamshui (and yes, Iâve lived there), and itâs not too much of a stretch to assume he is not acting entirely professionally. Look at the lie they got caught in by the on board video camera. Hope he got hit in the wallet, thatâd learn him.
You may well be right.
It allows everyone to save face.
for god sakes people. We are talking about an attempted bus ride that likely resulted in a 100-150NT taxi ride. I might get pissed about a situation like this but I would forget by the next day and it would be relegated to an occasional bar tale. At that point my friends would just roll their eyes over my hardship.
[quote=âironladyâ][quote=âDeuce Dropperâ]
Even if she wasnât suppose to be there, she was and she was now in his care.
[/quote]
He didnât react much differently from anyone else in the country who doesnât speak anything other than Chinese and/or Taiwanese. How is it his responsibility to communicate with a random foreigner who speaks some language he doesnât know, doesnât speak any local language? How is she his responsibility? If I get on a plane to Italy but I really wanted to go to Taiwan, is it the airlineâs responsibility to fly me there? If I get miss my stop on a Taiwanese bus, is it the companyâs responsibility to turn around and take me back to where I wanted to go, when there were announcements in the local languages?
I have had my share of bus misunderstandings in the past, before I got to a reasonable level of Chinese. But thatâs what they were â misunderstandings â and the misunderstanding was MINE, not theirs. Things work a certain way in Taiwan. Itâs not how they work in Kansas, or Latvia, or Paris, or wherever. The driver could perhaps have been a bit more empathetic, but I do not see how it was his responsibility to deal with a random foreigner unable to communicate who is on the wrong bus (and if this was a student bus, a âpartialâ route, or whatever, it was the wrong bus).[/quote]
If you turn the situation around to a non native English speaker on a bus in England or the USA would this still apply? I get a bit tired with the whole âThis ainât Kansas anymore, Dorothyâ suck it up or shut up line. On the other hand, the apology was a welcome surprise.
[quote=âengerimâ][quote=âtommy525â]Takes a French gal to get the taipei govt to take notice eh?
Good for her .[/quote]
Sheâs not french.
Wonder if they paid her taxi fare?
I sent an email to Valery to comment here ;-)[/quote]
Hey dont let the truth get in the way of a good story here ok ? 
Name sounds French so french it is ! (she could actually be punjabi who knows).
Yeah i think the point was the driver was less then friendly . And im sure he doesnt have a masters from Harvard U. So he just blabbered something that came to mind to try to cover up for being a bit of an ass. Something that I would have probably done.
If he was friendly to her and tried to help. She wouldnt have been mad I think.
Granted it was a tough situ with zero communication possible.
But a smile or two wouldve gone a long ways here. Her hair was ruffled.
Hey now i want an apology from the HK govt for not telling me the train was going out of service and causing me to bust out of the train at a train yard and risk getting fried if i was dumb enough to walk on the third rail.
I probably wouldnt get an apology but get arrested instead tho.
Yeah,Quite unlikely.
Actually in Paris, the driver would probably have pushed her out physically while insulting her.
I belive itâs part of their duty to be agressive and rude to the public.
(says a guy who takes the public transport in Paris and suburbs everyday 
)
[quote=âKeaâ]TG, Rather, I would suppose the bus driver wanted one of the following: a quick detour for lunch an unscheduled stop for a slash or smoke, or buy some lottery tickets. And bullied her off the bus.
Iâve been on a bus where the driver stopped for 2 minutes for a slash (pee) behind a tree, or other buses where they stop to pick up lunch. This is Danshui (and yes, Iâve lived there), and itâs not too much of a stretch to assume he is not acting entirely professionally. Look at the lie they got caught in by the on board video camera. Hope he got hit in the wallet, thatâd learn him.[/quote]
Agreed â something like this is likely. He just didnât want a last passenger on the bus. But the point is, if this is the case, it isnât a problem with her being foreign or whatever â itâs just him being a twat. Not a racist twat, not a twat-without-a-global-perspective â just a twat.
I had a somewhat similar experience years and years ago before I acquired much Mandarin. My friend has a tea farm out in ć€Șć (Taihe) and wanted me to visit. She told me to take the Alishan Bus from Chiayi and get off at çłæĄ (Shizhuo), where she gave me further instructions. She warned me that this was not the last stop and I was NOT to go all the way to the Alishan Forest Recreation Area.
I managed to buy the right ticket and boarded. I listened very carefully to the announcements all along the rather long route and was pleasantly surprised to hear the name I was waiting for and see a sign that at least resembled the pinyin on the ticket. I approached the door and went to hand the driver my ticket.
âNo, noâ he said in English, and waved me back to my seat. Not rudely, more grandfatherly.
I said my approximation of âShizhuoâ though god knows what it sounded like to him.
âNo, no,â he said again, slightly more exasperatedly, but still not rude.
I said what I thought sounded like âWhere to I get off?â and tried to show him my ticket again.
He thought for a minute and then said, âNo here. Later.â
I thought, okay, and went to sit back down. He then proceeded to drive all the way to the Forest Recreation Area without stopping, much to my dismay. I had to catch another bus back the way Iâd come and call my friend to have a conversation with the driver - something Iâm sure my pride stopped me from doing the first time. Anyway, we all had a good laugh about it later. He assumed big-noses only go to the park ⊠why would this silly honky want to go to Shizhuo? My friend said he probably thought Iâd bought the wrong ticket and didnât charge me for the extra fare all the way up, or coming back down.
So, different in that I was kept ON the bus rather than being shooed off, but I imagine most everyone on this forum has similar stories.
Yeah, a few months back I was taking a bus to Sanzhi to visit Stray Dog, and the driver actually passed the stop I wanted because he didnât believe I wanted it (it was a few stops before town). I only managed to be let off at the next stop because there was a steak house there and I said I wanted to get off here for a steak. That sent the other passengers twittering about foreigners love for meat.
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[quote=âironladyâ][quote=âKeaâ]TG, Rather, I would suppose the bus driver wanted one of the following: a quick detour for lunch an unscheduled stop for a slash or smoke, or buy some lottery tickets. And bullied her off the bus.
Iâve been on a bus where the driver stopped for 2 minutes for a slash (pee) behind a tree, or other buses where they stop to pick up lunch. This is Danshui (and yes, Iâve lived there), and itâs not too much of a stretch to assume he is not acting entirely professionally. Look at the lie they got caught in by the on board video camera. Hope he got hit in the wallet, thatâd learn him.[/quote]
Agreed â something like this is likely. He just didnât want a last passenger on the bus. But the point is, if this is the case, it isnât a problem with her being foreign or whatever â itâs just him being a twat. Not a racist twat, not a twat-without-a-global-perspective â just a twat.[/quote]
Exactly. I am sure the driver would have done the same exact thing with a Taiwanese passenger who could speak peefect mandarin.
[quote=âNovaspesâ][quote=âironladyâ]
Agreed â something like this is likely. He just didnât want a last passenger on the bus. But the point is, if this is the case, it isnât a problem with her being foreign or whatever â itâs just him being a twat. Not a racist twat, not a twat-without-a-global-perspective â just a twat.[/quote]
Exactly. I am sure the driver would have done the same exact thing with a Taiwanese passenger who could speak peefect mandarin.[/quote]
Exactly. Thatâs not very likely, is it? IMO though not racist, but a bully, in that scenario. However, as dahsiung and MM say above, you do run into the mindset I mentioned at times. Overly well-meaning, or perhaps self-interested (âonce this foreigner gets to the last stop and realizes their mistake Iâm going to have to deal with itâ.)