Godfather
01-13-2012, 09:24 PM
OTTAWA — A female passenger claims she was asked to move to the back of an Ottawa bus by the driver because she smelt of cigarettes.
OC Transpo, the group responsible for Ottawa’s transport system, continues to investigate after Misty Parent complained that she felt “harassed” by the alleged incident.
Parent, who was commuting to her job at a shelter on Tuesday, says she has usually finished her second or third cigarette of the day by the time the Route 178 bus pulls up to her stop near Meridian Place and Tallwood Drive at about 6:10 a.m.
However, on Tuesday she was running late, “so I was puffing away on my cigarette and (the driver) saw it,” she said.
The driver “let me on, he pulled up a bit to where my cigarette was. He looked at it, he stopped, and he was like, ‘Can you come here?’
“I said, ‘OK.’ … He says, ‘I need you to move to the back of the bus because you smell of cigarette and I don’t like it,’” Parent said.
Parent, 29, said she refused to move. She usually stands at the front of the bus, she said, since her trip lasts only a handful of stops before she transfers.
She has taken the same bus for a year and a half, “and not one bus driver has ever complained about it,” Parent said, adding that the driver appeared to be new to the route.
After she refused to move, Parent said the driver told her they would have “issues” the following day. When she left the bus, he told her that “I don’t think you would like to smell that in your workplace” before driving away, she said.
On Wednesday morning, the same driver did not say anything to Parent when she boarded, but after they arrived at the station, another OC Transpo employee got on the bus and stated that the driver wanted her to move back “because the driver doesn’t like the smell of smoke,” she said.
Parent again refused and a discussion continued until her connecting bus arrived, she said.
Parent said she twice called OC Transpo to make a complaint and to ask whether she was required to move back.
“It doesn’t make much sense. You work with the public, I’m sure you smell lots of different smells. I’m only on the bus for a matter of maybe four or five minutes. I just feel like I’m being discriminated because I smoke,” Parent said.
“For any smoker there’s a smoker smell. Are they going to start asking all smokers to move to the back of the bus?”
City spokeswoman Jocelyne Turner said Ottawa bus drivers are not permitted to ask passengers to move back on a bus because they smell of cigarette smoke or any other odour.
“Drivers request passengers move to the back of the bus to make room for other passengers who are boarding, to clear their sight lines, or to find an available seat,” but are not allowed to do so because of smell, Turner wrote on Thursday in an email.
The head of the union representing OC Transpo bus drivers said there should be no problem with an operator politely requesting someone to move back on a bus because of such a smell.
“People should adhere to it without complaining,” said Garry Queale, president of the Amalgamated Transit Union, Local 279. A driver could have allergies or asthma, he said.
As well, passengers have complained about drivers wearing strong perfume or cologne, Mr. Queale said, “so it’s a two-way street. People should realize that.”
Mr. Queale said he was not familiar with Ms. Parent’s case and her allegations, but generally speaking, a driver has a work space “and people should adhere to his area.”
Parent said other drivers on the route have been “phenomenal” and her only other incident with a bus driver happened on another route a few months ago when she was on a full bus with her son, who was in a stroller. Another stroller was also present and a person in a wheelchair got on, which led to a debate about who had priority, she said.
Parent said the other stroller ended up moving and she called OC Transpo to ask about the hierarchy for strollers and wheelchairs.
Smoking and smoking bans have been popular topics in Ottawa in recent months, although not directly related to the issue of smoke caught on clothing or other so-called “third-hand” smoke that gets trapped and builds up over time in skin, hair, fabric, furniture and other items.
On its website, the Canadian Lung Association describes third-hand smoke as “a new name for an old problem — the toxic chemicals in smoke that stick around even after the smoker has put out the cigarette, cigar, or pipe.”
OC Transpo, the group responsible for Ottawa’s transport system, continues to investigate after Misty Parent complained that she felt “harassed” by the alleged incident.
Parent, who was commuting to her job at a shelter on Tuesday, says she has usually finished her second or third cigarette of the day by the time the Route 178 bus pulls up to her stop near Meridian Place and Tallwood Drive at about 6:10 a.m.
However, on Tuesday she was running late, “so I was puffing away on my cigarette and (the driver) saw it,” she said.
The driver “let me on, he pulled up a bit to where my cigarette was. He looked at it, he stopped, and he was like, ‘Can you come here?’
“I said, ‘OK.’ … He says, ‘I need you to move to the back of the bus because you smell of cigarette and I don’t like it,’” Parent said.
Parent, 29, said she refused to move. She usually stands at the front of the bus, she said, since her trip lasts only a handful of stops before she transfers.
She has taken the same bus for a year and a half, “and not one bus driver has ever complained about it,” Parent said, adding that the driver appeared to be new to the route.
After she refused to move, Parent said the driver told her they would have “issues” the following day. When she left the bus, he told her that “I don’t think you would like to smell that in your workplace” before driving away, she said.
On Wednesday morning, the same driver did not say anything to Parent when she boarded, but after they arrived at the station, another OC Transpo employee got on the bus and stated that the driver wanted her to move back “because the driver doesn’t like the smell of smoke,” she said.
Parent again refused and a discussion continued until her connecting bus arrived, she said.
Parent said she twice called OC Transpo to make a complaint and to ask whether she was required to move back.
“It doesn’t make much sense. You work with the public, I’m sure you smell lots of different smells. I’m only on the bus for a matter of maybe four or five minutes. I just feel like I’m being discriminated because I smoke,” Parent said.
“For any smoker there’s a smoker smell. Are they going to start asking all smokers to move to the back of the bus?”
City spokeswoman Jocelyne Turner said Ottawa bus drivers are not permitted to ask passengers to move back on a bus because they smell of cigarette smoke or any other odour.
“Drivers request passengers move to the back of the bus to make room for other passengers who are boarding, to clear their sight lines, or to find an available seat,” but are not allowed to do so because of smell, Turner wrote on Thursday in an email.
The head of the union representing OC Transpo bus drivers said there should be no problem with an operator politely requesting someone to move back on a bus because of such a smell.
“People should adhere to it without complaining,” said Garry Queale, president of the Amalgamated Transit Union, Local 279. A driver could have allergies or asthma, he said.
As well, passengers have complained about drivers wearing strong perfume or cologne, Mr. Queale said, “so it’s a two-way street. People should realize that.”
Mr. Queale said he was not familiar with Ms. Parent’s case and her allegations, but generally speaking, a driver has a work space “and people should adhere to his area.”
Parent said other drivers on the route have been “phenomenal” and her only other incident with a bus driver happened on another route a few months ago when she was on a full bus with her son, who was in a stroller. Another stroller was also present and a person in a wheelchair got on, which led to a debate about who had priority, she said.
Parent said the other stroller ended up moving and she called OC Transpo to ask about the hierarchy for strollers and wheelchairs.
Smoking and smoking bans have been popular topics in Ottawa in recent months, although not directly related to the issue of smoke caught on clothing or other so-called “third-hand” smoke that gets trapped and builds up over time in skin, hair, fabric, furniture and other items.
On its website, the Canadian Lung Association describes third-hand smoke as “a new name for an old problem — the toxic chemicals in smoke that stick around even after the smoker has put out the cigarette, cigar, or pipe.”