Post #1677792
2026-04-25 10:03 UTC
Replies (24)
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@AimeeMaroux@mastodon.social 2026-04-26 15:15
Wow, my first viral toot in the Fediverse? ☺️ I see so many anecdotes of important things bus drivers do, other than driving. I remember one when I was a child and didn't know when to get off. I told the bus driver where I had to go and he told me when we reached the right stop. How often did a bus driver tell me if this bus goes to XYZ and if not, which one I have to take instead? Sure, I may find that info with a smartphone. But it takes so much more time and I might still get it wrong 😅
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@stuartyeates@cloudisland.nz 2026-04-25 10:28
@AimeeMaroux "Witness" is what they're going to do.
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@Virginicus@universeodon.com 2026-04-25 17:01
@AimeeMaroux Mastodon is full of men who have never seen an incident of such harassment. (I’m one.) I infer that my presence has had a bigger effect than I know.
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@minmi@sfba.social 2026-04-25 21:13
@AimeeMaroux yuuuup. If I’m on a train late at night, I’m always in the first car where the driver can see anything that happens. Abusers don’t like to be seen by people, a camera isn’t the same.
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@the_turtle@mastodon.sdf.org 2026-04-25 21:30
@AimeeMaroux many states in the US eliminated toll collectors on toll roads, replacing them with transponders and cameras. "To save money." What they lost is that toll collectors were humans who could give directions or call the police in the event of problems. Many did. I can remember two instances where they saved people's lives by calling emergency in medical crises. And they often would post weather conditions for "their" section of highway. All that's gone (to "save money." )
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@Nerde@beige.party 2026-04-25 21:49
@AimeeMaroux I never heard about driverless buses, but from a man’s point of view, I’d feel unsafe too.
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@alikatze@social.tchncs.de 2026-04-25 21:49
@AimeeMaroux ... there could be jobs for those who aren't busdrivers - being on the bus just for the passengers. I guess there's much more to do but to be just there. The more I think about, the more I like the idea 🤓
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@ireneista@adhd.irenes.space 2026-04-25 22:31
@AimeeMaroux yeah we've seen drivers eject violent passengers. the passenger is there because they want something - transportation, to hurt people, or both. the driver has the ability to deny them that, which is more important than it may sound.
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@polmalvinas@rebel.ar 2026-04-25 22:58
@AimeeMaroux that driver that wouldn't be there to assist a woman, or anyone in need against harassment or any kind of violence, where would he be? After a sel driving bus got him unemployed, where would he go?
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@gannet@sunny.garden 2026-04-25 23:00
@AimeeMaroux one of the few times I’ve been truly scared in my life involved getting onto a bus by myself at age sixteen and carefully sitting right next to the driver because two guys were trying to get me to say I was eighteen. Once I was next to the driver, they never said another word to me.
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@mk30@regenerate.social 2026-04-25 23:39
@AimeeMaroux @hamishb in complete agreement. If you're getting hassled on a bus, you can always go sit up near the driver and chat with them. It's unpleasant enough being on a long bus ride in an empty bus with a man who's determined to talk to you...it would definitely be worse if there was no driver 😖
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@kete@mstdn.social 2026-04-25 23:44
@AimeeMaroux Ideally, we need to do one or more of the following: - learn self-defense - carry a weapon - always have a friend present
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@kimu@wandering.shop 2026-04-26 00:15
@AimeeMaroux @MsHearthWitch I’m not a fan of Waymo, but I recently had to explain to my spouse & son that one thing that I liked when I tried them out was that I felt safer than in a Lyft/Uber. They were really confused, like, what would make you uncomfortable with a Lyft driver? Agree completely with you on concerns for driverless buses though. I’ve definitely had scenarios where it felt like the driver’s presence diffused some potential trouble.
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@camerontw@social.coop 2026-04-26 01:15
@AimeeMaroux This concern is what ended the French experiment with 'Personal Rapid Transit' https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Aramis_(personal_rapid_transit)
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@sabik@rants.au 2026-04-26 01:20
@AimeeMaroux There's options for self-driving buses, too, but people have to think of the problem first
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@DeborahForPlus@mas.to 2026-04-26 03:11
@AimeeMaroux So male of him.
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@coolandnormal@aus.social 2026-04-26 04:04
@AimeeMaroux "what's the bus driver going to do?" Whatever they do, they've done it hundreds of times, they're an experiences professional at being in the exact situations people put bus drivers in.
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@pogon@fed.qaz.red 2026-04-26 05:05
@AimeeMaroux So many things a bus driver's mere presence will deter/help with besides harassment of vulnerable people. Drunks won't piss in the corner. Teens won't bomb it with spray paint. Guys won't dare each other to take a shit on the floor. Someone having a heart attack can be noticed. That guy with a white cane can get some directions at the stop, even if only "Hey, there's a big puddle out there" I'm sure anyone reading can think of more
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@confusedMiddleAgedDad@mastodon.social 2026-04-26 08:08
@AimeeMaroux if we reduce drivers, station office staff just down to the headline value of drives bus/train, sells tickets etc then they can look inefficient. If we realise that their value is hard to measure in an economic sense but means that women will actually feel like they can use the system, then we might value them and their contribution not just to the transport system but to a functioning society
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@malte@anticapitalist.party 2026-04-26 08:12
@AimeeMaroux the question "what is the bus driver gonna do?" is a confession of cowardice ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
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@mlanger@mastodon.world 2026-04-26 12:34
@AimeeMaroux @clew I will never step foot in a driverless vehicle (with the obvious exception of airport trams and similar systems that ride on closed tracks).
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@mikelovesbikes@hear-me.social 2026-04-26 14:07
@AimeeMaroux One time, on my way back from work, I fell asleep on the bus. After the bus reached its last stop (the stop I needed to get off at, luckily), the driver got up, noticed me, and woke me up. And I got home on time. I doubt a self-driving bus could do that. Another time, when I saw the bus approaching the stop I was waiting at, I stepped out of the bus shelter, onto the sidewalk, before the bus stopped. The driver told me that, if I hadn't done that, she wouldn't have seen me, and so she wouldn't have stopped. Because there was a tree blocking her view of the inside of that shelter. If it was a self-driving bus, I never would have realised that, and busses would have continued driving by that stop, without stopping, seemingly randomly.
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@dryak@mstdn.science 2026-04-26 16:05
@AimeeMaroux Yes, and in addition of that "bus drivers" isn't even a profession that is in dire need of AI replacement to begin with. I.e.: it's only disadvantages (as you point out), no real advantage (It's called *mass*-transit for a reason. Over a whole year, there's a metric crap ton of people riding public transport. The salary of the drivers are a tiny drop in the bucket of the cost to operate the transportation network. AI won't save that much money per ride).
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@trigpoint@en.osm.town 2026-04-26 17:44
@AimeeMaroux The tell me when we get to my destination is a big one, or which stop I want.