The mother asks if the operator is not obliged to pick up the passenger at the bus stop in the middle of the night when it's freezing cold. According to Onnibus, the driver cannot sell tickets if the shift is fully sold.
From Porvoo Milja Viidan the adult daughter couldn't get on the bus from the bus stop on New Year's Eve, but had to stay outside in the cold. The mother calls for the responsibility of the bus company.
The 20-year-old daughter tried to board the bus of the Onnibus company, which was on its way to Porvoo, from the Kalervonkatu bus stop in Helsinki on New Year's Eve around 2:30 a.m. The bus stopped at a stop, where one passenger left the ride.
According to Viida, the bus had been full and passengers had been standing in the corridor. However, the driver did not take the daughter on board because she did not have a pre-purchased digital ticket.
The bus continued its journey, and the daughter was left freezing at the stop in the morning.
Mile Viita wrote about it in HS-in the opinion section. According to Viida, the case feels like “straightforward waste”, because those trying to get on the bus were left outside at night and in the freezing cold.
“Doesn't the operator have an obligation to pick up passengers at the bus stop, even in bitterly cold weather in the middle of the night?” Viita asked in his writing.
At New Year's time, it was twenty degrees below zero in southern Finland.
HS reached out Milja Viitan on Monday by phone.
Viita says that he contacted Onnibus customer service after the incident.
From there, he was told that the customer can secure his place in the queue by buying a ticket in advance in the online store. If an advance ticket has not been purchased, no transport contract has been created.
According to customer service, the driver cannot sell tickets for a flight that is full.
“This is the practice on all our shifts, regardless of the weather,” says the email response from Onnibus' customer service.
Viita also asked about the sale of standing places.
To this, the customer service replied that “according to the law, parking spaces can be taken 30 percent over capacity, but in that case the speed must be reduced on the way”.
HS has seen the email correspondence.
I argue according to the bus company has offered free tickets as compensation for what happened, but he does not need compensation.
“It's not about that, it's about public safety. In that situation, you should take a ride. If it's that cold and there's a young woman in early morning classes,” says Viita.
“Especially when someone stepped out of there. Why couldn't he get on the bus instead of the person who was leaving there. That freed up a place, even a standing place.”
He also wonders why additional equipment was not acquired for this bus service if it was sold out and over. He says he would understand better if it had been a driver's mistake.
“But it's hard for me to understand that the operator tells me on many occasions that they are not guilty of any littering, but that this is the way of the industry at the moment,” says Viita.
“Fully unfortunately, we cannot take more passengers on the bus, even on a freezing night,” says Onnibus' CEO Joona Hurmerinta. He replied to HS by email on Monday.
According to Hurmerinna, the bus in question was full and the driver acted according to the rules.
According to the managing director, additional capacity will be flexibly arranged during high season. When making decisions, information on the number of passengers from previous years and the real-time occupancy rates of the trains are used.
Since tickets can still be bought on the bus, the final occupancy level will only be known during the journey, Hurmerinta points out.
According to him, there was some space on the shift preceding the one in question, one hour earlier, and on the next shift, one hour later. Only this shift was full.
“According to the ticket sales data and the information we received from the driver, the bus was 100% full all the way to Porvoo”, the CEO writes.
“We are sorry that there was not room on the bus for everyone who wanted to. We understand very well the passenger's frustration in the situation, especially considering the circumstances (New Year's, night, freezing weather).”
#Customer #service #Onnibus #left #Milja #Viida39s #daughter #cold #middle #night #company39s #justification
