The first thing the young woman did was to quiz the driver on when we'd be arriving in Jerusalem. He warned her that there were no guarantees, due to traffic, road repairs, accidents, check points, etc.
Of course he asked her why she was so anxious. Here's the story:
She and her husband had to make a 1:30 bus; the following bus was at 4:30, a long time to wait. As we pulled out of Shiloh, we started making good time, so the driver told her that there was a good chance that she'd make it to the central bus station in time to catch the bus. She cellphoned her husband to tell him the good news, that he should meet her at "arrivals" to take the bag off the bus and together they'd go to the departure gate.
Yes, just like in the movies, there were all sorts of delays, and the chance of the woman catching her bus got less and less.
The driver offered to drop her off across from a bus stop of the bus she needed. She told him that it wouldn't help, because her bag was too heavy. He even offered to get out of the bus and help her with the bag, but she insisted that it wouldn't be right.
All along she kept calling her husband. The driver called his supervisor to find out who was driving the other bus. Then he began calling the other driver, who didn't answer. The woman was told to tell her husband to check if the other bus was in departures already. The driver kept trying to contact the second driver. The second bus was due to leave, and we were a red light away from the bus station. The young woman kept updating her husband. Finally the drivers spoke.
The light turned green; the bus station entrance was just ahead. We got closer and stopped; the door opened and the young lady ran out. Her bag was pulled out of the storage compartment, and she and her husband ran to the bus waiting on the other side of the road.
I'm sure that it was against regulations, but it was wonderful to see how the bus drivers care about their passengers.
So, please don't let their bosses know....
1 comment:
I'm assuming this was an Egged bus. Their drivers are the best. Now if it were Dan, the driver would have slowed to a crawl just to make sure she missed the connection...
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