First Impression: The Bus Driver I’d like to Forget

So I don’t cry very often, and never in public. I guess I shouldn’t say never because there is something about transportation systems that reduces me to tears. I still have nightmares about crying in frustration and exhaustion at Charles de Gaulle airport. Now I can add the frustration of abuse from a Czech bus driver.

It took me two weeks to get my bus pass in Prague (OpenCard) and in the meantime, I bought 30 minutes, 90 minutes, 120 minutes and full day passes. You authenticate the pass on the transit at the arrow and it is seldom checked by a patrol.

One day I bought a day pass and authenticated it on the bus. However, the machine printed in the wrong illegible place so I printed it again at the arrow. I wondered in passing if that would pose a problem but decided to not worry about it.

There is one bus to work that goes outside the city limits, so the bus driver checks all passenger tickets. When he saw mine, he ripped it up after first ripping into ME in Czech. Even though I understood his point and had no problem paying 24 crowns (~$1.20), I felt like a worm the whole ride. Am I ever happy to have finally received the OpenCard!