Greyhound caught in bus imbroglio

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The worst thing about taking the bus should be having to sit next to someone you don’t like. But in a recent bus imbroglio, two teenagers learned things can get much worse than that…

Public relations is harder for companies than used to be. The Internet has changed the game entirely. This thought ran to my mind this morning, when I heard a CBC radio story about a disastrous decision by the Greyhound bus company.

Two young girls, travelling from Prince George, BC, to Alberta, were tossed from the bus in the middle of the night last weekend, because the driver said their tickets had expired. I understand that Greyhound may have its side of the story too, but on the surface, this incident makes the bus company look bad. Really bad.

The girls were 12 and 15, travelling back to their father’s house after having stayed with their mom for Spring break. That the company would remove these girls from the bus in the middle of the night — at 3:55 am — and so close to the Highway of Tears — site of a series of unsolved murders and disappearances — makes matters only worse. You can read more about the whole saga here.

Twenty-five years ago, this tragic story might never have emerged into public view. Nowadays, thanks in part to the Internet and social media outlets, it cannot be suppressed. Nor should it be. I shook my head when I learned that a Greyhound customer service rep had offered the girls’ mother a refund, “if she filed a formal letter of complaint.”

That kind of superior, unempathetic attitude will not be tolerated by the general public. Greyhound can and should do a massive mea culpa, and provide some sort of recompense to this family, by way of apology. They should also do a better job of training their front line people in damage control, as I suggested last week.

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