Lost bus ticket stalls student in Moncton
Last Updated: Friday, November 20, 2009 | 11:18 AM AT
CBC News
A 17-year-old university student from Prince Edward Island thinks the Acadian bus line should not have stranded her temporarily at its Moncton terminal for losing her ticket earlier this week.
'I had nowhere to go. I thought I would be sleeping in the bus terminal or something that night. It was not a nice feeling at all.'— Jenna MacDonald
Jenna MacDonald was returning from visiting her family in O'Leary, P.E.I., last Sunday, and had boarded an Acadian bus in Summerside with a ticket to Fredericton.
The trip required a transfer to another bus in Moncton after she crossed into New Brunswick.
When MacDonald got off the first bus, she realized that she didn't have a bus transfer ticket.
She approached the bus driver to explain the situation. MacDonald couldn't convince the bus company that because she had a stub showing that her luggage was on the bus, she must have bought a ticket.
She said the driver recognized her, but because she didn't have a ticket she was left in Moncton as the bus departed for Fredericton.
“I had nowhere to go. I thought I would be sleeping in the bus terminal or something that night. It was not a nice feeling at all,” MacDonald said.
Meanwhile, her luggage had already been loaded and went to Fredericton without her.
She had to call home and get her mother to deposit enough money into her account to pay for another ticket.
Once MacDonald had the extra money in her account, she was able to board the next bus to Fredericton about an hour later.
After the experience in Moncton, the university student said she believes bus companies should develop a better system for tracking who is travelling with them.
“I feel that they should have some sort of record of who purchases the tickets and who goes on which bus, for more reasons than just the money purpose, but for safety reasons,” she said.
An Acadian spokesperson would not comment on MacDonald’s experience.
