Vancouver woman alleges TransLink discrimination
Last Updated: Sunday, August 16, 2009 | 6:14 PM PT
CBC News
A Vancouver woman is demanding a public transit bus driver be suspended after she alleges he tried to deny her and her girlfriend a bus ride.
Ashlee Gowriluk, 25, said she was boarding a bus in Vancouver last Sunday morning with her monthly FareCard, which is good for up to two adult fares and four children on Sundays, according to the local transportation authority.
However, Gowriluk said the driver told her girlfriend she would have to pay to board the bus, claiming she would have to be a man for the Sunday rules to apply.
Gowriluk disagreed and called TransLink, which confirmed that she was right.
But she said that wasn't good enough for the driver.
"He sat there for a good five minutes and announced to everyone on the bus they should tell us to get off," she said.
Gowriluk said that didn't happen, and when she and her girlfriend refused to disembark, the driver eventually drove away, stating he would never stop for them again.
Gowriluk said that kind of treatment is the last thing she expected in gay-friendly Vancouver.
"We had a friend from Winnipeg with us who was expecting a lot more of an open experience in Vancouver," she said.
"She was just completely taken aback. She's not even used to that in Winnipeg. It was embarrassing and it was painful. I don't want to have to experience things like that in Vancouver. I'm used to being very comfortable."
Gowriluk filed a complaint with the Coast Mountain Bus Company, the contract operator for public transit in Metro Vancouver.
She's demanding the driver be suspended.
Company spokesman Derek Zabel said the company is still investigating the complaint, but says the rules are clear.
On Sundays, a monthly FareCard does pay for any two adults and four children, regardless of their relationship to each other.
"It's an unfortunate thing, but we'll make sure to get to the bottom of this and make sure our employees know what the policies are."
Zabel said he's not sure if it was a case of discrimination or if the operator simply didn't know the rules.
He did offer an apology in advance, in case the complaint is found to be valid.
Share Tools
Latest British Columbia News Headlines
- Vancouverites say volunteering part of being good citizen
- Vancouverites seem to place more importance on volunteering as a part of being a good citizen than other Canadians, a recent Environics Institute survey suggests. more »
- Home foreclosures skyrocket in Kelowna
- Home foreclosures are on the rise in B.C.'s Central Okanagan in recent months, but local real estate agents disagree about who might be losing their homes. more »
- No charges in B.C. lake crash that killed Edmonton girl
- Charges will not be laid in connection with a fatal collision that killed a 10-year-old Edmonton girl on Okanagan Lake last summer. more »
- Man killed in fight at B.C. Hedley concert
- Police say one man is dead after a fight at a rock concert in Dawson Creek, B.C., on Tuesday. more »
Top News Headlines
- Drummond report on Ontario calls for cutbacks
- The Ontario government must curtail its spending with the kind of cuts not seen since the Mike Harris years, according to a report by former TD Bank chief economist Don Drummond. more »
- Children of immigrants challenged at school, home
- By 2016, foreign-born youth and Canadian-born youth from immigrant families will make up a quarter of the country's population, according to predictions by the Canadian Council on Social Development. As their numbers grow, more attention is being paid to their successes and failures. more »
- B.C. house party trial hears from tearful teens
- Two teenagers cried as they testified at the trial of a B.C. woman who was charged after a teen died while her son was hosting a party at her house in 2008. more »
- Whitney Houston funeral to be livestreamed
- Whitney Houston's funeral will be livestreamed, to satisfy the desire of fans to grieve alongside family members at the Saturday memorial. more »
- Legalize pot, say former B.C. attorneys general
- Botox injected by unlicensed practitioners
- Homicide follows Vancouver family argument
- Tires slashed on more than 100 cars in Surrey
- Adults told B.C. teen had taken ecstasy
- B.C. Mountie drank to 'calm nerves' after fatal crash
- 1925 Vancouver mansion listed below lot value
- Home foreclosures skyrocket in Kelowna
- B.C. argues to keep sperm donor identity shielded
