A lack of cents
This is a little story, really. If you're looking for an epic tale or an outsized moral quandary or a penetrating analysis of important civic affairs, then you're in the wrong place. Of course, you probably knew that already.
This is a story about an MBTA bus gliding to a stop in the rush-hour dusk of Davis Square. It was Monday, 4 p.m., and a nice young woman had been waiting for 20 minutes in the freezing cold with her three children after a visit to their pediatrician.
The woman's name is Tina Ahern, and, as she tells it, the kids stood up excitedly when they saw the bus, for no other reason than, ''you know, they're kids and it's the bus."
The bus stopped. Ahern led the way. Her daughter is 11; her sons are 6 and 4. They fumbled on board, holding hands. Ahern put $1.35 in the fare box: 90 cents for her and 45 cents for her daughter. The younger boys, she thought, rode for free. It was the exact amount she had paid earlier that afternoon to get to Davis Square.
The bus driver, an older guy with white hair and a foul attitude, snapped at her that ''you didn't pay."
Ahern corrected him, pointing out that she had paid for her and her daughter.
''He said, 'No, you owe me more money,' " she said.
She quickly learned that children 5 and older must pay a fare. She fidgeted through her pockets, but found no other change, having just spent it all in a vending machine to get her kids a snack. She explained to the driver that she had no other money.
''He said, 'Well, one of them has to get off the bus,' " Ahern told me, her voice growing incredulous as she related the story. ''I looked at him and said, 'You mean to tell me that you think I'm going to have one of my children get off the bus?'
''He said, 'You have to pay like everyone else.' "
The bus was crowded. A woman stood in line behind Ahern with a child in a stroller, also waiting to get on board.
Ahern, flustered, asked for her $1.35 back. The driver said there was nothing he could do. So, having no idea what else to do, Ahern turned around and led her children off the bus.
Once on the street, Ahern burst into tears. The bus pulled away with a long sigh.
''The kids were asking why the bus driver was angry with me," Ahern recounted. ''I said there are angry people in the world. We need to pray for them so they'll be happy."
So they walked, taking over an hour to travel the 1.3 miles home, Ahern and her daughter alternately carrying the 4-year-old boy.
Ahern concedes that she didn't pay enough money. She knows that part of it was her fault. ''It was a mistake on my part," she said.
But is this really what it's come to at the T, humiliating a young mother and her kids over 45 cents?
I have not a moment of doubt that the vast majority of T operators are kind and courteous. I've seen them myself, joking with riders, helping them, understanding the vagaries of everyday life.
But a few weeks ago, after a column about rude subway passengers who don't offer pregnant women their seats, more than a few people complained to me not just about fellow riders, but about surly T workers.
Yesterday, the MBTA's general manager, Dan Grabauskas, said, ''Nobody wants to have a mother and a couple of kids not get on a bus for lack of a small amount of money."
The T confirmed through the driver that an incident occurred, though the driver said he didn't kick the family off the bus. Grabauskas pointed out that the T has a rule that operators are to avoid confrontations with riders.
''This was certainly not the norm," he said. ''It's not what we're about."
I'm certain he's right. But as I think about Tina Ahern walking in the cold with her three kids, I'm starting to wonder whether these situations aren't as isolated as he thinks.
Brian McGrory is a Globe columnist. He can be reached at mcgrory@globe.com. 