Casey Lee Martin knew she had to turn around after she watched a Halifax Transit driver pull away from a woman and two kids, who were running and only seconds away from the bus stop.
Martin had decided to take a different route home from work on Sunday when she spotted the group of three running toward the bus stop in front of Superstore on Joseph Howe Drive.
“I could see the bus driver looking in her side mirror and see them running, but she didn’t wait,” Martin recalled in an interview Monday.
Instead, the Halifax Transit driver closed the doors and pulled up behind Martin at a red light.
“I had to take the bus when my oldest son was young, so I know what it’s like as a mom to try and travel with children and my heart kind of broke for her,” she said.
So Martin turned around and offered the woman and two kids a drive to their destination.
They accepted and told Martin they were heading to the hospital.
Unexpected passenger
After a few minutes of driving, Martin learned they were going to visit the woman’s husband.
“Then she said, ‘These aren’t my children. I lost all my children in a fire. All seven children,’ and that’s when I realized who she was,” Martin said.
The woman sitting in Martin’s passenger seat was Kawthar Barho.
Barho lost all her children, ages four months old to 15, in a house fire in Spryfield on Feb. 19.
Barho and her husband, Ebraheim, moved to Nova Scotia from Syria in September 2017 in hopes of a better life for their family.
Since the tragedy, Barho has been joined by several family members.
Metro Transit driver that was on Joseph Howe Drive at approximately 10am this morning, Shame on you. I was the car...
Posted by Casey Lee Martin on Sunday, July 7, 2019
Ebraheim, who was severely burned in the fire, remains in the ICU, Barho told Martin.
“I was just happy I turned around and was able to help her out,” Martin said.
Martin called 311 to report the Halifax Transit driver, but was informed the driver followed proper policy and isn’t supposed to wait for people at bus stops.
A bus in motion...
Brendan Elliott, Halifax Transit spokesman, said bus driver’s policy is to allow a passenger on the bus if it’s stationary, but not stop for passengers if it’s moving.
“If the bus is stationary, drivers are instructed to take a look out their side window to see if anyone’s coming and if someone’s coming, they should let them on the bus,” Elliott said.
“If the bus is moving, they’re instructed to not pick anyone up and that’s purely for safety reasons.”
Elliott said bus drivers look out their left-side mirror at the live-lane of traffic before they pull away from the curb, so they may not see if someone is coming down the right side.
“Ultimately, they want to make sure the passengers on the bus remain safe,” he said.
Elliott said Halifax Transit policy doesn’t allow him to comment on specific incidents, but buses have internal and external video cameras, so tapes can be reviewed if someone reports they should’ve been allowed to get onto the bus.
Martin posted her experience on Facebook Sunday morning and by Monday afternoon it had more than 7,000 reactions, 5,000 shares and 1,800 comments.
“I never would have thought that I would have even got more than like, you know my mom or aunt commenting on it, but I never expected it to be what it is now,” Martin said, adding she didn’t mean to offend any bus drivers with her post.
Martin said Barho’s friends and family have reached out to her and expressed their gratitude.
“She was telling them how she almost cried when she missed the bus because it only runs every hour on Sundays and it was her only way to get to see her husband,” Martin said.
Martin said she felt bad for bringing attention to the Barho family, but “hopes some of the bus drivers think twice before they leave someone behind.”
“It’s stuff like this, like think of someone who’s unemployed for six months and desperately needs a job and was heading to a job interview,” she said.
“There’s all these what-ifs.”
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