Brampton ZUM

Have you ever travelled on a Brampton ZUM bus? If you have, chances are, you are one of the thousands who have just stepped into hell! It pains me to say but these buses are like pigsties on wheels! They are the filthiest busses on any road that I have ever travelled on! This is Canada; a country renowned the world over for being the cleanest real estate on planet earth! Walking down the aisle in one of these buses makes you wonder, how on God’s earth the city of Brampton allows such despicable filthy buses on their roads! These buses pose a great health risk to passengers and should be of great concern to those responsible for their maintenance. Have you no shame, Brampton?

There are grunge and grimes everywhere. The seats are so filthy it will have you thinking twice about sitting down! The windowsills are covered in age-old dust! The stench coupled with the heater system is unbearable if you are sitting by a window seat. It’s almost stifling. A person can get sick travelling on them. I asked one of its drivers, "Why is no one cleaning these buses?" He said, "I don't know. We complain and complain but it seems to fall on deaf ears. We are getting sick and I mean literally sick. I’m afraid to turn on the fan because if I do it will just blow up the dust in my face. “Isn’t there somebody you can talk to? Whose job is it to clean these buses?” “We talk to one person and they say, it's not my responsibility. Go tell that person. Then we tell that person and they say the same thing, it's not my responsibility! Go tell it to that person. And so on and so on! No one wants to take responsibility! All they said is they swept them!”

For these buses to regain some respectability, they need more than just mere sweeping! They need to be driven into a lake and sit there for a while to get rid of all that grunginess off the floor that seems to have accumulated over the years! Or better still; get Hercules to bring the lake to them! He did it for King Augeas' filthy stable.

Not only is the Toronto TTC the better way, but It is also the cleanest way: I am impressed at how clean the TTC keeps its buses.  "We take care in making sure our passengers travel on a clean bus," said a TTC Operator I spoke with. "Our buses are washed down every night, inside and out and are completely sanitized. We have people who do that!" He continues, "I guess every municipality have their way of doing things." Brampton could take a page from Toronto.

Because of their lack of upkeep, the passengers show no respect for them. They use the seats as their personal foot-stools. Drops garbage all over the floor and written graffitis all over the back of the seats! These kinds of behaviour happen on any buses, clean or dirty and the TTC is no exception! That’s just the way people are. Some people do not appreciate or respect the good things in life and I’m sure some feel right at home with their dirty ZUM buses. For those who appreciate the finer things in life, let it be a clean transportation system in your city! It does your health good and your city proud!

On a lighter side: Make no mistake, these ZUM buses are Speed Demons. I love travelling on a fast bus! Not a car! I don't like fast cars. They are too prone to accidents! I like the bus that zooms me there and back! With Steels Avenue West as their playground, these buses will show you what they are made of especially in the early mornings when the streets are clear of other traffics! They rule the road! Put to the test, I believe the ZUM would out-run the TTC by... something-lengths. I won’t say it! I don’t want to offend the TTC! Not to take anything away from the TTC, the Brampton ZUM has more of an advantage. They have a stretch of highway which sometimes is completely unimpeded by other traffics. Like Roger Miller says in one of his songs, he’s “King of the Road!” Hence the Brampton ZUM!

It is sad, for buses as beautiful as these to endure such neglect. Their interior does not begin to reflect their outer beauty. I hope someone will come to their senses and rescue these beautiful buses from the terrible faith which they are sentenced, before the dirt and grimes take their toll, causing them to become dilapidated! Use your taxpayers’ dollars wisely...Brampton!