Women Don't Have To Sit In The Back Of The Bus, Says Bus Company

(Sasha Chavkin/The New York World)

In an historic development, women no longer have to sit in the back of a public bus that runs between two predominantly Orthodox Jewish neighborhoods of Brooklyn! The Private Transportation Corp., which pays the city $20,000 a year to operate the Williamsburg-to- Borough Park B110 bus, has sent a letter to the DOT insisting that women were never required to sit in the back, despite many eyewitness reports. But the owner of the company is promising to make sure the thing that supposedly never happened doesn't happen in the future. Next thing you know these broads will want to hang out in saloons and chew tobacco!

The company was in the spotlight earlier this month when the Columbia University-run publication The New York World reported on the gender segregation, which has apparently been going on for decades. After the mainstream press picked it up, the DOT sent a letter to Private Transportation Corp. telling them this sort of thing wasn't kosher (SUE US!). Now City Room reports that the company's owner, Jacob Marmurstein, has written back to the DOT denying the allegation:

Mr. Marmurstein wrote that his company had not received any complaints in the past about having separate seating for men and women on the B110 bus. He offered to provide the bus company’s complaint log since July to confirm that there had been no complaints. He also said that the company would stress to drivers and other employees not to discriminate against female riders and would add signs on the bus stressing that it did not tolerate discrimination.

But some residents insist they've complained about this B110 bus for years. Area man Robert Keith tells City Room he had griped to city agencies about the bus line because it often passed down his residential street, which does not allow trucks. He says, "I never got an answer to that question." Again, why does Hashem make us feel the questions if he's not going to give us the answers?!

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By John Del Signore in News on October 26, 2011 6:58 PM

Comments [rss]

HOS76

Exactly, the sheet-hole.

bggb

Did they give women the right to seek a divorce? Or not have to get ex-husband's permission to remarry? No?

What a bunch of bigoted, backwards, religious zealots.

Guest

I thought Hasidic women like it through the backdoor....

evbo

No, they like it through the hole in the sheet...

Colonel_Ingus

Nah, brah. It's the Hasdic MEN that like it that way.

The women are more, "meh"

TheRealCannibal

i didnt HAVE to sit in the back of the bus before... i would have loved to see one of them try to make me.

tijuanatornado

Occupy B110!

Emmily_Litella

Women: Can’t live with ‘em, can’t live without ‘em.

Harper324

The complaint log offering is bogus. First, providing the log of complaints "since July" (which is only going back 4 mos) does not prove that the bus company never had any complaints. Complaints may have been made prior to July, and they may not even enter these type of complaints in their "log," even though they receive them. Also, what is the process by which a complaint is logged? Does verbally complaining to the driver qualify? I doubt that it does. How difficult is it to lodge a formal complaint -- one of the type that will ensure its entry into this elusive "complaint log."? I could go on, but I digress...
If they want to keep the genders separate on the bus, then make it an entirely private bus with a subscribership. Problem solved. Until then, I hope that ladies continue to ride and sit up front, preferably topless.