Mohammad Reza was traveling from Dallas to Kansas City last week for a research presentation at a Transportation Research Board national conference
An Iranian International PhD candidate believes he was discriminated against when a Greyhound driver had him forcibly removed from a bus more than 200 miles from his Kansas destination.
Mohammad Reza was traveling from Dallas to Kansas City last week for a research presentation at a Transportation Research Board national conference.
The Arlington resident began his trip from Downtown Dallas on Monday evening and transferred to a new bus in Oklahoma City just before midnight.
Reza – who is a PhD candidate in the Urban Planning and Public Policy at the University of Texas at Arlington – rested in anticipation for his conference which started at 8.30am on Tuesday.
Near 3am, Reza was awakened by a Greyhound bus driver asking to see his ticket in Wichita, Kansas.
‘The first thing that I remember is I showed my phone, the eTicket that I had,’ Reza said to NBC DFW.
Near 3am, Reza was awakened by a Greyhound bus driver asking to see his ticket in Wichita, Kansas
‘But, she was very angry and she started yelling that, “I cannot accept this cell phone ticket.” She asked me, “Do you understand what the meaning of printed copy is?” I thought that maybe because of my accent – I am an international student here – or my name [that] she saw on the cell phone, the PDF file. She did not explain [why she was upset].’
But after Reza located the tangible copy, the driver had already told him to exit the bus.
Reze recorded a portion of the exchange on Facebook.
And when presented with the ticket, Reza claims the driver still wouldn’t accept and demanded that he get off the bus
‘”You’re not going with me. I don’t want to talk to you no more. Get off my bus!'” said the driver to Reza, seen holding the ticket in his hand.
‘Police is helping you off. Don’t worry. Police is coming. You’re not going with me.’
‘I really don’t know…’ Reza added trying to figure out why he was being kicked off.
‘”You’re not going with me! So stop talking with me. If you’re not getting off stop talking to me. Police will be here in a minute to help you off so no, I don’t want to talk to you no more. Go away,”‘ said the unidentified driver.
‘What’s the reason?’ Reza added.
He was forced to order a $250 Lyft the rest of the way so that he could make it to the conference in time and flew home back to Dallas instead of using his return Greyhound ticket
The father-of-one recorded the video out of fear of the unknown as to what would happen to him.
‘It was my last chance, based on previous experiences happening with airlines. I know police are coming and I had to tell my wife or my friends what was happening inside because 3am I didn’t know what was going to happen next,’ Reza added.
He continued claiming that passengers were not willing to stand by him during the altercation, adding to his nervousness.
‘It was a very scary situation,’ Reza said.
‘One of them approached me at my seat and loudly said [the] “F-word” and told me, “If you are not leaving the bus we want to do something with you here in the bus.”‘
Police eventually arrived and sided with the bus driver, leaving Reze at a closed Greyhound Station in Wichita at 3.40am on Tuesday.
The father-of-one believes his name and nationality as an Iranian International PhD candidate could have played a role in his discrimination
Reza would eventually be told – by an employee at 4am – that the next bus to Kansas City didn’t leave until six hours after his conference, at 2.30pm
To not miss the conference, the student called a Lyft and paid nearly $250 to get the rest of the journey.
Making it to the conference, Reze was able to share his findings on the City of Dallas that looked into class disparities in the Dallas Area Rapid Transit system.
An email from a panel moderator cited a city planner who raved about Reza’s panel and said it ‘was one of the highlights of the conference.’
For his return trip, Reza flew home to Dallas on Tuesday night and opted out of using his return bus ticket that he paid for.
And while the man is not as concerned with getting his money back, Reza does want to know the reason he was kicked off the bus despite evidence of a ticket.
‘I was surprised [when I was removed] because I asked different times, ‘What is the reason? Please tell me if I did something wrong, please tell me,’ and they do not answer my questions,’ Reza said.
Greyhound released a statement saying what happened to the man was not acceptable.
‘Greyhound does not tolerate discrimination of any kind and is taking these allegations very seriously,’ a company spokesperson said.
‘We’ve identified the driver and are currently conducting a thorough investigation into the matter.’