Friday, July 13, 2007

The bus company that couldn't shoot straight

Fung Wah, a discount bus line that travels between Boston and New York, seems to make the news every couple of months. Usually, the news is that one of their buses has had an accident. Today's news is that they violated the state's anti-discrimination laws by refusing to sell tickets to a blind couple, one of whom needed to be accompanied by his seeing-eye dog. The dog was a violation of the company's animal policy. But was that the real reason?

When the other half of the couple, who did not need a dog, tried to buy a ticket, she was refused even after the police told the ticket seller that she was entitled to buy a ticket. This all happened on a typical New England winter day and the couple was left on the street in 15-degree weather before the police drove them to the train station. Yesterday, Fung Wah had to listen to the law and pony up $70,000, $60,000 for the couple and a $10,000 fine.

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