Bus 76

Plane landed on-time on Heathrow terminal 1. I paced myself through the long familiar walkways of terminal 1. I had already calculated the time I will need to reach the central bus station to take bus 76. Odds were in my favour; no

stopping at immigration or customs. I arrived well 10 minutes in advance at the stand 5.

It was a cold October evening and the stand was empty. A timetable at stand 5 was displaying bus 76 timings. Few minutes passed but there was no sign of bus; the driver must be stuck in traffic I thought. Suddenly I noticed bus 76 exiting the bus station. Oh no; I didn’t believe my eyes. The driver must be waiting on a different stand, now just turning around to reach stand 5. I will see him entering from the entrance shortly. The stands are designed in such a way that bus has to leave and go around the bus station to change stand. Several minutes passed but no bus 76 – stand 5 was empty as ever! I realized bus 76 had left for good from another stand. How can it be? I checked the timetable at stand 5 again; it was displaying bus 76 clearly.

I rushed to the help desk. Bus 76 now leaves from stand 19, I was informed. But stand 5 is still showing the time table, I complained. It must be a mistake; the person at desk enlightened me without any regret as if saying just go away I don’t care. He did not even take any note of the incorrect display. I was really dismayed. I went back the stand 5 to take off the timetable so it does not confuse someone else but I could not; it was fully secured. I walked to stand 19 and took the next bus 76. However I could not forget the incident.

After few days I contacted the bus company “first group” that runs bus 76 to complain. I was told that maintaining timetables at Heathrow central bus station is the responsibility of “National Express Limited”. This is the company that runs intercity coaches.

I contacted National Express. They advised it is not their but TFL’s (Transport for London) responsibility.

I contacted TFL. I was informed that it is Heathrow Airport’s responsibility so go to BAA (British Aviation Authority).

So I contacted BAA asking them to make sure if bus stands are shuffled, the correct information should be put to display. To my surprise I received an email informing me that displays have been corrected.

Wow, success 5^th time; I had to correspond to 4 companies, had to swallow 4 ‘NOs’ and wait for 4 weeks to hear ‘YES’.

The big question is, why did I bother myself?

Not only because I had to waste time at stand 5. But also because the display at stand 5 was still wrong; it would confuse other passengers.

There are two morals of the story folks; one is personal and second is societal.

1-      Never Give UP if you want to be successful in life.  You do not fail until you stop. And path to success passes through Failure; in fact many failures. Thomas Edison failed 1000 times before successfully constructing a light bulb. You need to swallow many No’s before the Yes.

2-      I corrected the wrong to benefit others in the society. If we do not remove a nail from the path until it punctures our foot, the paths will be full of nails soon. Don’t wait for others to correct something – Do it Yourself. Great people leave the society in better shape than the way they find it.

Every little deed counts; nothing is too small. The society will be better place if everyone does his small bit.

Do you remember Farooq Ice Cream Wala Or Two Parveens!