Latest news with #JeffersonLines
Yahoo
8 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Bus service connects Whitefish to Billings
Jul. 13—A new bus route out of Whitefish began at the start of July, connecting the city directly to Missoula, Butte, Bozeman, Livingston, Big Timber and Billings four days a week. "We're excited for this opportunity to connect cities that we weren't able to connect to before," said Kevin Pursey, director of operations at Jefferson Lines, the service provider. Jefferson Lines — a family-owned bus company rooted in the Midwest — was approached by the state of Montana after Flathead Transit discontinued its Whitefish to Missoula service at the end of June. The Whitefish to Missoula route is key in western Montana, connecting towns such as Kalispell, Lakeside, Polson, Pablo, St. Ignatius, Ravalli, Arlee and Evaro. The new route will continue servicing those communities while expanding eastward. "The city of Whitefish is grateful Jefferson Lines has stepped in to offer an important alternative form of transportation between Whitefish and many other Montana communities," Whitefish City Manager Dana Smith said. Prior to the Whitefish to Billings route, Jefferson Lines had a schedule running between Billings to Spokane that stopped in Bozeman and Butte. That route will continue to run. The service is only available Friday through Monday, but eventually, Pursey said it would be great to have a bus running every day. Improving the availability of bus services is identified in Whitefish's Climate Action Plan and Transportation Plan to reduce vehicle trips into the community, Smith said. While it is not a commuter bus system, which is still needed, she said, the Whitefish to Billings route plays a "critical role in the overall transportation system in our community and others." The Whitefish to Billings route operates Friday through Monday, leaving Whitefish at 8:30 a.m., departing Missoula at 12:30 p.m. and arriving in Billings at 6:20 p.m. The Billings to Whitefish route operates Thursday through Sunday, leaving the Jefferson Lines Depot in Billings at 11:30 a.m., departing Missoula at 5:30 p.m. and arriving in Whitefish at 9:10 p.m. For more information and to book tickets, visit Reporter Kate Heston may be reached at 758-4450 or kheston@
Black America Web
a day ago
- Politics
- Black America Web
Lawsuit Filed After Investigation Found White Bus Driver Made Black Passengers Sit In Back Of Bus
Source: JoeChristensen / Getty Bruh — what year is this? Look, we all know that the current presidential administration is bound and determined to turn the clock back and make Jim Crow great again , but two years before President Donald Trump made his triumphant (or abysmal, depending on who you ask) return to the White House and turned anti-DEI propaganda into a which hunt on Black progress, a white bus driver in North Dakota was making Black passengers ride in the back of the bus as if we weren't 70 years removed from the iconic arrest of Rosa Parks. According to the Minnesota Star Tribune, in 2023, two Black men boarded a Jefferson Lines bus bound for Minnesota from North Dakota when the driver, who hasn't been identified by name, told them they needed to sit in the back of the bus. An argument reportedly ensued, and the driver threatened to call the cops if the two men, who did not know each other, didn't move to the back and sit down, which they eventually did. Four months later, one of the Black men, Xavier Davis, called for a Minnesota Department of Human Rights investigation, and, wouldn't you know it, a 'memorandum filed earlier this year by Commissioner Rebecca Lucero found probable cause the driver discriminated against the passengers because of their race,' the Tribune reported. Earlier this week, Davis filed a civil lawsuit against Jefferson Lines, one of the largest bus companies in the U.S., and the driver in Hennepin County District Court. According to Lucero, the driver, who is listed as 'John Doe' in the lawsuit, failed to give any non-discriminatory explanation as to why the two Black men needed to sit in the back of the bus, and, of course, he allowed white passengers to sit wherever they wanted. Lucero determined it was a racist incident 'evidenced by the racially discriminatory stereotypes underlying the interaction.' Apparently, Lucero was referring to the asinine excuses the driver gave after the fact, as the investigation was being conducted. Seriously, if you weren't already sure this man was racist as hell, his nonsensical and brazenly stereotypical reason for forcing the Black passengers to the back of the bus should seal it for you. From the Tribune: Jefferson Lines policy was to board the bus on a first-come, first-serve basis, but the driver told the Black passengers that company policy was to board from the back of the bus to the front. The driver also thought the two passengers were travelling together, even though their tickets were for different destinations, and he later stated that the passengers smelled like marijuana. After the situation became argumentative, the driver threatened to involve law enforcement. In her memo, Lucero wrote that all of these actions by the bus driver were 'rooted in discriminatory and stereotypical expectations,' including that two Black people must be traveling together and that 'Black men are more likely to smoke cannabis or engage in illegal behavior.' 'Driver's implication that he might need to involve the police was rooted in the trope that a Black man questioning Driver's decision was somehow threatening or disruptive,' Lucero wrote. 'There was no evidence that [Davis] engaged in any activity that would warrant police intervention.' During the course of the investigation, Jefferson Lines asked the driver to complete an incident report. The driver defended his reasons for asking the Black passengers to sit in the back of the bus. He pointed to the smell of marijuana and that he preferred passengers board from the back because on different routes, he noticed passengers didn't like when they were bumped with luggage by other passengers walking down the aisle. So, the driver tried to pass off his own personal segregation policy as the bus company's policy; he assumed (or pretended to assume) the two Black men knew each other despite their tickets showing they likely didn't, and then later on, after he was made to file an incident report, he suddenly recalled the smell of marijuana, which, of course, could not possibly be proven and is exactly the kind of thing a racist would say in an attempt to justify racist behavior. So, obviously, Jefferson Lines didn't put up with this rogue bus driver's bigoted behavior, right? Certainly, the company served him his walking papers and then issued some standard statement about how 'there is no place for racism at Jefferson Lines,' correct? Nah, according to the Tribune, about a month after the incident, Jefferson Lines issued the driver a verbal warning, not for the despicable racism, but for deviating from the company's seating policy 'They just are unwilling to do the right thing,' said Davis' attorney, Sam Savage, who reported that, since the investigation was concluded, Davis and Jefferson Lines reps had been in mediation to try and settle their dispute, but to no avail. 'Davis is seeking damages based on being denied full and equal enjoyment of public accommodations,' the Tribune reported. What's that they say about 'the more things change?' SEE ALSO: Several Lawsuits Filed In Louisiana To Combat Environmental Racism Virginia Funeral Home Faces Lawsuit After Black Man Was Allegedly Found Covered In Maggots During Viewing SEE ALSO Lawsuit Filed After Investigation Found White Bus Driver Made Black Passengers Sit In Back Of Bus was originally published on
Miami Herald
2 days ago
- Politics
- Miami Herald
Bus driver forces Black men to sit in the back or he'll call cops, MN suit says
Rosa Parks made history when she refused to move to the back of a bus in Montgomery, Alabama, on Dec. 1, 1955. Her refusal helped bring an end to legalized segregation on buses, among other Jim Crow-era laws. But, on July 13, 2023, two Black men were told to sit in the back of a bus, according to a Minnesota lawsuit filed on July 7. Two Black men boarded a Jefferson Lines bus in Fargo, North Dakota, and were instructed by the driver to sit in the back of the bus despite the company having a 'first come, first serve' policy for seats, the lawsuit said. The two men started to argue with the driver, but he threatened to call police if the passengers did not comply, the lawsuit said. One of the two men forced to sit in the back is now suing Jefferson Lines and the unnamed bus driver, accusing them of racial discrimination. 'Rosa Parks took a stand in 1955, refused to give up her seat, and we're not going back, not now, not ever, not in 2023, not in 2025,' the man's attorney, Samuel Savage, told McClatchy News in a phone interview. The attorney representing Jefferson Lines did not immediately respond to McClatchy News' request for comment on July 11. A spokesperson told KARE that the company doesn't comment on active legal matters. The plaintiff, who is seeking $50,000 in damages, sat in the back of the bus during his ride from Fargo to Crookston, Minnesota, rather than continue to argue with the driver, according to the lawsuit. 'I think in the moment, it was more of a 'I just want to get to my destination and be about my business,'' Savage said. The two men were the only Black people on the bus on July 13, the complaint said. Other passengers were allowed to choose their seats, according to the suit. Four days after the man's bus ride, Jefferson Lines asked the bus driver to create an incident report. The driver wrote that he asked the two Black men to sit in the back of the bus because they smelled like marijuana, the lawsuit said. The driver was given a verbal warning for 'deviating from the policy' the next month, according to the lawsuit. In January, the Minnesota Department of Human Rights said there was probable cause that discrimination occurred during the 2023 bus ride. A similar incident on a Jefferson Lines bus in Minneapolis occurred in 2009 when a driver told a mother and her 3-year-old daughter to sit in the back of the bus, which she said was because they were Black, the Minnesota Star Tribune reported. Crookston, Minnesota, is about a 70-mile drive northeast from Fargo, North Dakota.
