So my uncle was travelling on an overnight Greyhound bus Brisbane to Sydney which takes 17 hours !!! (ridiculous but true). He only had 1 piece of luggage, a largish backpack which he takes on board aircraft, so not too big. When he was getting on bus the driver made him put it in the hold under the bus.
About half way he remembered that he had forgotten to take his blood pressure medication. When the bus stopped in Coffs Harbour apparently they were changing drivers. The 2 drivers were standing on the footpath casually talking. He asked the (old) driver if he could get something from his bag underneath. Admittedly he said he did not say specifically medicine, but hey, it's his bag he should have accesd to it, and he is generally polite and does not like to argue.
Anyway the driver says, "no we are just quickly changing drivers and leaving, I don't have time". The (new) driver was standing right next to him, amd did not offer to give him access either. Well, not so quickly as it turns out. The bus was stopped for another 15-20 minutes there. DELETED
So, why could they just used their common sense and just let the passenger get to his bag? Would only have taken 30 seconds.
Well why, is that they were lacking a simple thing, some humanity and common sense. (Being an ex-Queenslander, I'm going to stay away from Queensland jokes).
So beware, if you thing you may need anything important (medicines, booze) from your bag during your 17-HOUR LONG bus trip, better bring the bag on-board with you. Because you never know if you will see it before the end of the trip.
EDIT: seems I was too harsh on the 2nd driver (Peter?). Turns out he was very nice. and a wealth of information about landmarks along the way. I think he did not even know about the bag issue. Uncle acccessed the bag at the next meal stop about 3 hours later.
I'm sort of here and there about it, I'm assuming as a bus driver, he probably gets sooo many people all the time trying to access their baggage for small reasons that its become a norm to say no. Especially added with the fact that the driver doesn't know what he has to move to get to the right bag and he may have to pack everything properly again, plus giving a person access to a bag that may not be his. I'm not too surprised most of them arn't big on allowing it.
The thing is, if the guy said it was for medication and they refused, I'd probably feel differently, as I feel its a more special circumstance that they refuse to budge on and placed someones health at risk. In saying that though, I do wonder if theres a better way of doing this, for a 17 hour long trip, it would be nice if half way through they gave access to anyone who needs to change, remove or have access to their bag for 10 minutes, just to make it easier and better experience for the passengers.