Washington: Buses should not leave early. But this one did.

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A cardinal rule among transportation providers is that while buses and trains may run behind schedule, they are never allowed to leave early. It’s also standard practice to announce when a vehicle is leaving and where it’s headed to.

None of that happened at St. Paul’s Union Depot last Wednesday on what was supposed to be Jefferson Lines’ 7:05 p.m. bus to Duluth.

“Do you know where the bus is?” asked passenger — or would-be passenger — T.J. James, who had been waiting in the boarding area since 6:40 as the minutes ticked past 7:05.

As a regular rider with 17 trips so far this year, I assured him it was frequently late. I had walked outside to the waiting area at 6:55, minutes before the usual Coach USA bus bound for Wisconsin came in. It would typically be followed by the Jefferson bus a few minutes behind it.

Twenty minutes later, I wasn’t so sure and called Jefferson’s customer service line.

With the help of a sympathetic depot security officer, James, a third passenger, Takiera Sanders, and I found Jefferson’s station attendant in the company’s office downstairs, out of sight from the boarding area. Rushing out the door, he impatiently told us the bus left at 7:05.

“No it didn’t!” we shouted back, following him.

“6:53,” he said, changing his story.

Sanders said that she was there well before then, and both she and James said they asked drivers that pulled in if theirs was the bus to Duluth. All said they were not.

Even if one of those was our bus, I added, it should never have left before 7:05. Buses aren’t supposed to leave early.

His advice to us: “You’re supposed to call customer service. Not me.”

This wasn’t my first missing-bus rodeo. Before I started riding regularly, I waited in Duluth for a Jefferson bus to the Twin Cities that failed to show with no notice, leaving me to rush in a car I hadn’t planned on driving to make a keynote speech in Minnetonka. My audience didn’t see me sweat … I don’t think.

It again happened on the St. Paul end in July 2024. I called Jefferson’s customer service line and got through (this was during the day) to learn the bus had been canceled — likewise with no notice to ticketed passengers. That time, there were more than a few of us left stranded, one of whom started crying. Touched by that, I remembered only after rebooking myself on a later bus that: “Wait a minute — I have a car,” and could have offered a ride to those more urgently needing to get to Duluth.

Last week, I didn’t hesitate. I called my wife, who was gracious enough to give up the car and take the light rail to work in St. Paul the next few days. James and Sanders gladly accepted my offer to drive them to Duluth and we hit the road.

So what happened to the bus?

After reviewing my recording of the attendant encounter, she said, “That agent needs some customer service training,” adding he should have been in the waiting area when the bus arrived to make sure the passengers got on.

As for his comment that buses leave early all the time, “That is just beyond ignorant.”

Yet the bus had indeed left early, the records showed, which she called “totally inexcusable. No driver should leave even one minute early.” The driver was in fact new and would be slated for retraining along with the attendant, who she said could have called dispatch to have the bus turn around.

Since he didn’t, Buchanan offered each of us a full refund and complimentary round-trip tickets, plus 70 cents per mile to me for my chauffeur service.

I declined the latter, but since I had her on the line, I also shared the problem of the customer service number shutting down at night, and more confusion due to incorrect arrival and departure times displayed on the Depot’s electronic kiosks.

For matters under Jefferson’s control, Buchanan said a meeting is scheduled this week to discuss customer service — I hope that includes a phone line that somebody answers — and “the protocol for when things go wrong.”

Actually, it could have gone really wrong. Thank heavens I didn’t hit a deer!