OC Transpo has apologized to an Ottawa teen kicked off a bus for what she was wearing.
18-year-old Monica Jean Werthner boarded the bus Sunday afternoon on her way to work. She was wearing a tight, midriff-bearing top and loose jogging pants.
She says the female bus driver asked her if she had something to better cover herself with. Barring that, she was told to leave the bus.
"She said what I was wearing was vulgar and it would offend the other people on the bus stop and she asked me to get off. I honestly didn't think she was serious so I got off the bus, but as she drove away I got really embarrassed and insulted," says Werthner.
She says the outfit is typical of what she wears on the bus during the summer. "I wasn't wearing anything that was inappropriate," she says.
Werthner had already paid her fare and was forced to walk to work.
OC Transpo says that never should have happened. The company doesn't have a dress policy for passengers. "It's not our role to dictate what a customer should and shouldn't wear on a bus,” says Assistant General Manager Troy Charter. ”We don't have a policy that says customers can't wear certain things or they need to wear certain things. So from what I've seen that customer shouldn't have been asked to leave the bus."
OC Transpo is investigating the incident. In the meantime, they have apologized to Werthner and her family, and have offered the teen a free month pass.
Werthner is hoping to put the incident behind her. She still needs to ride the bus. "I don't have a car so I skateboard or I take the bus. It's my way of getting everywhere."
