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This article was published 15/9/2018 (740 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A single mom who complained that she and her preschooler were kicked off a city bus and "humiliated" by the driver over a problem with their Peggo card got an apology and some surprising news this week.

Winnipeg Transit has a "pay double next time" internal policy, which means that if someone doesn’t have the appropriate fare, they are allowed to ride the bus with the expectation of paying double next time they ride.

PHIL HOSSACK / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Janice Briones with her sons Justin, 13, and Xander, 2. She and her kids were kicked off a transit bus last week over a problem with their Peggo card.

Drivers are supposed to let riders know that full fare is expected and, if they don’t have it, that they should pay double next time they ride the bus, transit communications manager Alissa Clark said.

It’s an internal policy and not publicized because of the concern some transit riders might abuse it, she said in an interview.

That’s news to Janice Briones, who boarded Bus 840 at Stadacona Street and Talbot Avenue at 8:45 a.m. on a chilly Sept. 6 with her toddler Xander in a stroller and her son Justin, 13, who was on his way to school.

She and the baby got on the bus first ahead of her school-age son who tapped their Peggo card for himself and his mom. The driver said there wasn’t enough e-cash stored on the Peggo card for the second fare.

"My son goes back to me and says ‘there’s no money.’" Briones said she was sure there was enough credit on the card because she had just topped it up and asked her son to tap it again, but the driver wouldn’t allow it and berated her, she said.

"He was talking to me in a loud voice, saying there’s no money," said Briones, who uses the bus to get to her job at KFC and has never had a problem with it.

"I said, ‘I don’t have any cash,’ and he said, ‘you have to pay,’ and he’s shouting. I said, ‘I don’t have it here — what do I do?’ He said, ‘You have to pay.’"

Briones said she didn’t know what to do and asked him if he wanted her to get off the bus that had stopped earlier to let her son off to transfer buses to get to St. Gerard School.

The driver opened the doors and didn’t move. Briones said she felt the eyes of the other passengers on her so she took Xander in his stroller and exited the bus by Stapleton Street and Kent Road.

"He didn’t say anything about ‘pay double next time.’ I have been living in this beautiful country for almost four years and I have never been so humiliated and disrespected," said Briones, who immigrated from the Philippines. She described the driver as Filipino-Canadian.

She and Xander had to walk 30 minutes to their home.

Briones filed a complaint online through Winnipeg 311 and got a call from a Transit supervisor on Tuesday, saying he was looking into the matter. He didn’t mention that she should have been told she could pay double next time, she said.

On Thursday, communications manager Clark told the Free Press that Winnipeg Transit apologizes to Briones for the negative experience she had.

"Excellent customer service is a priority for us and is a pillar of our operator training program," Clark said in an email.

"We will be conducting a further investigation into the incident and will be taking appropriate action."

A request for comment from the bus drivers’ union, the Amalgamated Transit Union, was not answered on Friday.

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca