A mother forced to walk for more than an hour to Shea Heights carrying her two-year-old son in her arms wants an apology from Metrobus.

A driver barred the duo from riding on the city’s transit system last week.

That left Jessica Chafe no choice but to walk roughly four kilometres home from Booth Memorial High School in the city centre.

The trip took more than an hour. The last stretch, from Water Street to Shea Heights, is a steep climb uphill.

"I was completely in shock when it happened," Chafe told CBC News. "It was really hard to take in ... I cried a little bit. I just couldn’t believe it."

Chafe says she usually gets a drive with her boyfriend, but he was in training and unavailable last Friday. That left Metrobus as her only transportation option.

Chafe says she boarded the bus with her son, who turns three in August, but is tall for his age.

Chafe paid her fare. Her son didn’t. Children under three ride for free.

But the driver had a problem.

"He said to me, ‘If you don’t have enough money, you have to get off.’"

Chafe says she protested, saying her son wasn’t three yet.

Those protests fell on deaf ears, and off the bus they went.

She didn’t have money to take a cab, leaving her with no option but to walk. Chafe says she carried her son, her bookbag, and his bag filled with diapers.

Chafe later talked to a Metrobus supervisor, who gave her a free five-day pass for her troubles, but no apology.

"The way that it happened, I don’t want it to happen to anybody else. It was really hard."

Now, all she wants is someone to say they are sorry.

"I think it’s horrible the way they treated me and my son," Chafe said. "They shouldn’t have kicked a child off, ever — even if he was six years of age. It should have never happened."

Metrobus reaction

Metrobus spokeswoman Judy Powell calls the complaint the first of its type.

Powell says there are regular cases of people not having enough money for their fare, and drivers don't kick them off. People often pay what they owe later.

If it's the case of a repeat offender, Powell says, protocol is for the bus driver to bring the matter to a supervisor.

Metrobus officials are scheduled to meet with Chafe and her family Thursday morning to get more information.

Powell told CBC News that Metrobus will "certainly" apologize if the complaint is accurate.

"From our point of view, when we receive a complaint, we complete an investigation, if it is discovered that we are at fault or something was not handled properly, we would issue an apology," Powell says.

"It's difficult to erase an unpleasant experience, we all know that, but the best we can do is to apologize and take steps internally to ensure that it does not happen again."

According to Powell, the age for children to ride free on Metrobus will actually increase during the summer to five years old.