It was not negligent to move bus when passenger boarded but had not yet taken a seat

Bus driver drove off while passenger was walking to back of bus, causing passenger to fall and suffer injuries to back, neck and knee. On day of incident, it was raining and bus floor was wet from people’s wet footwear, but there were no puddles or pooling of water on floor of bus. Bus operator’s manual required drivers to ensure passengers with unsteady footing were seated or holding on to stanchion before putting bus in motion. Passenger brought action for damages for injuries. Action dismissed. Passenger slipped because bus floor was wet and she would not have fallen had she been seated or holding on to pole or support. Applicable standard of care was that of reasonable bus driver in similar circumstances, and to meet standard of care, bus driver must use all due, proper, and reasonable care and skill in circumstances. Bus driver complied with bus operator’s manual . Passenger boarded normally and there was nothing in her appearance, behaviour or manner of boarding that should have alerted driver of need to depart from acceptable practice of setting bus in motion without checking that she was seated or holding on to stanchion. Bus driver pulled away from bus stop in normal fashion. Given manner in which he driver, it was not reasonable for him to have foreseen that recently boarded passenger would fall if not seated or holding on to something, especially given passenger was not elderly, frail, sick or moving with difficulty. It was not negligent to move bus when passenger boards when it was raining and had not taken seat. Appropriate standard of care was met even having regard to fact flooring was wet. Passenger’s fall was not reasonably foreseeable.

Seyom v. TTC (2018), 2018 CarswellOnt 19271, 2018 ONSC 6848, S. Nakatsuru J. (Ont. S.C.J.).