folding bicycles on buses?
Last night I got on a MBTA bus (near Boston) at 8:30pm and put my folding Dahon in the folded position between the seats and sat in the same seat. The driver said he had to radio his supervisor to ask him about my bike. He then said his supervisor said I have to take the bus off the bike. I pulled up the MBTA website and the bicycle rules which has a welcoming headline: "BRING YOUR BIKE ON THE BUS" - "You can bring your bike on the bus if:
The bus is equipped with an external rack Check here for bike rack-equipped bus routes.
You have a folded folding bike.
The bus is not a shuttle bus substituting for Commuter Rail or Subway service."
I showed him this and an official MBTA printed leaflet too with the same. He was rude and blanked me off and went in his truck and said he was on the phone and put up his window. Then three local Town Police cars arrived and they came on the bus and marched me off the bus with my bike and backpack full of shopping and one shopping bag. I was surrounded by at least six Arlington police officers on the sidewalk and the MBTA Transit Police drove up with one MBTA police officer in it. Whenever I tried to show any of them the rules on my phone or the printed version, they said they did not care and did not want to see it or hear about it. The Transit Police officer was the most sarcastic of all of them. So it is 80 degrees, humid and I have perishable food. I was very embarrassed, as I used to live in the same town. It has taken me all morning to gt through to the MBTA and I talked to a supervisor (who was amazed by all this) and a claims administrator in their legal department. I told them that I want their assurance in the future about their policies and I want a letter from the MBTA that I am authorized to take my bike on he bus in a fold up position and that I have the right to remain on the bus. Otherwise how can I plan anything. My food was ruined in the heat by not getting back home and I had too much shopping to ride the bike.
Do they have the right to treat me like that and embarrass and humiliate me like that, in front of people who know me (I used to live in the area this occurred in)?
Do I have any legal recourse? (I was very stressed by it and my food was ruined in the summer heat and humidity due to the delay). The buses run every hour and I was too nervous to wait an hour for another one. I took a different bus with a rack and then the commuter rail at extra cost to me. My evening was ruined.)