Before the boycott, "[a]lmost daily some black man, women, or child had had an unpleasant experience on the bus" [20]. Blacks were beaten, thrown in jail, humiliated, and in one unfortunate case killed for refusing to obey the commands of the bus driver who often acted as a police officer. The bus operators were horrible. Often black passengers had to pay at the front of the bus then get off and wait for the driver to let them in from the back. Many times the driver would drive off leaving them standing on the curb. Rainy days were the worst. Since whites believed that black were unsanitary and smelly, when it rained bus drivers would deliberately pass black riders rather than have them on the same bus with "clean" white people. After a while some blacks who would normally ride the bus decided to walk, boycott or no boycott. .
The WPC did, however, make attempts before the boycott to better the condition on the Montgomery buses for black passengers. They met with Mr. J. H. Bagley, the bus company manager, Mr. K. E. Totten the national vice president of transit bus lines, and Mayor Gayle to protest the buss companies request to the City Commission to raise the buss fare. The WPC weren't objecting to the increase in bus fare because they were unwilling to pay, but because of the way that black passengers would be treated in spite of the increased rate. The WPC wanted: bus driver to be courteous, black passengers to be able to board from the front of the bus, more seats and for buses to stop at every block in black neighborhoods just as it did in white ones. A few days later all request were met except for the seating arrangement because the bus company had to obey the city segregation laws. Nevertheless, blacks were satisfied and for and time things were good, but as Robinson states it, "the joy was short lived" [p.32]. The harsh treatment toward black passengers not only returned to the way it had been, it in fact got worse.
