It's another commotion at a bus stop since my last blog 3 years ago. Yes. That long!
Here it goes:
I was taking an SBS Transit bus with a friend, Clara, after dinner at another friend's house on Tuesday night.
Nothing seemed amiss until the bus driver stopped at a bus stop along Bedok North Road and started communicating with the bus control centre ( I will use BCC for short. An appropriate acronymn, which you will soon find out reading this).
It seemed that the driver is getting instruction from the BCC regarding a passenger whom he claimed had fallen down after alighting. ( 倒在地上, in his words.)
I took a closer look and saw a seemingly drunken man sitting on the ground of the bus stop. The driver was instructed by the BCC not to drive away and stay put. Weird as it seemed, the driver did not get off his seat to see what is really happening to the man. Being a nosy person, i approached the driver to tell him that the man does not seem injured at all and is likely drunken. An auntie chipped in and say she always encounter this drunken man. The driver, communicating only in Mandarin with a foreign accent, commented that he will follow whatever instruction is given by the BCC.
After waiting for sometime with no clear instruction, I started to talk to BCC, clarifying what i think the driver wasn't specific in describing the situation previously. I am also starting to suspect the over-reacting was a new protocol introduced due to the recent Little India riot. BCC says: Wait.
After sometime, the drunken man started sitting on a seat of the bus stop. At this time, people in the bus are getting impatient and many coax the driver to drive off. Yet, BCC says: Wait.
Then things started to get 'exciting'. The drunken man started to stand up and shouted at the driver in English and a mix of dialect. I cannot understand some of his muddled words, but in general, he is not happy that the driver did not drive off. He also challenged the driver to call police. Poor driver only can ask: 他说什么?! and closed the doors of the bus. The drunken man started to bang on the bus door.
More passengers started to shout for the driver to drive off, yet the BCC refused to let him do so. BCC asked us to wait for the... ambulance. Halo! The man is obviously not injured with that kind of gutso! Explanation to BCC fell on deaf ears!
The passengers were getting very very upset, being stuck in the bus for about half an hour. When the drunken man walked off, many are shouting for the driver to drive away. No action, and the drunken man came back with his banging and shouting again. Even the usual demure and calm Clara gets frustrated and demand for a good explanation for all the unnecessary problem and massive time wasted.
Eventually, i asked the driver to open the bus doors and let us alight when the drunken man walked away again. Poor driver was left to be trapped in the bus with all the verbal abuse and door banging from the again returned drunken man. I called the police and they came in a swift. Whoa! They beat the ambulance's speed hands down!
When we managed to board the next bus, the ambulance came, and Clara spotted a wheelchair. Geez.
I think I can summarise the commotion in 4 words. 小事化大.
I don't know who is at fault in this. Is it a communication issue? A stupid protocol? Alcohol ?
One thing for sure tho'. Singapore is more efficient in law enforcement than saving lives.
If anything for comfort, hope the bus no. captured ( meant to file a 'feedback' to SBS Transit, which is closed after office hours) can get me some compensation from the pools for the time lost and the surge of blood pressure.
Good luck too to my few readers if you 'tahan' my story till the end!
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