Tit for tat? Man brings durians onto bus, driver turns off aircon and refuses to drive

A man boards the bus with a bag of durians and refuses to get off — what would a bus captain do?

One bus captain in Singapore recently chose to turn off the air conditioning and refused to drive to the next stop.

A video of the incident, uploaded onto TikTok on Thursday (June 8), showed a middle-aged man standing near the entrance of the bus. He had a red plastic bag in front of him, which was believed to contain durians. 

"You're making a problem out of nothing," a woman said in Mandarin.

The bus driver replied: "It's because someone complained yesterday." 

Another female passenger chimed in: "One stop only lah, never mind la!" 

The man with durians also said that it wasn't the first time he had done this, and tried to reassure the driver that nobody would file a complaint against her.

Several moments later, other passengers could be heard complaining about the heat, and one even hurled vulgarities at the bus captain. 

Although she tried to stand her ground, the other passengers continued to scold her. 

"There are so many people onboard and you're reacting like this because of a small issue?" one of them questioned.

Overwhelmed by the rowdy group, the bus captain had no choice but to start driving. 

Although the passengers took issue with her actions, netizens felt that the man was at fault for bringing durians into the bus in the first place, as pungent fruits are not allowed on public transport.

According to the Ministry of Transport, durians are not allowed on trains and buses as the overpowering aroma of the fruit "may be unpleasant for some and lingers in air-conditioned areas". 

In response to AsiaOne’s queries, SBS Transit said that a passenger had boarded the bus with durians and refused to cooperate when the bus captain pointed out that it was not allowed.

"The passenger continued to stay on the bus and our Bus Captain then contacted our Operations Control Centre for assistance. After a while, the passenger alighted and the bus resumed its journey," said SBS Transit spokesperson Grace Wu.

Wu also reminded passengers to be gracious and considerate when travelling on public transport, and avoid "carrying items that may cause inconvenience to others to avoid causing delays or disruptions to bus journeys." 

READ ALSO: 'Do you know who am I?' Man hurls expletives at bus driver for not stopping for him

claudiatan@asiaone.com

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