'Wear glasses if you can't see properly': Bus driver scolds elderly man for pressing bell at wrong stop, disciplined by SMRT

An SMRT bus driver has been disciplined after he launched into a verbal tirade against an elderly passenger who had mistakenly pressed the bell and called the latter a "childish old man".

The incident occurred on board bus service 180 — a loop service to and from Boon Lay Interchange — at around 6.50am on May 25, wrote Facebook user Raven Qiu, who witnessed the incident.

Qiu told Shin Min Daily News that the passenger appeared to be in his 70s and had pressed the bell one stop before his intended destination.

Upon realising his mistake, he approached the bus driver to inform him of the error and also apologise.

However, Qiu said in his Facebook post that the bus driver "made a scene" by berating the elderly passenger to not press the bell if he was not alighting.

The passenger then told the driver not to shout and that he could not see his surroundings clearly as the sky was still dark.

The driver reportedly retorted: "Wear glasses if you can't see properly."

Subsequently, he scolded the passenger: "You're so old yet you never use your brain? Doesn't this childish old man know not to play with the bell before your stop?"

Qiu claimed that the bus driver continued muttering to himself even after the man had alighted.

Responding to queries from Shin Min, SMRT buses deputy managing director Vincent Gay apologised to the affected passengers.

"We regularly remind our bus captains to be respectful and courteous when engaging with passengers. Investigations found that the bus captain fell short of the professional standards we expect. We have taken disciplinary action against him."

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lim.kewei@asiaone.com