Taken From ST Forums
ON FRIDAY Jan 19 at around 8.20pm, I witnessed a person taking a free ride on an SBS bus - SBS 7401G.
This person was then reported to the police by the bus driver, after he stopped the bus along the roadside near Pasir Panjang Police Post.
The driver got off and went to get the police. He then took the officer up to the second level of the bus to catch the person who had not paid his fare.
The officer questioned the person, and he admitted that he had not paid, claiming that he did not have the money to do so.
The policeman asked him to open his belongings. After searching and talking to him for around five minutes, the policeman took the non-paying passenger down the aisle.
As they went downstairs, another passenger grumbled that he was short on time and asked that the bus driver depart soon.
But the bus driver reacted negatively and challenged this second passenger, which resulted in the second passenger grumbling that the bus driver should not have called the police and wasted the other passengers' time.
The policeman then yelled up from first level in Mandarin at the second passenger, 'Uncle, this is the police conducting work. Please cooperate.'
The bus driver then gloated in Hokkien: 'Got problem, talk to the policeman.'
After this, the policeman and the bus driver got off the bus and went to the police post. Not knowing how long they would be, quite a few passengers got off the bus and trekked to the nearest bus-stop. After another five minutes or so, the bus driver got back in and drove off.
My complaint to the police is this: When the non-paying passenger admitted his guilt, the police should have taken him to the police post and not searched his belongings on the bus. As the bus was in the middle of the road, it was a danger to all the passengers on board, who were waiting for the incident to end quickly.
Also, when the 'uncle' complained, the words used by the policeman were maybe polite, but the tone was clearly wrong. It seemed that he was trying to impress the crowd that he was the almighty policeman and all should fear his power. He was not trying to defuse the situation, but to frighten the aggrieved passenger into submission.
Lastly, when the policeman, the non-paying passenger and bus driver got off the bus, they should have let the passengers know how long they had to wait.
My complaint to SBS is this: There is a better way to deal with these sorts of passengers. Reporting to the police should only be the last resort.
How safe is it to stop a bus in the middle of the road to go and get the police? For such a minor case, it is not worth risking the lives of the passengers on board.
When the second passenger complained, the driver was not at all polite. In fact, it seemed he had had a rather bad day. Things could have been settled quite peacefully if only he had smiled and eaten a little humble pie.
And then there was the fact that the driver not once informed the passengers how long they needed to wait.
I hope that both the police and SBS learn from the incident and improve their public relations.
After all, it takes only one person on the ground to destroy the entire image of the fleet.
Wil Ng Chin Wee
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wtf???
Over a few cents also call police???I think night time he go back better be careful
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