A man was sentenced to 11 months’ jail for an incident in June in which he punched a bus captain after missing his stop.
The passenger had failed to alight at his stop as he was looking at his phone, said SBS Transit in a Facebook post on Thursday (1 Oct).
Source: National Transport Workers’ Union on Facebook. Image for illustration purposes only.
On 8 June, the man was on Service 30 when the bus stopped at his intended bus stop, SBS said.
However, he did not alight as he was distracted by his handphone.
Realising this too late after the bus moved off, the man demanded to get off the bus along the roadside, but this was rightfully rejected by the bus captain for safety reasons.
Image for illustration purposes only.
This was when the man became violent and punched the bus captain while the bus was moving.
The attack prompted the bus captain to stop the bus for the safety of passengers.
The bus captain received medical treatement after the police and ambulance were called.
The violent passenger was sentenced to 11 months’ jail for assault last week, SBS noted.
The transport operator maintained that bus captains work hard daily and deserve to be treated with respect while carrying out their duties, adding:
Violence against our frontline staff is completely unacceptable.
It pledged to continue supporting transport workers, including with any legal action they may to pursue.
Source: National Transport Workers’ Union on Facebook
The National Transport Workers’ Union (NTWU), in a Facebook post of its own, also threw its support behind public transport workers, pledging to work closely with public transport operators and tripartite partners to protect them.
It urged the public to treat public transport workers with the dignity and respect they deserve, saying:
Our position remains clear: there is no place for abuse against our public transport workers.
The June incident was the third time a bus captain was assaulted on the job within a period of about three months.
The first one took place in May, when a Go-Ahead Singapore (GAS) bus captain was verbally abused and physically assaulted by a commuter after he missed his intended stop.
In August, another GAS bus captain was assaulted while driving, the company said. Both the GAS incidents occurred on Service 2.
The three incidents took place shortly after SBS and NTWU Executive Secretary Yeo Wan Ling decried the rising incidents of disruptive commuter behaviour on board Singapore’s public transport in May.
Ms Yeo, who is also an Member of Parliament for Punggol GRC, said bus captains are also subjected to a “growing trend” of doxxing and online rage-baiting for simply doing their jobs.
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Featured image adapted from National Transport Workers’ Union on Facebook and MS News. Images for illustration purposes only.