‘I ended up paying S$14 for a taxi’: Dispute between wheelchair-bound passenger & bus captain causes delay

Wheelchair user & bus captain get into dispute on Service Number 858 bus

A disagreement between a wheelchair user and a Tower Transit bus captain led to significant delays and prompted several passengers to seek alternative means of transportation.

The incident, which took place last Saturday (27 July) at about 11.40am, was brought to light by TikTok user @charliegoldy857.

Passenger’s wheelchair blocks bus exit

In the first video, captioned “bus driver and passenger in a wheelchair fight I’m late for work”, the driver and the passenger can be seen arguing in Chinese about the passenger’s wheelchair, which was blocking the bus’ rear door.

The man in the wheelchair had seemingly attempted to board the bus through the rear door without the wheelchair ramp being deployed. While the front wheels of the wheelchair managed to get onto the bus, the rear ones remained on the kerb.

At one point, the bus captain even accused the man of “wasting everybody’s time”.

In the second video, which has since amassed over 800,000 views, the argument between the wheelchair-bound passenger and bus captain seemingly escalated.

The passenger even challenged the bus driver to call the police as he refused to move.

Another passenger tried to de-escalate the situation but to no avail.

“Everyone get off, the bus is not going anywhere,” the man said to the other passengers.

As the altercation continued, some passengers opted to leave the bus by squeezing past the obstruction at the door.

Bus driver fails to put down ramp

Speaking to MS News, 58-year-old Ms Josephine, who took the two videos, explained that the dispute began after the bus captain failed to assist the wheelchair-bound passenger to board the bus.

The incident apparently involved a Service Number 858 bus heading towards Woodlands Bus Interchange.

Normally, bus captains would help to let down the ramp for passengers in wheelchairs.

“But [the] driver didn’t go down like usually [sic] driver do,” she added. This seemingly sparked the argument.

“Both are hot tempered [sic],” she said, explaining that she took the video as evidence to explain why she was late for work.

The delay caused inconvenience to many, including Ms Josephine, who ended up paying S$14 for a taxi ride to work.

MS News has reached out to Tower Transit for comments on the incident.

Also read: S’pore Men Get Into Shouting Match On Bus, Passenger Steps In To Break It Up

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Featured image adapted from @charliegoldy857 on TikTok.