On 05 December 2008 at 7:11pm (the EZ Link machine stated 8:11:55HRS), I boarded TIBS Bus Number 861P. And upon finding a seat, the bus captain immediately stood up, turned around and stared at me accusingly. He then next pointed at me without saying a single word and immediately pointed back to the EZ Link machine repeatedly. And for the entire journey, I was really angry at being embarrassed and humiliated in this manner and the bus captain didn’t offer an apology upon knowing that I had tapped my card and duly paid my fares like everyone else. Although throughout the trip, I had considered asking for his name to lodge a formal complaint, I decided not to do so and decided to ask him directly what was going on.

I understand that bus captains have their duties at hand, whether is it in checking and making sure that passengers paid their fares or if their passengers moved to the back of the bus to allow other boarding passengers to board and things like that. But what happened next really left me feeling disgusted with this bus captain’s attitude and aggressive behavior towards me.

Just before I reached my intended stop, I went up to him and ask what exactly was going on and he simply feigned ignorance. When I questioned him on why did he have to humiliate and embarrass me in front of so many passengers even though I paid my fare, he started to raise his voice at me and claimed that he never humiliate me at all. So I explained to him that he just pointed at me accusingly and at the EZ Link machine and he claimed that he asked me nicely to tap my EZ link card for verification.

And he next taunted me by saying that I can lodged a complaint against him if I feel like it and further said that I was being aggressive and he would report me to the police even though he raised his voice at me first. Of course I was angry and raised my voice back at him. He kept raising his voice, taunting me and still embarrassing and humiliating me by saying that I was aggressive even though he was the one who raised his voice throughout the conversation until I got off the bus.

May I enquire if your bus captains were trained to embarrassed, humiliated, taunt and be aggressive towards passengers who paid their fares duly and without a word of apology? Or is the bus captain very confident that I won’t have the courage to lodge a formal complaint and hence decided to taunt, humiliate and embarrass me?

This incident have traumatized me and give me the impression that bus captains can have their way as and when they decide to and I am waiting for an explanation and apology from the bus captain who was involved in this dispute.


P/S: I have already circulated this post to various newspaper agencies and forums in Singapore and I urged all Singaporean passengers not to be afraid. Instead, find the courage to confront rude and nasty bus captains, get down every detail as correct as possible (what time and date did you board and alight the bus, bus registration plate number, bus service number) and post/send/email/write/complain a truthful and honest account of what exactly happened. This is the best way that we, as paying passengers, should have the right not to feel threatened, taunted, humiliated and embarrassed by bus captains who do not even have the basic courtesy and tact to do their jobs well.