A 17-year-old student of one of Singapore's top JC allegedly punched a bus driver in the face during a quarrel on Wednesday.
The 53-Year-Old SBS Transit driver tried to stop the HCI student from leaving.
The teen's girlfriend, who is from another school, had been found to be using an invalid concession card.
The bus driver, who suffered minor bruises on his face, was given two days medical leave. He had lodged a police report against the student, and the police said they are still investigating.
SBS Transit said it is taking the matter seriously as the driver was assaulted in the course of his duty.
Ms Tammy Tan, SBS Transit's director of corporate communications, said the bus captain had acted accordingly to company procedures when he retained the concession card.
Bus captains, she said, are authorized to retain any concession card for investigation.
''Our bus captains have the right to work without fear of being attacked.We will seek redress for them through all available channels,'' She said.
The driver, Mr Wong Kok Leong, told TNP on Sunday that he never expected to be assaulted on the job in his 25 years of working.
Worse, he said, was being hit by someone younger than his own children, who are aged 18, 20 and 25.
Mr Wong said that on Wednesday afternoon, the student and his friend boarded his SBS bus No 170, opposite HCI, on Dunearn Rd.
The boy was in his school uniform but the girl was not.
The boy's friend tapped he wallet on the card reader,but it could not deduct the fare from the EZ-LINK card.
Instead, the card reader beeped continously.
The alarm was activated because the student's concession card had either been reported lost or stolen.
So Mr Wong said he had to follow the standard procedure of retaining the card.
When he told her she had to surrender the card, she initially refused.
She handed over only after he insisted and explained that the card had a problem and had to be retained.
Said Mr Wong in Mandarin: ''All this while, the male student kept arguing that the ez-link card belonged to the girl. I kept repeating my explanation, but he refused to listen.''
Just as Mr Wong was about to issue her a retention slip telling ehr to contact TransitLink, he said the male student snatched the ez-link card from his hand.
Bot students then went and sat down.
Mr Wong quickly pressed the emergency help button to alert the operations control centre that he was having trouble.
The control centre's operator advised him to drive ahead slowly while waiting for the traffic inspector to catch up with the bus and assist him.
Six bus-stops later, a passenger wanted to alight
Said Mr Wong in Mandarin: ''I asked the passenger to alight from the front door as I was afraid the students would try to leave.''
True enough, he said the students tried to make a dash for it.
He then stopped the bus and stood at the front exit blocking them.
He said: ''I held out both my arms and held the poles on either side of the bus to prevent them from leaving.
''The female student tried to leave,but I refused to budge. Next thing I knew, the male student punched me on the left side of my face.''
He said he stumbled forward and fell on the floor, hitting the driver's seat.
He claimed that the male student allegedly continued to hit him. Inthe process, Mr Wong's shirt pocket was torn. ''I was too shocked to react. I couldn't believe a kid was beating me,'' Said Mr Wong.
It stopped only after a male passenger came forward to restrain the student, who struggled and shouted until the passenger let go.
''The passenger has to hold him back by both his arms, or he would have continued to beat me. Some of the female passengers started to scold him,''
Mr Wong recounted.
ROFL. I heard this in the car narrated by my mom. And for the sake of arguing against the norm, I fought for the boy. Actually.
Seriously. If you punch the wall, you recieve recoil damage. Yes, newton's third law. But what's greater than newton's third law is the Singapore Law. It states that if you exert a force on another human being...
Well...
Let's say you're like so pwned.
Just like even a baby knows not to put his little thumb into the fire, and not to bang his fist on the wall, we all know it's common sense not to do things that will hurt ourselves. but this time, the driver didn't have words written on him stating " if you punch me, you're gonna get yourself into deep shit ".
the boy overlooked that.
and woah, what now for him? his probably so owned. father begging for mercy, his girlfriend will PROBABLY leave him (im not sure about that, some people are just strange). his future will be at stake. He will have to fight in court, he will have to waste loads of money hiring a lawyer. And all his efforts to get his own smarty arse into Hwa chong all goes down the drain. Never to be able to be retrieved again.
One mistake..
Bus riders are YEAH annoying. I don't really like taking buses. and i have my own bad experiences. once, an uncle asked me to pay 1+ plus for a ride from bukit timah to choa chu kang. when i showed him my EZLINK card which is a student card (i didn't have value in it then). he insisted I must pay $1+. Okay, i just heck and got all the change I have and dumped it in.I have other bad experiences too, but I shall not rant about it for too long.
Bus drivers ARE bus drivers for a reason. Do you think they CHOOSE to be bus drivers?
And yes. this is always what i tell people. Some people get pissed with waiters for showing them attitude. Some people get mad with cleaners being ill-temped. And what I always say.
These people are waiters FOR A REASON.
It's because they phail at life that's why they are doin such jobs. I know i know, it's a "noble" thing to be able to do jobs people do not want to do. but going by the law of "survival of the fittest"........oh ok, u get the point.
If it's noble to do jobs pple don't want to do. then blangadash workers are noblemen. WOOHOO...it certainly doesn't make any sense.
Seriously. Why bother fighthing with a poorly educated old men who is just working for that few hundred bucks. Striving so hard to earn his rice bowl. WHy make things so difficult for them. If they wanna be angry, let them be? if they wanna be troublemakers in the name of "doin their job". then let them be.
We should not feel angst about their unbecoming behaviour. But rather, show pity and sympathy. Instead of arguing with them, just be happy you're not them.
Understand my theories and arguments and you'll never going to punch a bus driver in your life.
Back to the point. I was NOT at the scene and I only know of this through the newpaper, which may not be a reliable source. Im going by my imagination. And I can somehow feel how PEK CHEK the hwa chong boy can be.
Imagine if you can. If the uncle just took your ezlink without any reason and when you snatch the ezlink card back. he prevents you from leaving the bus and wants to detain you and your card. is that right? What if you have plans for that day?
Why did he even have to stop those 2 from leaving the bus?
I don't get it.
He could have choosen not to do anything. Afterall, i believe most bus drivers don't care even if you tap a "invalid card" either invalid or without value. They WON"T confiscate your card.
and yeah. im feeling so freaking mad because my concession card is not updated. and now i have an invalid card with me. so next time i have to punch a bus driver to successfully get a ride?
Okay, forgive me for any offences Ive made. And also, i believe what ive written is very very messy and not in any good order. so just take it as random thoughts...
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