“Going Genting Highland, anyone?”
A SBS bus captain reportedly blindly followed another bus until he drove straight to Woodlands Checkpoint, causing one of his passengers to feel anxious and delayed for more than 45 minutes on their journey home.
A bus passenger, Huang Shaoxiong, recently complained and revealed the incident to Chinese media outlet, Shin Min Daily News.
The 46-year-old caregiver recalled that on last Friday (14 Apr), he boarded bus service 170 from the bus stop outside King Albert Park MRT station at around 6.30 pm.
He was on his way home and wanted to alight at the bus stop at Blk 25 Woodlands Centre Road.
Passengers usually trust bus captain who are familiar with the route to drop them off at the right stop.
However, Mr. Huang noticed that the bus captain seemed to be straying from the usual route, missing multiple stops and causing him to feel anxious.
“That day, the bus changed its route after passing the bus stop across from Kranji MRT station and headed straight to the Woodlands Crossing, which will lead to Woodland Checkpoint. ”
Mr Huang immediately rang the bell after realising the bus captain had missed some stops, hoping that he would take notice. However, the bus captain did not stop.
Mr Huang did not have his passport with him
Since Mr Huang did not have his passport with him, he was worried about breaking the law as they were about to cross the land border.
“I usually take about 40 minutes to get home, and I can usually arrive around 7:15 pm,” he said.
“However, that day I was exhausted because I didn’t get home until 8 pm after all the trouble.”
He pointed out that the bus should not have suddenly changed its route, causing inconvenience to him and other passengers.
“If there are any changes in the route, passengers should be informed in advance.”
SBS Transit apologised, says bus captain 170 blindly followed the bus in front of him
In response to the incident, the bus company SBS Transit apologised for the incident.
Grace Wu, Vice President of SBS Transit’s Customer Experience and Communications, expianed that the bus captain of Bus Service 170 mistakenly followed the number 170X bus, which does not stop at Block 25 and instead drives directly to Woodlands Checkpoint.
This caused the bus captain to reroute his bus and miss the stop.
“We apologise for the inconvenience and trouble caused to the affected passengers. We have taken necessary actions to ensure that the bus driver will not cause similar incidents again,” said Grace Wu.
Mr Huang said he submitted a complaint to SBS Transit, and was given an apology as well, but he did not intend to accept it.
Netizens poked fun, suggesting that the bus captain might be wanting to visit Genting Highland in Malaysia
Some netizens poked fun at the incident, with some commented on Shin Min Daily’s Facebook post, suggesting that the bus captain was sleepwalking or wanting to visit Genting Highland in Malaysia.
“Scary. The bus driver was sleepwalking? This kind of thing can also happen.”
Another netizen shared a similar experience with a bus that took the wrong route.
“I also encountered bus 136 that went the wrong way half an hour ago. Other passengers informed the driver, but I don’t know if he understood and continued on the wrong route.”
One netizen commented that the bus captain might be a Malaysian worker who missed home:
“The bus driver probably hasn’t gone home for a long time.”
Another jokingly suggested that maybe the bus captain was following another bus because a colleague owed him money and they coincidentally crossed paths.
“Maybe his colleague owes him money and they coincidentally met on the bus, so he followed him and didn’t let go.”
